Chapter 22 — Exercises
Commercial video is learned by serving a goal, not by admiring your own footage. These exercises put you on the client's side of the table — reading briefs, extracting brands, shooting testimonials and products, designing calls to action, and managing the person paying for it all. Most need only a phone, a window, a table, and a willing human. The starred and Project-3 items build directly toward your five-minute branded piece, so treat them as rehearsal for paid work rather than homework.
Exercises are graded by effort and depth:
- ⭐ Warm-up — a few minutes; locks in a concept.
- ⭐⭐ Core — the real practice; do as many as you can.
- ⭐⭐⭐ Stretch — deeper or more ambitious; where the biggest gains are.
Model solutions and critiques for the starred and odd-numbered exercises are collected in Answers to Selected Exercises at the back of the book. Try each one before you read its answer — an attempt you got wrong teaches more than an answer you only read. Where an exercise asks you to shoot, keep the footage: several later chapters (26–36) will have you edit, grade, and deliver exactly this material.
A. Reading the brief and the brand (Eye & Ear Training + Fix the Shot)
These need no camera — just your attention and a browser. They train the client-facing judgment the rest of the chapter depends on.
1. ⭐ Output vs outcome. For three videos you've seen on company websites recently, write the likely output (the thing they made — "a 90-second explainer") and the likely outcome (the result they wanted — "fewer support calls," "more sign-ups"). Notice how often the real outcome is trust or a single click, not "a video." Which of the three had an outcome you could actually measure? (Answer provided.)
2. ⭐ Spot the CTA. Watch five ads or brand videos back to back. For each, write down the exact call to action and where it appeared — spoken, on-screen text, a clickable button, front-loaded or saved for the end. Mark the one that had no clear CTA at all, and guess what it cost them. (Answer provided.)
3. ⭐⭐ Extract a brand kit. Pick a brand you like and, from their website alone, fill in FIGURE 22.2: two colors (grab the exact hex with an eyedropper), the heading font's feel (serif or sans, heavy or light), three tone-of-voice adjectives, and their visual style (bright or moody, handheld or locked). Then write one sentence on how that kit would force a lighting or grade decision on a shoot. You just did what you'll do before every brand job. (Model answer provided.)
4. ⭐⭐ Diagnose the vague brief. A client says: "We want a video that makes us look modern and maybe goes a bit viral." List the five questions from §22.1 you'd ask to turn that into a usable brief, predict the real goal hiding underneath, and name the single riskiest word in their request. (Answer provided.)
5. ⭐⭐ The one message. A gym owner wants their video to say: "we have new equipment, friendly trainers, a pool, flexible hours, a smoothie bar, and childcare." Choose the single message you'd build the video on for a specific audience (say, a time-poor parent), justify cutting the other five, and say where the cut features could still live (B-roll? a different video?). (Model answer provided.)
6. ⭐⭐⭐ Write a brief back. Take a real small business you know (a friend's, a local shop). Interview the owner for ten minutes using the §22.1 questions, then write them a one-paragraph brief and send it (or role-play it). In two sentences, name the gap between what they first asked for and what the brief revealed they actually need — that gap is where your value lives. (Guidance provided.)
B. Reading testimonials and product shots (Read the Sequence)
Before you shoot commercial pieces, learn to read them — to name why one testimonial persuades and another falls flat, and why one product shot looks premium and another looks cheap.
7. ⭐ Applause or proof? Two testimonial lines: (a) "It's a fantastic product, I highly recommend it." (b) "I used to lose a whole Saturday every month to the accounts — now it takes twenty minutes and I take my kids to the park." For each, say whether it persuades a stranger on the fence and why, then rewrite (a) as a question that would have produced something like (b). (Answer provided.)
8. ⭐⭐ Critique the frame. Re-read FIGURE 22.6 ("The detail that sells"). Name the frame, the light and its ratio choice, the sound event that makes the moment, and the one editing decision the shot is engineered for. Then say what you'd change if the brand were "playful and bright" rather than "warm and earnest." (Answer provided.)
