I really, really, and I mean this, REALLY enjoyed your film.

The cinematography was great, especially in the light that I paid it no attention. I didn't need to. Visually it was there, and cued me to what I needed to know, without spelling things out. The audio was great, the actors expressed great emotion....

I did think that the B&W transitions were somewhat out of place, something a bit less intrusive would have been more pleasing to my eye, personally. Other than that...

The story was phenomenal. The storytelling was even better. Congratulations.

I like it.

Good song, good pace....visually interesting. The winking pirate at the end is a wee bit silly but that's ok given the context of the little treasure chest scenerio.

Amazing what you can do in a 10' x 12' white room and a little imagination.

Now the vintage broadcast type microphone like the one used by your lead singer seems to be a popular prop in a number of music videos i've seen but it still works in yours because you treat it as just another prop except when the Bass Player does his solo vocal part and visually it's the right choice .

As for lighting ....pretty basic stuff. Looks like you had a key light maybe a 2nd light and whatever was coming off the ceiling light. I could see the Musicians faces plus desaturating....it looked ok.

Over all good job Jeff.

Very nice!
I was thinking about getting together with some friends that jam every now and then for fun and put together a little video. I was wondering any suggestions for syncing? They do have some stuff recorded. I am really new to all this so any suggestions would be great. Thought it would be fun

Hi, we now have a teaser and a trailer on the site. Check out and tell what you think :)

http://silentpaprika.kapsi.fi/evil

Wow - beautiful shots! It looks like if you are also a very experienced diver - the shots are extremely stable.

I think the film would be even better, if you would cut it down to 3 or 4 minutes. It might also be a good idea to change the music at the beginning.
Thanks for the feedback Oliver.

I am quite an experienced diver but I also used a tripod for many of the macro shots, which of course helped with steadiness.

I think I will shorten it somewhat, and I will reconsider that opening music track.

A feature I shot a long time ago is finally seeing the light of day, as the producers are shopping it at the European Film Market. I've been waiting for this one as it was a strongly visual film, I think I posted about it here back in the day. Please enjoy the trailer here:

Flash version (http://www.theperfectsleep.com/tps_trailer.html)
Quicktime version (http://www.theperfectsleep.com/tps_trailer_mov.html)

This was mostly shot on the F900, with some additional photography done on the Genesis.

Congratulations, Charles! Finally!

Good heavens, you aren’t kidding when you speak of it being “strongly visual;” the trailer was enough for me. :) But it’s beautifully shot, just as all of us would count on from you. I have to say…that first scene is really gross!

The man who plays Nikolai looked familiar, but I didn’t recognize his name. Judging from the trailer he did an excellent job. Then as I looked to see your name (so cool!) I noticed that he wrote this movie.

I had to watch both versions because on my computer the audio on the Flash version is out of sync. It’s “prettier” than the Quicktime, though, so I hope it works for others.

Wonderful news...wonderful job!

Great work! you're a true artist. I can now see what years of experience and natural talent can do when matched with the right equipment and a great crew and am impressed. I was wondering if you could take a moment to discuss the lighting equipment and techniques used in the movie. In particular, is the key light coming from a direct source or is there a certain kind of diffusion or bounce used in combination with the key light? Does your method change throughout the movie? I'm interested in learning how to match (or compliment) the lighting style from one scene to the next when they require vastly different sized lights (ie - low lit interiors vs. bright exteriors). This kind of information would be really helpful, I think. BTW, Great job on the movie.. hello Sundance! And, thanks for your reply in advance.

thanks Lorinda and Brian.

"right equipment and crew"--well, sort of...this was actually a really low budget movie, appearances to the contrary. I'm not supposed to say how low but suffice to say that the general consensus is that it looks like it cost 10-20 times what we actually spent on it.

I started the job with a different grip and electric crew that was replaced after a week, then things settled down a bit, but we were always way understaffed, and the biggest equipment package in the world (not that I had that) is of no use if you don't have the manpower to use it! Some of the sets were very large and required an alternative approach to light based on our resources.

