Clerks II music video shot with XL2

[Roger Rosales]

Hey guys,

This is a music video I shot with my wife and friends. We had one all day shoot, but half that footage didn't even make it into the film, it was just garbage. The next day we started shooting again at 11pm up until 2am at a convenience store my wife's uncle owns.

It was tons of fun and unfortunately my entry was a day late so I am not able to compete, but it was surely an experience I learned from a lot.

I'm not looking for quality criticism just yet. I want to post a high quality encode on my personal server for that.

Just want to know what you guys think of the overal quality. Ya know, like the shots, editing and whatever little plot there is to the MV.

Hope you guys enjoy!

This is the first time I've posted since I became a member, FINALLY!

I'm really itching to get back and start shooting again. It sucks knowing it's over. This video definately gave me the inspiration and motivation to complete (or start for that matter) writing my feature.

Anyway, enough rambling, what do you guys think? As I said, I'll post a higher quality version later to get feedback on the use of the XL2.

EDIT: Oops, forgot the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sdLG...20MUCH%20VIDEO

[Allan Beecroft]

Hi Roger,

I quite liked it. I'm also a musician and one of the reasons for buying the XL2 is to shoot footage of my band and produce music videos (in addition to other things like documentaries, interviews etc).

I think about two thirds of the way through, there's a couple of short scenes that I think is supposed to be looking from a security camera. Not sure if my perception of these scenes is correct or not. If it is, perhaps changing the security camera scenes to black and whit might give a totally different perception ?

Overall, I liked it Roger and would like to see the higher quality version.

Thanks for sharing and good luck with your next project. I'm having problems getting my band all together at the same time for a video shoot which is frustrating as I want to get using the XL2 :-(

Allan

[Roger Rosales]

Originally Posted by Allan Beecroft

Hi Roger,

I quite liked it. I'm also a musician and one of the reasons for buying the XL2 is to shoot footage of my band and produce music videos (in addition to other things like documentaries, interviews etc).

I think about two thirds of the way through, there's a couple of short scenes that I think is supposed to be looking from a security camera. Not sure if my perception of these scenes is correct or not. If it is, perhaps changing the security camera scenes to black and whit might give a totally different perception ?

Overall, I liked it Roger and would like to see the higher quality version.

Thanks for sharing and good luck with your next project. I'm having problems getting my band all together at the same time for a video shoot which is frustrating as I want to get using the XL2 :-(

Allan

Thanks for the feedback Allan. I remember when I was in a band and tried to do the same thing, but it never worked out for me, only because the other members didn't take things serious. Keep in mind you don't NEED the whole band together for shots, mainly only for the wide shot of all you guys jamming, but try and film the close ups and what not first and work your way into getting the whole group together.

The footage you're talking about is indeed supposed to look like a surveilance camera. It was shot by one of my wife's cousins with their camera phone. Totally unplanned, but I saw the footage and thought it would look great as a surveilance cam. shot.

As for making it B&W, I've seen newer cams that are in color. What I really wanted to do was add the date and a running clock, but I didn't have time to do so, the deadline for the contest was closing in or more like come and gone (long story...)

I'll post a high quality version hopefully sometime this weekend.

Good luck with the band.

-Roger

[Eniola Akintoye]

Awesome!.
I love the look, acting, etc. Seems more like a sound track than a music video to me.

Do you mind sharing your settings and some drawbacks you might have experienced during production?
What did you use for CC?
Pictures of sets, etc?

[Adam Bray]

I'm not bashing your video, this is meant to be constructive criticism. Give you something to think about on your next shoot.


The look was OK.

I did not like all the the hand held wide angle shots. Made it look too "home video like" for me. That's much my personal choice. I think handheld shots can make a video look very amateur-like if not done right.

I did not feel there was a story being told. It just seems like random clips of a Jay & SB and a girl buying a green thong in a store. I never really understood what was going on. Example: why was the guy on the floor putting eggs in his mouth? And what did that have to do with anything? That shot was too long and should of had some cuts and closeups in it. Example: Closeup up the guy grabbing the egg off the floor, then cut the the egg going in his mouth and maybe a facial expression? Then you could zoom out enough to show him spitting it back in his hand. That scene was shot from too far away and too long I felt. Same with the milk scene.