9. ⭐⭐ Read the hero shot. Re-read FIGURE 22.8 ("The hero shot"). Identify how the shot handles reflection, why the depth of field is shallow, and what the single motivated move adds. Then list three specific things that would make this exact shot read cheap instead of premium. (Answer provided.)
10. ⭐⭐⭐ Write your own Described Shot. Watch a product ad you admire (30–60 s). Write a full seven-field Described Shot (Frame, Move, Light, Sound, Cut, Effect, Lesson) for its best hero shot. Then add one sentence naming the benefit — not the feature — it is selling, phrased the way the customer would feel it. (Model answer provided.)
C. Shoot this — the testimonial
The workhorse. Make things.
11. ⭐ Ten questions, zero closed. For a real testimonial subject (anyone with a genuine positive experience of a product, service, place, or tool), write ten questions using FIGURE 22.5. Mark the two must-gets. Constraint: not one can be answered "yes," at least three must be "walk me through…" or "tell me about the time…", and one must be the on-the-fence CTA question. (Model set provided.)
12. ⭐⭐ Shoot the three beats. Shoot a 60–90 second testimonial built as Problem → Solution → Result (FIGURE 22.4). Build the FIGURE 22.3 setup: subject on a third, off-axis eyeline, fill opened toward ~1:1, two-mic-safe audio (or your best approximation), an on-brand-ish background. Brief them to answer in full sentences. Grab 30 seconds of room tone. Self-review: watching back, is there a single moment a stranger on the fence would believe? Mark it — that moment is the film. (Critique provided.)
13. ⭐⭐ Use the pause. In the same shoot (or a new one), after every answer hold two-to-three seconds of silence instead of jumping in. Keep the takes. Watching back, mark which truer or more specific lines arrived after the pause versus in the first, composed answer. Write one sentence on how uncomfortable the silence felt — and why that discomfort is the tool. (Answer discusses what to expect.)
14. ⭐⭐ Two ratios, one face. Light your testimonial subject two ways: (a) fill opened toward ~1:1 (bright, trustworthy) and (b) a crushed ~4:1 moody ratio. Same person, same frame, same words. Watch both. Which serves a "friendly, reassuring" brand and which fights it — and can you imagine a brand the moody version would suit? Keep both as your reference for the ratio dial. (Answer provided.)
15. ⭐⭐⭐ Testimonial + B-roll. Shoot the testimonial from Exercise 12, then shoot the B-roll to cover it: the subject in their world, the product in use, the "before" and "after" states (Chapter 20 sequences). Do not edit yet — just confirm, clip by clip, that you have something to lay over every internal cut in the interview. Note any cut you couldn't cover; that's a coverage gap you'd fix by shooting more. (Guidance provided.)
16. ⭐⭐⭐ Rescue a scripted one. Deliberately shoot a testimonial the wrong way first: hand your subject three sentences to read. Then reshoot it properly with specific questions and the pause. Watch both. Write 100 words on exactly what's different — in the eyes, the cadence, the credibility — and why a viewer feels it even if they can't name it. This contrast is the whole argument of §22.3. (Answer provided.)
D. Shoot this — the product and the demo
The product-on-a-table setup. Every one of these works with a phone, a window, and a few cards — the craft is light, reflection, and showing the benefit, not gear.
17. ⭐ Find the reflection. Put any glossy object (a phone, a bottle, a watch, a spoon) on a table and look into its surface as you move a light or open a blind. Photograph it once looking bad (a messy, hard reflection of the room, the ceiling light, or you) and once looking good (a clean, soft reflection describing its shape). You now see the product shooter's entire problem in two frames. (Answer provided.)
18. ⭐⭐ The hero shot at a window. Shoot a hero beauty shot of one product using only a window as your big soft key, a white card as bounce, and a black card as negative fill and reflection control (FIGURE 22.7). Constraint: no purchased lights. Get the soft-source reflection to become the highlight that describes the product's shape, and use the black card to place one clean, deliberate dark edge. (Critique provided.)
