Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Romeo from Battlefoam has had a successful line of 'infomercial' style videos he's used on his site for years now, but I've always felt they could be made so much more like those cheesy infomercials they're clearly inspired by and I mentioned that to Romeo before at a convention we were both at. He clearly was thinking the same thing because a while later he contacted me about helping him to make some new videos.

Now, I work in TV post production by trade and I figured it might be fun to finally work on something I actually had some interest in, so I agreed, even though I haven't done any actual production (shooting with the camera on set) since college which is over 10 years ago at this point (wow, how time flies!).

So I made my way out to Arizona for a weekend and after many long hours there and many more long hours back here in LA editing them, I'm happy to present the first batch of Battle Foam's new infomercials.

This here is my favorite (and is the most humorous):





You can see the rest of them (the rest are more like his 'old' style than the video above) on the new battlefoam youtube channel.


I'm pretty happy with them considering we made them for pretty darn cheap, and I think they're a marked improvement over his old videos if you want to go back and compare.


So I hope you like them, and feel free to let me know if you think they're great or they suck. I've got thick skin, I can take it.


Newly added Blooper video from this shoot:

Ha! That was awesome, nice work, Yak!

That was cool to see Kyle in there, too. He is a cool dude.

I love my battlefoam bag, definitely would recommend them to others.

Definitely successful, both for cheesiness and for conveying the message. The sparkle on the teeth at the end is crucial.

(But it's missing the inept blond, who is tired of trying to chop onions with a blunt plastic spoon.)

I like Romeo's videos a lot, I'm eager to see this new videos when I'm at home! Nice in-foam-ercials ak ak ak!

Nicely done. Me likey!

Good stuff.

Need more of this and less of...well, you know.

This is some hilarious stuff

edit: woah do i spy a double-chin there romeo?

Good stuff, well done Yak and Romeo.

Hmmm. So that's why my last BF order took over a month. They were out making videos.

"A Dragon and a girffin? You're such a nerd!"
"What can I say?"



The other new videos are tops as well!

Awesome! Totally all over the cheesy info-mercial style.

- Marty Lund

14,000 square feet!
14,000 square feet!
14,000 square feet!

nice

Nice work Yakface.

I didn't realise you worked in post

Great product too.

Nice job indeed, fun videos!

Awesome work.

There is only one thing that could have improved it......

Star Wipe

yeah,

star swipes +1..


Panic.

I was expecting something more like Billy Mayes, more yelling and lively. *sigh* I'm disappointed.

Haha, good stuff! Don't know if I can accept Romeo as an informercial host until I've seen him punch a hooker though...

The other thing I'm getting from this thread, is that it drew Chrispy out to post after 9 months of silence

Will check 'em out when I'm home, I think Romeo could pull off an infomercial host really well! Certainly better than Mr. "Shamwow"...

Billy Mayes, how we miss thee.

Nice One!
I still gotta get me one of those!

very nicely done. if i may be so humble as to make a suggestion... it needs more foam thrown over the shoulder like the old sham-wow videos!

It's alright, it certainly sets the tongue-in-cheek mood that an infomercial needs. I have a feeling that it could be made to be even more over the top though.
Also, your host just talks too damn fast. That's common with people who are not experienced with speaking in public but it's still a little annoying.

Good work though.

edit: I just noticed that he doesn't talk extraordinarily fast in the other videos on the channel.

And the 'host' in this case is also the 'owner', so there probably wasn't a way around that one either!

I'd rather call it an inFOAMerical.

I'm here all week folks! Every show's different.

Yak's clearly too professional to kick it up to the "truly cheesy" level, which would have required at least a few of these:

1. Talking even faster.
2. Star wipe.
3. Replacing Rick with a perky blonde.
4. Throwing the foam over the shoulder
5. Yelling
6. Romeo calling himself "crazy".

It's nice balance between cheesy and professional, I think.

I hope you guys liked my thumbs up. I think I drove Yakface nuts during the recording.

I do like your thumbsup .

Just watched the video and one on the youtube page, they're way better than the old ones! And they actually work, too... watching him trace that gunship and show the custom foam made me want some

This was fantastic. It needs to be a little more cheesy though. It's actually so good it doesn't come off as goofy. So - I guess you nailed it in a sense.

Order in the next 5 minutes, and get FREE PACKING PEANUTS! Mention this offer when you call! Operators are standing by!

Oriphus wrote:This was fantastic. It needs to be a little more cheesy though. It's actually so good it doesn't come off as goofy. So - I guess you nailed it in a sense.

Order in the next 5 minutes, and get FREE PACKING PEANUTS! Mention this offer when you call! Operators are standing by!

Thanks for all the kind words everyone, I'm glad you like the videos!


I certainly would have liked to go all out in the cheesiness department, but at the end of the day I had to remember that these aren't *just* parodies, they're also actual commercials for products, so you don't want to go too far over the top.

Also, we shot something like 13 different videos in two days, most of them without any kind of script (Romeo prefers to wing it)...so some of the videos ended up getting a little more planning and prep work and others ended up being a little more straight-forward. Also, you can tell which videos were shot at the end of the day...the you can really see the energy level of Romeo start to dip in some of the later ones.


Also, I should have a 'bloopers' video from this shoot up later tonight that I'm guessing everyone will enjoy!




Automatically Appended Next Post:

Okay, here's the new 'bloopers' video. I hope you enjoy it:

Mannahnin wrote:Yak's clearly too professional to kick it up to the "truly cheesy" level, which would have required at least a few of these:

1. Talking even faster.
2. Star wipe.
3. Replacing Rick with a perky blonde.
4. Throwing the foam over the shoulder
5. Yelling
6. Romeo calling himself "crazy".

7. Wacky-waving inflatable arm-flailing tube-men!