My first real project...

dr_stupid

dr_stupid

Active member
Don't know if this should be out in the public domain yet, as I'm still waiting for copyright permission on the music, but I wanted to solicit your feedback on my first ever "real project!"

http://www.petegabriel.com/movies/UPHS_Video.wmv

Some quick background:

-I am a medical resident at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

-Video has always been an interest and a "goofing around" hobby for me, but I never had any actual production knowledge, experience, or real equipment.

-I came up with the idea for this project and pitched it to my boss - the director of residency programs at Penn. She gave me the opportunity to go for it (she had no idea how crazy that was :) ). My compensation for doing it was essentially a financial reimbursement for the DVX, a tripod, and a mic, which I now get to keep. So this is how I got my DVX!

-The project is a recruiting video which will be shown to medical school graduates who are applying to residency programs at Penn. It advertises the city and the hospital system. The interview season starts tomorrow.

-I joined DVXuser last April when I got the official go ahead for the project. Absolutely EVERYTHING I've learned in the past 8 months about video making has come from all of you, or from books or training videos that you've recommended. And every piece of equipment I own was bought on the basis of your candid recommendations. I can't thank you enough!!

-The overall production value will likely make you shudder and feel embarrassed to have contributed to my alleged "education." Nevertheless, try to keep in mind the above, and see if it's not TOO bad of a first effort!

I would love any honest critique or suggestions for how to learn from it and improve next time! In particular:

LIGHTING:
I was trying to learn how to light, frame, expose, etc. AS I was filming the interviews and footage. I also had no field monitor and no time to go back and redo anything that was screwed up. But I'd love to know which parts (if any) you think worked well and which were especially bad... PS, not all footage of the city is mine -- some (particularly the aerial stuff) is B-reel I got elsewhere. Also, a few of the in-hospital clips are not from the DVX but rather a cheapo consumer cam. But it will probably be obvious to you which is which.

SOUND:
I'm sure the sound overall is pretty horrid, but it was also a first for me in terms of trying to record as cleanly as possible. Also my first time editing dialogue and music (sans monitors). Some of the interview dialogue was substantially edited -- is it really rough, or did it come off okay? I also had to combine and loop a couple of music clips, which I had never done before...

EDITING:
Was done in Vegas -- first time I've ever used it. How and where might I have used its capabilities better?

Anyway, just wanted to share it with you and thank you all for being such a great resource. And thanks in advance for any thoughts or comments!!!!!

--Pete
 
That was good work.

Not sure why you are beating yourself up.

felt very professional to me.

Great job, and AMAZING!!! first try.

You should be patting yourself on the back Doc.


-rook
 
Very nice Pete. The interviews were especially crisp and framed very nicely. Did you shoot any of the stock footage of the city? My only comment for improvement is for the end of the interviews. The audio cuts out on a lot of the interviews, but the video keeps going and you can tell that you cut off what they were saying. It makes it feel kind of wierd. I would either cut right away at the end of the last word or slow the footage down to 50% so you have twice as much footage to work with before the interviewee says the next word. The video had a nice feel to it. I like how you got pictures of your coleages outside of work having fun and incorporated them. This video really sells the university. How did your boss like it? How much time from start to finish did it take you? Great voice over work. What mic did you use for this?

Thanks

-Kevin
 
Oops -- just fixed the link!

Thanks for positive comments!!

Kevin -- Yeah, I actually shot about 60% of the city footage, and all of the hospital-related footage. I did a lot of running around the city! The end of the interviews thing -- I felt funny about that, too, but wasn't sure what to do about it. The 50% thing is a good tip -- I'll try that and see what it looks like.... As for the voiceover, I must confess that it was not recorded by me. A famous local DJ was kind enough to record it for me at the radio station, free of charge! It was very nice of him. Just goes to show, never be afraid to try recruiting local talent for things.

As for the boss, she actually loved it, so it was an all around success! I overspent my budget by quite a bit, but then again, I own some nice equipment now. The whole thing took me about 3 months of prep/education and 4 months of work, but that was in free time outside of my real job...
 
Seriously, Doc...
You are being too hard on yourself,
'cause that this project had a clean
polished look to it. Very well done -
very pro. :thumbsup:

By the looks of things, you are on
your way to being a quite successful
(though somewhat over-educated)
filmmaker.
 
that looked pretty nice...certainly a great first effort. A lot of the city shots were cool, and the interviews were done pretty well. the editing was tight- I liked the cuts to music. You definitely 'get it' when it comes to making an informative video, and with a few years refinement you could probably do truly impressive stuff. the only critiques I would have are things others have already mentioned- the audio cutting off at the end of interview shots. also there were some still photos used that should have had a red-eye treatment done first in photoshop. and, maybe a tad too much use of the zoom. Also there could be some color correction fine tuning done. but these are minor things in the context of the overall effort.
 
Thanks again for the positive feedback! I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, I had to pull down the link because I was exceeding the traffic limit for my web hosting account. But thanks to everyone who checked it out!

--Pete
 
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