Many different lighting approaches in the film, but generally I kept the Narrator (main charactor) in half-light as it made him more menancing, and it was generally pretty hard. Some of the locations required more of a soft-light approach, and the segments with Roslyn Sanchez at her mansion were much warmer and prettier than the rest of the film as she represented the yin to the yang of the violence and darkness seen elsewhere in the film.

It will be difficult if I am ever called on to do an interview on the lighting of this film as so many years have now gone by, it's getting fuzzy, but I might be able to remember details for specific shots if asked.

by the way, the official site at perfectsleep.com has added a set of great framegrabs from the movie.

is where I would like to watch this. Looked interesting (and funny, in a Snatch sort of way. Good stuff. =D) , and of course gorgeous. Love the music in the last 3rd of the trailer! :)

C

I'd love to see it in the theatre too Carl! With any luck the picture will be sold soon and I'll be supervising the film-out right after that.

It looks good but I could not get the Quicktime version to play. When do you expect the movie to be complete? How was the movie shot?

Did you download the file? Because I didn't get the streaming to work :(
It's ready in 1.3.2008, we have the premiere set for that. If we don't get a distribution deal anywhere, we will make it available for free in the internet. It was shot in 5 days last summer with a Panasonic dvx100, minimalistic light set and a crew of four.

My latest assignment was to make a promo/intro video for a new website, www.mmarecruiter.com, a forum that brings together promoters and fighters in the increasingly popular sport of mixed martial arts fighting.

My limitiation was that I had to use previously shot fight footage. Generally speaking, the video that was supplied was not good; over- and under-exposed, blurry, shaky and too far away much of the time. Many of the fights were lackluster. After sifting through hours of footage I was able to come up with a handful of clips that I could use.

I decided that I wanted this vid to be as different as possible from the high-speed, screaming heavy metal MMA clips that have quickly become cliche, despite this sport’s relative newness. Admittedly, what I’ve come up with is all style and very little substance. I plan to make another version that outlines more clearly just what MMA Recruiter has to offer. In the meantime it remains to be seen if fans of MMA will find this version awesome...or too artsy. What do you think?

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

Here's a music video I did for a young Whangarei (New Zealand) couple who sing Phantom of the Opera type stuff. Shot with an XHA1 and Lex.
I wanted to try the whole speed the song up and slow the footage in post. Damn, did I f*** that up!
In retrospect, I'd need to do a three day shoot with something like this. Spend the 2nd day reviewing footage at the slowed down rate so I can pick up discrepencies and re-shoot what you need to on the 3rd day.
Oh well, you learn some things the hard way.
They're a very talented young couple. The music aint my thing at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx5AWqotTGI

Edited in FCP by my associate. Shot the week before Christmas ('07). It was nice to get out of the Indiana cold for a few days...
http://www.vimeo.com/644573

Dennis, you’re right—they are both quite talented! I really enjoyed listening to them.

Had you tried that technique before? Don’t know how hard it would be to get them together again, but I would think it would be worth another shot, depending on what their plans were for this. Your lighting and other choices worked well, I thought. I hope you’ll consider trying again.

But I wonder, does this particular song/setting really need the "speed the song up and slow the footage in post?"

Well done, great promo!

Cheers,

Oliver

This is the first time I've tried this technique.
I wouldn't be scared to use it again, but I'd definitely have to slow the footage down in post to check the shot list.
No chance of a re-shoot unfortunatly.

Thanks for watching, Oliver.
I appreciate it :)

Looks really nice! My only suggestion is I think it would have been good to bring the music up slightly when you don't have interview dialogue.

Hi All
I put this together rather quickly to show a variety shots that can be achieved
with the EX1. Type of footage is 60i, 24p, 30p, time lapse, night time, interiors
etc....
Please let me know what you think?
Here is the link to my gallery, just click on "HD Demo" and it's about 2 min. in length. There are other movies there as well all filmed with the EX1.

http://gallery.mac.com/aldovisaggio1#gallery

Cheers, Aldo

Beautiful stuff Aldo! I really wish I was in a position to buy my next camera, it's an exciting time for it :) The 1/2" chip really cranks out nice footage.