19. ⭐⭐ Five Ways: one product, five treatments. Shoot one object five times, changing exactly one thing each time: (a) soft light for shape, (b) hard raking light for texture, (c) flooded flat light, (d) soft light plus negative fill for 3D shape, (e) a slow slider push versus locked off. Watch them back-to-back and pick the most desirable — then write the one sentence of why. (Answer discusses the trade-offs.)
20. ⭐⭐ Feature to benefit. List five features of any product you own (material, size, spec, a number). For each, write the benefit — what that fact gives the viewer, phrased as they'd feel it — and describe the single shot that would show that benefit (hands, use, result). "Show the hole, not the drill." Which feature turned out to have no real benefit? (Model answer provided.)
21. ⭐⭐ Shoot the demo sequence. Shoot a product doing its job as a Chapter 20 sequence: wide (what it is) → medium (someone using it) → detail (the satisfying function) → result (the benefit delivered). Include human hands in at least two shots. Confirm the four shots could cut together to show a benefit rather than list a feature. (Guidance provided.)
22. ⭐⭐⭐ Settings Drill: the tabletop. For a hero shot of a small reflective product, write the full starting settings (support, aperture, focal length, shutter, ISO, white balance, light plan) and justify each against the premium look you want. Then change the brief to "a rugged, outdoorsy tool" and rewrite the light plan and aperture — and explain what the brand change did to your choices. (Model answer provided.)
E. The call to action and the platform (Settings Drill + Cut This)
A commercial video that moves no one to act has failed, however beautiful. These drill the single most-forgotten element — the CTA — and the platform decisions that decide whether anyone sees it.
23. ⭐ Match the CTA to the funnel. For each video, write the funnel stage and the right CTA: (a) a brand story shown to strangers; (b) a customer testimonial; (c) a limited-time offer to past visitors. Then explain in one sentence why "buy now" is the wrong CTA for (a). (Answer provided.)
24. ⭐⭐ One shoot, four cuts. Take FIGURE 22.10 and plan the deliverable family for one branded piece: a 90-second hero, a 30-second cut, a 15-second vertical, and a silent 6-second bumper. For each, note the aspect ratio, whether sound is on, where the hook must land, and where the CTA lives. Which single shot would you make sure to capture so all four cuts have a strong opening? (Model answer provided.)
25. ⭐⭐ Reframe for vertical. Take a horizontal (16:9) clip you already have and plan (or actually crop) a 9:16 version. Write down what's lost at the edges, where you'd have to reposition the subject and any on-screen text to stay in the safe area, and what you would have framed differently on set had you known the vertical was coming. (Answer provided.)
26. ⭐⭐ Write three CTAs, three places. For one product, write the same CTA three ways for the same goal: as a spoken line the subject could naturally say, as on-screen text for a muted viewer, and as the platform button or caption. Keep them consistent in intent but native to each place — no copy-pasting the same words into all three. (Model answer provided.)
27. ⭐⭐⭐ Cut this: sound-off test. Take any short piece with a voiceover and watch it fully muted. Does the message survive? Does the CTA? Add captions or on-screen text so a muted viewer gets both, and list every place the video secretly depended on sound. This is the single most common reason commercial video underperforms on feeds. (Guidance provided.)
F. Managing the client (Fix the Shot & scenarios)
More commercial projects fail on the relationship than on the filmmaking. These rehearse the conversations — framing a review, translating vague feedback, holding the scope line — that keep a client happy and a project on the rails.
28. ⭐ Frame the review. You're about to send a client a rough cut with placeholder music and no color grade. Write the two sentences you'd send with it so they review the structure and story, not the missing polish — and so they don't panic about things you were always going to fix. (Answer provided.)
