Get on the Bus (please)

Even a promo that has to be cranked out in a couple days can have a few fun bits.

Posted 02/02/2010

I just cranked out this promo for our shuttle bus.

With the parking lot of Hilltop Community Church filling up before service time, it became necessary to run a shuttle bus between the church and an overflow parking lot across the street. Being a busy street and an uphill climb, shuttle buses run people back and forth with impressive efficiency. It's faster to take the bus than to park down the neighboring residential streets. The trick is to convince people to try it.

So on the first Sunday of operation, I spent the morning on and around the buses, gathering video and conducting a few quick interviews. Then I went home and cranked out a promo in order to have it ready to run the next week. Knowing I had little time and a bunch of shots of a bus driving around for visuals, I tried to come up with a few gags to liven it up and make it a bit more memorable to those forced to endure a one-minute bus ride commercial. As I've claimed in previous posts, you can get away with some cheese in your effects if you are going for laughs. Obviously that fire dancer isn't really on the bus, but it's too silly for anyone to care. Granted these are the sorts of effects I have done before, so I could whip them up pretty quick, but I hope this can serve as a demonstration of how such gags can add an element of surprise to an otherwise simple promo spot.

Does it work? Have you ever spiced up a promo with some sight gags? Please share your comments and/or links below.

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Get on the Bus (please)

Even a promo that has to be cranked out in a couple days can have a few fun bits.

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