Thanks for taking the time to have a look and commenting Cole. It's been a great camera to work with and has reignited my passion for video production.
Regards, Aldo

Just some opinions.

I understand you were really limited by your footage choices, but I have to say, the clip walked that fine line between highly disturbing and hilarious for me. My guess is that the audience for this will love it. You've kind of validated their sport as high art; even people who hate opera as music kind of defer to it as a signifier of "classy".

Also it's probably the youtube conversion, but the quality of the footage was washed out, and had almost a CCTV look to it. - maybe add some more contrast in the grade?

I know you were limited in your choices, but I think you might want to stick to some kind of theme. You have shots from all over the place. Maybe pick a theme like "the moment of triumph", "facing defeat", etc; choose the clips around that, maybe make it a minute rather than two.

1- What's the goal / what are you trying to communicate?

From looking at the site, I think you would be trying to get fighters to sign up for the site. In that case, they are already sold on the sport of MMA. It might be superfluous to show them MMA clips (they've probably seen a lot of MMA anyways).

It perhaps might be better if the content has a message that compels fighters to sign up for the site. It could be something like the owner of the site telling a story about why the site came about and its purpose (hopefully he/she is comfortable on camera!!). I think just seeing a person talk (without trying to do a sales pitch) would lend credibility to the site and encourage people to use it. Or a video could be something else entirely.

2- I think what Pride did with their videos is interesting. But then again, they lost their TV license and ran into financial difficulties. Compare that with UFC... which is pretty formulaic (oh snap they hate each other!) but UFC is doing very well commercially.

With Pride, they get into the fighter's personal lives and I find that interesting. e.g. Shinya Aoki dropped out of school (police academy IIRC), his parents weren't pleased about that, but now his dad is a fan of his. There are stories there that can be told. Of course Pride had a lot more time to go capture that kind of footage and follow the fighters around.

That's really great! Looks beautiful and communicates your message well. I want to live there!!

My only nitpick is that I don't particularly like the Dutch angle shots, but that's just me.

Hey guys

I was hoping to get some good constructive criticism of my site & work. Because the majority of my current business is wedding videos, do you think my site theme is bride friendly?
As far as the samples go, just pick one at random and tell me what you think.

www.glasseyevideo.com

Thanks!

Sorry Steve, I don't think the home page video is bride friendly at all. Feels like you shoe-horned the wedding footage into a corporate video piece. And that music is too scary for something like wedding videos. The beautiful bride & father interrupted by the talking head was especially awful. The rest of the website is pretty generic. Please visit our Wedding / Event Videography Techniques forum (http://dvinfo.net/conf/forumdisplay.php?f=72), you'll find some really good examples of great wedding videos and websites. If you click on people's names in their posts you will usually get a drop-down option to see their website.

[EDIT]
Maybe try completely separating the wedding videos from the corporate video? Have separate sections on the website from the get go, and give them a different feel. Also at the beginning of the home page video, I thought you should be zooming into the first piece vs. flying away. But mainly, I'd make a separate section for wedding videos as the clientele is very specialized and is looking for very specific things.

Re: website
- the website colors are very "Microsoft Windows", safe corporate colors, but don't suggest wedding video at all.
- wedding home page - too much text, I'd put the main linkgs (screening room & packages) at the top of main-center-section, or better yet put them on the site's home page.
- wedding home page - the second thing under your wedding services description is "Cartoon yourself", it doesn't really say "I"m serious about your wedding video". maybe move the "cartoon stuff" and other "fun additions" to the side bar
- once again, I'd move your screening room and packages links to the home page, that's what your selling after all.

I'm packing my bags right now - when can I move in? Nice looking video. Especially encouraging to see what can be done with the XH A1. I'm just starting to get the hang of it with mine. Thanks for sharing.

