Down South Lean - N (Rough Cut)

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dwnsthballer

Well-known member
Hey all, long time, no post.

I'm currently working on a music video for a local artist, who in the next month, will be sitting down and working out a deal with Sony. In this deal, I might get a chance to direct future music videos.

Here is the first 46 seconds we did over the past weekend.

http://www.greenbench.tv/videos/LGD1.wmv

Although once again, there is no budget involved (I might not even get paid for this; it's a big favor for a cousin), we were able to pull a bunch of resources and get some friends with nice cars to let us use them for a day. I have about four or so more scenes to shoot in the next week that I plan to incorporate into some of the beginning.

Color correction done with Magic Bullet.
Glidecam 2000 used on a few shots.
DVX100B/24P at 1/500 Shutter

Don't know what other specs I could give. Give me your honest (and brutal) opinions! I know it's only a short sample, but I want this video to represent my skills as a director well since it's going to be shown in front of the big boys at Sony. I just want to be going in the right direction (no pun intended).
 
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I'm not sure if this will impress sony
Which Music Videos director's are you influenced by?

Mark Romanek, Joseph Kahn, Hype Williams etc...?
You should really study how they make music videos

If you want to impress Sony, you might want to borrow a 35mm adapter to get your footage to look more like film with a deeper DOF.
Right now, the footage looks like those BET late night 3am ghetto music videos I see.

I like the use of split screen / boxes, but there are just way too many in my opinion. The flashes gets me dizzy everytime, there are just too many of them.

I'm not really familar with hip hop music videos, so maybe someone else can help you out.

Good Luck
 
Well I didn't see any smooth shots ala glidecam...and I think that you should color correct with FCP/Premiere/Vegas and then use Magic bullet to possibly give an overall mood...I agree it does look like Bet-Uncut. I would work on framing and more steadyness in shots.....my 2 cents...I liked the intro.
 
On the contrary, I think it might impress them if they know that this kind of product can be made with NO money. Imagine what I could do with a couple thousand? I might be wrong, but if they can get high quality for a cheap price, they'd be willing to go for it than the extravagant million dollar video that got the same message across.

I'm pretty much influenced by any music video director. I liked the way F. Gary Gray did Jay - Z's "Show Me What You Got", which influenced the way I shot this.

I'd like to borrow a 35mm adapter, but I don't know anyone within the vicinity of Greensboro, North Carolina that has one...If you know someone...send them my way. ;)

There are some glidecam scenes that I hadn't edited in yet (with the exception of one shot already inserted). The shots are supposed to be moving and kinda shaky to bring out the effect of the snares and cymbals (if you listen to the beat you'll realize the camera shakes to it).
 
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Well it's beter than I can do at the moment.

Only beef is that it felt sort of... blandish. I mean it was really basic. Obviously the usual rapper with his crew, nice car, etc... but even lots of typical rapper videos have something original about them, the way they're presented, shot or edited.

I do like the boxes though.

My suggestions would be to maybe work with the images. Add some color to the video. Do something to make it more eye catching.
 
I feel EXACTLY what you're saying.

I'll explain the scenario and maybe you guys will understand.

During Christmas break, my cousin contacted me and asked if I could do a video for one of his friends that is going to be cutting a deal with Sony. I said "Sure, when?", he said "In a few months".

The next week I get a call from the manager of the artist as well as the CEO of his current label asking if I could do the video in two weeks. What happened to the few months? I don't know! Now, realistically I was thinking "hell no", but I didn't want to let me cousin down since he looked out for me a lot (I'm still in college) and plus this is a chance to get my work shown to Sony.

So I say yes. I now have 2 weeks to listen to the song, think of some concepts, find the materials I need to make it happen and execute it.

I tried to sell them a concept that involved a lot of traveling and money (I figured they had it since they're stepping up to Sony), but I soon found out that they had NO MONEY at all for the video. And when I say no money, I mean I'm not even getting paid (BIG favor for cousin). So it basically became a guerilla style video.

So I basically took lemons and made lemonade. We snuck onto a parking deck, borrowed a few cars, used a white sheet I had in my house, and got a bunch of his friends to help out. My cousin helped me do a lot of the work since the time got cut from a couple of months to two weeks, but what can you do? I definitely don't have rich parents nor a high enough income to buy or rent.

So now you see my ordeal. Personally I wanted to have some HMI lights and Dolly's and to use a real white studio and a bunch of green screen stuff, BUT, two weeks and no budget? Yeah...Not that I'm trying to make excuses but I give myself a handicap considering the factors and what I've manage to pull off.

Anyways, keep the feedback coming!
 
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2 weeks!?! Holy ****...

Well for 2 weeks this is pretty good. Still need to add some flavor to it though.

Too bad they cut time down so much. Happens a lot. But it sucks that you don't even get paid. Money grubbers trying to take advantage of the fact that you want to show your stuff to sony and would make a video for your cousin.
 
I've been sitting all day trying to find something to give it that "Pazazz", but everything I want to do cost money, and I'm definitely not coming out of my pocket for it.

I've still got a few more scenes to shoot and a little more time to spare, maybe I can pull something out of my butt.
 
Well there's always cool editing tricks. Look at messed up movies or videos, with crazy editing and study them. Get some ideas.

Also I always like color correcting. Mess around with the hi's and the low's, the gains and the pedestals(sp?), add some color. Some nice flash cuts perhaps. Try adding some shake to still images (except there's already enough shake I guess), maybe mess with the focus, just go crazy...

I always try and go crazy with my stuff and see what works and what doesn't. I make things as messed up as possible, then I take out what looks bad.

But a lot is do-able with the typical pro editing program. Even more with programs like AE.

What is it that you want to do that requires money?
 
Mostly equipment rentals (HMI, dolly, etc.) and a few studio (green and white screen) and club shoots (requires location fees). I also wanted to get some real models to be the "video girls". Maybe try the 35mm adapter idea (if I could ever find one to rent). Also, I'd like to pay a crew (one man show right now) to help me out. Last but not least, a few locations I wanted to travel to to shoot because they had the "grimey" look the artist wanted.

I think my proposed budget was like $1,100? But that got cut down to $0,000.
 
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Most of the shots are nice, good editing, the car shot might be a little to long. Not to be picky, but some of the lines are off in the 3 square shots, and I'm really seeing some interlacing issues. Overall Nice job!



"but everything I want to do cost money, and I'm definitely not coming out of my pocket for it. "


Well welcome to the club, you know I've said this to myself some many times before, just as I said to myself " I'm not putting any of my money into this project, I'm not making any money off of it anyway". If this is your big opening (especially with sony, or even to have this put on BET, MTV, whatever), DON'T MISS IT. Sometimes you have to spend money to make money, we have all been down that road, and just remember your name is going on it. :)
 
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It's not being picky. The lines come from the compression (odd I know). I haven't yet figured out how to stop that (previously I would have to export as an avi, then run it back through and out as wmv for it to work right).

You're right, you do have to spend money to make money, but man, I'm just a college student lol. I'm trying to stay out of the hole atleast until graduation (3 months away).

We'll see how it all works out. The artist and his current label are thrilled over the way the video looks so far, but I wanted to get the film maker community's opinion.
 
Yeah, don't you know it. Being a student sucks...

I still find it cheap of them to not even give you any money for this thing. To a label 1000$ is nothing, but to a film maker 1000$ can make something that's bad into something that's good.

I dunno, I hope you figure it out. Maybe use the old tried and true methods. Using a wheelchair (or even a car) for a dolly, a ladder for a cheap crane shot, etc...
 
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