Hi, I'm making a 30 second commercial for a school project and contest. I'm well into the pre-production stage and am almost done with the storyboarding. I was just wondering if anyone knew what the average shot length is for a 30 second commercial. I'm going to have over 12 shots which equals about 2.5 seconds each. Is 1 or 2 seconds too short for the audience to get what's going on? Thanks in advance!
It depends upon what happens. You could easily do a 30 second long shot if it is interesting enough. If you have a bit with someone hitting a baseball you could do 30 shots of the pitch/swing/fans and most fans would still get it even if they go into epileptic fits afterwards.
RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA
RJSchwarz
A shot needs to last as long as required to provide that bit of information. The less shots the better in most cases. Don't cut just to cut to another shot. Have a reason why you are cutting.
