Third Music Vid, CHECK it out PLEASE

nice video what u use for CC and what program u edit on any lighting ? lay it all on the table nobody cause it was good

peace n luv

Mark Dog
 
Looks good , I really llike the shots of the band playing outside at night , look's slick,
Nice work
 
Very nice! Wide shot of band need a little in and out movement and some close-ups and musicians playing instruments. You are pretty good!
 
Hey, thanks you for all your responses Can anyone take a look at this? I'd really love if somone took an in depth look at it and posted what in detail they thought. Also, if you've seen my other stuff let me know if you think I'm improving
 
Looks good.
You did a good job.

One shot that stood out to me that needed improvement, was the shot of the singer as the couple was walking behind him on the sidewalk.
The singer was a little dark. Some bounce/fill would of helped.
But I'm just nitpicking.

How did you do the second motel time-lapse shot?
Did you split the frame diagonally?

Did you have to get any film permits to shoot that performance shot?
Was that at a park or something?



-BillP
 
Nice job on the video.
It was definatley a music video-- this would be my one critism I guess. Followed the same sort of formula as far as the shots were concerned. lots of booming down to a CU of the lead singer. blown out backlights on the band... possibly implying they are on a rooftop? I can make out some little lights in the background... possibly a cityscape but too hard to tell.
At the point in the song where the lead singer says "movin' way too fast" suddenly we are with our protagonist in a shot where we too are moving fast. A little on the nose as was the story, nothing I have not seen in a video twice before. Not my style I guess.

All that being said, I am not trying to be a hater, I am just telling you my honest opinion. The video was carried out great technically, and looks like you have an eye for the video thing. You can obviously compete on the same level as the standard, so now you can break it. Once again, nice job.
 
Hey,

Thanks everyone for takin a look. I'm glad that some of you liked it. I didnt have any lighting(and I don't yet own a bounce board) for the daytime outside scenes. The preformance shots were at a park by a river and we just kinda went there and set up and did it.

I take to heart the thoughts that it held some similarities to my other vids. I am guilty of the mindset where if it works well once I keep it in mind to use again. And I really like the blown out backlight look as well as the boom down on the singer, I think they are ingrained a bit in my mind as what looks good to me. But I definately want to branch out and try new things. So I'm now gunna really think hard about what new things I can do. I felt like I did branch out a little and get a little more creative with this video, adding some of the jump cut montages and the 2 effect shots. I think that with every one of these I'm getting a little more comfortable with the format and can play around more within it. In the new ones I do I want to keep branching off and working on adding new things

John_Hudson said:
This is your best one yet Nobody

I'd like to see the cut pace picked up.
Click to expand...

I'm glad you think that I am improving some at least. I will keep in mind to speed up cuts for the next vids.

I'm actually going to be starting my first "real" video mid april so I want to learn as much as I can before then. I say real because its the first vid I will have done for a band who is actually somewhat well known(they've been on mtv) and supposedly the vid when its done is garunteed to be on mtv2 and fuse. So I definately wanna be prepared and not mess that up.

So pleases, any more comments and critiques would be HUGELY appreciated
 
Wow, that looks good, it seems like there is some lighting but you make do with what is already out there and make it look real good.

I can understand your eye for the shots. Everyone has their own eye for what works for them.

here is a free bump to the top
 
Hey chris, I definately did light the video, just not the outside daytime shots...didnt mean to confuse u. Anyone else take a look at this?
 
I do not mean to be rude, but you asked for an honest critique. I find it silly to fluff criticism, and I hope that others view my work with the same critical eye.

Honestly, this was tremendously boring. This type of video has been done so many times before that it is absurd and I really have no idea how these types of videos continue to be produced. What is different about this video? What makes it unique and says something about the band and you as a filmmaker? I couldn't see much of anything except maybe for the shots where the speed was different in two parts of the frame, that was kind of interesting.

This video could have been made by any filmmaker and if the band changed midway through the song, I wouldn't have noticed.

I don't mean to discourage you, but this is my honest opinion. If you don't believe it or think that I am just being a hater, fine. Post this on any other non-insulated board that cares even a little bit more about content than "nice shots" and I think you may get a lot of replies a lot harsher than my own.

You said that your next video will be for a bigger band. Awesome. Use this as an opportunity to really express your voice as a filmmaker. Show what makes you different. Interpret the song, not mimic the styles of videos that are already mimicking styles. Take risks.

Like I said, I don't mean to be discouraging, but this is my honest opinion.

-cody
 
Hey Cody,

Believe it or not, I'm glad you posted your honest oppinion. I feel like most people are telling me they like this video but the few people who tell me their honest oppinion that they dont like it make good comments and also make me a little nervous.

So my video totally sucks, okay please give me some ideas on how to do better. I can handle the criticism, my only problem with your post is that you tell me your oppinion but not how i can improve.

So my video bored you...any ideas on what I could do to keep your attention? If it wont kill you to take another look at it, or anyone for that matter to take a look. Can you give me some input on how to fix this. I dont want to be lousy at this forever, I DO WANT to get better. Hopefully you dont mind taking a little time and telling me exactly how this sucks and what i can do better in the future because I really do want to keep learning.

