'Cross-a-nooga

C Walker

C Walker

Well-known member
~ 1 minute promo video shot for a race director friend. I should have tried to control the DOF more. The quality looks amateurish-average to me. DVX100B, 30p, MB Basic filter applied.

http://vimeo.com/3282934

Should I upgrade to Vimeo Plus?

Edit:

Also a rock gym I shot. I need to re-edit this. IMO, too long and some shots look awful.

http://vimeo.com/3189010

:sigh: I'm on the beginner's learning curve here, so I have a long way to go.
 
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its not that amateurish. I liked the editing and your choice of shots but the colors on the shots were pretty washed out. Also, why were those logos at the beginning interlaced?
 
* i betcha we like the same director!--- your choice of music is most familiar!! ha ha.

** I know East Ridge! have a friend who lives there.

1st- the cyclo cross piece:
Lose the first chorus on the musical track. Does not fit, does not apply, and is kinda rude (which I understand why it is, but not for general consumption--- if the piece is meant to help what the client is doing). Just cut it out, move the next bar to the front, ramp it up a little so it blends.
Say "cyclocross" in the header titles somewhere- otherwise average joe viewer won't know what's going on- just some dudes falling over in play sand...
Tight shots of bike parts and pieces could be cut in half (time), or, do a set of rapid fire split screens with short duration to the components.
Try to get CU or MCU of their faces- even if you have to go in afterwards and stretch duration to obtain sections long enough to fit- and, slo-mo helps ad emphasis in these kinds of shots. (like "Six Million Dollar Man/Girl"- they'd show them running in slo-mo and the audience believed they were really hauling ass).
PACE is all about looking at the durations your cuts have in the time line. You can do a lot to syncopate that to the sound track (for instance), or just building to a crescendo, for the 'money shot/s' in the finale. Build pace, cut mercilessly (it's 'non-destructive' editing, can always 'revert' if you don't like what you've done).

ROCKS:
Nice piece overall. Cleaner than the cyclo piece.
Too bad you didn't have even a little light in your hand when setting up the front office area. The smiling, welcoming faces were nearly lost- and they're so important to the piece.
trim the number of views of the rock walls- we know they're great and go on forever---just don't have to see thirty six POV's of them.
Faces of people participating, and the kind of support provided is valuable material. You got a lot of that going- so good.
I'd move the verbiage up a little- just to 'carry' that scenes. You're selling the place, and the footage is illustrating it--- but the words (titles) are telling the story (since there's no VO). Maybe go so far to highlight certain aspects as they appear in the piece.

And 'amateur' you're not, with work like that (and, most importantly, if you've accepted money for your work!) It's good stuff. Keep it up.

***Hey, is East Ridge where that cool tunnel is?
I ran that thing one morning on my Bonneville about 3 a.m.- very neat!
 
wow, awesome feedback! THANKS!

wow, awesome feedback! THANKS!

NoNoob said:
* i betcha we like the same director!--- your choice of music is most familiar!! ha ha.
** I know East Ridge! have a friend who lives there.
Click to expand...
I love his movies!!!!
NoNoob said:
1st- the cyclo cross piece:
Lose the first chorus on the musical track. Does not fit, does not apply, and is kinda rude (which I understand why it is, but not for general consumption--- if the piece is meant to help what the client is doing). Just cut it out, move the next bar to the front, ramp it up a little so it blends.
Say "cyclocross" in the header titles somewhere- otherwise average joe viewer won't know what's going on- just some dudes falling over in play sand...
Tight shots of bike parts and pieces could be cut in half (time), or, do a set of rapid fire split screens with short duration to the components.
Try to get CU or MCU of their faces- even if you have to go in afterwards and stretch duration to obtain sections long enough to fit- and, slo-mo helps ad emphasis in these kinds of shots. (like "Six Million Dollar Man/Girl"- they'd show them running in slo-mo and the audience believed they were really hauling ass).
PACE is all about looking at the durations your cuts have in the time line. You can do a lot to syncopate that to the sound track (for instance), or just building to a crescendo, for the 'money shot/s' in the finale. Build pace, cut mercilessly (it's 'non-destructive' editing, can always 'revert' if you don't like what you've done).
Click to expand...

