A Commercial Reel

Have I told you that Ben, Jess and I are in a music video together? This past October, one of our dear friends was making a music video for a song that she had done the vocals for… and she asked us if we would be willing to be actors in it!

Acting in a music video? Um, yeah! We all thought it would be super fun! How hard could it be? I thought we would be the background… you know, walk through the scene, or sit on a park bench as someone walked by. I didn’t realize that they would be zooming in on my face!

I claim to be an actress because I love the stage… but I have never been very comfortable in front of a camera. In high school, someone tried to interview me for a Girl Scout project. As soon as the camera was turned on, I got so nervous that I literally could not stop laughing enough to answer their questions. I wish I was joking. Had I known that I would be zoomed in on for the music video… I would not have agreed to do it.

That being said, once we were there, we all had a great time, nerves and all. It really wasn’t as terrifying as I remember it being (here it is if you all want to watch it: Oh Come, Oh Come Emmanuel) I know… it’s not all about me. Ben did a great job and Jess loved it. She was a natural. Our friend, Mattie June, set it all up and sang beautifully and her uncle Garth Smith is so talented. And everyone in the video was spectacular. The actors, the singer, the pianist, everyone.

But as amazing as everyone was, I have got to say that, now that I know more about film, the real star of the show was the director, videographer and editor, Korey Smith. Wow, he sure knows how to make people look good!

Without the right people behind the cameras, microphones, lights and computers, it wouldn’t matter how well the actors did their jobs…  the video would look terrible. Stick Robert De Niro or Audrey Hepburn in front of a camera held by the wrong cameraman, and they’d look terrible, too.

Korey was a one-man wonder, in charge of filming, setting the stage, and if he wasn’t already awesome, he also directed each shot. He was able to take ordinary places and make them look fabulous with his knowledge of lighting and camera angles. He brought in fog machines and lights, adjusted angles on his cameras until he had it just right. We loved the final product!

When we did this music video Ben was still happily employed as a financial consultant and director of a non-profit. It was just something fun to do with our friend. We didn’t know at the time that the connection we made would bless us down the road after we’d decided to pursue acting.

This spring Ben had the opportunity to go back to Utah to work on a Murdock Hyundai commercial with Korey, because of the work we had done together on the music video. Again, he did an amazing job making Ben look good.

What made it even more fun was that this time, both of our two oldest daughters were able to be in the commercial with him. During the music video, Jess discovered that she loves acting! …and that the camera loves her, haha. And Liz said it was the best day of her life getting to be in a commercial with Daddy. They love that acting is his job, and it was fun to allow them to see up close what he does on set.

And here’s the best part of the whole thing: because of how well the commercial turned out, we were able to use it to make a commercial reel! In case you don’t remember from previous posts, or if this is the first time you’re reading my blog, a reel is a video resume showing how you look on camera. You need a reel to get jobs, and you need jobs to get a reel. Now that Ben has one (specifically tailored to commercials), he can get more commercial roles!

Okay… so his reel so far consists of one commercial… That’s all. Even so, Ben has booked several other commercials since uploading it to the actor job listing website. Now that he’s getting more commercials, he’s going to be able to add more to his reel, which will then lead to more roles. Sadly enough, we can’t take Korey with us for all these commercials… Even still… Ben’s booking more jobs, and we have more clips to choose from and a more substantial resume.

A commercial reel isn’t really useable for non-commercial jobs, so we still need to build a theatrical reel for him. But there are some really exciting things in the works to help with that, and I can’t wait to share them with you! Little by little, one step at a time… we’re getting there.