"The New" -- Travel inspiration shot on the island of Dominica

[Josh Becker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I hope I don't come off as being negative, I just am giving my view on how I experienced the film because you did ask for opinions :)

I shoot in a run and gun environment every week so I know how difficult it can be and in that respect I can understand the softer focus on the dolphins which is a get it now or never shot and even if they where soft, they did match the other fs700 footage, the soft gh3 shots however where not taken under the same time pressure so it looks more like a operator error because the gh3 is capable of much sharper images.

The content and overall feel of the film is most important ofcourse but for me these softer shots, especially in combination with these rich in colour, sharp footage from the fs700 did distract and once that happens my attention shifts to any new footage that has the same issue and then you lost my attention.

And I didn't mention it before and now you probably will start to find me annoying :) is that I didn't like the voice over, don't know if it's the way he said it or just the voice itself.

But again, not saying it's bad, the fs700 nature footage looks just wonderfull, it's just a few things that got me distracted.

Haha, I don't find you annoying at all! Like you said, I asked for opinions. I think it's great to have open talks about our work. Too often we just give "likes" and little pats on the back, so it's good to have some critical responses.

The voice over is one aspect of the video we've actually gotten the most critiques on. We're actually working right now on trying to see if we can get a voice actor to lend his skills, as the guy in the video right now is a friend and doesn't have a lot of VO experience. The tough thing is that the project was unpaid (our travel expenses were covered, but we didn't get paid for anything), so all extra music, VO, copywriting, etc. has been pro-bono from people we know.

[Chuck Spaulding]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I hope I don't come off as being negative, I just am giving my view on how I experienced the film because you did ask for opinions :)

I shoot in a run and gun environment every week so I know how difficult it can be and in that respect I can understand the softer focus on the dolphins which is a get it now or never shot and even if they where soft, they did match the other fs700 footage, the soft gh3 shots however where not taken under the same time pressure so it looks more like a operator error because the gh3 is capable of much sharper images.

The content and overall feel of the film is most important ofcourse but for me these softer shots, especially in combination with these rich in colour, sharp footage from the fs700 did distract and once that happens my attention shifts to any new footage that has the same issue and then you lost my attention.

And I didn't mention it before and now you probably will start to find me annoying :) is that I didn't like the voice over, don't know if it's the way he said it or just the voice itself.

But again, not saying it's bad, the fs700 nature footage looks just wonderfull, it's just a few things that got me distracted.

Its getting increasing difficult to get people to critique and suggest ways to improve. On one hand I'd joke that its always better when others people work is being critiqued but that's really not true. Without knowing all that went into making the video the critique may have less meaning to me, but there's also a lot that can be gleaned from the conversation so I for one really appreciate not only the people who take the time to make the initial critique but also for the follow on dialog that hopefully others will participate in.

Originally Posted by Josh Becker

Haha, I don't find you annoying at all! Like you said, I asked for opinions. I think it's great to have open talks about our work. Too often we just give "likes" and little pats on the back, so it's good to have some critical responses.

I agree, I think the social aspects of VIMEO and YouTube have turned what started out as a great place for real feedback into a popularity contest where the authors of content dump them into as many forums to get as many views as possible. Sure it nice when a lot of people view your work but if they don't leave any comments then you don't know what, if anything, they like or dislike about your work. I remember back when we were all trying to figure out the different ground glass adapters for mounting DSLR lenses on the DVX100 and having great conversation with Philip Bloom and others who went on to greatness...

Originally Posted by Josh Becker

The voice over is one aspect of the video we've actually gotten the most critiques on. We're actually working right now on trying to see if we can get a voice actor to lend his skills, as the guy in the video right now is a friend and doesn't have a lot of VO experience. The tough thing is that the project was unpaid (our travel expenses were covered, but we didn't get paid for anything), so all extra music, VO, copywriting, etc. has been pro-bono from people we know.

Josh the one thing I'd say that doesn't have that much to do with the video so it might be a bit OT, but you should be paid for that video. Sure as Noa mentioned there's some small room for improvement but it had a good message and was visually compelling, enough that it should drive business for the client who commissioned it.

I know that over the past four or five years, especially here in the US a lot of people are having to reinvent themselves. I can't tell you the number of people I've run across who were shooting architectural/property/real estate videos with Red's and Canon C300's for a couple hundred dollars..

There was real value in your video and you need to sell it. Sorry, I don't want to sound preachy, maybe there was a lot of alcohol and sex and it was the best time of your life, but you have to be able to point out the value of your work and get them to pay for if, even if its only $500.

Having said that if you go back to shoot more and you need a volunteer, count me in : )

[Tim Polster]

Thanks for sharing Josh. I enjoyed the piece and think it had a lot of emotion.

Too bad you were in the position of being a no-pay content producer. This is all too often the situation these days. We here like expensive cameras, mics and lenses but finding folks to pay us to use them is so very often an afterthought...from the client's end.

In my opinion, the only area for improvement would be more planning to get a more cohesive story and shot list. While the raw emotion is there, the images seem kind of thrown together a bit. But, this would have to accompany a real budget to get it done correctly.

Are you submitting this to the tourism entity on the island? I wonder why anybody would deserve this for free? If this project is for no pay, why would any in the future pay?

Just thinking out loud here.

[Josh Becker]

Just to quickly clarify the "unpaid" part: the marketing company that does marketing for the island's tourism board was hosting a competition, looking for photographers, filmmakers, bloggers, etc. to apply for a free trip to the island--all expenses paid. Teams were two people each and they were sending six teams. The director and I thought it would be a great opportunity to go on an adventure and make something from it, so we applied to go. We were picked as one of the six teams from over 1100 applicants. And here is the thing: they are picking a "winning team" from the trip, and that team gets $5000. It's also worth mentioning that we retain ownership of anything we created on the island, so the tourism board/Dominica doesn't own the video.

Even if we were selected as winners, this video is obviously worth much more than $5000. Hell, that wouldn't have even cover my shooting rate, let alone the director's, my gear, our editing, color, sound, etc. but I do have to say that the marketing company was opening an opportunity and by no means did we have to apply for the trip. We wanted to do this. Like I said in an earlier message, it can be hard to get work in a certain style without already having examples of that kind of work. A lot of my "bread and butter" work is corporate stuff, internal business videos, animations, etc.

Now, I do a good amount of paid work, I freelance full-time, so this is my job. I understand the implication of doing free work, but I also understand the benefits of having a project like this in my portfolio. As much as I hate "it will look great in your demo reel!", it's true that I have been contacted about a project only to be turned down because I didn't already have examples of that type of work.

Sorry I haven't responded to some of the other comments you guys had, I just wanted to get this typed up so you have a little bit more information regarding the context of this video.

[Tim Polster]

Cool Josh. Thanks for the added info. Best of luck in the competition.

[Josh Becker]

mini update:

So, like I explained before, this project was created through something called the Dominica Film Challenge. Other teams were involved and did their own photo or video project, but one team will be picked for a $5000 prize. If you could go to this page and scroll down to the little up/down voting area, then click the up vote arrow, I would really appreciate it!
Dominica Challenge | Trent & Josh

Thanks again everyone who has watched the video and given feedback/critique!

[Noa Put]

You have got my vote :)

[Josh Becker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

You have got my vote :)

Thanks, Noa!