Yay! Feedback!

I do videos for my church... the main problem in this is that everybody tries to be so darn positive and encouraging that they never tell you what sucks and in what manner it sucks.

I'd been using parts of these shorts (from a Liberia mission - so a reshoot would be inconvenient) in my demo, but considering I'm still unemployed, I could use an honest assessment of where I need to improve.

Everything was shot unrehearsed with no setup of any sort using a third-hand PD-150. Editing in FCP5.

many thanks

edit:

um...

yeah... forgot the video links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqEFfFkNI1I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jdhb61YVeUQ

I watched most of the first one and here are a couple of my opinions:

-From a communicative standpoint, I think that some sort of voice-over, text, or narration of some sort to help engage the viewer in what you want them to gain from watching. I felt like you were just giving a bunch of clips and saying do what you want with them.
-I didn't feel you had enough good footage to warrant a 5 minute plus video. Use your best stuff to tell the story and spend time color correcting it.
-I like the idea of using on location music but this audio was not recorded in such a way that enhanced the video. I would use some of that audio every once in a while but not as a musical basis for the entire video. Don't get me wrong...I'm not saying jam some David Crowder in the background but surely there is a tune that will help communicate the message.

I hope this helps.

Yes, very helpful, thanks.

sometimes "raw" is too raw, huh? :D

So, while I sharpen up my delete key, any particular shots you think cannot or should not be saved?

I agree with everything Jonathan stated.

From a professional "look" standpoint, there are far too many shots zooming in and out. Rather than zoom, cut or fade to close up or wide shots. There are a couple of artistic slow zoom-outs on what appears to be stills which looks fine, but on the live video....

Also, and I'm sure it a matter of taste but, going forward, you may want to shoot and edit in the 16x9 aspect ratio. 4:3, although not obsolete looks a little old school these days and to some the perception may be that it does not look as professional as 16x9.

I recently completed producing, editing, and color-correcting a new supernatural action film MERCY.

Synopsis:
After she is killed in a wave of small-town hysteria, Mercy Hawkins (Emilee Harris) is resurrected by a mysterious healer who gives her the power to seek justice against her attackers. Newly reborn and hell-bent on revenge, Mercy has little memory of who she was or how she died. To learn the identity of her killers, she must reclaim her past, her memory, and uncover the brutal secrets surrounding her death.

The 14 minute short was shot with a Canon XL1 in squeeze mode with stock lens, magic bulleted to 24P for one of the locations, and the rest of the film was shot with a Canon XL2 with the 14x manual lens in native 16:9, 24PA. It was edited in Premiere Pro and on-lined in AE using the DV Rebel Guides After Effects scripts (DV Rebel CC), and Magic Bullet Looks (from the suite using sliders, not the new looks program).

For those of you in Los Angeles, the film will be making it's debut at the Action on Film Festival ( http://www.aoffest.com/2008-event-info.html ) at the Laemmle Theater at One Colorado Blvd Pasadena, CA during the Saturday July 26, 2008 10pm short film block. We'd love some DVInfo support if you can make it!

To get a feel for the production you can see the new teaser trailer at the Mercy Vimeo Channel here: http://www.vimeo.com/MercyMovie

More information can be found at: http://audience.withoutabox.com/films/mercyhawkins blog until I can get a proper website in place.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Yes, very helpful, thanks.

sometimes "raw" is too raw, huh? :D

So, while I sharpen up my delete key, any particular shots you think cannot or should not be saved?

I would come up with the message and a basic framework before I deleted any clips. Some clips might be more acceptable with some color correction, slow mo, or by trimming off the shaky parts. Take for example the camp schedule in the opening shot. I would trim off the shaky portion because to me it looks a little amateurish and slow mo the more steady portion. This helps the audience to actually understand what they are looking at. Just an example.

http://www.vimeo.com/1227654

Here is a one cam one man wedding I did. I felt the urge to go with less polish and more veritas (sp). Please feel free to rip on it, I need the pro input.

I shot it in the 1920x1080 60i HQ mode. I have since moved to the 30p mode on the cam since I really like to use the natress film filters. Other film filter suggestions are welcome. Once again you won't hurt my feelings as input on how to get better is what I'm looking for.

