Young television writers and producers working in local TV news or marketing or at production houses and ad agencies have probably heard the old-timers talk about the bygone days of shooting on film and videotape. The word “on” there refers to the image actually being on a piece of film or videotape. In my early […]
Young television writers and producers working in local TV news or marketing or at production houses and ad agencies have probably heard the old-timers talk about the bygone days of shooting on film and videotape.
The word “on” there refers to the image actually being on a piece of film or videotape.
In my early days at an ad agency, we shot everything on 35mm film. The film editor would edit the film on a Steenbeck, a large heavy flat machine where the film would be threaded around several spools.
I clearly remember the editor sitting there with a few razor blades in his mouth that he used to cut the film and a white special pencil to mark notes on the film.
Then came video tape — 2-inch, 1-inch, ¾-inch and 1/2-inch Beta. To create a simple dissolve, you needed to create an “A” roll and “B” roll that would be rolled simultaneously in production to make the dissolve.
Then came non-linear editing, thank god.
Glenn Przyborski, a principal at Przyborski Productions in Pittsburgh, says last year he began archiving his library of 500-plus masters and shared them with us.
“Here are some old-school spots that I thought agencies and clients might enjoy seeing one last time … ads with copy like … Someday you’ll be able to take your phone out of your car…. A time when KDKA-TV promos had thousands of extras, a pager was a great gift for your kids and the Apple IIe computer was the smart choice for business. Sheetz began selling coffee in their stores, dry beer was the rage and jingles were very popular.”
Then I went searching for some old-school news promos.
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