"Fly" by Giant Machine.

M

mtownley

Active member
We just finished editing the official video for "Fly" by Giant Machine. We were lucky enough to shoot the entire video for under a $100 budget! With most of our locations falling through, we were able to fall upon this 100 year old train station that was the perfect location to showcase the band in a performance setting. It was a one camera shoot. Lit by eight 500W work lights. Hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to lend any C&C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQRTWQASgNo
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I'm going to be a little harsh here and I want to apologize in advance for that. Usually I don't post feedback because I'm looking for something that inspires me. So my expectations are hard to live up to, I guess, and maybe that's my own problem and not anybody else's. But I thought this song was really good and the vocalist gave a very compelling and intense performance so I'm going to try and break down what I really wanted out of this video.

You had the coverage. Coverage was not the problem, and having the necessary coverage is a good first step. That said your shots were boring. I don't care about your location problems, you had the lights and the camera, that's all it takes to create something with a little style. I was waiting for some low angles, something dutch, some backlight, some handheld, some lens flare, some sideways movement of the camera itself (not the lens, thats a pan), some inserts, some shallow focus, some lighting swinging around, some camera shake. Camera movement is one of the most important things in a music video that's straight performance, but all those other gimmicks are great too. The lighting was adequate, I could see them, but very flat. If you had taken some lights away, or moved them around a bit, you might have ended up with more contrast. Continuity is not a terrible concern with a music video, the visuals are worth experimenting a bit with. I understand that $100 can be rather demotivating but it's all about convincing the next guy to spend $500.

The close-ups of the dudes with other dudes in the background were good. The slo-motion punctuated certain moments in the song well. The edit was pretty good, could have been a faster tempo in places but the timing was about right on the cuts.
 
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Justin,
I agree with you 100%. I kicked myself for not shooting enough hand held and branching out on the framing. I will admit it was difficult without a crew to help out, it was myself and my other director that were moving the lights and setting up the band, unfortunately the camera work fell behind. It was a great learning experience and I already have a lot of ideas for the next shoot. We were also going to include a narrative but weather conditions and time constraints made that impossible. That would have made the static shots less noticeable I think. I appreciate all of your critiques. I will never have a harder critic on my work than myself. Thanks!
 
Sounds like you're in the right place to improve dramatically. The first music video I did I look back at and wince. You never really start going any easier on yourself.
 
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