New Country Singer Music Video

I'll give it a go:

First, it does seem like you guys put in a solid effort, so good job on that.

My critique's: All the zooming in and out brought the overall production quality down. Way down. Especially with the zooming out to reveal the entire band in front of the train. It just looked a bit like a cheesy set, and with the zooming, it added to the cheese. Watch ANY music vid or movie out there, and you'll see zooms are very rarely used, and for good reason. Try a push, or pull, but keep off the zoom button.

Next, the pacing wasn't great. Some shots lingered way too long. With music vids, I find it's easiest to find your pace in the first edit (and make it a quick pace), and then cut on that mark throughout the video (i.e. every two-three seconds throughout). That is, of course, unless you have a good reason for not doing so, but keep in mind, you have to know the rules before you can break them.

Lighting could use some work also... she seemed to have a pretty harsh tungsten glow, while everything else, and everyone else, didn't.

Creative wise, there's not a whole lot to say. Looks like you had a pretty good location to start with, which is good, but the entire video was just performance only shots. I would suggest getting lots of B-roll of the train station, and actual trains them self, to break up the monotony of the same 3-4 shots over and over again. It would make it 10 times more visually interesting, and keep your audience's attention.

That's all I got off the top of my head.

Like I said, I can see a lot of effort put into this, and it definitely has potential, but it needs a little more work. I honestly think you could go back on your own to shoot some B-roll, add that to what you've got, re-edit the entire video, and you'd see a HUGE improvement. It's real close... just not quite there.

That's my .02, so take it as you will. Sounds like you're looking for critique's, not praise, so there it is...

-brown
 
brown
Thats what we were looking for. I agree on your points. It still feels a bit "amateurish"
The trouble we have been having is getting constructive feedback and technical help. The video is up on blocks ready for a revamp.
Did you get the story?
Were we able to convey? Would a prequel short scene with dialog have helped.
thanks a million

James
 
Steadicam, and crane shots would make it look 100% better. I really like the end with all the band walking toward the camera and then the shots after that were really good, but the performance just looked a little strange to me.
 
First, Really nice voice, not to shabby looking either.

Overall the video work looks good exposure wise, clean focus, framing etc.

Probably the biggest thing that jumped off the screen at me was the singer is singing to the camera in almost every shot when camera is on her. I felt the camera should have been a transparent observer that would of allowed her to be more expressive and candid. She looks a little stiff as did the back up singer. Maybe a mic on a stand for the singers would have been more appropriate for the band shots.

Also the cuts to the studio shots didn't work very well IMO. Maybe if they were wider shots so the viewer knew they had been transported to a new location would have worked a little better. As it is, I knew something had changed, but I couldn't immediately tell what.

I also agree that you need way more B-roll. And maybe some subtle effects treatment to break things up a bit.

There is a lot of good in what you did, and I am only pointing out the things that I think could use improvement.

Best,
Brad
 
I agree - very good overall. The addition of some b-roll footage would tighten it up.

Good luck
 
good points all... I'd say that yes the wide shot with the backup singer just standing around dancing looked way out of place. The studio shots with the different hairstyle looked weird too. The final shot with the Jib or looked like a jib was nice, maybe more of this...

I think Ryan nailed most of it. There should be something kinetic in the location and just diversity as you got a great location... Good job though and she does look hot sometimes.. especially the end in the white shirt.
 
We actually quite a bit of B roll from the train station location. We will try to integrate int the video.
If you were to have another whole day of shooting what are some ideas or shots that would bring something fresh into this treatment? Without scrapping the video. Is it clear that the male talent in the video is leaving and she talks him out of it?Another location maybe?

Thanks again for the comments. They are worth their weight in gold.


James
 
A very nice effort. If you shoot another day's footage, I would use that crane to it's full
advantage. As it is, looks like you just used it as a high perch for the cam- almost no
crane up shots that I noticed. I would lose two of the three guitar shots in the beginning,get more quick shots of all the instruments, especially drum close ups (maybe some 60FPS or high shutter speed) , shot of background vocalist when they are prominent. About three quarters through there is a pivotal point in the song that calls for a crane up for sure. Then at the end there is an acoustic guitar solo that could use a close up of the instrument- maybe the fingerboard rather than the sound hole.

If you are going to have much of a storyline, better shoot some more story footage,
right now it's 95% performance. I watched it twice and had no idea what the story was supposed to be. So I would probably make the story a bit more prominent.

As other posters mentioned, cut more often, shoot one more day and you can make a
vast improvement. Borrow or rent a a Glidecam or similar and shoot one take of the song with her looking at the camera and one with her ignoring it, flying the camera around the artist and band . I think camera movement is the number one thing that will help.

Thanks for posting this - I will be shooting a country video shortly and this is the
first one I've run across on DVX. Analyzing yours is helping me plan how I will shoot mine .
 
Thanks for the comments..very strong...
We will most likely arrange one more day of shooting. We will meet with the client and try to see if they want more of a story/performance balance.

We will try to find another location.

It was difficult to find the balance between the band and the lead singer. She is the main act that is being promoted.

James
keep the comments coming.. we are taking notes!!!!
 
JTP22 said:
If you were to have another whole day of shooting what are some ideas or shots that would bring something fresh into this treatment?
Click to expand...
Jump. The song is Jump, I was looking for her to jump. Oh well..... wishful thinking.:happy:

JTP22 said:
Without scrapping the video. Is it clear that the male talent in the video is leaving and she talks him out of it?Another location maybe?

Thanks again for the comments. They are worth their weight in gold.


James
Click to expand...

Never had a clue till this post. Checked out again and see the ticket falling near the end. Might want to establish the leaving with him at a ticket window near the beginning or something to that effect. Also some shots of him about to board the train, ditching the boarding etc.

Agree with others, the "studio" footage with different coloring (I chalked up to artistic choice) and the different hair style is distracting.

There are some spots where the pace is fine, but there's also a lot.. of shots that held too long before the cut.

Also agree the backup singer out of place.

Just my two pennies.
 
some nice tight shots of the other members would really help I think. Make the vid about the band, not just the lead singer.

Also, I was hearing a lot of Mando in the song but there was no mando player in the vid?
 
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