First short project (Cigar Review)

[Andrew Allsbury]

This is my first real project on the XHA1, please let me know your thoughts.


Treasure Valley Smoke Shop - Cigar Review #1 - November 30, 2008 By Andrew Allsbury On ExposureRoom

[Jason Sharaba]

Good Opening. I just have one piece of advice. Sound! Get yourself a good pair of Lavalieres mics. It will change the whole feel of the piece.

Good stuff! *lighting up a cigar*

[Perrone Ford]

Color looks good. Just a few thoughts.

1. Opening is very nice. Good logo, the crane down on the sign looks magnificent.

2. Pull the talent away from the wall. If possible, have a ton of open space behind them so you can add some depth to the shot.

3. Avoid the jump cuts. You have a smooth, low-key feel to the shoot, so transitions would probably look better as 48 frame dissolves.

4. Either put lavs on the talent, or boom mics. The on-camera mic is just not doing this justice.

5. In this case, the talent is quite a heavy man. Shooting with a slight downward angle would help.

6. You might hold a bit longer on the cutaway shots, and try to add a bit of motion to them. Even if you take the shot with a still camera, and pan across it.

7. The "Cigar Lounge" shot has a moving horizon. Work to get that pan flat.

Don't take this as harsh criticism. Anything but! I really do like the look of this, and with a little polish, this could really be something.

[Bill Grant]

Andrew,
I echo all of these sentiments as well as try to light the subject with a little more flattering light. The shadow behind him gives him a little more size than neede. Skin tones look good. Very good stuff, and in fact, I am going to steal this idea for my local cigar merchant. just curious, what's the frequency of these "reviews" and what did you charge?
Bill

[Andrew Allsbury]

First off I would like to thank you guys for your extremely helpful input. It is rare to find others who can give you a helpful critique without bashing you on your mistakes. Second off I will make some excuses...lol

- The shoot got kinda sprung on me so I didn't have my lighting (had to use the locations track lighting...which is why he is placed in such a terrible spot) or my mic stand (had to leave my NTG2 on the camera).
- We got pushed into a little room because there were a ton of guys in there smoking cigars (and as you can tell talking very loudly)

With the next review the lighting and sound should be better (do you think that the NTG2 on a mic stand very close to the interview will be adequate?) I will definitely take all of these suggestions into account and post our next review for you guys to check out.

Bill: We will be doing a monthly cigar review, and he is a friend so we are trading out cigars for video work, but if he weren't working that deal it would be somewhere in the $300 to $500 range.

Again..thank you all for the help!

[Perrone Ford]

Andrew,

As a former cigar smoker (and I still enjoy one time to time) I think the quid pro quo deal is awesome! Trade that video for a box of OpusX or Fuente Fruente, or maybe some CAOs Anniversarios and it's ALL GOOD!

Completely understand about the lighting and sound. Sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you've got. It was clear from what you ended up with that you have some talent and experience, which is why it seemed so out of place to see the guy pushed into a wall! :)

Please post up the next one you do. I'm genuinely interested because I am going to be doing some similar work around here in the near future.