How About Behind The Scenes ?

[Bacon]

I think Mike's video's and TV spots are presented seamlessly. He does an amazing job! I'd love for him to provide more behind the scene's info and pictures. Also:

• How long does it take to film those "5 minute" spots?
• Where are the out-takes!?!?!?!?
• Does he leave his make-up on when he goes out to unwind? (lol)
• Does he read off a TelePrompter or just improvise?
• Is he high maintenance on the set? ( OK, another lol)

Is anyone else interested in this ?

Oh Oh, I sound like a groupie!

Bacon
President, Mike Phillips Fan Club

[Bacon]

Wow..people have more to say about:

• the new I phone
• family getting lost in maze
• Hot sauce
• Sales Tax

than they do about the Gold Standard in Auto Detailing..Mike Phillips and all his amazing work.

good nite

Bacon

[Ted S.]

Wow..people have more to say about:

• the new I phone
• family getting lost in maze
• Hot sauce
• Sales Tax

than they do about the Gold Standard in Auto Detailing..Mike Phillips and all his amazing work.

good nite

Bacon

I missed this thread to be honest. I'd love to see a huge behind the thread of Mike's TV spots, reviews, write up's and more. It's cool to ponder all of the hard work that goes into what we see on the other side.

There are bits and peices of "behind the scenes" stuff here and there, and every so ofter Mike will post a quick behind the scenes thread, but I would like to see something that is mega in depth; especially one that answers your above questions!

To this I say, goodnight bacon.

Ted S.

[BillE]

Add my vote.

If Mike has the time, it would just 'be fun' to see what TV stars really do.

Bill

[Mike Phillips]

I think Mike's video's and TV spots are presented seamlessly. He does an amazing job! I'd love for him to provide more behind the scene's info and pictures.

Thank you for the kind words you're far too generous but I do appreciate your comments.


Sam Memmolo & Dave Bowman
One thing for sure after working with Sam and Dave of Crank & Chrome, Shade Tree Mechanic, and Two Guys Garage fame I learned a lot real fast as these guys are pros and presenting a lot of information fast. The one thing I found I have in common with both Sam and Dave is I really like turning wrenches just like these guys as I find it to be very relaxing and enjoyable. I owned my full race Sanger Drag boat for 20 years and every 3 years I would completely disassemble it including removing the motor and the running gear just to clean it all up and the re-assemble it for the sole purpose of making sure every nut and bolt was new, present and tight.
(At over 100 mile per hour things tend to shake apart)






Dennis Gage
Working with Dennis Gage has also taught me a lot and he's incredibly good at finding out what it is his guests want to share and then getting this information presented. Something I found that I have in common with Dennis is my love for unusual cars not just the same old same old and if you watch enough of My Classic Car you'll see Dennis also like to seek out share unique and interesting cars on his show.





Bryan Fuller
Bryan Fuller is just like he appears on TV, that is he's a funny guy BUT he completely understands the point of TV and he never lets having fun on the set interfere with getting the information across. While I could never be the artist Bryan is when it comes to welding there was a time I worked as a welder in a fabrication shop and some of my best friends are welding experts and perfectionist so I completely value and appreciate their skill and knowledge.





Matt Steele
Matt Steele? What can I say... not only have a learned a lot from working with Matt but I've also lifted some of his techniques and things he says... for example if you ever see me count off bullet points by actually counting them off using my hands I got that from Matt. When I was working with Dennis Gage last week I stated, "It doesn't get any easier than that" lifted from Matt as he used that statement a couple times when we've worked together. One really cool thing I like about Matt is he's so into the 4x4 truck world that we share a mutual passion. I'm building a new truck right now and will be taking it to some of his "Trucks Gone Wild" mud bog events so maybe in the future you'll see my truck in one of his videos.






Bruno Massel
I've only worked a little with Bruno but we have a project coming up and I'm looking forward to getting to know him better. While my official boat racing career was very short lived, (It's really expensive to race anything professionally), I completely share his passion and need for speed.