Too much wide angle shots. I don't remember any close ups of anything which added to the "home video" feel.

It needs some dolly shots.

You mentioned "It's supposed to look like security camera". I never noticed this.

I'm not sure who's music that was. Sounded like Porno for Pyros or something. But the song was terrible it did not go with the video at all. The music was real slow and sluggish, and the video seemed be moving at a much faster pace.

On your next attempt I would look into this:

More lockdown and closeup shots.

More obvious story telling.

Get some dolly shots in there.



Again, I'm not bashing your video. I'm sure you put a lot of work into it.

[Roger Rosales]

Eniola,

Thanks for the positive feedback. Glad you enjoyed it.

To be completely honest, I used the default settings for this shoot. I didn't have time to tweak the settings on my camera to acheive optimal image quality.

As for CC, I must admit again--I did none. I was going to, but time really did run out on me and I couldn't. I had to upload the video and it was very late (the deadline was midnight).

I might have some pics of the set, I'd have to check with one of the actors who is a photographer. I know I saw her walking around with a camera, not sure if she took any though.

Adam,

thank you for your honest critic, I really appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

I did not like all the the hand held wide angle shots. Made it look too "home video like" for me. That's much my personal choice. I think handheld shots can make a video look very amateur-like if not done right.

I didn't do any Wide Angle hand held shots. The wide shots outside the convenience store was on a tripod. I assume you're talking about the hand held MS of Jay and the woman whom he pervs on.
Honestly, I think this kind of stuff is really personal taste, but I do agree with what you said; if not done right, it can make the video look very amatureish.

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

I did not feel there was a story being told. It just seems like random clips of a Jay & SB and a girl buying a green thong in a store. I never really understood what was going on. Example: why was the guy on the floor putting eggs in his mouth? And what did that have to do with anything? That shot was too long and should of had some cuts and closeups in it. Example: Closeup up the guy grabbing the egg off the floor, then cut the the egg going in his mouth and maybe a facial expression? Then you could zoom out enough to show him spitting it back in his hand. That scene was shot from too far away and too long I felt. Same with the milk scene.

There isn't much of a story. I had one on the original script, but I'll get into that later...Eventually, I did reshoots at 11pm-2am the day before the deadline (or more like the day I thought was the deadline but turned out the deadline had already passed me by...)

The guy one the floor (me) is a reference to the original Clerks, same goes for the Milk scene. Those characters where in the first Clerks movie and you have to see the movie to understand what was going on or why they were doing what they were doing, however, I do agree about the shots running on too long. Since I wasn't the one behind the camera while shooting the egg scene, I wasn't sure and I didn't want to playback the footage for two reasons:

Didn't want to break the time code and I was dead tired and I trusted the camera man for that shot (lesson learned). For the milk scene, I feel otherwise. Her scene did not need any close ups, but I can see why you think it does. I think it has a lot to do with the egg man scene not having any close ups. The egg man scene had a lot more going on than the milk scene.

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

Too much wide angle shots. I don't remember any close ups of anything which added to the "home video" feel.

I don't know what you're talking about here...THe only wide shots I did were outside with Jay and SB, the egg man scene and milk maid scenes. Everything else consists of MS and a few inserts. Please, elaborate.

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

It needs some dolly shots.

Don't got one and don't got the money to buy one, nor built one at the moment. =D Soon, I hope, but I feel Dolly shots is one of those personal taste things. I don't believe it NEEDS it.

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

You mentioned "It's supposed to look like security camera". I never noticed this.

I must say...I'm a little surprised. Not even a faint idea? I think it's pretty obvious, considering the drastic change in angle AND video quality. Sure and date and time stamp would have helped, but even so, I think it comes across as a security cam quite well...

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

I'm not sure who's music that was. Sounded like Porno for Pyros or something. But the song was terrible it did not go with the video at all. The music was real slow and sluggish, and the video seemed be moving at a much faster pace.

The music was chosen for the contestants. It was the only one we could use off the Clerks II soundtrack. The music is from the band ALL TOO MUCH and it's called "Think Fast". I actually think the song is damn fast. I'll elaborate.