This wan't the final edit and the song was different but I'm into Muse right now so I let it rip:)

I saw "Live at the Abbey Road" ( I think ) on Sundance channel and it was some of the most amazing camera work I have ever seen! Just awesome and it inspired me to achieve that look.

Thanks to all who reply!

Great job Paul! You have done what I have dreamed about since I was a little kid :)

The line on the bottom of your post has inspired me so thanks for that too!

Hey guys. I normally don't post much stuff, due for me being a hard critique to my own work, but I want some second opinions on our new show reel before I start spamming friends and older clients.

All of this stuff was shot during my last three years at school using whatever we could find equipment. This is my last and final year of schooling, and I wanted to thank all of you for being such a big help (just from reading all the posts)! =)

http://www.exaltedstudios.com/

-Note- I know I need to include a contact email, which I plan on adding in shortly.

Anyone from the southern united states around 30 years old remember this as a kid?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yNitSBXzsA

Guess not. LOL!

I must have been the only weird kid that went to showbiz pizza...

Thanks Mike. I appreciate you taking the time to take a look.

Glad Mr. Pearce has inspired you. I look forward to seeing you post about your next film here.

Paul

Video doesn't play.

Hi Adam:

Congrats on putting up your new reel.

There seem to be some format issues, a few shots look stretched--probably better to have those properly formatted with letterboxes to make them less distracting.

The black and white footage (16mm?) could be graded to give it some more snap, it's a bit flat.

The motion graphics have some nice energy but nearly all of the live video is static--I would at least lead the reel with the few moving shots that you have, remember that many times the decision is made to hire someone based on the first 30 seconds of a reel and you need to hit it hard right off the bat.

Another rule of thumb is that it is better to create a shorter reel than one that has repetition (unless you have the same shot in a montage vs. longer form). By the last 1/4 it seems it's a lot of re-runs (the guys in the superhero outfits etc).

Great work Eddie!!!!! Solid work all across the board; editing, sound, cinematography, and acting. That has to be one of the best short film dramas I've seen. I really like the story. A dose of real life....

I had a little issues with the color grading, but i think it's a little trivial. So no worries there. Once againg great work man....I just get a little ticked off when peopel fail to comment on good stuff. Because i think people can learn from what you did.

One question though.... Why did u keep it all tight shots in the (interiors)???

Jeremy, very nice, makes me want to visit! Same comments on use of zoom, but on a positive note, many of the shots were extremely creative and very well executed. Keep up the good work!

I've been lurking around dvinfo for a couple of months now and know that there are some talented, knowledgable people in here. I would greatly appreciate any criticism, no matter how harsh. I'm a total noob and feel that I have much to learn. With that being said...please rip apart my videos. Thanks.

http://gonzo.uni-weimar.de/~puen5159/showreel08/Showreel_Conrad_Ostwald_2008.mov

I really don't know why the video won't play - I have tested it in Firefox, IE7, Safari and Opera. It's using Flash 9 and buffers before it auto plays. You might of been having a slow connection at that time.

Charles, thanks for the great advice, the formatting issue was created in flash encoder. I believe I have fixed that. One thing I completely forgot was color grading some shots such as the 16mm footage and a few of the interviews. I also shortened the reel to 2:32, unlike the previous 3:30ish - and finally removed oblivious repeated shots and swapped others around.

One thing I noticed I did while swapping shots around is that I separated most of the motion graphics pieces from the cinematography clips. I am wondering if this is a good idea or not.

The new one is up, located on the same site. Let me know what you think.
www.exaltedstudios.com

There is a lot of good stuff in there, but I think there are a lot of uninteresting things in there as well. With how long your reel is, I would really concentrate on making it a lot shorter. There are a lot of shots you could really take out, like guy opening back pack, or a standard close up.

Outstanding!

Heck yeah! I'd hire him.

Okay so here is a video put together that was shot on the fly. My friend did it for a school project and it we tried to have fun with it. Let me know what you think. If you have a laugh or you think its ridiculous send it to a friend for a laugh. All comments welcome! Thanks to all who took the time to watch this 1 minute video!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxni8pkiDjE

http://vimeo.com/1159781


A video I made of me painting a canvas for my mom's mother's day present.
I tried to capture small details and add an artistic side to the video instead of the ordinary timelapse videos while i was painting which made the process a little longer because it was only me painting and filming. Still a fun process though. The painting now hangs in my living room =)

Camera: Canon XHA1, stock lens
Edits: Final Cut Pro 6

Music:
The Whitest Boy Alive - Burning

cross post, have to delete, same one located in Canon H1 thread,
Sorry for inconvenience!

