MUSIC VIDEO for GEFFEN RECORDS - "Love is Wicked"

Really guys, as long as the client is happy with the end product that's all that matters.

We all have our opinions and we all have our ways of doing things.

If Brandon feels that he can accomplish the same task that Tim accomplished for a smaller budget, then good for him! We really won't know if he could do it or not until he does it. Everything else is speculation IMO.

I'm sure that all of us at some point have watched something and said "they made that for that budget, where did the money go?" I think that this is the case here.

We all have an opinion and I think it's great that we share them!
 
Tim -
Kick ass work.
Had I gotten that phone call, I would have frozen up and thought "there is no damn way I can pull this off in time." Nice job pulling the whole thing together and get it in delivered on such a short deadline!

I'm impressed - not only with the video, but with the circumstances under which it was made. Thanks for sharing all those behind the scenes details.
 
Tim... with what you had, great work!

To everyone else, I am sorry for the long and off-topic craziness that happened, and it should have been discussed elsewhere. I think we were all saying the same thing, in different ways, and I agree with what you've said... I just want to be smart about producing, that's all.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Barry, I believe there's a balance between your two scenarios.

Yes, hire pro's and get it done professionally. But so often I see unnecessary crew members... you don't need three makeup assistants, or 6 grips, etc. I'm saying, yes, do it pro, and get paid for your work, but also be smart.
Click to expand...
Actually,
If you have several featured players say for a choreographed number. You need at least four makeup assistants if you don't want the set waiting. Certain things pay for themselves. If we're doing a show that we have to do in a day, with two or three sets, we may have six grips. Three on the main set and three pre-rigging the next one. It's things like that that enable an immense amount of coverage in a short period with high value.
 
g0ldenb0y55 said:
Really guys, as long as the client is happy with the end product that's all that matters.

We all have our opinions and we all have our ways of doing things.

If Brandon feels that he can accomplish the same task that Tim accomplished for a smaller budget, then good for him! We really won't know if he could do it or not until he does it. Everything else is speculation IMO.

I'm sure that all of us at some point have watched something and said "they made that for that budget, where did the money go?" I think that this is the case here.

We all have an opinion and I think it's great that we share them!
Click to expand...
At the end of the day the clients (Geffen, Akon and the Artists) were ecstatic. They love it more than their 300k video. But that was our last introductory blue light special. Our job with this particularly song was not to create something aesthetically ground breaking like a Chris Cunningham video but to sell the Girls and the Song to their target market. The requirments were that: we show where they're from, make them look hot, and show them as having distinct looks and personalities (one vulnerable, one hard).

Hence, we got locations and dancers that capture Kingston's "downtown" scene. The dance is very different than what we do in the US. Tanisha Scott (up for VMA best choreographer, does all of Sean Paul's stuff) came down from Brooklyn and worked on the movement as well as give us her own moves in the sunset silhouettes; Q (one of NYC top hair stylist, Iman, Kimora Lee,Etc) really made somethin out of a bad hair day while being berated by a virulently and violently anti-gay crowd; Ras Tingle (shooterr of Welcome to Jamrock) worked camera for me; Earl Brown (Ja's top Gaffer-Stella Got Her Groove, etc) was simply amazing, setting keys before I asked just where I wanted them.

But in all this posts the hero I really need to praise is: THE HVX 200. No one asks what it was shot on. It's not even an issue. This says something about this camera considering the labels are still obsessed with 35mm. Our production company loved the offline so much they thought we had already color corrected. We used to be told that HD can't look good enough for labels/beauty work. That discussion doesn't even come up. Also, the small camera in an area that borders on chaos really came in handy. The one thing I strongly recommend when doing low budget on an HVX and the client (label) is there - do not cheap out on the monitor. The small camera, we're not impressed, attitude is still there. But it's easily squashed by an amazing full size image. The BTH 1700 is my second gear hero. Client just loved that monitor. Very few suggestions (re: veiled orders) from the label on set. And I believe it's because the say the end result on set. They love that as opposed to waiting for it to come back from telecine.

I grew up on film and flatbeds , DP'd several features on 35mm and S-16mm, but even with bigger budgets, I plan to go D-20, Phantm and RED (when it gets here). I'm a huge fan of seeing results on set. I don't believe in keeping the client in the dark, literally and figuratively. It results in the right project for them and no surprises for you down the road.

Also, I know this is a gear forum, but I do enjoy the discussion about budgets, deals, salaries and getting what you pay. It goes both ways. There's been moments that remind me how I started as a filmmaker and shouldn't forget. There's also useful advice for the upstarts that they won't teach you in film school.

Thanks all for keeping it interesting.

Tim Naylor
www.timnaylor.com
 
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I forgot to add.

I never submitted anything before aside from tech reviews/tips. But I really felt that this video was relevant to the forum because a major label will be promoting a video shot on a prosumer camera. That doesn't happen too often.

