Show Your Work 2008

Dave Christensen · July 19th, 2008, 02:06 PM

So this is a non-profit project that myself and some others put together last fall for the holiday season. The gist of it is to promote intercultural understanding, break down barriers between cultures, and sell end-user products for funds to both help homeless people in Arizona, and to fund charities in Turkey.

I'm looking for critique specifically on the post for this short. The camerawork was all done on consumer cameras by friends without any formal (or otherwise) experience, then shipped back to the States. The editing was awesome though, lots of good footage to work from. All feedback is welcome and needed!

Here's the Flash render:
http://kittyburger.com/temp/ktown01.html

Michael Wisniewski · July 19th, 2008, 05:18 PM

Hi Dave,

What I liked -
I was fascinated by the Ebru / Turkish water painting section. That was a very nicely edited piece, I found it very compelling. That's something I think people would really be interested in seeing.

What I didn't like -
The visual montage at the beginning
- This is very weak. I think you could just put up a graphic that says K-Town, Turkey then cut straight to the Ebru Turkish water painting. I think it would make the piece much stronger.

- the dialog audio in the visual montage is trash, it took so much effort for me to understand what they were saying I missed most of the video that was playing (and I still don't really understand everything they said). Again, losing it would make the piece much stronger.

Other comments -
I would have liked to have seen a graphic or heard a voiceover that told me in more detail why these women make their art, what they've done with it, who are they making it for, how is it making the world a better place etc. It's alluded to at the end, but it's never explained. And I'm curious why you ended with the boys playing soccer? How are they related to the women? I would have liked to have known. And if they have nothing to do with the directly with the women, it's probably better to find a shot of something that is.

But great job on getting the Ebru Turkish water painting, that was very well done.

Michael Azzariti · July 20th, 2008, 07:39 PM

This is another spec spot featuring food this time.

http://www.blackbagfilms.com/fanmaysmlwtrmk.mov

Shot on my HVX200 with the stock Leica lens.

These are tiny candies and you can really tell that I didn't have a real food stylist on the job! But I think it gets the idea across pretty well.

Regards,

Michael Azzariti
Black Bag Films, Inc.

Martin Oberg · July 21st, 2008, 10:49 AM

Hi!

I begin my membership by linking to a short clip just showing how my latest film will look like. The whole film will be done in 3-4 weeks.

We are quite young, but this is our first films and we are gathering experience for later.

www.upnorthstudios.com/test

Hope you like it :)

//Martin

July 21st, 2008, 02:19 PM

it wouldn't play all the way through, but the look of the film is great. I'm interested as to what equipment was used. Nice teaser.

Martin Oberg · July 21st, 2008, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desi Hernandez Jr.

it wouldn't play all the way through, but the look of the film is great. I'm interested as to what equipment was used. Nice teaser.

Well you have to wait, the video size is quite large so it needs time to load (I have problems with arranging a loading bar on the video)

With equipment, do you mean like the camera we used or our gear on the actors?

Im pleased to hear that you liked it :)

Paul Cuoco · July 22nd, 2008, 06:05 PM

Thanks for the positive comments. The film has quite a few VFX shots, which was fairly new to me, but I'm pleased with the results.

Right now we've submitted to some festivals that won't play the film if it's available online, so we're waiting to see what happens there, but we're working toward getting it online.

The films also been nominated now for 3 Awards, with two going to MERCY herself, Emilee Harris. She was nominated for both:

* Female Breakout Action Star -Short
* Female Action Performer of the Year

And our third nomination was for:

* Best Soundtrack - Short

For the original music in the film.

So again if you're in the LA area, the World Premiere is July 26, 2008 (this weekend as of this writing) at 10PM at the Laemmle Theater at One Colorado Blvd. in Old Pasadena CA. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.aoffest.com/store/Tickets-c2.htm

James Hooey · July 23rd, 2008, 10:07 AM

Hi everyone,

I just finished editing what I think is the final version of a promotional video for a band called Bmmchk. Not really a band but a techno computer musician who performs live in the sometimes company of other live instruments and live performance art like spinning.

Long story short the artist wanted a documentary style approach to the video but I had issues with that.....

