HVX 200 and letus extreme music video

[Joe Young]

This was done with a ZERO dollar budget for a recording arts student at Fullsail... a media arts school in florida. . I used my Hvx and my friend had her XA-H1 with a letus. Check it out and critique please. good and bad, specifics, what you might have done differently. i am going to be directing one in July and I would like to make it as good as possible. I will also be shooting a test in a few days to check out the differences in the look with different shutter angles and frame rates. Anyways. Enjoy.

Tha Hitz: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQt9EO1cc9E

[Jan_Crittenden]

If this is your first, not bad. But watch the lipsynch. On the announcer at the beginning,I noticed it. Perhaps in the compression?

I would like to see if there was a better way to enforce the musical story line. Since the music is a little hard to understand(sorry, might be my age) having something in the camera angles that tells me which of the boxers is our protagonist and which is the antagonist, or whatever the story is. Maybe some cutaways to a grounding item, a picture, a memory, something. Anyhow just thoughts, might be all wet but with rap is a little hard to listen the 1st time through and get the message.

Good job though.

Best,

Jan

[Joe Young]

I was not the director of the music video, So I really had no say over what was to be done as far as the shots went. There was literally no pre pro. The director came in with a few shots on a notepad and just told us what to do. If it was more thought out Im sure it could have been much better. I'm guessing the story may just have to do with being an underdog, or the weaker link and overcoming the odds. I want to pretty much have the edit on paper before I shoot the next one I am doing. Thanks for the input Jan!

[MagicCat]

Nice Job!!

I wont be redundant, so follow the other suggestions by Jan.

My Two Cents:

Watch your focus. What I often thought was the Target of the framing seemed to be out, or "not defined enough" by natural DOF separation. In other words, Make what you want IN focus and what you want out, much more defined. (if you are on a super budget, and dont have a lot of lens's, crew, or setup time at your disposal, a little Vaseline smeared on the edges a UV filter can help define what you want in and out of focus, even quicker, it also adds a nice effect when shot into back lighting)

More importantly was the lighting. There are several scenes of the Talent in where the sides of his head are lit, but you cannot see his face. I found myself struggling to see his face. If the intention was NOT to show his face, try silhouetting his entire person with a rim of light around all of him, with back light or something, then make sure you can see nothing at all from the front. That did not work for me, I found it irritating. Also, be careful with your lighting continuity. It changed far too much between reversals/angles. That could just be my personal tastes so take it or leave it.

That being said, I liked it. Nice Job!! I really liked the TIGHT shots of the fighters face. Very Film-like.

MagicCat