My First Music Video Directed By Fellow Dvxuser!

staygettin

staygettin

Well-known member
Whats up everybody this is my first video, it was shot with a dvx100b with a m2 adapter and a dvx100a. We used home depot lights and a real movie gun that I also purchased from a fellow dvxuser (I LOVE THIS SITE). While making and editing we documented things that we know now we could have done better to help us on the next one. Please leave constructive critisism, I am very happy about this video so please don't rain on my parade.
:)

P.S. The artist is HEAVY GOLD, he is signed under our Ent. company and the name of the song is "DRUG DEALER" Please don't judge it before you watch it. THERE IS CURSING AND A GUN SCENE (Nothing Crazy) ENJOY.
:dankk2:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8742253239573532662&q=HEAVY+GOLD&hl=en
 
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staygettin said:
PLEASE LEAVE CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM I AM VERY HAPPY ABOUT THIS VIDEO SO DON'T RAIN ON MY PARADE. :)
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I'm writing up a critique of the video right now, but I have a quick question for you: in your signature and on your Myspace page, it says that you are affiliated with Def Jam Recordings. I searched on their website and couldn't find an artist's page for you on there. Can you link it to me, please?

Also, just a quick peice of "netiquette" advise: when you type in all caps in online correspondence, it's interpreted as SHOUTING, and will often times disuade people from reading your message.

Andy
 
wald0 said:
I'm writing up a critique of the video right now, but I have a quick question for you: in your signature and on your Myspace page, it says that you are affiliated with Def Jam Recordings. I searched on their website and couldn't find an artist's page for you on there. Can you link it to me, please?
http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=606

Also, just a quick peice of "netiquette" advise: when you type in all caps in online correspondence, it's interpreted as SHOUTING, and will often times disuade people from reading your message.

Andy
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1. We are a Entertainment company signed to Def Jam to put our artist out "YOUNG LEEK" he is signed to Stay Gettin' Ent./Def Jam.
This is the link: http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=606
2. I'm sorry I did not know this I will modify it. :dankk2:
 
staygettin said:
1. We are a Entertainment company signed to Def Jam to put our artist out "YOUNG LEEK" he is signed to Stay Gettin' Ent./Def Jam.
This is the link: http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=606
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Nice. Thanks for clearing that up.

First of all, kudos on your first music video. Your sync is good, you use dynamic shots, your control on DOF is well presented.

Now, you say this was directed by another person. I'm guessing this means that you did pretty much every thing else (cinematography & lighting, editing, etc)? If so, I'll just try to focus on things that pertain to you.

The First 30 Seconds

The first thing people are going to criticize is the 30 seconds of titles. Titles aren't bad. When Spike Lee did his videos for Grandmaster Flash, A Tribe Called Quest, Michael Jackson, and a number of other artists, he often used titles. Puff Daddy also uses titles in most of his videos. The thing is, titles should be quick, or layed over footage if they aren't. The disclaimer about not wanting to endorse selling drugs is also unneccessay, in my opinion. The text "flying all over the place then landing in order" effect is pretty, but something you would never see on MTV.

Instead of the titles being as they are, I'd use the 45 seconds of pre-lyric music for titles, and make them as simple and short as possible.

Title 1: "Stay Gettin' Presents"
Title 2: "Heavy Gold"
Title 3: "Drug Dealer"

Three titles, no more than three words each, on screen for maybe 3 or 4 seconds each, with 5 or 6 seconds between each title. With music videos, especially music videos distributed online, the first thirty seconds will literally make or break your success. Members of the YouTube generation demand exciting, intriguing, stimulating videos, and they're going to turn off anything that doesn't grab their attention within the first 5 seconds. When people are watching videos in the privacy of their own home, they don't care about offending the artist, and won't think twice about moving on to the next video.


Framing

This is the area with the most room for improvement for you, as a cinematographer. Now, professionals and people who choose to familiarize themselves with cinematography will be able to see what you are going for in each shot. For example, the shot of the two guys in the hallway at 00:52. There's one guy in the foreground, one guy in the background. An interesting take on the two-shot, but the execution is flawed and suffers from bad framing. The guy on the left is so far removed from the center and even the center of the left third of the frame, and so darkly lit, that most viewers won't even see him. There's a nice splash of light on the brick wall in the right half of the frame, but it's distracting and forces the viewers eye to the right side of the frame, away from both of the artists. I know what you're going for here, and if I had any skill at all with a tablet I would make an illustration. This shot should have had the guy on the left in a near-profile position, with the end of his nose just barely reaching over the center of the frame. The guy in the center should have been in the right third, with more light hitting him. The racking later on between the guy in the background and the guy in the fore would be much, much, much more effective if he were properly lit. The kind of framing reminds me of what you see in a lot of Massive Attack videos, where they transition from one guy singing to another guy singing with a rack very similar to what you do. See if you can either get a DVD or some high resolution online videos of their stuff.

The framing with the three guys leaning on a brick wall at 00:28 works, but it's really, really dark. To make this shot more interesting, you could put the camera on a dolly and run it parallel to the guys.

Now, let's talk about what happens at 00:35. We've got a guy sitting watching television, changing channel, with a cell phone on his chest, car keys on his waist, and a drink of some sort in an aluminum can in the foreground. One of the first things they teach you at film school is "Don't touch the zoom while you're recording", and this shot exemplifies why they drill that into our heads so fervently. We zoom in on the guy's cell phone, cutting out his head, the can, the keys, and the negative space in the top left of the frame. Then at the very last second, we rack to the can. This is confusing, for a number of reasons. The can is the brighest, most saturated object in the frame, and the viewer's eye is immediately going to snap to it and presume that the can is the focal point for this shot. But then as we zoom in on the cell phone, they'll think the guy's face is the focal point. But then that gets cut out as well, and we're left thinking the cell phone is the focal point. Then the rack happens and the confusion sets in. I'm not sure how to improve this shot, other than to get rid of the can and dolly in on the guy's face instead of zooming in on the cell phone.