The entire show was shot with a single camera. Non-existant B roll material during that performance and no B roll from the night in particular that fit with that particular act. Finally the musical pieces themselves run roughly 10 minutes each and have little in the way of difinitive starts and endings.

So I did away with the idea of a documentary and made it into a flashier edited promotional clip which appears as a exerpt from the performance. I've edited down the music to a shorter 4 minute length with intended cut points to add flow to the video. The beginning is the graphical opening splash meant to draw the eye, provide a montage overview and then meld into the short livesque style performance.

What I need help with is opinions and critique on how the piece works on individual levels and as a greater whole. Are the graphics and effects good or are they cheese? Does the piece convey it's intended purpose which is to highlight the performance and use as a promotional video? Does the video quality look professional?

This was shot with a XHA1/WD-H72 on a Glidecam 4000/Smooth Shooter rig. Light for the performance came almost entirely from a consumer video projector displaying psychedelic light effects. Edited in Vegas Pro 8 with several Magic Bullet 1.1 effects and tweaks and many composited tracks.

I want to ask the DVinfo community to give me as much feedback as possible so that have some confidence that I could take this back to the client (btw this was a non-paying gig).

Many thanks in advance.

http://www.vimeo.com/1392224

James Hooey

Andy Graham · July 23rd, 2008, 04:31 PM

I think you have done more than enough for a non paying job (why is it non paying, are they friends?). If you are worried about all the other ways that you could have approached the job and wether or not you chose the right one then don't baecause at the end of the day the one you chose is the only one that matters and personnally id be happy with what you did.

The thing that was missing the most in this video was a crowd dancing with glow sticks and what not, I think a lot of fast cuts between a crowd and the band would have helped a lot cause lets face it you weren't dealing with the most animated band iv ever seen......mind you the keyboard player did nod once or twice!.

You can take it to the band with no worries especially if you aint gettin paid.

Andy.

Justin VanAlstyne · July 23rd, 2008, 04:31 PM

http://www.vimeo.com/1367620

This is a short video I shot in the Grand Lake, CO area and the Snowy Range, WY area. A couple of focus issues here and there, but overall I'm pleased with how this turned out. The mysteries behind the EX1's picture profiles is an area I have a lot to learn about still. Some of the shots aren't as good as they could have been with more skilled tinkering of all the settings.

Comments welcome.

Shot with Sony EX-1, no Letus or 35mm adapter, on Sachtler head/sticks, cut in FCP, graded with Color. Music by Kosheen.

Craig Parkes · July 23rd, 2008, 09:05 PM

Looks like you did an awesome job to me.

Dave Christensen · July 24th, 2008, 12:34 PM

Hi Michael,

I appreciate the constructive feedback here. Most everyone I've talked to that bought the DVD was wanting the same thing, more info on the history and whatnot behind it, more back-story. The intro/outro are basically fluff since I had no footage to convey this.

I hadn't heard anything about the audio VO in the beginning though. I know the quality sucked, but maybe because I listened to it over and over in the editing process I didn't imagine there would be trouble understanding it.

Thanks for the tips. Any other feedback is welcome.

Andzei Matsukevits · July 24th, 2008, 02:35 PM

motion was jumpy in some shots, otherwise good

Michael Azzariti · July 25th, 2008, 08:00 AM

Which shots Andzei? All the motion looks pretty smooth on my monitors, but I need to consider that not everyone has the same gear.

And I just reposted the spot after adding a voice over track.

Regards,

Michael Azzariti
Director Cameraman
Black Bag Films, Inc.

Buba Kastorski · July 25th, 2008, 01:09 PM

video is super, awesome work, but the audio, I would never use live sound for the video like this one,
would use clean audio ,and if you really want to get that ambient, get the second track with just the crowd audio,
but that's just me :)

July 19th, 2008, 02:06 PM	#781
Dave Christensen Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Tempe, AZ, USA Posts: 32	Critique needed - "K-Town Project" So this is a non-profit project that myself and some others put together last fall for the holiday season. The gist of it is to promote intercultural understanding, break down barriers between cultures, and sell end-user products for funds to both help homeless people in Arizona, and to fund charities in Turkey. I'm looking for critique specifically on the post for this short. The camerawork was all done on consumer cameras by friends without any formal (or otherwise) experience, then shipped back to the States. The editing was awesome though, lots of good footage to work from. All feedback is welcome and needed! Here's the Flash render: http://kittyburger.com/temp/ktown01.html __________________ Final Cut FTW

