Early footage of F-150 ad shows the magic behind the marketing.
This week’s “Throwback Thursday” video comes to us from the Big Hammer Music & Sound YouTube channel and it brings us a rare look at a Ford F-150 commercial before the final editing has been performed. Most people know that there are changes made to the raw video footage before it airs on television, but this commercial shows just how many touch-ups go into the final product.
To showcase the changes between the raw footage and the official commercial, we have included the final product below from the EquipmentWorld YouTube channel, so after watching the unedited video above, compared that to the clip below.
Color Explosion
The most noticeable difference between the two Ford F-150 commercials here are the colors and the overall video quality. Everything is bolder and brighter, with better lighting added to the truck and the other focal points of each segment. In some cases, the raw footage almost appears to be in black and white, but in the actual commercial below, the truck in question is bright red. Also, the sky is a brighter color in almost every scene so overall, the video just plain looks more impressive in every scene.
Missing Machinery
Finally, in many of the rolling shots in the video above, you can see the large boom that carries the cameras extending from under the front end of the truck. Since many of the trucks in this video have chrome bumpers, you can see the reflection of the camera apparatus in the bumpers, but in the actual commercial, you cannot tell that the extra items were there.
In the case of the scene where the dirt is being poured into the bed, the actual commercial has a completely different backdrop and a truck drives by. In the scene with the truck driving through a quarry, the machines have been replaced with a large pile of rock.
Between brightening up the colors and lighting and removing the items needed for filming, these two videos show how much changes during the editing process of a Ford F-150 commercial.
"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.
"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.
"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.
"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.
"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.
