When the comedian known as Carrot phones home to promote AT&T, he's also demonstrating that high definition acquisition is viable for major commercial campaigns. Regardless of your feelings about Carrot, the series of national “Call AT&T”spots, directed by Billy Jayne of Space Program, is one of the highest profile national campaigns shot with Sony's 24p HD Cine Alta.. Yet thus far, HD has hardly taken over the world of commercial production. Unlike HD's rapid rise in the world of broadcast television, the technology has penetrated commercials as a slow drip rather than a rapid flow. As recently as a year ago, shooting commercials in HD was extremely rare. However, there is evidence that shooting spots in HD — for both regional and national campaigns— is finally gathering steam.

In the case of the “Call AT&T” campaign, the first commercial was originally produced for theatrical release. Agency Young and Rubicam chose 24p mainly because it had worked with the format last year while producing the Dreams project, a series of experimental short films shot by commercial directors in 24p and shown in movie theaters around the country. Based on that success, Y&R producer Paisley McCaffery felt confident that the AT&T commercial could be shot 24p and then easily transferred back to film for big-screen theatrical exhibition.

“Originally, when we inherited the account, it was a very simple commercial,” says McCaffery. “Now we're telling bigger stories with multiple setups, and making it visually a lot more active and action packed in the way we can tell the story. Working with the HD camera allows us to capture more when we're in an ad-lib situation (due to the relatively inexpensive HD tapes), and it's affordable enough to allow us to use two cameras.” DP/Director Leo Ticheli used a Sony Cine Alta to shoot HD ads for the Tombras Group's Gatlinburg Tourism account.

Although the world is turning into and HD world and you will soon find family HD cameras everywhere, people have to be aware that there are a lot of differences in HD. As with standard video its not the same the quality of a Video 8 or Mini DV camera than a digital betacam. In The HD world, the top standard is the Cine Alta wich can shoot progressive at 24 frames. Basic economics can tell you that the quality delivered by a 500 dollar camera is far away from a 150,000 dollar camera such as the ones produce by Sony

Y&R's involvement with HD is more than a passing interest. In the last year, the agency has been seriously investigating HD's commercial possibilities. The agency produces commercials for HD camera manufacturer Sony, among its other clients, and through that relationship it was exposed to Sony's 24p technology early on. Last year, Y&R launched the project specifically to give commercial directors experience using Sony's HD cameras.

.The project worked so well and received so much press that Y&R decided to commission a second project his year.

At press time, the second project, was set to debut in New York this month. This time, the films revolve around the theme of joy. The project will feature short films from commercial directors such as Brian Buckley, Jeff Darling, David Denneen, Nacho Gayan, Melody McDaniel, Rocky Morton, and Noam Murro.

Dreams The project has opened the minds of some film veterans to the notion that they can execute their creative ideas using HD in the short-form world of commercials but its still amzing to find hot creative directors who think that their reel must be shot only in film. If its okay for Lucas, Spielberg, Wenders, Von Trier and the ground breaking film directors in the world how come its not good enough for a local TV campaign ? asks Ramiro Agulla one of the hottest creative directors in Argentina.

Debbie Merlin, executive producer of production company Case Giraldi Media, says director Bob Giraldi (a contributor to the first project) has shot at least four major commercial campaigns in HD since then. In spots for McDonald's, Kraft, Tylenol, and Hallmark. Giraldi used the Panavised version of Sony's CineAlta 24p camera.

“Bob suggested HD in all these cases,” says Merlin.“I think he felt that they'd be right for the format. I think he'd do a lot of projects in HD, but the agency and the client have to be ready for it.”

Indeed, commercial filmmakers often seem more open-minded about using HD than agencies. For instance, another director, Simon Blake, calls HD “a fantastic new development and a great tool.” But despite his enthusiasm for HD's storytelling potential, in the last year Blake has not been able to convince agency clients to give HD a try. He's so frustrated by this that he's decided to shoot at his own cost, what he calls a “mixed media” project using HD cameras in the next few months. He will add this piece to his reel in an effort to convince leery agency executives to try HD.

“If I can convince them they can do this kind of work in HD,as opposed to film, especially for broadcast, it might convince them to do a project,” Blake says.

Bob Giraldi agrees that advertising agencies continue to be cautious about the use of HD in commercials. “Whatever the reason — and I don't think it's cost, which usually drives our industry — people haven't embraced HD as quickly as I thought they might,” Giraldi says. “Like everything else, it takes a little while, and HD will take its place in the industry. The fear of the unknown which I prefer to call ignorance is what usually stops agencies from innovating and trying the new technical advances and in the advertinsing world being a safe player is usually a non creative one”.

That process is underway, albeit at a slow pace. Y&R's Yagoda told that his agency has committed to shooting a third of its Sony commercials in HD this year.

“Based on what we've seen, you're not going to get hurt,” says Yagoda, discussing his experience shooting the AT&T campaign. “HD won't bite you. It's reasonably easy to work with, very efficient, and lighting was easy. One of the advantagesis that you really do see what you're getting, so you can safely wrap a sequence and move on with a great deal of confidence. Ultimately, it saved time because we weren't guessing.”

