How to really sell a used car

According to Bill Myers this commercial was created by just "one guy with a phone mounted on a 3 axis gimbal and a drone."

Used Car Commercial // 1996 Honda Accord

Yet, on the YouTube site it says this:

Written and Directed by Max Lanman 

Cinematography by Christopher Ripley 

Produced by Max Lanman & Christopher Ripley 

Starring Anne Marie Avey 

Voiceover by Matt Pratt 

Featuring Papa Puff Pants 

Additional Stunt Driving by Carrie 

Original Score by Andrew Johnson 

Sound Designed and Mixed by Colin Heath 

Drone Piloting, Foley Recording, Editing, and Motion Graphics by Max Lanman 

Color by Christopher Ripley 

I'd like to send a special thanks to Burg for helping me record additional foley, Kelly and Chris for all the time you babysat and re-parked Greenie when we were out of town, Canon for helping out on the principal shoot day, and Brian for lending your handwriting to this. 

Finally, a huge thanks to Carrie for letting me do this, even though it took me a lot longer than I had planned. 

Thanks for watching!
- Max 

P.S. Read the fine print!

Whatever the above means, it suggests it was not a one-man show.  

Below is a picture of the principal creator of the commercial, Max Lanman, and his fiancé, Carrie Hollenbeck.  (source)

Although Carrie owned the 149,095-mile Accord, Anne Marie Avey drove the car in the commercial, for the most part.  (below)

If Ann Marie is not a professional actress she could be.

Finally, here is what CNBC said about the commercial:

"The idea came to me when I was driving the very stretch of highway that you see in the commercial," Lanman, the writer and director behind the project, tells CNBC Make It. He's the founder of a creativity agency based out of Los Angeles, Calif., called, LEÃO, which makes ads, virtual reality and branded content for companies like Microsoft and Häagen-Dazs. 

"It just dawned on me that making a high-end car commercial for a really crappy car might be funny, and Carrie fortunately had just the car for the job." 

Carrie Hollenbeck, now Lanman's fiancée, is not the actress in the video. That's their friend, Anne Marie Avey. "Carrie's a little bit camera shy so she didn't want to be the main character," says Lanman. But she was the stunt driver for the aerial shots that Lanman took with his drone, a DJI Phantom 3 Professional. 

He also used his own SONY A7S2 camera. In fact, except for a pickup truck he rented out to shoot some of the footage, Lanman says he did the entire project with his own equipment and with his own friends. The other cameraman is his buddy Christopher Ripley. The video's narrator with the born-for-radio voice is his neighbor, Matt Pratt. And the cat, Papa Puff Pants, belongs to Avey. 

The commercial hardly cost them a thing. 

Lanman acknowledges that they put in 200-some hours over the course of a year. And 200 hours might seem like a lot of effort to sell a car with a Kelly Blue Book value of $1,500. 

Still, he says, "the experience of doing it was just a blast. That was our M.O. from the beginning. If we have fun making this, then it will be worth it."

The Sony a7S II Lanman used is a full-frame E-mount camera that shoots 4K video.  From what I've seen a high-end smartphone could do a comparable job for shooting a commercial like this.  

Bill Myers mentioned a 3-axis gimbal.  Gimbals come in many prices, but here's one that's inexpensive:  The Zhiyun Smooth-Q 3 Axis Handheld Gimbal for Smartphones Up to 6".  $139 Prime at Amazon.

What is a gimbal?  Here's the Wikipedia answer:

Handheld 3-axis gimbals are used in stabilization systems designed to give the camera operator the independence of handheld shooting without camera vibration or shake. Powered by three brushless motors, the gimbals have the ability to keep the camera level on all axes as the camera operator moves the camera. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) responds to movement and utilizes its three separate motors to stabilize the camera. 

With the guidance of algorithms, the stabilizer is able to notice the difference between deliberate movement such as pans and tracking shots from unwanted shake. This allows the camera to seem as if it is floating through the air, an effect achieved by a Steadicam in the past. Not limited to handheld shooting, gimbals can be mounted to cars and other vehicles such as drones, where vibrations or other unexpected movements would make tripods or other camera mounts unacceptable.

The DJI Phantom 3 Professional Quadcopter 4K UHD Video Camera Drone Lanman used gets high marks from customers for its quality, but absolutely devastating comments regarding the company's customer service.