Music Video Shot on A1 (link provided)
- Thread starter DCCowan
- Start date
Nice work DC. What you've acheived with limited experience is impressive - you've made the camera look very good. I liked when you had the camera moving (you'll be like a kid at Christmas when you get your Merlin 
), and your play with focus was nice - gotta love that long Canon lens. Also like your shots which added to the mood - eg sunset and your close shots.
As someone else mentioned adding a storyline might help...even if it's just a few more shots of the fella without his guitar...for a bit of variety. Maybe the fella in motion too. For me (subjective) the vid was a little "samey". And the nle cam moves stood out for me but they looked a bit digital. 2c
Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
), and your play with focus was nice - gotta love that long Canon lens. Also like your shots which added to the mood - eg sunset and your close shots.As someone else mentioned adding a storyline might help...even if it's just a few more shots of the fella without his guitar...for a bit of variety. Maybe the fella in motion too. For me (subjective) the vid was a little "samey". And the nle cam moves stood out for me but they looked a bit digital. 2c
Looking forward to seeing more of your work.
DCCowan
Active member
Thanks for the input, StMad, and others... particularly about story line. All good points. And frankly, I had to make the call on that one. We did some b-roll shots that would have developed that, but they frankly were not that good. I only had my friend in from Baltimore for a limited amount of time and took the best of what we had. It was definitely thought of... but the results were not good enough to use, KWIM?
And yes... some does look digital... esp the shot with the mountain up tight behind Josh with the extreme close up. I think I had instant focus on in that shot (
) lol
And yes... some does look digital... esp the shot with the mountain up tight behind Josh with the extreme close up. I think I had instant focus on in that shot (
) lol
Hey Dc couple of things I want to throw at you:
The opening and closing shots worked well.
Watch your framing. I noticed a couple of things. You were sometimes framing the shot so you could include a peak or other natural feature. No problem there but instead of just moving the cameras view up or down to do it while the talent is in the same place. You should reframe the entire shot so your talent is well positioned and your feature is incuded. This may mean moving the cam and trying a number of angles. By doing this your talent felt a bit lost to me in the scheme of things.
Generally speaking though the thing that kind of pulled me out of it was framing overall.
I noticed a few times there was some heavy camera movement going on, like it was all shot handheld. Probably not a good idea at the best of times. Handheld has a place, especially in music vids, but sometimes it seemed like the shot was trying to be steady then lots of movement.
Try some shots where pan to your talent (check framing first), like across a vast landscape to him sitting as part of it singing etc. Just some more deliberate camera moves, rather than just him centre frame every shot.
Then that also could have been improved upon if there was some more shots of him doing others things, like walking,interacting with the landscape and contemplating his words rathering than singing them.
And yeah some looked a little video esque. I generally try to keep 24fps footage in the following range of shutter speed (assuming no effects are to be carried out on it later)1/24, 1/48, 1/120, 1/250, 1/1000. Thats one thing but using some bounce boards to get some light on your talents face (nice sunny day) would also help, and there are a few other factors that effect this of course.
Last one: NO AF
Good job on a first time out with a brand new cam though.
The opening and closing shots worked well.
Watch your framing. I noticed a couple of things. You were sometimes framing the shot so you could include a peak or other natural feature. No problem there but instead of just moving the cameras view up or down to do it while the talent is in the same place. You should reframe the entire shot so your talent is well positioned and your feature is incuded. This may mean moving the cam and trying a number of angles. By doing this your talent felt a bit lost to me in the scheme of things.
Generally speaking though the thing that kind of pulled me out of it was framing overall.
I noticed a few times there was some heavy camera movement going on, like it was all shot handheld. Probably not a good idea at the best of times. Handheld has a place, especially in music vids, but sometimes it seemed like the shot was trying to be steady then lots of movement.
Try some shots where pan to your talent (check framing first), like across a vast landscape to him sitting as part of it singing etc. Just some more deliberate camera moves, rather than just him centre frame every shot.
Then that also could have been improved upon if there was some more shots of him doing others things, like walking,interacting with the landscape and contemplating his words rathering than singing them.
And yeah some looked a little video esque. I generally try to keep 24fps footage in the following range of shutter speed (assuming no effects are to be carried out on it later)1/24, 1/48, 1/120, 1/250, 1/1000. Thats one thing but using some bounce boards to get some light on your talents face (nice sunny day) would also help, and there are a few other factors that effect this of course.
Last one: NO AF
Good job on a first time out with a brand new cam though.
ecking
Veteran
Now it works! It looks really good nice and clean but too clean to be extremely filmic like I found elton's faces in the crowd. I found the shot choices kind of boring but for what the video was trying to do it more than worked. I'm just a fan of music videos that run like a mini short film, narrative and all, I understand that not all music videos go for this approach and I can respect that. I personally needed more cc, but that's me. If you were going for the so clear it's a window effect, you nailed it, it should be used to demo HD tvs in stores its so clean.
