Music Video: A Thousand Years

All-in-all it's not bad. But critiques are always more useful than praise (sorry, but it's true):

  • The cut at 0:31 is rough. Maybe it's that the motion doesn't match, or maybe just that the cut doesn't correspond with a beat, but it's jarring at a time when I think you want fluid. I would recommend moving it forward or backward to correspond to a minor beat--or on the prounounciation of a sylabble that would provide for continuous motion.
  • I really like the dolly shots. They look great, and add a lot.
  • The lighting at 0:55 is awesome.
  • From 1:28 to 1:40 it seems like he doesn't care about his own song. And if he doesn't care, you can be sure that no-one else will. But the pensive mood is great. I would remedy this by not having him sing. Just have him be there all moody and hot-like and the ladies will fall for him. Requiring the artist to be singing along with his own song is largly a thing of the past in music videos. Now sometimes we'll have videos where the band members play characters in a short film while the song is playing--often with little or no interaction with the music, sometimes intercut between a performance and play-acting. I don't know if reshoots are an option, but at least it's something we can all keep in mind for next time.
  • Cut at 2:03 is weird. It goes from a close-up at an angle to a close up head-on, but does not change enough (30% is usually the rule). I would like to see how it looked if you stayed at the wide shot and then cut straight to the head-on.
  • While the fade-to-monochrome is cool, maybe it would be better to do the front push-pull in color, then the reverse in black and white. This might distract people from realizing that you put two push-pulls right next to each other. And in the new millenium, too.
  • 3:37 Underwater! Yea!
In short, your video made the song a lot cooler than it was to begin with. (That's a roundabout knock on the music. Give my appologies to your buddy.) Thank you for posting the video. I'm sure I learned more from watching your video and doing this small write-up than you will from my scant comments. This forum is such a great place for us all to get feedback and learn from other people's mistakes and triumphs before we show the final products to the investors. You're a brave individual for posting something that you have worked so hard on. I hope the feedback helps, and please know that any criticisms are all in love. I would expect and hope that people would be just as hard on my work.
 
damn, best analysis i've ever gotten. Thanks for all the comments man. I won't give my opinion on the song but i definetely had fun shooting it. I'll try to rework some of the cuts that you mentioned a little smoother. other comments.......?
 
I don't want to say that the song was bad... but I'm definitely not the target audience. Your photography left little to be desired--so take some well-deserved pride in that.

As for the analysis, just pay it forward to the next person who needs analysis.

And I should appologize for my spelling. It's horrendous, but only because it's 3:30 in the a.m. here.
 
Dude that was awsome.My only question is what kinda lighting did you have?
Wow.good luck man.
 
very professional, excelent lighting, all the cinematography was spot on IMO. I don't really like the two push pulls together like that but that may just be personal preference. Maybe if one was near the begining of the song and the other later? because right now I'm thinking "oh hes coming towards me" then imediately after "oh now hes leaving" :)

Overall I really loved it, and if you have time I would like to hear about your workflow, setup, lighting, etc.

Thanks for posting such a nice piece!
 
I shot all dvx with anamorphic except for the underwater scene. Lighting was with crap lights from home depot with gels. Almost all 1/120 shutter. Cut in FCP5. Shot and edited in 4 days. Basically just for fun video.
 
Looks very good buddy.

I dont mind the song but im not judging the song.

Over all one thing I notice with most if not all video clips around here is that no one really puts visuals in them....

Some perople around here need to as independant film makers learn more tools like aftre effects and photoshop to add more to there canvas.

I like the images there nice and crisp and having the camera moving around made it not boring but maybe some compositing and some thought into the song would have made it more eye catching.

A thousand years as so many options for an idea and story line one a film clip. Film clips or slash music videos are like a silent movie.... The addedd song or sound needs to go with the music...

Overall thumbs up buddy keep it up.

Mike
 
The music wasn't my style but hey. I thought it looked good, a couple of things i would change is don't have him singing. I thought you could have a couple more head shots of the guy, maybe when he's near the water on the seat. Also there is a lot of dolly, it's good but a little hand held sometimes can give a sense of freeness. Good job anyways keep it up. :thumbup:
 
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