July 19th, 2008, 05:18 PM	#782
Michael Wisniewski Wrangler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Makati, Metro Manila Posts: 2,706 Images: 32	Hi Dave, What I liked - I was fascinated by the Ebru / Turkish water painting section. That was a very nicely edited piece, I found it very compelling. That's something I think people would really be interested in seeing. What I didn't like - The visual montage at the beginning - This is very weak. I think you could just put up a graphic that says K-Town, Turkey then cut straight to the Ebru Turkish water painting. I think it would make the piece much stronger. - the dialog audio in the visual montage is trash, it took so much effort for me to understand what they were saying I missed most of the video that was playing (and I still don't really understand everything they said). Again, losing it would make the piece much stronger. Other comments - I would have liked to have seen a graphic or heard a voiceover that told me in more detail why these women make their art, what they've done with it, who are they making it for, how is it making the world a better place etc. It's alluded to at the end, but it's never explained. And I'm curious why you ended with the boys playing soccer? How are they related to the women? I would have liked to have known. And if they have nothing to do with the directly with the women, it's probably better to find a shot of something that is. But great job on getting the Ebru Turkish water painting, that was very well done. __________________ "Ultimately, the most extraordinary thing, in a frame, is a human being." - Martin Scorsese

July 20th, 2008, 07:39 PM	#783
Michael Azzariti New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Chicago(ish), Illinois Posts: 20	Another spec spot. Food this time. This is another spec spot featuring food this time. http://www.blackbagfilms.com/fanmaysmlwtrmk.mov Shot on my HVX200 with the stock Leica lens. These are tiny candies and you can really tell that I didn't have a real food stylist on the job! But I think it gets the idea across pretty well. Regards, Michael Azzariti Black Bag Films, Inc.

July 21st, 2008, 10:49 AM	#784
Martin Oberg Tourist Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Sweden Posts: 2	Fall of the States (Teaser) Hi! I begin my membership by linking to a short clip just showing how my latest film will look like. The whole film will be done in 3-4 weeks. We are quite young, but this is our first films and we are gathering experience for later. www.upnorthstudios.com/test Hope you like it :) //Martin

July 22nd, 2008, 06:05 PM	#787
Paul Cuoco Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Los Angeles, CA Posts: 93	Thanks for the positive comments. The film has quite a few VFX shots, which was fairly new to me, but I'm pleased with the results. Right now we've submitted to some festivals that won't play the film if it's available online, so we're waiting to see what happens there, but we're working toward getting it online. The films also been nominated now for 3 Awards, with two going to MERCY herself, Emilee Harris. She was nominated for both: * Female Breakout Action Star -Short * Female Action Performer of the Year And our third nomination was for: * Best Soundtrack - Short For the original music in the film. So again if you're in the LA area, the World Premiere is July 26, 2008 (this weekend as of this writing) at 10PM at the Laemmle Theater at One Colorado Blvd. in Old Pasadena CA. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.aoffest.com/store/Tickets-c2.htm __________________ To live a creative life, we must first lose our fear of being wrong. - Joseph Chilton Pearce

July 21st, 2008, 02:19 PM	#785
Guest Posts: n/a	it wouldn't play all the way through, but the look of the film is great. I'm interested as to what equipment was used. Nice teaser.