Another agency taking the HD plunge is DDB Seattle. The agency is creating an HD campaign for Planet.. Former DDB Seattle producer Deborah Narine pushed for HD as a perfect solution for that campaign, which was shot on location in developing countries around the globe..

For the Planet project, former Satellite Films director JasonWulfsohn and cinematographer David Morrison shot in Nepal, India, Mozambique, and Mexico over the course of three weeks. The shoot was Wulfsohn's first experience shooting in HD, using the CineAlta system.

“It was the perfect format for us,” says Wulfsohn.“As a director, working with actors who had never been in front of the camera before, it's unrealistic to expect consistency of performance. HD allowed me the option of shooting rehearsals and keeping the camera rolling when, ordinarily, I'd cut between takes.

“It ended up being a much more efficient use of our time in the sense that we were able to capture those moments that non professional actors were giving us. Also, the presence of the camera was less disruptive.

Beyond Our Reality Productions, a New York production company, has also gravitated toward producing HD commercials in the last year.Beyond Our Reality owns three Sony CineAlta cameras, Fujinon and CanonHD lenses, and an Avid HD|DS system for HD editing. The company recently completed HD spots for Nickelodeon, McDonald's, and Volkswagen, among others. Producer/manager Ken Waddell says there are several reasons why creatives at his company are warming up to the format.

“We do shoot some film, but it's just fallen by the wayside in the wake of HD,” says Waddell. “Clients love it. One of the advantages is that there's none of the guesswork, looking at dailies, and realizing something was underlit. The client wants to know everything is going to be perfect. The cost savings can also be tremendous compared to film. HD gives you a chance to trim down the crew, equipment costs, negative material and film to tape transfers.

Outside of the major agencies, others are also experimenting with HD— including the U.S. military. B. Sean Fairburn, a cinematographer and HD technician, is also a chief warrant officer for visual information in the Marine Corps. Fairburn says a project was launched in late 2001 to prove to the Marine Corps that HD could look as good as film and be as cost effective as video.

The regional/local market is one arena where HD appears to be carving out a sizable niche. In Birmingham, Ala., director/DP LeoTicheli says he's entirely replaced film with HD for his clients.

“I've shot no film for over a year,” says Ticheli, who purchased a HD camera for his commercial work.“ My film clients are now able to take the 25% of their budget that went into film stock and processing and put it into more expensive sets, more extras, and — what I love most — more shooting days.”

How did Ticheli convince clients to stick with him through the transition to HD?

“I show them this incredibly beautiful image and ask,‘How would you like your work to look like this?’ And they say yes,” says Ticheli.

Ticheli says agency executives and clients were especially enthusiastic about seeing images on a large monitor during the shoot, (without waiting for dailies), and they also appreciated the speed of the shoot.

“A new incentive program comes out and the client wants (to promote) it on the air tomorrow,” Ticheli says. “Your political opponent makes a charge you want to rebut the next night or the competition launches a Sale and you need to answer quickly. You can't do that with film, but you can with HD.”

For example, says Mills/James DP Scott Myers, if a client considering 16mm needs bluescreen for a spot, he tries to guide the client to choosing either 35mm or 24p, pointing out that HD can be particularly cost-effective for lower-budget, local commercial work.

“HD 24p shines because of the long load time and cheaper tape stock,” says Myers. “Since audio can be figured inside (by recording production audio directly onto the HD tape. Myers also says commercial production companies can take advantage of experienced video professionals to save clients money and time in post by achieving the desired look directly in-camera.

“If you've got a Director of Photography who really knows what the monitor looks like, he becomes the colorist,” Myers says. “We can go straight into post, and don't need to do tape-to-tape color correction. Although my suggestion is not to skip the color correction process. You wouldn’t do it in film so why do it in HD ? Productions in HD need to be done as carefully as anything you shoot in 35 mm.

On regional and local productions, using HD in ways that save money in both production and post is a huge consideration, since such clients generally have less money to work with. In developing countries around the world where the film industry is not as big as in the States or Europe and they don’t have Film labs or color correction facilities, HD is expected to bring all the high quality and look never achieved before by standeard video.

“In feature films or episodic TV, the cost of the film medium is a large chunk of your budget, and to be able to exchange that with a$70 tape is a significant difference,” says Andrew Floyd,marketing manager of content creation systems for Sony. “In the commercial world, at least here in America, shooting a 30-second spot budgeted at $300,000 to $1million, the cost of the film is such a small percentage of the total budget that (film and lab costs) are not a main driver, but in independent productions where you have only budget for 5 to 10 film cans it will be a huge difference.”

But when all is said and done, the migration — if there ever is one — will only happen when and if creatives experience and enjoy HD production firsthand, and at the same time agencies and clients receive clear financial benefits.

Of those who have experienced HD commercial production first hand, many have become believers — not necessarily in replacing film,but rather in adding HD as a serious tool to consider when creating commercial productions.

“If film decided to marry tape, one of its children would be HD,” Giraldi says. “It has a little bit of the mood and texture of a film recording and it certainly has the presence and immediacy of videotape. There's no question that HD will be a player, and once it is, the advertising world will want to embrace it.”