29. ⭐⭐ Translate the feedback. A client watches your fine cut and says: (a) "Make it pop." (b) "Make the logo bigger." (c) "It feels slow." (d) "I don't love it but I can't say why." For each, write the diagnostic question you'd ask to find the real problem underneath the symptom, and note why doing exactly what they literally said might make the video worse. (Model answers provided.)
30. ⭐⭐ Fix the process. A videographer shot a full branded film with zero client contact between the brief and delivery, and the client hates the tone. List every point where staged approval (FIGURE 22.11) would have caught this cheaply, and write the one-line review question the videographer should have asked at each gate. (Answer provided.)
31. ⭐⭐⭐ Hold the scope line. Your client, mid-project, asks you to "also just add a second version for the trade show, a few more product shots, and a cut for the CEO's LinkedIn." Write the warm, professional reply that says yes-to-the-relationship while naming the scope line and routing the money to the proper conversation (Chapter 38) — all without a hint of resentment. (Model answer provided.)
G. Interleaved (mixing prior chapters)
Commercial work is the whole production kit pointed at a paying goal. These deliberately braid this chapter together with the light, pre-production, and interview skills of earlier ones.
32. ⭐⭐ Light two masters. Light one person as a warm documentary interview (Chapter 19, ~3:1) and then as a bright corporate testimonial (~1:1). Explain, using Chapters 11–12, exactly what you changed (fill, distance, bounce) and why the brand of the piece — not a technical rule — drove the change. (Answer provided.)
33. ⭐⭐ Pre-produce the brand shoot. Using Chapter 16, build the pre-production for your Project 3 shoot: a one-paragraph treatment, a shot list grouping testimonial + product + B-roll, and a simple schedule. Note one decision the brief changed that the treatment alone wouldn't have (a caption requirement, a must-include, a platform constraint). (Guidance provided.)
34. ⭐⭐⭐ From doc to commercial. In about 200 words, explain how a testimonial is the same craft as a documentary interview (Chapter 19) built on a reality arc (Chapter 21) but serves a different master. Say precisely where the ethics line (Chapter 21, §21.5) stays identical, and where the goal differs. (Model answer provided.)
H. The spine — Project 3
This is where the chapter becomes your own project. Everything you build from here to Chapter 36 hangs on the brief you write now — so make it real.
35. ⭐⭐ Write the Project 3 brief. Complete the Production Checkpoint: fill every field of FIGURE 22.1 for your five-minute branded piece — goal (and success metric), audience (now vs. after), the one message, and the CTA. This is the foundation of everything from here to Chapter 36. (Model brief — a strong version versus a weak version — provided.)
36. ⭐⭐ Extract Project 3's brand kit. For your Project 3 client, fill FIGURE 22.2. If they have no brand guide, infer it from their materials and propose it back to them. Grab their real colors and fonts, and write the three tone adjectives you'll hold every creative choice against. (Guidance provided.)
37. ⭐⭐⭐ Plan Project 3's deliverables and approvals. Decide the platform(s) Project 3 will run on and therefore the deliverable family (§22.5), then draft the one-page approval plan from the §22.6 🎬 On Set: the gates, the revision rounds, and the one-line question you'll ask at each gate. Test it: if a busy client read only that page, would they know exactly what they're getting, when they'll see it, and what "done" means? (Guidance provided.)
38. ⭐⭐⭐ The audience letter. For your Project 3, write three sentences as if from a member of the target audience who just watched the finished piece and acted on it: what did they feel, what did they now believe about the brand, and what did they do next (the CTA)? Designing the ending you want — the exact change in a real viewer — is the most professional possible way to begin a commercial piece. (Model answer provided.)
When you've done these — especially the testimonial and product shoots and the Project 3 brief — you have crossed from making videos you want into making videos that do a job for someone paying you. That is the whole of commercial work. Next, in Chapter 23, we take the brief, the brand, and the CTA and pour them into the smallest, fastest frame there is: vertical, social, sound-off video.