Great shots, good audio. I want to get a XH-A1. Did you use special lenses?

Revver.com was holding a contest for the Mexican Hass Avocado people. You had to make a sub 1 minute spot that included some of their key phrases and logo.

Here is my submission, I found out about the contest on the day of the deadline, and had 4 hours to shoot, edit, compress and upload it before the deadline.

Here is the Quicktime version hosted on my site, let me know what you think. I know the key on the rotating food at the end is really messy, I was under a time crunch.

http://mattjohnstonrally.com/matt/morevids/HassFinal.mov

I have to agree with some of the above statements. Your work is good and your opening page would be great for commercial or corporate video. Wedding videos have a very specific formula. If you don't hit brides with that soft focus, romantic stuff right away I think you will lose them.

As an example check out my cousin's site.

http://www.joepulcinella.com/

Notice how you know immediately that his specialty is weddings although he shoots commercial subjects and portraits as well.

www.royermedia.com

I'd like some feedback on the overall design of the website, which is themed after Breakaway, my most current movie. I created it with a combination of Adobe Photoshop Elements and iWeb. The RoyerMedia Event's section will soon be completely re-done as I only had a few hours to throw it together, so I'd like some ideas on what to do for that. Also try playing Breakaway and see if the quality of the video is good.

Thanks,
Nick

Nice looking site. But the navigation bar really got me confused. Maybe that could be made more clear. The Speedometer, Royer Media, & Royer Media Events links were very confusing, since there's no obvious reason to me why they are any more special than the other links, aside from looking cooler. Plus the Royer Media Event link (which was the first one I clicked) took me to what looks like a completely different site. That just got me lost, I'm still not sure why that works like that. It was like you presented me with one site design, then just threw it away, and came up with another design just for the fun of it. I feel like either it's a different site (in which case it should be more clear what it's all about and why it is a different site), or it should just be clearly consolidated into the main site.

I like the large graphic underneath the navigation bar, but I feel like in the end you could get rid of it as the site was a little too graphics heavy. It's not bad but it's enough that switching pages feels jerky on a fast connection. Can't complain too much, as I haven't updated my site since 1967 ...

Good job on the movie, I liked it. The story was decent. Acting and the lighting of the cinematography could have been worked on. ADR was quirky, but didn't mind so much due to the script and shots. I've seen worse at some festivals! I thought you did a good job directing the actors and action to get some interesting shots. Considering that you shot it as 1967, pretty darn good. I liked the cars at the beginning. By the way it started playing in about 15 seconds.

Plus the Royer Media Event link (which was the first one I clicked) took me to what looks like a completely different site. That just got me lost, I'm still not sure why that works like that. It was like you presented me with one site design, then just threw it away, and came up with another design just for the fun of it. I feel like either it's a different site (in which case it should be more clear what it's all about and why it is a different site), or it should just be clearly consolidated into the main site.

Yes, RoyerMedia Event's is a separate website. "RoyerMedia" is the film part and "RoyerMedia Events" is the for-hire video work that I do. I put together the RME website on a road-trip in just a few hours, and haven't yet got around to re-doing it. I will probably just buy royermediaevents.com and make it a separate website with a link to it from royermedia.com.

Very impressive for the amount of time you took to make this.

Great work.

Hi guys

Haven't posted any footage in a while, mainly cause I'm shooting a short and all my time goes into that.
But we had a friend visiting so I told my roomie and him to put on their sneakers and get on out! I had to shoot some while the sun was still there


So here it is: (click on download now) Should be watched in VLC player.
http://files.filefront.com/haveyouforgotten2mov/;9652840;/fileinfo.html


Youtubers: (Please feel free to rate and fav)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih_PBDleYec

here are some screens:
http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/7907/mariusogkimsl2.jpg

Hey guys, thanks for the help. I was afraid that the site was geared a little more towards the corporate client, and I'm going to make a few changes and go from there. I really appreciate your time in helping me grow my business.
Thanks again!