Exellent work, excellent effort! One thing I do think you could have cut down on was zooms, or at least slowed them down a more so they wouldn't be so noticeable.
Exellent work, excellent effort! One thing I do think you could have cut down on was zooms, or at least slowed them down a more so they wouldn't be so noticeable.
doumm
Active member
Yes brother,
good work for first time, what ncje said, I would also consider using manual focus instead of auto, a few times it seemed the autofocus was hunting, or was this creative effect?
Though I would see that the framing would have been hard sometime as the terrain must have been quite harsh, things like cactus in the way!!!
The sound did seem out of sync, was your talent miming? Because when you mime you actually mouth things differently, just ask deaf people. That could account for the sync going out. I know theres multi takes and your talent have to protect their voice, but try and get them to replicate the actual way they sung the recording, that way the timing and amplitude of mouth movement will match the track.
Only other thing is try and do some low shooting, your talent had a few scenes where he was bending over and you just had vision of the top of his head which is ok in passing, but if your holding the shot its like when you talk to someone, and they're looking down, you loose the communication. Once again the terrain probably would have made this awkward for you.
Look forward to your future work, awesome song to, really enjoyed it.
Your Brother from Down Under
Bless You
Doumm
good work for first time, what ncje said, I would also consider using manual focus instead of auto, a few times it seemed the autofocus was hunting, or was this creative effect?
Though I would see that the framing would have been hard sometime as the terrain must have been quite harsh, things like cactus in the way!!!
The sound did seem out of sync, was your talent miming? Because when you mime you actually mouth things differently, just ask deaf people. That could account for the sync going out. I know theres multi takes and your talent have to protect their voice, but try and get them to replicate the actual way they sung the recording, that way the timing and amplitude of mouth movement will match the track.
Only other thing is try and do some low shooting, your talent had a few scenes where he was bending over and you just had vision of the top of his head which is ok in passing, but if your holding the shot its like when you talk to someone, and they're looking down, you loose the communication. Once again the terrain probably would have made this awkward for you.
Look forward to your future work, awesome song to, really enjoyed it.
Your Brother from Down Under
Bless You
Doumm
Drew Ott
Wish I were banned.
I think what doumm said was true about the dubbing. It's either off in editing (you said it wasn't), compression/streaming mess-up, or the singer was mouthing the words.
Maybe the singer just sings differently than what we are used to, but it seemed like he was opening his mouth too wide and circle-shaped to be a realistic sing.
Maybe the singer just sings differently than what we are used to, but it seemed like he was opening his mouth too wide and circle-shaped to be a realistic sing.
if we except the difference in lighting, what setting makes the difference with elton's "facesinthecrowd.mov" footage? one is very sharp, nice hd. the other looks more like 16mm. is this the "detail" setting? is it possible to obtain this soft look in a very sunny environment with the A1?
Elton
Veteran
I think it's the lighting. It was more flat and soft in the afternoon on the NY sidewalk. I usually turn the sharpness down too, and I'm not sure if DC did with his camera.
It's definitely possible to get a softer look in a sunny environment, it just takes a little tweaking.
Also, just cramming the 1080 image down to 420 x 270 (with good QT conversion) will make the smaller clip seem sharper for its image size.
It's definitely possible to get a softer look in a sunny environment, it just takes a little tweaking.
Also, just cramming the 1080 image down to 420 x 270 (with good QT conversion) will make the smaller clip seem sharper for its image size.
prodigywookie
Active member
I liked it alot. There were some things that you could have done better, but I thought it was GREAT
DCCowan
Active member
Thank you, means a lot... of course, there is a lot I could have done better. Even if I had experience, I suppose that would still be the case. Thanks...
And to all, I do hope to get some stills up sometime soon. Sorry for the delay. It's just that this is my hobby, not my job, KWIM?
And to all, I do hope to get some stills up sometime soon. Sorry for the delay. It's just that this is my hobby, not my job, KWIM?
DC, I enjoyed your music video!
You mentioned "settings Elton suggested..." Is that a thread I could read? Or could you direct me to a site that might review some suggested settings for the A1 when shooting under various conditions, etc. I have a new A1 - but the manual says nothing about setting up the camera. I'm moving from a TVR900 that I've had since it was new so I have quite a learning curve as far as the settings are concerned.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Larry
You mentioned "settings Elton suggested..." Is that a thread I could read? Or could you direct me to a site that might review some suggested settings for the A1 when shooting under various conditions, etc. I have a new A1 - but the manual says nothing about setting up the camera. I'm moving from a TVR900 that I've had since it was new so I have quite a learning curve as far as the settings are concerned.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Larry
DCCowan
Active member
Elton suggested 1/32 ND on -- settings @ Cinegamma2, Knee low, Color gain +2, and Black middle -- all for a bright, sunny day. I thought the results looked great. Sorry for the delay... BIG delay in getting some still shots up. Been really, really, busy lately... on top of that, I moved this last weekend. Still unpacking boxes. But, finally in our new home in time for Christmas!
But, finally in our new home in time for Christmas!