I just put together this quick promo video for a theatre company. I had to sit in the audience, so I couldn't get too many creative shots. Shot with a GL2

Let me know - I'd like to get some constructive criticism.

http://www.vimeo.com/1253195

Thanks

My Hvr-A1u is at the doctor and I had to buy a camera to keep working, its the Sony HC-5
I am very much surprised of the result and its more reliable and work better for rock concert(spot focus and spotmeter on screen touchpad)
I just bought a second today($500), so from now on I will have a back up.

Sony Hc-5, wide angle 0737y, edit in imovie and final cut 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxyg6cqPIY0&fmt=18

Hello,

We put together our first commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnnL_n-yS4g

Forgive the YouTube quality (I tried to upload to .Mac but it won't play). For some background, we are primarily event shooters. We were asked to submit a "sample" commercial edit to be considered for sub-contracting out for inexpensive, local cable access commercial productions. We taped on Thursday, logged & captured on Sunday, and edited all day on Monday (we wanted to simulate a tight deadline). We used Sony DSR250 & 170 cameras. There are some slow shutter effects shot that don't play well on YouTube and the blue text doesn't show up as well either.

Comments appreciated,
Mike

The flying titles are a bit dated. Try to stick with one or 2 fonts throughout for unity. Lighting could have been better on the 'band' (but it was a nice touch having them 'appear' during the pan). A bit heavy on the whip-zoom for my taste. Ending graphic is too busy, especially with the moving 'waveform' graphic. The voice-over should be outsourced to a pro, which will really help 'sell' the ad.

Thanks for the feedback! I completely agree about the voice over- that's me in the basement trying to wrap up a sample! The Studio will be supplying the "official" audio bed- but that might not be for a few more weeks and we wanted to get the sample in sooner rather than later in hopes of getting some paid gigs! We did stick with two fonts, the WAMI was a logo graphic provided to us. I agree on the lighting, however given what I have to work (light kit wise) with and the time constraints shooting, this was the best we could do. Although I am sure we will get better and faster with time! I liked the ending graphic though- would be interested in hearing other thoughts.

Mike

wow, impressive.

great video man. and a very cool painting as well.

Hey Oren, doesn't it reminds you of the local spots you see on Ch.36 and Ch.26 for "Dynamo Alarm Company" and so and so's dental office?

James

fwiw, I like the appearance of the band, nice touch, and regarding the ending graphics, I feel it would have more punch if the tag line "Get serious..." appeared first, then the remainder popped in. That is your money slogan.

Also, I was personally distracted by the pseudo audio track graphic - I kept thinking it would resolve into wavelength form but it didn't. May be a cleaner look to drop that, although I admire what you were shooting for. Nicely done.

I think you could use some extreme closeups of some dental grills ala flava flaz. Think WMD wide medium detail and use some slo mo in key spots . I wanted to see a some more twenty fo's give some cool angles and maybe some fish eye shots.

Get guys to really breath down the lens. Move the cam around a little. I feel in something like this if it's going to be hand held go for it. Take some chances make a move in and turn the cam dutch at the end etc.

Overall I liked it. But I felt a more frenetic pace could be used.

watched only 1st video and strongly recommend, not to use white background or white clothes when afro-american skin is present. This will make them underexposed, so you wont even see their nose and background or clothes burned out, especially when shooting on video...

Thanks for the feedback. We will try changing the order of the text in the end graphic. Based on your suggestion, I might look for a waveform that we can use a maybe "grow" it to end the piece.

Thanks again,
Mike

Hey guys,
Just did a school project and wanted to see what you thought of it so I could get better. My teacher didn't leave many comments, although I did get an A.

http://blog.exquisite-video.com/?p=26

The assignment was to tell a story using no sound and no actors. I would love some comments on what you think of it.

-Louis

ps. You can show the blog some comment love too if you would like.