I also do feel like a complaint that has been echoed a few times is that its too similar to my other stuff. Any ideas on things to change.

Please somone a little time with this and let me know what i can do better on next time and dont just tell me it sucks...go into the details which you didnt like so i can really revamp my process and who i am as a director.

Since this video could have been made by any filmmaker, I'm sure anyone here can help me with this. I am willing to accept the fact that I'm not as good as all of you guys but I'm not willing to accept the idea that I'll never get there.

please help...thanks,

Chris
 
Cody is speaking conceptually

The fact is that this video was technically very well done and you have shown some nice growth.
 
Thanks John, I'll keep that in mind for my new projects. I think its sometimes hard to strike a balance between what the band wants and what a viewer wants. My approach is to really try to encapsulate the style of the band into the video for starters, and then attempt to make things visually interesting. Sometimes the conceptual part can be difficult because the band normally wants to show more and more of themselves as opposed to a story part. Which is a problem because then its trying to tell a real story in such a short amount of time. Then its trying to strike a balance between something that is too simplisitic and somehting that is confusingly complicated in the minds of the viewers. And to make it even trickier its different for every viewer and what one person might look at as confusing somone else might think is too simplistic.

I actually shot this video with a very different ending planned but with the edit we had to take that out. Originally we had the beginning match the end with the main character pulling up and seeing the girl just like in the beginning...but this time pull away. Which I wantedto make into a "choose your own meaning" type deal where it could either mean that all this took place in his head or that this was him remembering something that happened and when he sees the girl who he thought he left for dead he thinks about stopping then reconsiders. And actually that idea was come up with in a 5 minute car ride because the band kept changing what they wanted and what we could actually get location wise.

It also seemed like something of a battle to make sure the story was even remotely interesting or flowed because every time i talked to the bands manager(who is an awesome guy for the record) he wanted to cut back to the band at one point or another because it was a good part for them. It was hard to keep the integrity of the story if I wanted to do what he wanted...and after all the band is the client. So I think that next time I have my work cut out for me to make a story that pleases everyone.

And dont think that I dont prepare, its just that I live over 2 hours away from where we shot the video and when the band calls me on my way up there and tells me on the first day that they changed the preformance location. And on the second day when i got there told me that we needed a new story idea, I had to make do as best I could
 
Hey Chris,

Sorry if my original comments were too negative with little solution. Often, many filmmakers and artists tend to gravitate towards those who give them vapid praise, so it is great that you can take it and are really interested in getting better, not just dismissing them. These are my thoughts on a more indepth look:

I think your biggest problem revealed itself in response to john.

"I think its sometimes hard to strike a balance between what the band wants and what a viewer wants."

As a music video artist you need to have the strength to dismiss both the viewer and the client in favor of your vision. F*ck pressure from the band and the viewer, If you are a good music video director your internalized perspective of the song should be able to satisfy both the band and the viewer in ways that only you could create. This is what makes music videos so ineresting. By giving in to their pressure you have become nothing more than a puppet, a tool to the self promoting and visual stimulation they so require.

I'm not saying that you should completely disregard all pressure, a music video is a collaboration, and I can think of only a few directors in the industry who would be able to find huge clients that would give them complete freedom (Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze). But either way, I think you have it backwards by trying to balance pressures from the band and the audience. Imagine it as a balance between your vision and what your budget and band are capable of. I think john cassaveties said this best in a quote I found at the mark romanek website.

"you have to fight every day to stop censoring yourself. and you never have anyone else to blame when you do. what happens to artists is that it's not that somebody's standing in their way, it's that their own selves are standing in their way. the compromise really isn't how or what you do, the techniques you use, or even the content, but really the compromise is beginning to feel a lack of confidence in your innermost thoughts. and if you don't put these innermost thoughts on the screen then you are looking down on not only your audience but the people you work with, and that's what makes so many people working out there unhappy. these innermost thoughts become less and less a part of you and once you lose them then you don't have anything else. so many people have so much to say and there are so many really worthwhile things to say that it seems impossible that we could cut ourselves off from this whole avenue of enormous excitement."

from cassavetes on cassavetes
edited by raymond carney
http://www.markromanek.com/faq.html

It will be a lot tougher to find clients with this attitude (at first) but in the long run it is so much more worth it. Start asking yourself questions about what you really want to see on the screen. What are you really interested in? What is your message? The development of what you are trying to say with your work, takes a lot more time than finding technical proficiency with a medium. Look to other sources outside of music videos to find your voice.

I personally can't stand emo music, but if it is the type of music you really love, that's wonderful. Find a unique way to internalize and then express it. If you don't like it though, find music that you love, and work to make videos for it. I think spike jonze said it best when he said that the videos always turned out so much better with music that you loved. The road, may be more challenging, and way more rockier, but altogether so much more worth it.

you have a sound understanding of how to make nice shots, awesome, develop that with your unique voice and you have the ability to create a piece of visual poetry, not a promotional piece for a band that everyone will forget in a year.

-cody
 
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