Opinion: Hired a videographer, I thought he sucked. What do you think of footage?

Next time you need to read his entire contract, You guy's paid for
Package #1 - A random guy that shows up with no gear, no experience, he simply holds the camera and stays for two songs.
Next time go for the Deluxe Package.
Package #2- The same as above, but for another $200.00 Gets you thirty minutes of creativity and a tripod, with an additional song. Plus he gets free beer and permission to hit on the bands girlfriends:-)
 
maranfilms said:
Next time you need to read his entire contract, You guy's paid for
Package #1 - A random guy that shows up with no gear, no experience, he simply holds the camera and stays for two songs.
Next time go for the Deluxe Package.
Package #2- The same as above, but for another $200.00 Gets you thirty minutes of creativity and a tripod, with an additional song. Plus he gets free beer and permission to hit on the bands girlfriends:-)
Click to expand...

I'd laugh at this... but I'm sure there's more than one or two cats out there doing business just like this.
 
I wish people would get it through their heads that anyone in video production needs to be "auditioned" just like a player for your band.
Obviously your bandmates didn't do this.

And $200? I suppose you get what you pay for.
That's what I pay camera ops just to stand there and man one of the cameras I already set up and dialed in.
 
eh...i would do a half day with no gear for $200. been at it since 2002 or so. if you look at my links in my sig you can see my skill level...theres even a band promo in there i shot some of the footage for (the live footage is mine).
 
Screenforme said:
Not looking for opinions on audio...
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Yeah, the camera is all over the place - however, the main issue is the audio. If the audio was recorded decently, whether camera mics or seperate device and synced in post, the shortcomings of the video would be much more tolerable/it may even be seen as artistic intent.

Since you said you're also a videographer...If you have a studio version of one of the songs, you could salvage the footage as a music video...or a quick promo/with images of the band, not necessarily synced, although possible for some shots if you want to match the tempo.

You could transcode the video files and throw some filters at it, stabilize/although a lot of it here looks to be close-up as stabilization might make the images even closer.

Maybe even have this footage playing on a TV/monitor in the background while filming an actual music video (with a better camera),.. etc. etc... just try and be creative with it. Maybe it will lead to something else.
 
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Sort of shocked that you can watch that footage and the image stands out to you as the problem.

Have ye not ears?
 
I'm in a band too. We always try to get a mixer feed into a small recorder, if the sound guy will accommodate us, and it seems many consoles these days can actually record straight to a USB/flash drive. Do you guys not do this? Also might try literally pointing a mic at one of the PA speakers (assuming they blast a mix out where everything is coming equally out of both speakers) and recording into a recorder or even a camera itself. Last resort is maybe putting a small recorder in some ideal place in the room (sound guy will know what is the "best place") and let it record in stereo off its internal mics. I'm not crazy about that approach 'cause it's very raw, and also our lyrics are more important to the act than most bands' and need to be heard as clearly as possible (we're a comedy rock act).

But yeah, if you want the live audio to be mixed with the video, it needs to be decent. If to be mixed with prerecorded audio music video style (even it's not a "music video" per se), not so much.
 
Yeah that was terrible. Anyone defending that, saying "you got what you paid for" is probably just salty at the low ball offers they see on Craigslist and this is their way of venting that frustration. Reality is, if the offer was $1000, this dude would have still offered to shoot and you would have gotten the same quality from him. You could have given the camera to a monkey or an infant and possibly gotten better video than that. You could have strapped the camera to a ceiling fan running at full speed and gotten better video. Jokes aside... that was about as bad as it gets. Tell your band-mates there are reasons for providing sample footage/demo reels. If the "videographer" doesn't ask questions about set up/lights/gear/camera/ect... before shooting, that should be a warning sign that they aren't a videographer.
 
It's new. It's bold. He's gone where no one else dared. He's a genius. You guys just don't understand his work.

Screenforme - hang onto this guy and lock him into a contract. When he dies, his stuff will be talked about in honored tones. The AFI will have it at the top of their lists.
 
Ouch!

The camera movement seems excessive, the focus doesn't look sharp, and the lighting... I'd go with the suggestion to consider this a $200 lesson and move on. Editing this would be daunting.
 
Looks like you handed him a 90's handycam and a plastic tripod.
Would have been better if you locked the camera off and walked away.
 
I'm in NOVA area not far from DC. Nowadays it's not a problem to find someone who can handle camera much much better for $200 four hours with his/her own equipment.
 
Dang! Thanks for all the replies everyone.

Yes, THE AUDIO IS BAD to those who mentioned it, that's why I put in the first post that I wasn't looking for audio critiques. I actually had the whole thing recorded as separate tracks through the Presonus mixer at the booth and have those on a HD with a nice mix, cue the "I heard they suck live!"

However, the plan was to use one of our "studio" tracks as the backing. I say studio loosely, and TBH we ain't a great band but hey, for $200, I should be able to get a few TEN SECOND clips in there. Dude, hold the flipping camera steady for at least ten seconds but nope, I don't even think there are 5 second clips to be had.

I guess I'm just comparing it to myself and what I can do, and I am not Roger Deakins or even remotely close. BUT, I understand the power of editing and how to slice it all together, even from one camera.

For my own work, I shot this a few years ago with the same camera, one camera, over about 30 minutes, basically the same situation...

And, for reference This is what I've done with a GoPro of the band.

Thanks to all who gave their opinion and remarks!
 
Yeah, bad video for sure. I think when he asked to use your camera "since he didn't own one" it was certainly a red flag. Did you see their reel, or any work before you hired them? It's only $200, so it's not a terrible loss...for that rate anyway you aren't likely going to get a top tier shooter
 
Screenforme said:
However, the plan was to use one of our "studio" tracks as the backing.
Click to expand...

The problem with this is that many 'bands' really don't have music training and have made their 'inner metronome' part of their being. So there are time variations between a 'studio' or in fact one recording to another.

So, that's the reason for playing a pre-recorded piece through loud speakers and 'miming'.

But even with a cleaner recording through the 'board', there wasn't much visuals that I'd want people to see... were this my band...

The clip does have a use... to get the band members talking about what they actually want to do for a video... and give a good example of what they don't want...
 
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