When I re-design the RoyerMedia Events (RME) website, what should it look like? It's aimed at potential customers of my video shooting/editing services. Mostly corporate and event videos, but not really weddings.

Glad you guys enjoyed it and thanks for the kind words!

I've considered doing two more Cantonese romance shorts later this year (to create a trilogy of sorts). Same universe (Chinatown), different characters, and different tragic stories. I have a lot of ideas and scenarios in my noodle that I would love to tinker with and explore.

On a side note, the film will be screen in at a festival in NYC in about 3 weeks so I'm really looking forward to seeing it with an audience!:

http://www.sundaysinthecity.com/2008.htm

Hope more people can comment!

Hi Nick,
I think that home page center logo section would be stronger if reversed so the reader's eye ends up on the logo after reading the text; affordable editing is HERE... bang.... eye on logo.

On the Breakaway page, I believe the word "premier" needs the final "e" to mean first showing of a movie, ie "premiere".
More info about the background of the piece would help get people interested . Such as where it was shot, with what gear,where the cars came from,whatever. Just something a little juicier than names and dates.

If you are going to use Breakaway as an example of your editing skills, tell a potential client how long it took to edit, did you do the title graphics, audio ? If there's a particular sequence that you feel was effectively edited, maybe even excerpt it and explain what you were after,etc.

More general info about your style of collaboration such as have you worked with another director ? Were you /would you like to be involved in pre-prod (storyboarding,etc) and/or prod? For eg, how much was edited "in camera " during production?

What kind/level of collaboration do you like with the director in the editing room ?

All stuff I'd want to know about you if I were in the market for an editor.

The plot synopsis needs more color & passion. "facing tough( difficult ?) decisions " is bland. You were passionate enough to make the thing & we all know how much is involved so communicate it in the text.Everybody makes fun of that deep-voiced melodramatic guy who does the VO for the blockbuster trailers;

"In a time of pain and pistons , a boy took the wheel and drove for glory...The boy got lost but the man found his road home"

Yet there's a middle ground that will pique the viewer's interest without being cheesy or giving away the story.

The same thought regarding specifics and passion applies to the "ABOUT US" section.The organizational chart of your company is less important than knowing what kind of work you are interested in doing, whether it be narrative features, shorts, docs , event videography or commercial.

I'm sure the answer for many of us would be "all of the above" but I think you'll be more successful at finding paying clients with a more detailed approach based on your personal interests, skills, gear, and experience.
It's that personal quality, that passion, I found lacking .And it's the only asset you need that can't be bought or learned.

Without it, you're just a guy with some cool toys he's learned to use proficiently & who will work cheap. I don't think that's who you are & I'm sure it's not the image you want to project.

Hope this helped.
Best of luck.
R

A video shot in october, not finished until last week due to heavy post processing.

Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6rxl3jWEEM

Just finished watching the vid and I must say, very impressive.

It's quite pleasing to watch the video flow with the music - nice work!

I don't mean doing editing work for directors and the like, I mean transferring and editing home movies to DVD.

OK, then perhaps putting together a montage of stills or home movies from your own family or friends would be more useful to show what you can do for a potential client.

If you have the gear & expertise to transfer VHS to DVD or scan photos, say so.If you don't, do a little research here on DVi & learn how ; it's not difficult.

I believe I read on the site that you are running Final Cut Studio 2 so you have some powerful audio creation tools at your disposal already but there are also great resources for soundtracks you can get permission to use for free or darned close to it.I use Acid loops and flashkit.com has a lot of great stuff.

Maybe there's a friend or relative with a kid who plays sports.Offer to tape a game for free if they'll allow you to use some footage on your site ,either embedded or via a link like Breakaway.Make sure you get permission from all involved.Plenty of proud but busy and/or technically-challenged parents out there who'd pay to have little Johnny/Jane's soccer exploits to bore their relatives with at family get-togethers.

Make the material you use on the site and the info you give target the clients and services as specifically as possible.

umm.. anything at all? :P

Thanks Ash,

A little film I made last christmas http://www.vimeo.com/711361