Symphony Documentary Trailer - my first A1 project

[Brendan Anderson]

Long-time 'lurker' here - this place has been invaluable when it comes to learning about the best equipment and tricks!

With a large composition commission project happening this season and a very very small budget with which to document the events, I volunteered to keep the video 'in-house' and give it my best shot for our marketing team. All video footage was shot using my XH-A1. The interviews were done without the benefit of a light kit - my budget only allowed me to spend the money on a good Rode microphone as I knew I could tweak poor video in post easier than poor audio. The still-photos used are all from the project's photographer.

So far I have cut together a 'trailer' for what will be a longer documentary about this new composition. Forgive the occasional interlaced look - I was having some encoding problems while rendering it to post it through Vimeo. Also, everything has been converted to SD as the final product will be a standard DVD.

I would appreciate any and all advice on how to tweak the footage/audio I have and what I might do in the future to get better results:

http://www.vimeo.com/679299

-Brendan

[Sean Sanczel]

Just wanted to say I think your trailer has a great look to it. Nice colors, nice edits and mix...!

Great job. And I think you definitely made the right decision for the mic opposed to the lights. I didn't even notice the lighting... (well, except for the bluish cast on the composer, "Grey" I think his name was... You might be able to warm that up, maybe with a gradient, since it's just the one side of his face...)

What mic exactly did you use? I love the low end tone to it...

Sean

[Brendan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Sean Sanczel

I didn't even notice the lighting... (well, except for the bluish cast on the composer, "Grey" I think his name was... You might be able to warm that up, maybe with a gradient, since it's just the one side of his face...)

Yes, the light for him was coming from a large window - our interview lasted about an hour and a half so the light changed drastically during that time due to that pesky sun continuing to move. It's been a challenge in post...

What mic exactly did you use? I love the low end tone to it...

I was using a Rode NTG-2 mounted just above the subject's head on a microphone stand. It's been a great mic!

Thanks for the comments,

-Brendan

[Mark Williams]

Brendan,

Your project was put together very well. I thoroughly enjoyed it and watched it twice. Great work.

[Steve Kachocki]

I have to agree with the other posts, you did a nice job. Its nice to see a commercial project being made with this camera.

[Vinny Flood]

Wow, I think that's easily one of the best videos I've seen posted here, particularly in light of the fact that all you used was the XH-A1 and a Rode mic.

As you asked for advice on tweaking, I'll offer some, but only as a viewer and not as an editor, as your editing skills easily surpass mine.

I personally didn't enjoy looking at the Enemy Slayer title/carving for so long - and the way the two people faded in and out.

The names looked great when they flashed up, but - with the Navajo dude and the Enemy Slayer title, were a little on the busy side and I'd prefer to have seen the names in plain old white. But then that's just a question of personal taste (the film and fonts did feel tasteful on the whole).

I thought the rest was terrific and inspiring stuff for those of us still saving for a Letus!

[Brendan Anderson]

Originally Posted by Vinny Flood

I personally didn't enjoy looking at the Enemy Slayer title/carving for so long - and the way the two people faded in and out.

The names looked great when they flashed up, but - with the Navajo dude and the Enemy Slayer title, were a little on the busy side and I'd prefer to have seen the names in plain old white.

Thanks for the comments Vinny. It's been a rewarding project to work on and a great way to pay for my A1 as I went.

I'm going to agree with you on the observation that too much time is spent on the fading between the two faces in the rock carving, especially in relation to the total length of the trailer. We actually cut a longer version of the trailer later on which adds more content to the 2nd half and therefore helps a bit, but that overall rock effect won't be making it into the final documentary.

Thank you also for the comment on the "name cards". I've never created them before, so it was an experiment of sorts. I wanted them to look like they belonged in the project overall, but I certainly don't want them to be so graphic-heavy that they distract from what the speakers are actually saying. And I think white text will be the way to go. I'm using Vegas and finding that the text generator doesn't quite get me the results I'm looking for yet...but that is no doubt to user error and not the limitations of the program!

Thanks again,

-Brendan