Music Video + HVX

aravance

aravance

Well-known member
I shot my first music video with the HVX200 and this is how it turned out.

http://www.vanst3r.com/carouselride03.mov

The band is called "The Canvas Waiting" and the song is called "Carousel Ride".
They have a really good sound, IMO, and if you like it you can check out their myspace page.

I produced, directed, shot, and edited this altogether within a span of two months. This isn't a final version yet, as I've been continually tweaking it here and there. But it's good enough to showcase for now.

We had two days of production: one day for the band and one day for the narrative. The HVX did its thing and I have no complaints, although I will NEVER EVER delete clips again off the card to save space while shooting. I erased one great take by accident and we had to waste time setting up the shot again towards the end of a 14-hr shoot. Needless to say, I was very angry.

For those that are interested, my settings were as follows:

Detail Level: -5
V Detail Level: -2
Detail Coring: -2
Chroma Level: 0
Chroma Phase: 0
Color Temp: +4
Master Ped: -9
A. Iris Level: 0
Gamma: Cinelike D
Matrix: Norm
Skin Tone DTL: On
 
Last edited:
awesome clip brother! Good story and camera work, loved the part where she realizes the guy was an angel(right??). I think the only part that was a little turn off was the lighting at the end, too dark for my taste but maybe that's how supposed to be...anyways, my 2 cents..

good work
g.
 
Nice work
Could have been more movement, it felt like their were to many fixed shots like the one on the drummer.
Lighting was a little flat in the warehouse ,could have done with more highlights.
Also a little soft in parts but on the hole well above par.
-matt
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the feedback.

We were on a timecrunch at the warehouse because the band had a gig that night, and so we really only got a couple of angles on each person. I chose before shooting to have static setups, but if I had to do it all over again I would've done more movement. I built the poor man's steadycam for the narrative shoot, and that would've come in handy for the warehouse. We did have a scissorlift available to us, but unfortunately ran out of time to really utilize it.

The lead singer really liked the darker look at the end, so I just stuck with it. As far as the warehouse, we weren't allowed to turn off the overhead lights so we had to work as best we could with them on.

I shot it in 720p24pN mode and used the aforementioned settings on both shoots. I shot primarily at 24fps, except slow-motion shots in the warehouse at 60fps. I used a variety of framerates for the narrative shoot, including 12fps, 24fps, 32fps, 48fps, and 60 fps.
 
Very professional looking.

I thought the story was great and I really liked the way the band faded in.

Also it looked great when she got pushed out of the way of the car.

Good luck with it,

Chris
 
Ok, first of all the VIDEO rocked, and is better than 1/2 the crap on MTV.. The song should be on the radio.. and ur video on TV..
The dark shots "looked good" to me! It's all about a mood that you set, and you set this DREAMY mood that comes with the music, so it fit perfectly..
FOCUS was for the most part GREAT.. I've worked on over 30 music videos ranging from Dave Matthews band to JAY-Z, and when I see those videos and how stuff is still out of focus a bit, it doesn't matter.. As long as it's not the artists close up shot and it happens each and every shot.. Watch Training Day, the last most critical scene in the movie is SOFT, like REALLY SOFT.. Denzel still got the OSCAR ;-)

GREAT WORK.. cant wait to see your name/band on MTV..

- - Justin
 
I'm sure you made the best of what you had.
I think the -5 detail is what i'm seeing more than a focus issue.
Had you thought about using the ND filters to darken it ?
People offen forget to use ND filters with artificial light and you can get some really good results that way.
It's all personal preference I really liked the vid and the song, just thought i'd go into critic mode incase it helped any.
Cheers
-matt
 
I never thought about using ND filters for the warehouse, that probably would've been a good way to get it a little darker. I shot with an f-stop of 4.8. I thought I'd just be able to darken it in post, but it just doesn't feel right to me when I do it. But yeah, I'll definitely have to test that out next time around. I definitely prefer doing it right in camera and not rely so heavily on postprodution. Your comments are appreciated.
 
I really enjoyed the "Narrative" parts. I do agree that the band shots were a little stagnant in some places, but this video is a heck of a lot better than some of the others I have seen. Thanks for sharing!
 
If you can, ALWAYS shoot WIDE OPEN! Make sure its not too dark, so get yourself a set of ND's (the ones built in are good, but they are to drastic!)
an ND .3, .6, .9, would be your best bet.. IT's a great investment for any project, and it will give you a great deal of control over your Depth of Field!!

But I still think everything in your video was amazing.. ;-)
 
I've always been told not to shoot wide open as the lens loses some of its sharpness. Is this true? I remember reading it somewhere in Barry's book. I had a ND 0.3, and ND 0.6 for my DVX, but unfortunately the diameter of the HVX is 82mm.
 
Beautifully Amazing

Beautifully Amazing

Man, I'm going to tell you what - that is not only some beautiful footage, but a beautiful job of every aspect of the video. There may those that say it's a little dark here, a little this there, but overall, this is outstanding stuff. Yes, definitely worthy of MTV or for that matter, any broadcast medium. The composition of shots are excellent, the band is excellent and the actress is excellent. (Who out there thinks this actress favors Julianne Moore a little, only a thousand times prettier?!) Whether she favors her a little or not, she's great. Keep up the excellent work - this video alone proves the power of the HVX and what great talent the filmmakers have - and how wonderful of you to provide your camera settings. Can't wait to see what you do next! Keep it coming!
 
Wide open on the DVX loses very little sharpness; maybe 10% or so but not a whole lot. On the HVX it's even less, maybe 3%. If you need the extra sensitivity, use it...
 
Yeah, that was excellent. Another trick for the wharehouse is if you blow the band out with extra lights, then turn down the exposure. Though it would suck the be the band cause they'd be almost blind.

The only thing I noticed is that she had a whole lot of fruit in her grocery bag :P

Very impressive piece!
 
I noticed the fruit too, which normally would be contained in plastic bags. I know
it was more for effect. I liked the story, the girl, the band, the sound, the direction,
I uh, like it, really, really liked it.

I also thought the lighting in the warehouse was a bit stark, unless that was what
you were going for, dunno. The quality was however spot on.

I hope you plan on distributing this video.

The band btw rocks.

Charli
 
It could have been great if the misterious guy could have been his ex boy friend that died or something.

Great video man!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top