Thanks for the feedback. I plan on re-shooting the first video within a couple of weeks and I will remember all of your advice. I have only been "behind the camera" for 2 months now. I work alone and I'm learning as I go along, but it has been great so far. Thanks again!

I would take a note pad a voice recorder and possilby a TIVO or something like that and STUDY the vids you see on MTV. Watch your favorite ones over and over thinking about how they made those shots.

Granted you will likely not have a jib, crane on dolly (or a few 100k) at your one man band show but you will get some great ideas. Really study how the shot was made and take notes. Forget the graphics and animation for now...

Read "Rebel without a Crew". I read this book in two sittings. The fact that you have been "behind" the camera only two months and have produced this video is fantastic! I've been behind the camera over 20 years and haven't made a "real" music video. Looks like loads of fun :)

Just keep at it and don't just zone in front of the TV..... try to figure out how each shot was created.

All the best!

Hi,

our production company just finished our first music video clip, a low budget clip of the song 'One Love' by the hiphop-artist D-Large.

We wanted to have another atmosphere than the usual hiphop videoclip, and I hope we succeeded.
There is a little instance where the singing doesn't seem in synch, but it's only in the web version. It was our first time (first time with the EX1, first time with a dolly and jib we bought, first time videoclip, first time I worked with more then 4 people,...) and we learned a lot, but still: all feedback is welcome.

I recommend everyone to watch it in High Quality on youtube because there is a big difference in image sharpness. Shot on an Sony EX1 in 2 days with some 20 people in total (people in front of the camera included) who were all so great to lend us their time and talents.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=jcEZ7f1f8IQ

Best regards,

That's exactly what I have been doing for the last 2 weeks. MTV is horrible though, they replay and reloop the same 12 videos or so, across 3 channels and then call it "diverse programming". I started watching music videos via Youtube recently, like the Mark Romaneck, Glazier, etc...these are the types of videos I really want to make, I just have to get my budget to agree. :)

I have read Robert Rodriguez's book twice. I love it and highly recommend it to anyone interested in filmmaking. He demystifies filmmaking and makes it totally accessible.

I like the concept, however the video seems a bit slow (pacing?, editing?) The puppet sequence worked well and the strong backlight shining through actually looked great. What kind of lighting did you use?

Hi Desi,

yes, we wanted people to absorb more of the shots then have a flashy editing. The song itself is a slower love song too.

Lighting... I was cameraman but not DOP so I'll try and gues: I think 1x Arri 2.5k light, some 800 watt Jokers with Chimera's (I hope I'm correct) and cheap theatre spots. (all rented).
For the puppet sequence we couldn't really get the lightning that we liked and suddenly the DOP thought of putting the big Arri 2.5k light after the dancers with a wooden pallette in front of it, creating lines.
We also used a smoke machine, which helped a lot in creating a more stylized look that we were after.

Thanks for your time and feedback,

http://www.vimeo.com/1255118
The playback is a bit choppy- still working on getting the best compromise between quality and smooth playback. I used Premiere CS3 and h.264 for this. A lot of the camera work looks rough... all I can say is it ain't easy! Smooth pans and zooms are tough when the lens is so close to the subject but practice is improving my skills. The camera is a Canon XH-A1. Thanks for looking.
Greg

Very cool- great idea and excecution.

Great camera work, Mike! I enjoyed your compositions and the power of the EX1. I like the song on its own but I wouldn't have chosen it for this piece.

Besides that my only criticism might be to shorten your shots some. Albeit, the shots were all great, a lot of them seemed too long and slowed the pace somewhat.

Nice stuff. Thanks for sharing!

The introduction to my show reel. http://vimeo.com/1293388 After this runs the viewer will be able to select any of the snippets to play full length, but before I continue I wanted to see what you all thought.

Love it, hate it, or is it a "Don't call us we will call you?"

Appreciate the input.

Jim

WOW! He is good! Nice work!

Hi all,

I just got my music that will play during my signature. A friend of mine did one a month ago, he is a lawyer by day and a music lover by night so he did it just for fun, the other one was done by a pro though.

I'm kinda torn between them, your feedback would sure help me.

www.production24fps.com/signature.htm

Don't pay attention to the video quality. These are not from the source, I reencoded the already encoded demo so quality is poor, the audio part is fine though.

Thanks

Phil