There are a few things that can add professionalism to your commercial...and if the production company is good enough, you may not even know magic was ever done. Here are a couple of examples of some "behind the scenes" tricks we use to make your commercial look more professional!
Example 1
We were contacted by a company that needed a commercial refreshed. They had footage that another production company shot but needed new music, new graphics, and a fresh edit. The first thing we noticed when we started working was a lavalier microphone draped in front of the on-screen talent.
Distracting isn't it? So distracting that I'm paying attention to that and not to what he's saying.
One of the many rules of shooting talent is to hide the microphone (although you can let this rule go by if you're in a news situation). For commercials, we try to always hide the mic. A little gaff tape to the inside of a jacket or taped under a tie rather than clipped to the outside of a tie are just a couple ways to accomplish this.
Since we tend to be perfectionists on anything we work on, there was no way we could let this pass. So in post, we digitally removed the microphone.
Now everything is nice and clean and the microphone isn't distracting from the message. As a viewer, or in this case the client, didn't mention anything about what we did...and that's what we like! If we do our job correctly, nothing bad will stand out and you will just think everything is smooth!
Example 2
Here is something we went into a shoot knowing we'd have to change. We were doing some video for a local realtor and wanted to shoot a generic "For Sale" sign, but were unfortunate enough not to find one that fit what we were looking for. We found one, but it wasn't supposed to say "For Sale By Owner", just "For Sale".
Not what we wanted...she's supposed to be a realtor...not a homeowner. So we planned on "fixing it in post", which is what we did!
Well looky there! Now we have a generic "For Sale" sign that is unique enough not to mimic another agency. And again, that's something the viewer would never even notice.
tl;dr - Its best to prepare your commercial where we don't have to "fix it in post"; but on occasion we have no choice...it's time to let the magic happen!