Promo Rap Video

Mike Manning

Mike Manning

Well-known member
This is a promotional video I did for a rap artist my company is representing. We went around LA shooting in one day. I experimented with a lot of different the camera settings all while switching between 60i and 24p. Any thoughts?

Quicktime File - 53 secs


UPDATE: I've been slaving over the website for artist, Shawn Anthony, in anticipation of his new EP. Check out the site I did for him at http://www.shawn-anthony.com. You can watch the video I did there too!
 
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I think the handheld shots compliment the music, I think it works. I like the look as well. Good work.
 
studio shots are too dark....and the outside shots are not lit well either. Some of those shots are jittery looking...I don't know if that is because you deinterlaced your 60i footage.
 
I agree with the fact that there is a lot of dark footage. Some of the outside shots look like they could benefit from a reflector to fill in the shadow areas. The studio shots just need more light overall.
 
I think it looks good. I don't think you need more light in the studio shots if that's the look you were going for. I get really bored sometimes with lighting that is there because it "should" be there. I think the studio shots are very interesting and are a creative direction to focus our attention in the shot. I think most of the outside shots look pretty good... I like the use of natural light when he is in front of the brick, another good creative choice I think because of his integration with his surroundings... he isn't separated from the background by back light, fill, etc... for me it gives a strong sense of him being a part of that world and feels more documental/truthful, something that works well with his musical approach. I also like the higher contrast scenes when he is in front of the cityscape, but mostly just because I am a big fan of high contrast and low-key lighting for more dramatic narrative purposes. I feel like the higher contrast works well though BECAUSE of the vastness of the background, the big sky, the city buildings... without some drama focused on him, it could be easy to lose focus in that shot... just my opinion.

There are a couple of shots I don't like much... one is the golden sun shot with him in the red shirt; the other is the later shot of him rapping in the same red shirt. I think the first really takes away from the rest of the shoot. It looks too soft, diffused, and boring in my opinion. There is a lovely sense of underlying grit and harshness - though it be subtle - in the rest of the footage... again something I think works well. The setting sun? shot just looks too golden, too washed out... not enough drama. I don't think the second shot of him rapping in the red shirt works as well either because there is too much shadow on his face... again, I love low-key lighting, but that almost seems to border on a fudged shot. One last thought is I don't know if the black and white works either. You have a great looking color palette so far... the colors are faded, washed, dark, but still present... it's very nice. For me, that represents a crucial creative idea just as much as composition, lighting does. It just works well for this music and shoot style, and if it was me, I wouldn't break that continuity. If you do really like that look in the video and want to keep it, I would darken it a bit and rough it up some... deteriorate it a bit to better contrast with the color footage.

This is all just my 2 cents... take it or leave it. I think you have a great start, though. This film/video stuff is all about lighting, composition, technique, etc. but it is also all about creative vision and implied emotional and narrative merit... I think you have a great eye for both.

Brad Hodgson
 
glad you liked it..

Believe me, I would have loved to have actually had a budget and been able to light him appropriately in the shots. The fact of the matter is, we just walked around downtown LA and tried to find cool places to shoot. What I was mostly experimenting with were the scene file settings. The studio shots came out darker on the export than the raw footage. I'll try lightening it.
 
Well I love working with natural light. You just have to use it in your favor. Make sure that the sun is shining into his face rather than casting a dark shadow on his face like it is in the video. No mater how good a job you do on a video, there will always be something that needs to be improved...so don't take the negative feedback too hard.
 
Framing seems off in a couple of exterior shots, but I like where you are going with the indoor shots: Big microphone & smoke. Looks evil!
Maybe I agree with the "red shirt" critique.
 
Nice track... basically all i see is the face needs to be lit a little better in some of those scenes.. but looks like a good start... maybe you should try putting a treatment together first and then go from there... just my 2 cents... whatever you do keep shooting!!
 
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