Originally I had a whole story plotted out, but in the end, what I originally shot did not work AT ALL. So I had to go back for reshoots. Anyway, in the original there was a love story between two of the characters. As I started cutting I realized the song moved too fast and I couldn't linger on shots like I wanted to. The lyrics move fast and so do the instrumental portions where I was going to progress the story telling.

It sounds slow, but it's not. At least not when you're editing to it.

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

On your next attempt I would look into this:

More lockdown and closeup shots.

More obvious story telling.

Get some dolly shots in there.

Lockdown shots? You mean, static shots, where the camera doesn't move with the characters and their hand movements, no pans?

I believe I did that with this video. Sure I didn't use a tripod and there might be slight movements, but I think I did this.

I attempted the story telling, fell through. In the end I just wanted to get a chuckle or two out of people.

Dolly shots aren't neccessary to make a video look good. It's all personal taste.

Adam, I appreciate your feedback, but some of it just doesn't make sense. Example: Too many wide angle shots, not enough lockdown shots? not enough close ups?

Like I said, please elaborate on those.

On a final note, the video was shot in 1 day and 1 night. Half the stuff shot on the first day was unusable (if not MORE than half). The reshoot was A LOT of improvising on the spot. I was working with a 4 day deadline. I needed time to edit so I couldn't reshoot more close ups for the scenes that needed it (such as the egg man scene).

Anyway, don't feel that I'm disregarding your criticism adam, I'm just stating my view on some of your feedback. Thanks again man and I hope to get answers to my questions.

[Adam Bray]

To elaborate, I thought the "security camera" shot was supposed to be like one of those concave "security mirrors" you see in stores so the clerk can see what's going on in the aisles. That's what my first thought was.

I saw the original Clerks, but it was so long ago I don't remember the egg or milk scene so I guess that's why I did not get those scenes or the story much.

For a 1+ day shoot under a time restraint it was pretty good. Obviously it would of been a lot better if you had a weeks to script it all out and envision each shot.

After you point it out, I guess there was not really that much wide angle shots. I guess I'm just a fan of closer shots with a shallow DOF and the egg man scene struck a nerve. It's just my preference

Dolly....obviously not a must. I just thought it would give it a little something extra.

Obviously it's easy for me to sit here and play monday moring quaterback. I just keep forgetting it was a 1 day shoot.

[Roger Rosales]

Originally Posted by Adam Bray

To elaborate, I thought the "security camera" shot was supposed to be like one of those concave "security mirrors" you see in stores so the clerk can see what's going on in the aisles. That's what my first thought was.

It's all the same! Well, kinda...You got the idea though.

If I had atleast a week to plan it I would have done many things differently.

I know what you mean about shallow DOF shots, I love 'em too. The egg man scene bothered the heck out of me too.

I love dolly shots, but it's easy to get carried away with those. I like to see them (or use them) to emphasize dramatic tension or any sort of tension for that matter.

Adam, I do appreciate your feedback. I don't expect everyone to love this. I love to hear others suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to watch and reply!

[Tim Bickford]

I liked it. For the amount of time you had I think it's good.

I think a few of the hand-held shots were a bit unsteady. (i.e. the close up of Jay and the girl outside the store). Some shallow DOF would may have improved a few shots (i.e. Jay and the girl outside.... the scene with the rubber inflated purple chicken in the background).

The footage in B&W at the end looked great.

Very nice job!

Tim

[Roger Rosales]

Thanks Tim, I agree. At some points the handheld shots would get too unstable.

It never occured to me to get a more shallow DOF on the shot of the woman with that big purple thing in the back. It's very distracting, and it ruins the shot.

Thanks for the look and reply Tim!

[Mike Andrade]

For what I have seen and the time constraints involved, you did a pretty good job. As for the security cam footage I immediately caught on to what you were trying to represent there but the date, time, etc would have been a nice touch.

[Roger Rosales]

Mike,

Thanks for the peek. Yeah, I really wanted to add the time and date, but I started stressing about the deadline so I just said "screw it!" I'm glad you cought on to what I was trying to do though.