If it were Varicam our budget would've gone up another 8 grand (shipping, rental, customs, deck rental, etc); film was out of the question; 35 adaptor would've slowed us down (2nd AC and Lenses) and the clarity with an HVX is not quite there yet for the label. They want tack sharp. HVX made it possible.

Now I know this video isn't for everyone. The metal head / two left feet crowd wasn't our target. Fortunately for me, I actually love the artists and the song. It meant even more after I found out the dark haired girl wrote it for the father of her child after he got taken away on a 15 year bid. I found it clever how she dressed the pathos in the lyrics with dancehall/pop sound. Some of the most positive sounding music comes from the most dire circumstances while often the most depressing and angst ridden comes out of the most comfortable of worlds. The other aspect not mentioned in video productions are it's effect on the surrounding community. The community leaders, people on the street, etc, thanked us for showing their hood not in the usual grim/squalor that foreigners do (they could see the monitor), bringing some work into the community and showing their kids that they can make something out of themselves (except for three people-our entire crew was from Kingston). The first time I shot in Jamaica, a gang war ceased fire for the artist as we shot in Spanish Town.

And then the last thing we're proud of was that this was their "last shot" video. It's helping them get back on the map. Song is in the top 5 euro charts and in a week has 80k hits on youtube. So far so good.

On a last note, I do believe that commercial/video productions are more slow to embrace new technology than say indies. And everytime the new tech hits a homerun, it's begins to make inroads. With this video, if it gets enough spins, I won't have to fight to shoot digital or shoot it just because it's cheaper but on the fact that it can deliver.
 
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Tim Naylor said:
I do believe that commercial/video productions are more slow to embrace new technology than say indies. And everytime the new tech hits a homerun, it's begins to make inroads. With this video, if it gets enough spins, I won't have to fight to shoot digital or shoot it just because it's cheaper but on the fact that it can deliver.
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Well said! :beer::thumbsup:
 
Tim Naylor said:
Now I know this video isn't for everyone. The metal head / two left feet crowd wasn't our target.
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What's wrong with metal heads with two left feet? LOL

On the real, I grew up with hip-hop and R&B, but I do listen to just about anything. Now that I'm older... man that sounds depressing...:huh:
 
I cannot fathom having any crew member that is a waste. I'd kill for a full crew to take care of me (I know Barry Green would !).

There is a reason people specialize and can concentrate on thier craft. I don't want my production coordinator multi tasking by picking up pizzas.
 
Yo all jokes aside you shot a vid for Geffen. People can nit pick all day, but unless you've been living under a rock you know who Akon is and if he's happy with your performance on a 25k budget then i'm sure that will lead to bigger and better things. I'm happy for you man and i'm seeing this video on all the important urban culture sites, bossip, concrete loop and allhiphop.com. This is vid is getting a lot of burn already and these are the fans that matter at the end of the day downloading it to their ipods and cranking to it the clubs. 55 thousand views on you tube since aug 8th and nothing but kind words on the comments. **** that's 25k well spent. Kingston stand up!
 
Hey man check what i saw on my TV around noon. I live in Belgium by the way.

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Sweet video! I am showing it to a client to convince them to let me use the HVX..

Thanks guys for the incredible insights.
Brian
 
To Tim Naylor or anyone who can answer:

to quote Tim Naylor: "I find HVX 200 really sucks to color correct in DVC HD. Noisy codec. We upconverted via Kona to D5 720p/59.94 uncompressed 8 bit. Then fed it to the DS and Flame."

pardon my ignorance, is this still using the p-2 card transfer and then upconverting inside the edit system or is this a capture from tape via Kona to edit?

..or am I totally missing the boat?


Thanks,
Brian
 
MotionFx said:
To Tim Naylor or anyone who can answer:

to quote Tim Naylor: "I find HVX 200 really sucks to color correct in DVC HD. Noisy codec. We upconverted via Kona to D5 720p/59.94 uncompressed 8 bit. Then fed it to the DS and Flame."

pardon my ignorance, is this still using the p-2 card transfer and then upconverting inside the edit system or is this a capture from tape via Kona to edit?

..or am I totally missing the boat?


Thanks,
Brian
Click to expand...
Sorry about being a bit vague. Here we go:
- p2 cards to p2 store, p2 store to hardrive as mxf data
- hardrive, import p2, convert to quicktime
- offline in original codec (23.98, dvc pro hd, 720 PN)
- take offline drive to online facility (Manic in NYC)
- FCP file via Kona card upconvert to 720p uncompressed 8bit output to D5 tape.
- D5 tape ingested into Avid DS. (Can't go directly from FCP/Kona to Avid DS)
- Color correct in DS. Great for Color correct. Blows FCP away.
- Selects for composite work are exported directly to a Flame station
- Beauty work and Sky replacement/enhancement done in Flame. Faster. Better.
- Selects sent back to DS and dropped in
- Output online to D5 and digi beta
- reimport D5 via Kona Card into FCP converting into Quicktime file
- QT file used for web and DVD compression

Hope that answers things.

Tim Naylor - DP

www.timnaylor.com
 
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