This was taken during finals on Dexter Reservoir in 1983, I clocked 111 mph in 12 seconds in my fastest pass that weekend and disqualified for going too fast in my bracket of 100 to 110 mph.








As to your request... I actually did post some information about what goes on behind the scenes in another thread because just like you point out, I figured most people don't see what goes on behind the scenes.

Let me find the posts on this topic and I'll share them in this thread as what you see on TV is like the tip of the iceberg as to what actually happens behind the scenes.

[Bacon]

Thanks for taking time and sharing..it really is interesting. It truly is inspirational that you can take something you love, auto detailing, make a career out of it AND do a TV Show highlighting your passion!

It’s the old saying, "if you love what you do you never have to go to work". THANKS for your inspiration!



Continued Sucess!

Bacon

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks for taking time and sharing..it really is interesting. It truly is inspirational that you can take something you love, auto detailing, make a career out of it AND do a TV Show highlighting your passion!

I agree and by that I mean as it applies to everyone that finds their passion and then sticks to it...

My passion started when I lived in a small logging town in Oregon... incredible how the path from there to here has wound...

It’s the old saying, "if you love when you do you never have to go to work".

Huge 1-04 on that one...

THANKS for your inspiration!

2 quotes and a link with advice...

It's not what you've got, it's what you use that makes a difference.

-Zig Ziglar

"You can have everything in life that you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want"

-Zig Ziglar

You can apply the tips in the below article to any passion...

Do you want to have a career in the car industry?

Continued Success!

Bacon

Continued hard work for sure...

[BillE]

Thank you for the post(s) Sir...

Bill

[Bacon]

Thanks again Mike:

I am still curious, how long does it take to film one of the episodes you do for TV?

I see you like Zig; he is a one of a kind. I have a few of his book and recently signed up for his weekly online newsletter!

AND 111 MPH in a boat..wow! I see that was back in 1983; the things we did when we were young!

thanks again!



Bacon

[Mike Phillips]

Thanks again Mike:

I am still curious, how long does it take to film one of the episodes you do for TV?

Short answer
Great question and each TV Production Crew I've worked with is a little different and the short answer is a range from 1 hour to 2 hours to film a 5 minute segment.



Long answer
Normally we start at 9:00am, that would be for My Classic Car, Two Guys Garage, Truck U, Motorhead Garage and all the TV work we do here.


First... and this is key... when we worked with all of these groups the first time they were not aware of what we do, at least not specifically. By this I mean, while the stars are bona-fide car guys, that doesn't automatically mean the camera people, producer, director, etc. are serious car guys let alone... experts at "Car Detailing".

So our first time we had to invest some time showing what it is we do and what we want to get across. The hardest part was getting the before and after shots that really show what we want the audience to see. If you were to watch all the machine polishing videos we've made the first ones were kind of week showing

• Swirls in the before side
• No swirls in the after side

Watch this video with Dennis Gage and you can see the Camera guys figured it out and then figured how to position the cameras and the lights to "capture" the money shot and they get better at this each time we work with them.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MsZL72VAk&hd=1]My Classic Car with Dennis Gage and Mike Phillip - Removing Swirls - YouTube[/video]



Most of the sponsors and guests on these shows are showing product that you bolt on, which is pretty straight forward.

So after a little bit of a learning curve to learning what it is we want to show and then how to best capture that with a camera then the rest is pretty much setting up, shooting and the tearing down. That would look like this,


Choose a car for segment and then move and position car for best angles for camera guys and for the talent to work on, this goes for all car guy shows with a car on the set. Here's an example from Two Guys Garage and "yes" that's Max's Corvette...

Here's the studio all set-up for shooting High Definition Video...




Note that the word "talent" is the term used by all these TV production company as a generic term to mean "whoever is on the set". You'll see it as a section on all the shot lists and all the e-mails that are sent. It doesn't mean personal talent... LOL


Next we match pad, products and tools to the car and these products must be arranged on the set to do two things,

1. Showcase the products
2. Make it easy for the talent to access and use the products without fumbling. This is where a lot of bloopers happen.