July 23rd, 2008, 10:07 AM	#788
James Hooey Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Bruce Pennisula, Canada Posts: 316	I need everyones help big time! Hi everyone, I just finished editing what I think is the final version of a promotional video for a band called Bmmchk. Not really a band but a techno computer musician who performs live in the sometimes company of other live instruments and live performance art like spinning. Long story short the artist wanted a documentary style approach to the video but I had issues with that..... The entire show was shot with a single camera. Non-existant B roll material during that performance and no B roll from the night in particular that fit with that particular act. Finally the musical pieces themselves run roughly 10 minutes each and have little in the way of difinitive starts and endings. So I did away with the idea of a documentary and made it into a flashier edited promotional clip which appears as a exerpt from the performance. I've edited down the music to a shorter 4 minute length with intended cut points to add flow to the video. The beginning is the graphical opening splash meant to draw the eye, provide a montage overview and then meld into the short livesque style performance. What I need help with is opinions and critique on how the piece works on individual levels and as a greater whole. Are the graphics and effects good or are they cheese? Does the piece convey it's intended purpose which is to highlight the performance and use as a promotional video? Does the video quality look professional? This was shot with a XHA1/WD-H72 on a Glidecam 4000/Smooth Shooter rig. Light for the performance came almost entirely from a consumer video projector displaying psychedelic light effects. Edited in Vegas Pro 8 with several Magic Bullet 1.1 effects and tweaks and many composited tracks. I want to ask the DVinfo community to give me as much feedback as possible so that have some confidence that I could take this back to the client (btw this was a non-paying gig). Many thanks in advance. http://www.vimeo.com/1392224 James Hooey __________________ For Stock Footage http://www.revostock.com/ViewProfile.html?&ID=4811 My Website http://www.soundprostudios.com

July 23rd, 2008, 04:31 PM	#789
Andy Graham Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Lanark,Scotland Posts: 736	I think you have done more than enough for a non paying job (why is it non paying, are they friends?). If you are worried about all the other ways that you could have approached the job and wether or not you chose the right one then don't baecause at the end of the day the one you chose is the only one that matters and personnally id be happy with what you did. The thing that was missing the most in this video was a crowd dancing with glow sticks and what not, I think a lot of fast cuts between a crowd and the band would have helped a lot cause lets face it you weren't dealing with the most animated band iv ever seen......mind you the keyboard player did nod once or twice!. You can take it to the band with no worries especially if you aint gettin paid. Andy. __________________ Actor: "where would that light be coming from?" DP: "same place as the music" -Andrew Lesnie-

July 23rd, 2008, 04:31 PM	#790
Justin VanAlstyne Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Wellington, CO Posts: 26	Never summer. http://www.vimeo.com/1367620 This is a short video I shot in the Grand Lake, CO area and the Snowy Range, WY area. A couple of focus issues here and there, but overall I'm pleased with how this turned out. The mysteries behind the EX1's picture profiles is an area I have a lot to learn about still. Some of the shots aren't as good as they could have been with more skilled tinkering of all the settings. Comments welcome. Shot with Sony EX-1, no Letus or 35mm adapter, on Sachtler head/sticks, cut in FCP, graded with Color. Music by Kosheen.

July 23rd, 2008, 09:05 PM	#791
Craig Parkes Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Auckland, New Zealand Posts: 444	Looks like you did an awesome job to me.

July 24th, 2008, 12:34 PM	#792
Dave Christensen Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Tempe, AZ, USA Posts: 32	Hi Michael, I appreciate the constructive feedback here. Most everyone I've talked to that bought the DVD was wanting the same thing, more info on the history and whatnot behind it, more back-story. The intro/outro are basically fluff since I had no footage to convey this. I hadn't heard anything about the audio VO in the beginning though. I know the quality sucked, but maybe because I listened to it over and over in the editing process I didn't imagine there would be trouble understanding it. Thanks for the tips. Any other feedback is welcome. __________________ Final Cut FTW

July 24th, 2008, 02:35 PM	#793
Andzei Matsukevits Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Tallinn, Estonia Posts: 300	motion was jumpy in some shots, otherwise good

July 25th, 2008, 08:00 AM	#794
Michael Azzariti New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Chicago(ish), Illinois Posts: 20	Jumpy? Which shots Andzei? All the motion looks pretty smooth on my monitors, but I need to consider that not everyone has the same gear. And I just reposted the spot after adding a voice over track. Regards, Michael Azzariti Director Cameraman Black Bag Films, Inc.

July 25th, 2008, 01:09 PM	#795
Buba Kastorski Trustee Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Toronto Posts: 1,414	video is super, awesome work, but the audio, I would never use live sound for the video like this one, would use clean audio ,and if you really want to get that ambient, get the second track with just the crowd audio, but that's just me :)