My first music video with XH-A1 and M2

T

TajJackson

Active member
Hey guys, I've been using dvxuser for over two years. Mainly just reading posts and asking questions. Well, I finally gathered the courage and shot something with my new Canon XH-A1 camera and M2 adapter. This is my first music video and also the very first thing I professionally directed.
Total budget was under 150 dollars. Looking for constructive criticism.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/844413/nothing_day_chelsea_brummet/

To download a better quality version:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8bxgymtfyet


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nice video, I like the photography in the bedroom. very nicely lit, it could use some closeup shots of her singing, writing in her journal.. etc.etc.. solid work.
 
I'd pretty much echo hiro's comments. I definitely wanted tighter closeups and even more shot variety, but overall very nice work.
 
Thanks guys.. I totally agree. These are great suggestions for my next video. Just wish I had a little more time and that I wasn't a one man crew. I also realized that I need a longer lens for my 35mm adapter. 80mm and 50mm just doesn't cut it.
 
Good work, and I echo the comments about shot variety - but that's what first videos are for..... learning :)

My only negative comment is about video/music sync. I am a bit anal about this stuff, so feel free to ignore me, but there were a couple of places where I thought things were maybe a couple of frames out of sync, though of course it could be my player. I downloaded the higher quality version, and the cut to the bed at around 03:11 looks to be slightly out of sync, and could do with a little tightening up, and there was one time at the window too where it was a bit distracting (timing sync), but other than that, I think you did a great job. :D
 
I really liked it... Very fluid video... Great timing...

One suggestion would be to do some slow motion shots in the car scenes and when he's driving away... Just a thought...
 
nice video.

what were you're settings for the shots of her in the bed? Looked really nice.

I personally would have enjoyed a strong backlight where shes against a black wall. That shot in particular just seemed slightly too flat. But otherwise great vid!

lol love the cleavage closer haha.
 
Very nicely done :) I think the cinematography was spot on although i agree it would be better with some closeups to match the song's dynamics.
One thing that really lost it for me was the first shot in the bedroom when the singing first comes in. Personally i think it would have been better off to start with a closeup and then go out wider. This is because the sound of her voice on the track is very close to the mic so you immediately realise it's being mimed. Where as the tracks 'establishing' intro you chose closer shots, which resulted in the wider bedroom bit to be detracting from the atmosphere you built up with the intro.
 
Dave EP.. Thanks for the sync heads up... I look into it now. You have a great eye/ear cause no one really noticed that. The bedroom scene was shot by just pointing a 2k soft light and a 1k soft light at her. Lit the whole video myself and I am definitely nooo DP. We just had NO budget. So it was just me working solo. I wish I could have moved the camera more but rack focusing while she was moving around was hard enough with the 35mm adapter. It was pretty ambitious/stupid of me to use it for my first video. I just love the look of shallow DOF. Surprised most of the shots came out in focus at all.

For the look of the video I used the awesome VIVIDRGB setting. I really like how it makes the colors pop.

Papa, The back wall scene was actually just a tennis court with black cloth. Shot in 30p and slowed down in post. I used the same 2 lights and then a china lantern for the backlight. You're right, a stronger backlight would have helped and would have separated her more. Now I know for next time. The rain scene was most of the budget (50 dollars) because we built an "Indy Mogul DIY" rain machine for it. The other half of the budget was used on the tape stock and one china lantern.
Dougster, the car/breakup scene was a real disaster. We shot it after the intro/beach scene on the same day while the sun was going down. I kept having to adjust the gain on the camera to get exposure. I then went back at post and added grain back in on earlier shots to match. The exposure was all over the place for the whole sequence. So was the saturation of the colors because the darker scenes had very little. Luckily turning it to black and white hid that. Craaig, unfortunately most of the shots selected in the video were dictated by performance and sync. Sometimes we only had 2 to choose from. Sometimes I only had one shot usable , as is the case in the very first bedroom shot. :-(

Thanks for all your comments. I really appreciate the help and knowledge. I am still learning.

PS. I will use more closeups for my next video. All the closeups seen in the video were done in post.. some as high as 135 percent scale. The 85mm adapter wouldn't let me get that close without losing focus. Have to invest in a longer lens.
 
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More closeups, and less fading transistions. Really good work though. I liked the color in it. The singer was cute
 
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