Here's a shot of Dennis and I arranging Pinnacle XMT products along with pads and buffers.... Dennis is actually VERY good at creating a display. Our very own Yancy is a total expert at it, just look at any of the video work Yancy and I do or any of the "Product Group Shots" seen in any of Autogeek's websites or other touch points.

Setting up a display...



There's little thing to do too like removing the safety seal out of the cap before filming, I can tell you first-hand it's happened to me where we're shooting a scene, I go to pour some product out on a pad and nothing comes out of the bottle. Right then and there you STOP filming.

Now days I'm very good at checking all my bottle caps before we start filming. Other little things too like tags removed off Microfiber towels or if you're using anything with a sprayer, first have the nozzle turned to the fan spray setting and also PRIMING the sprayer so you don't struggle on film spraying fast and furious to get product to start spraying out the nozzle.


After the studio set is all set-up then the talent talks through their lines. On my part I usually type up bullet points with either product information or topics we want to share. Talking through the scene takes a few minutes because keep in mind, Dennis, Bryan, Matt, Bruno, Sam and Dave are not experts about our products so we take a few minutes to talk shop.

After we talk through the scene next is get everything quite on the set, this can mean turning fans or the air conditioning off, basically anything the producer, engineer or camera guys can hear in their headsets. Most of the studios I've worked in get pretty hot with all the lights plus hot weather, so when you turn the air conditioning off you can get hot and start to sweat.

High definition cameras can make your skin look oily and sweaty even if it's not, so that's where the make-up artist comes in, they are responsible for making sure you don't look oily or sweaty and they also do thing like fix your hair, etc.

In-between scenes they are also responsible to check on you and touch you up if needed... like this,

New Autogeek TV Commercials

When shooting High Definition, every little detail shows up so here's Matt getting a little make-up and patting before shooting begins... we shoot High Definition here at the Autogeek's Show Car Garage Studio too and make-up is just part of the job.





Then we roll film... when I'm the guest on another show the host starts talking first by introducing the segment. If we're shooting here then I start the segment.

Here's an example where I introduce the guests...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhJYFLgIjhE&hd=1]Autogeek.net - New Meguiars Microfiber DA System - YouTube[/video]


The goal is to make it through a scene without any mistakes. Easier said than done but usually 1-2 takes are shot, sometimes 3 and from this they can pick the one they like and also edit it and use both video footage and dialog from any of the shots to make a complete segment.

Then we shoot the next scene. Most 5 minute segments are made from 1-5 scenes, it just depends upon where there are hard breaks. One thing for sure, it's easier to do lots of short scenes because there's less chance for mistakes. The longer the scene, the greater the chance for a mistake. If a mistake is made then sometimes you can pick up from somewhere in the scene but sometimes you'll shoot the scene completely over again.

Time is money... so the goal is no mistakes and since shorter scenes usually means less mistakes, segments are broken up into smaller scenes.

After the meat of a segment is shot then there's the "close", again the host usually does this and if the producer likes it and everything else that was shot that's a wrap.

After shooting one segment then there's a flurry of activity as all the products on the set for that segment are moved off and usually put away to some degree and then the car is then moved off the set.

If you're shooting another segment then you repeat all of the above.

If everything goes smooth and correctly, it takes at least an hour to shoot a 5 minute segment including setting up, shooting the actual segment and then tearing down.

During my last visit to My Classic Car we arrived at 9:00am and watched as two other guests shot their segments, I document that all here,

4 New Autogeek TV Episodes with Dennis Gage for My Classic Car

Jerry from Corvette Central is working with Dennis who you can't see as a camera man is standing in front of him.



Ron from Flaming River working with Dennis




The above is the majority of what takes place at the studio. Besides what takes place at the studio there's a lot of time, work and money that goes into a show that no one sees but I've previously documented this here,


Autogeek's How-To Features on My Classic Car with Dennis Gage


On the first page of the above thread you'll see pictures of getting the set ready and then the different segments we shot the last time we were with Dennis Gage.

On page 2 of the above thread I actually took pictures and documented some of the behind the scenes work that I do for any of our TV work...

Below I'll include a portion from both page 1 and 2 that explains and shows what we doo...