30 Seconds to Impact: How to Make a Confused.com TV Ad

Publication Date: Friday, December 07, 2007

The Confused.com television adverts are some of the most memorable and recognisable 30 seconds of ‘sell’ on the box. With no stars and no expensive locations, it’s amazing what you can do with some creativity and a few cardboard cutouts.

But if you thought the commercials were the product of some trendy Soho ad agency you’d be wrong. In fact all Confused.com adverts are conceived and developed in that hotbed of broadcast advertising creativity – the Confused.com office in Cardiff.

The Script

Concept

Typically, the process of coming up with a TV advert begins with Tom Bennett (Marketing Director) and Sarah Baldwin (Marketing Manager) brainstorming ideas to a set brief – e.g. ‘promote the latest Confused.com service’. Once the pair have roughed-out a 30-second script, they move on to the next stage.

Script Development

The rough first draft of the script is further developed with input from, among others, Group COO David Stevens and Wordley Productions – the Penarth-based TV company that produces the Confused.com ads. The script is then continuously revised until a final draft is signed-off and agreed upon by all involved.

The BACC

A copy of the script is then submitted before the BACC (Broadcast Advertising Clearance Centre) – the body responsible for the pre-transmission examination and clearance of all television advertisements in the UK – for provisional approval.

Pre-Production

Casting

With the script finalised, a London casting agent is then brought onboard to find actors. A team from Confused.com plus the TV director from Wordley then attend a casting session to select the right faces for the roles. For the last batch of adverts, 120 professional actors were seen to fill 11 parts.

Props

While the casting is going on, Cardiff-based artist Anne Cakebread is hard at work designing and creating what has become an essential part of any Confused.com TV ad – the cartoon cardboard props.

Pre-Filming

Once the script has been approved by the BACC, or after any script issues raised by them have been addressed, it’s time to advance to the filming stage.

Production

Filming

The production – cast, crew (including a BAFTA-winning lighting director and props/sets manager), props, equipment, wardrobe, makeup, catering etc – are all assembled at a television studio for filming.

The ‘shoot’ takes place at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic studios in California – just kidding – the shoot takes place at Enfys Television Studios in Splott. Not quite as glamorous, but the Cardiff facility contains all the studio space, equipment and expertise needed for a modern TV commercial shoot.

The director and one or two Confused.com marketing execs oversee filming, which takes about one day per 30-second commercial. This brief schedule is made possible thanks to careful pre-planning and also because no exteriors/locations are used, it all happens in-house at Enfys.

Post Production

Offline Editing

The original high-definition videotapes of the studio shoot are then taken to Wordley’s post-production facility in Penarth, where copies are transferred to computer for shot selection and editing.

Over the next couple of days the video editor and director assemble various 30-second rough cuts of the commercial, which at this stage contain only a temporary soundtrack and no special effects. From these rough cuts a preferred version is chosen and advanced to the next stage

Online Editing

Next comes the online edit. This process fine-tunes the rough cut of the advert into a slick, near-final version, complete with special effects and graphics in place.

Dubbing

The advert is then handed over to Cranc – an audio post-production house in Llandaff, Cardiff – where the 30-second film gets its final polish. This includes the addition of sound effects and music, plus a speech track courtesy of a voiceover artist. 

Final Cut

Back to the BACC

Once the production company has delivered a final cut of the advert, and everyone at Confused.com is happy with the result, it is then resubmitted before the BACC for broadcast approval.

UK television commercials cannot be shown publicly until they have received the thumbs-up from the BACC, which can take a few weeks depending on their backlog. And if the BACC isn’t satisfied, an advert won’t get shown until its recommendations have been implemented. This can mean a re-shoot, re-edit, or re-recording of the voiceover, and will likely mean a delay in broadcast.

Broadcast

After the advert has received BACC approval, it is couriered over to the Commercial TV stations for broadcast.

Commercial slots during the ad breaks are bought well in advance from the television companies, and a new advert can be inserted into one of these pre-bought slots and broadcast to the nation almost immediately after receiving an OK from the BACC.

From start to finish, the whole process of creating a Confused.com TV ad takes around six to eight weeks from initial idea to appearing in your living room. Now if all the previous stages are what’s required to get a modest 30-second commercial onscreen, just imagine the effort that goes into a two-hour feature film. Now there’s an idea…

…Coming Soon: Confused.com – the Movie!

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