The rudeness was kind of the point, but it had crossed my mind to cut it out for that reason. Will update the title. I'll go in and look for tighter shots, Ive never considered slowing it down to increase duration, cool idea! Thanks for the input.
NoNoob said:
ROCKS:
Nice piece overall. Cleaner than the cyclo piece.
Too bad you didn't have even a little light in your hand when setting up the front office area. The smiling, welcoming faces were nearly lost- and they're so important to the piece.
trim the number of views of the rock walls- we know they're great and go on forever---just don't have to see thirty six POV's of them.
Faces of people participating, and the kind of support provided is valuable material. You got a lot of that going- so good.
I'd move the verbiage up a little- just to 'carry' that scenes. You're selling the place, and the footage is illustrating it--- but the words (titles) are telling the story (since there's no VO). Maybe go so far to highlight certain aspects as they appear in the piece.
Click to expand...

Had much more time with this one, and felt MUCH less rushed. I've been told to cut the office out completely because of the bad light, but I agree with you on the importance. Will cut out some wall shots, lol @ 36 POVs. I'll move up the verbiage, great idea!
NoNoob said:
And 'amateur' you're not, with work like that (and, most importantly, if you've accepted money for your work!) It's good stuff. Keep it up.

***Hey, is East Ridge where that cool tunnel is?
I ran that thing one morning on my Bonneville about 3 a.m.- very neat!
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input and encouragement. It's always nice to get that from folks on here! I've not accepted any money for any of that work. I have one offer on the table from another place, so that's nice. Honestly, I have no idea what to charge. I've seen anywhere from 30-50/hr.

Yeah, there's a tunnel on the FAAAR end of East Ridge. There's a few cool tunnels around here with a dingy, retro feel to them. I'm planning my first short film, after you mentioned the tunnel, I think I'll use it!
 
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Polarizer are 'special purpose' filters.
They help darken the sky, reduce reflections (if properly adjusted), and generally darken the scene.
An ND filter (or the built in two step adjustment) might help bring the light down a bit- but, sunlight from directly overhead is just bad.

There are two 'golden hours' in a day- just after sunrise, and just before sunset (and called 'golden hour' not because of the color but because of the long shadows and somewhat diffused sunlight).
Anything in between is tough to produce exemplary footage.

You should have a bounce card or disc in your kit (there are these nice fold up ring type that are very useful). Might have a white and silver side, or a silver and gold- or variations.
You position yourself so that you can take advantage of the overhead light by bouncing it onto your subject (adjusting exposure as required), then drop in your ND (if it works out that way).
You get the subject to 'snap' out of the darkened background, and it looks like 'golden hour' (somewhat). Hard to tell the diff.

Shooting sports (like that cyclocross) is always about 'location, location, location'- putting yourself and camera in the right spot to get the good shots of the action.
Tape is the cheapest part of the camera so, if you've got the battery power to support this, just leave the damn thing in record!
Otherwise you'll kick your butt when you narrowly miss a good shot or sequence because of camera record spool up time taking too long.

As you've found, the 'art' really is in cutting the stuff (paid yet or not).
All well and good to get great images- but melding it together is where the 'power' is.

*I did TOT to OK leaving from Chatt a couple years ago. And, like I said, i've got friends who live there. Nice town. I look forward to seeing that footage from your upcoming thriller using the gritty looking tunnel!
 
Cracker said:
Wondering that myself. I de-interlaced everything, and they looked MUCH worse. So, I went back and only deinterlaced the footage. Anyone have insight here?
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why was it interlaced in the first place? shouldn't the pulldown have been removed by your editing suite in the beginning?
 
blackdogs377 said:
why was it interlaced in the first place? shouldn't the pulldown have been removed by your editing suite in the beginning?
Click to expand...

They're probably stills- and jpegs at that, and in a reduced size.
I'm betting $5 he grabbed 'em from a website or email, dropped 'em in (by importing) and just ran a deinterlace on 'em.
Which doesn't help much.

GIGO.
Just remember that.

Your work is going to be only as good as the worst part in it.

So, in this event, try to acquire the best logo/banner pieces you can- from your client or source. The higher the resolution, the better (even if you have to drop it down some).
If that opener was done in AE (I don't think so)- you can do a lot more with it for resolution and sizing issues (but, you can't make it look good if it's already been 'had'- reduced and made web safe.)

My 2¢ anyway.
 
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