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This is the first full week out of sweeps ratings at work so things are a little more relaxed. I have a couple of jobs pending but nothing that needs to be done right now, so I actually have time to put thought into my commercial work. I can finally craft a commercial instead of just pushing words together.

Last Friday was the first time that I actually shot a spot in 16 x 9. I was shooting a high end jewelers shop that even though it's been new remodeled it is still pretty small. I called the owner over to the monitor to show him the difference and he agreed to shoot the spot in 16 x 9. I've shot stuff in 4 x 3 and then masked it to 16 x 9, but shooting in 16 x 9 is a bit more of a commitment than faking it. The results were great and the spot has a certain weight to it that I don't think it would've had in 4 x 3. I'll probably end up shooting more in in 16 x 9 as we make the transition to HD.

Thursday we had mini-seminar on commercial script writing from a consultant who's been helping our sales department land some big accounts. He hit the essentials then made some suggestions that went against what I consider to be truth in advertising. For example he suggested that if a client is having a sale that's going to last 3 weeks you just say "This week only!" The reasoning is that the people who shop this week won't be paying attention next week so they won't notice the spot after that. I'm very at odds with this line of thinking. To me it's that whole "It's ok to lie if you don't get caught" crap that I can't stand. I'd almost forgotten that TV stations are whores. But then again, what business these day isn't? At least my boss has a problem with it too.

The boy played a gig Saturday night. His band went on last but since their fanbase age averages 15 they either a) couldn't get their parents to drive them halfway across town to the club or b) had to be home by the time they went on stage. So after playing to about 100 kids at the last gig, they played to about 8 this time. Those are the breaks, but they learned to give it all for the ones who showed.

Oh yeah, I've almost finished the Tubescreamer clone. Just a few more solders and I'll be done. It probably won't work so I'll be trouble shooting for a while.