Low-budget HVX music video

A

AshG

Veteran
Sorry in advance for the Youtube compression, that is the only option right now. Because of the nature of what I do, I rarely get to post anything I work on. This has been released already in Japan and the UK (with no fire) and will be released in the US soon. This video had a total budget of $3500. All shot in 720/60P at 24FPS on the HVX and the song performed at 250%.

This was a last minute thing, not a lot of planning, no permits, just run and gun. Used a cheapo Glidecam (I did not want it too smooth) and the stock HVX lens at full wide (for all but 1 or 2 shots).

Quite a few VFX in the video provided by Riley Harmon. It was a clear day so all the skies, clouds, fire, smoke, firetrucks, etc. are his work. Before anybody plays the "that looks fake" card, it looks exactly like I wanted it, somewhere between reality and a graphic novel. I dont expect anyone to think we burned a building down. Still, that version was banned in the UK. The narrative is very subtle but most people have picked up on something.

At any rate... check it out...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=bi9d6sdqJc0




ash =o)
 
Beautiful. Other than a few minor things I might have changed (which is just my personal opinion) it was a wonderful experience. Well worth the time to watch. Which...in the end...is the ultimate goal.
 
Hey,
Liked the lok a lot! Hopefully you get th chance to post somewhere else besides youtube (maybe stickypod here...?) so we can enjoy it better...
Did the singer perform at 250% of normal speed?
How long could he stand in sync?
And what have you been up to lately...?
Good work and take care!
 
1st GREAT video..
I was always a mmmBop fan.. hahahaha (damn sisters..)
2nd Why is HANSON shooting a video for $3500? Did they blow their millions?
3rd How did you get the GIG?
4th stevenblatter, I worked on a $75,000 30 sec TV commercial shot with 1 hvx, and a 35mm adapter. The money goes quick once you need things that people are not willing to just GIVE you..
By the look of the things on your site, it seems like you usually are in 1 location or a studio.. Try doing this with a WELL known music group, throw in a dozen locations and make it look REALLY amazing..

GREAT work! Tell the boys to shoot their next video in Florida... Throw them on the beach, pimp em out.. :-)
 
Nice job. And yes, $3500 is an extremely meager budget for a music video of this sort.
 
I have a good audio guy that was able to speed it up 250% but adjust the pitch so that is wasnt like the chimpmunks. After a couple run thrus, Zac had no problem syncing for the full song.

I got the gig thru my relationship with them, I have done other music videos for them (mainly international releases) and if you check my IMDB their longforms and the doc I did about them are most my credits =o)

$3500 was what I was able to do it for, this was a 3 man effort, me a guy named Paul Lawson and Riley Harmon for VFX. They actually have their own indie label now and tour colleges speaking to kids about how important it is to support local and indie music. They have a pretty decent podcast now about their new album and the first 13 chunks are the doc I did, check it out at www.takingthewalk.com

As for $3500 being a decent budget, if you talked about mainstream acts and MTV, MTV2, the average video is over $100,000. The TRL stuff can approach $500,000 to $1,000,000. Pretty crazy.




ash =o)
 
nice video. like the FX's. I love using the hvx for musicvideos.

hey those hanson guys got facial hair now!! rock on!!
 
I can get Youtube stuff to look WAY better than this but I did not have direct access to the source at the time. I find the best way to get youtube to look good and still load fast (flash and animation compressions can hang) is to encode to H.264 with bars on the widescreen stuff. Set your bitrate to 1500+ and youtube can actually look decent.

HVX and P2 was tailor made for music video work...



ash =o)
 
Did you have to rent lights? Or a Jib? Paid actors? Styliste?....
If not, for me 3500$ is still quite a lot of cash for a "run and shoot" music video! In a big MTV music video there are like 50 people working on it and not 3...

Justin Marx; for my latest music video (ForceQuartz&Redbioul) I had 500$ and, by the way, I think that renting a studio is much more expensive than shooting outside even is you have to pay for the fuel for your car.

Steven Blatter
http://www.prog-pics.com
http://www.prog-pics.com/clip_LaResistance.mov
http://www.prog-pics.com/clip_Shi-noyem.mov
 
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I had a "stylist" to help with hair and wardrobe but that was $100 a day and was the wife of my main shooter. This was a 2 day shoot, no jib, lights or rented anything. I used my own HVX and borrowed the Glidecam from the guy who shot "the making of" The band had an old piano and they had some family help arrange to drop it in that field at 6am. It wasnt really a run & shoot, it just had very short term planning.

Most "cheap" videos by signed bands on small labels are $15K+ and have only 2 locations. I think you have the wrong perspective here. The point is that for $3500 Hanson will have a video on MTV, that will likely put it in the bottom 1% for videos that air on MTV/MuchMusic/Etc. as far as budget. Technically, I could have gotten everyone to volunteer and made this video for free but that would not be an accurate figure. $3500 is already a stretch due to the borrowed gear, etc. but I think I could replicate this for that amount.

Your collection of videos are surely professional and serve their purpose but if you are making them for $500, you are selling yourself WAY short. In most markets it is hard to get a SHOOTER with an HVX for a day for that amount of money. At many post houses the first few second of this video would cost more than $500. VFX, etc. are not cheap.




ash =o)



PS french rap is sweet
 
Yes you are right I do sell myself a bit cheap but I just do music video's for fun as I earn my life working as a FCP editor or a soundman for broadcaster's here in Switzerland. But if you guys want to earn enough money to live doing music video's then it's another story ;-)!
Here in Switzerland the market in big and expensive music video's is very... very small.


Steven Blatter

PS : I saw Fu Manchu yesterday and all I can say is : American rock rules!!!
 
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Steven Blatter: I hope you didn't take what I said as a negitive on your workt, infact I spent the time to watch many of them.. Your stuff looks great.. I was just bringing up the fact that when you look at a major group like Hanson that has been established, then look at the quality of the video/efx/edit/locations etc... $3500 goes really quickly.. I've worked on about 60 music videos as a camera assistant and have had my share, and I'm always blown away at how much just the MAKEUP PEOPLE get (1000-5000 a day)

Anyway, both of you, keep up the good work!

LOVE the fire EFX is the fire engine in post as well? Hard to tell on youtube..
 
This is a damn good video ash.
You should be proud.

ps. this is coming from a kid who's sister loved that mmm'bob song :/
 
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