At 00:59, one of the guys is holding what looks like a shotgun shell between his thumb and index finger. This shot should be followed with an insert of an XCU of the thing he's holding.

At 1:21 we see the artist singing while sitting in a chair, and the camera zooms in on the corner of the wall behind him. I've already talked about zooming, but additionally the problem with this shot is that the guy goes wildly out of frame. We're zooming in on the space left of him instead of on him. This should be a dolly shot going straight in on the artist.

At 1:35 there is a slow zoom on the artist. This works well in making the shot more interesting, but again, the camera should be on a dolly instead of being zoomed.

At 1:57 we go back to a familiar shot of the artist sitting with the cell phone on his chest and the green can in the foreground. But instead of continuing a zoom, we're suddenly zoomed out all the way again. This doesn't make sense, but I understand why you did it. The cell phone on the left part of the frame in the foreground rings later on, and your goal with this shot was to point out that there is another phone here. However, since you're starting zoomed out again, you really should shoot from a different angle to make things a little more interesting. The cell phone should really be prominent in the frame as well, with the guy in the background.

2:11 is another example of pros knowing what's going on, but the average viewer being confused and unpleased. You've got the lead performer in the fore with two guys in the back. We rack from background to fore while the artist sings. The rack itself is incredibly sloppy, and your 1st AC or focus puller racks way, way to far when going from background to fore. This shot should have been on a jib, starting above the lead performer's head, panning down until his head touches the top of the frame, racking to him. Maybe even go all the way down to his knee level while tilting up. OR, if you don't want to do this, fill the background up with more guys to give the image more texture.

At 2:31 - this is the best set-up in the video. The color of the guy's sweater goes well with the steel door behind him. The image is well textured, pleasing to the eye, and the vertical lines of the door are slightly skewed. This is the best set-up, and where the best shot and cut of the video happens.

One of the continuous problems throughout the video is the drastic change in focal point placement in the frame from shot to shot. A good example is the cut at 2:45. The focal point goes from the center of the frame to the extreme upper left hand corner. Believe it or not, this is jarring for the viewer, and due to the quick nature of the cuts, it gets confusing having to move your eyes all over the place to see what your supposed to be looking at. This works in movies to an extent because the pace is so much slower, but with something this quick, you should try to have the focal points as close to each other as possible.

3:08 - this is the best shot and cut of the video. Well executed.

3:53 - This is also good.

4:22 - Something strange is happening here. The image is skewed somehow in a way it shouldn't be. I really have no clue what's going on with this image, but something isn't right.

Location, location, location

I count a max of 4 different locations in this video. The most explored is the guys bedroom where he eventually gets shot. Everything else, however, consists of at the very most 3 angles, all of which stay precisely the same throughout. For a hip hop video, even one more melodic, somber, and self-reflective as this, you should really explore the locations more and give the viewer a better sense of space.

Another problem is simply continuity. We see the same brick wall in a lot of shots, and each time the guys standing next to it are all different. Was this done to make it appear that the guys were in a different place? If so, the viewers can very easily see through this.

In Summary

There's a lot of work to be done here. Much to improve on. I think you've got a good sense of how things should be framed, but the execution leaves much to be desired. I find myself in this situation a lot, where no matter what I do, I just can't find the right framing to match the picture in my head. The key, I think, is to not limit yourself to what you see in your mind. Experiment, allow yourself to do something wrong. Shoot from the hip, so to say. There are some very memorable shots in cinematic history that were completely made up on the spot. A good example is the famous "Death Dance" scene in Ingmar Bergman's "The Seventh Seal". If I rememember correctly, it was the last day of shooting, and as they were packing everything up, Bergman noted that he liked the way some clouds looked. So they set up, had the actors and some crew to fill in for actors not present go up on the ridge, and they danced. It's one of the most famous shots in history, and it was completely made up on the spot.

Andy
 
I agree, that pre-video-titles was just very unnecessary. I found myself skipping through the video the whole time. There were only about 3-4 main location/shots we kept cutting back to. But none were visually intrersting enough to sit through. Camera movement could help this somewhat. Needs work
 
yeah me too
And I also found my self skipping through that long critique but luckily inspire summed it up
the vid needs more action
you know how they say about a gun showing in the first act
 
The video was ok. The titles if i may add were terrible imho you should try to avoid those edgy fonts and colors when you plan on broadcasting on ntsc monitors. In this case they look bad even on a high res computer monitor.

Other than that it was ok. I dont listen to rap myself though!
 
Thanks for the vast critique Andy. I greatly appreciate allot of the knowledge in your comment, I have read it three times now and I know it will help us on the next video.
 
I'm just starting to mess around with my DVX and I don't have much advice to give, but that yea, the titles aren't good.

As for the video, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't skip at all. Of course, there are slightly awkward moments, but I really enjoyed the song, and that's what it's really about to me with a music video. I actually prefer simplistic videos when it's a music video, doesn't take too much attention off the words of the song.

But I'm just a noob. But anyways... yea, I liked it.
 
crazyhamster411 said:
I'm just starting to mess around with my DVX and I don't have much advice to give, but that yea, the titles aren't good.

As for the video, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't skip at all. Of course, there are slightly awkward moments, but I really enjoyed the song, and that's what it's really about to me with a music video. I actually prefer simplistic videos when it's a music video, doesn't take too much attention off the words of the song.

But I'm just a noob. But anyways... yea, I liked it.
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Thank you , we are new to the video thing also ....... I'm sure our next one will turn out much better.
 
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