The current season of Survivor – Heroes vs. Villains – is just superb. Wow and wow! I was completely blown away by the tribal council that occurred about a month ago when Tyson was voted out.

But last night? Last night was fab-u-lous! The whole episode was pretty good but what a great payoff with tribal council. I never, never, never would have expected an outcome like that. I can’t wait to watch it again online.

By the way, if you’re a big fan of the show, you ought to check out Jeff Probst’s blog.

In honor of a new season and maybe a new set of toys camera equipment, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the rigors of creating a television show on a ship that never stops moving.

All of this is done with one continuous shot! It is impressive and may make you think that there had to be a lot of special effects within the commercial. In reality, there are few of them. Leo Laporte of TWiT (This Week in Tech) recently interviewed a couple of folks involved in the creation of the commercial. The interview is lengthy but is worth watching if you want to know how they did it.

Good Luck!

Want to know how the Bud Light house of beer was constructed? Take a look.

Or what about the Snickers commercial with Betty White and Abe Vagoda? Diane Sawyer shows us how it was done.

And Troy Polamalu’s ad for truTV.

You have to make sure you have committed people working with you both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. The performers really need to get into their roles as Bon Jovi or the Spice Girls and not be embarrassed that passersby are trying to figure out what you are up to.

You also need people who understand how to operate a camera and will shoot the way you want, particularly if you end up as a performer in the video. Do you want a close-up of a performer’s face? Do you want a wide shot of choreography? Whatever it is that you want, you need to be able to communicate it and make it happen.

And, of course, don’t forget the music. If you can play the music aloud, it will make the editing process so much easier. While you won’t use the audio you capture in your final edit, it will help to know what your performers are supposed to be singing.

In the post-production process, you should act as the editor. Synching words and someone’s mouth movements perfectly will either drive you crazy and/or make you a better editor than you were before you started. When my friends and I created a video as tourists in Italy, we couldn’t play our music outloud to sing along. We had to go strictly from memory on how the song sounded and lyrics on a piece of paper. The editing process was fun… because it was so challenging… not to mention ridiculously silly!

Need some inspiration? This “Lip Dub” of the Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling made its rounds on YouTube for good reason.

It was recorded with a single, continuous shot. That is impressive. In this case, the editing isn’t the great part, the planning and coordination is. Take a look at the making of the video to see what I mean.

When I first saw this commercial for the Toyota Prius, I was amazed. It was just so cheerful and so visually interesting. The music music makes me smile and so does the creative approach. I recently found this video about how it was made. Take a look at how the commercial is people-powered.

Brandon Tartikoff, 1949-1997 (from museum.tv)

I miss the days of NBC when Brandon Tartikoff was king. I was just a kid in the ’80s, but somehow I knew who he was. He was the exec responsible for NBC’s programming greatness in the ’80s. He brought Bill Cosby to NBC. Remember Cheers? Miami Vice? The Golden Girls? That was all under Tartikoff’s stint as the head of NBC’s Entertainment Division.

Even as a big wig, he had a great sense of humor, too. I remember seeing him do humorous appearances on Night Court and other NBC shows. One of my favorite biographies is his, The Last Great Ride. And although he passed away over 10 years ago, I still admire his work as a television programmer.

With all that greatness, it makes me wonder, what would Brandon Tartikoff do? What would he do in the debacle that is unfolding on prime time/late night television? (Not that he would have gotten himself into this situation in the first place.) But how would he resolve this issue with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien? Would he let Conan go? How would he fill the 10pm time slots?

Perhaps Tartikoff would compromise. Perhaps instead of moving Jay Leno to 11:35, he would keep him at 10:00… on Fridays. And maybe he would give him a holiday special or two… Christmas, Thanksgiving, Flag Day, Grandparents’ Day. Maybe Tartikoff would make appearances on these proposed specials.

As for Conan O’Brien? Keep him. Tartikoff would keep him at 11:35 and promote the heck out of him. Get him on Regis and Kelly. Put him on Ellen. Get him everywhere so that he can have some time to expand his demographic. It’s a novel concept but Tartikoff would get it. He would make it happen.