Sick Ferrari Video I did

Dubdriver17 said:
I don't know why everyone has such a problem with this. It works, and works well. Don't any of you watch Top Gear? They do vids like this all the time (Although with a much higher budget) and no one complains.
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I think herein lies the problem. And thus is the reason you are getting the response you are.

Clearly, it's not working for a lot of us. Sure, we can give constructive criticism all day. However, it's when a response (or the initiating post begins) with such ego as displayed in the above mentioned section, that's where the line is. That's what tips "constructive criticism" to a harsher "criticism". Both of which are constructive, if you actually read the lines and ignore the tonality.

It's the golden rule here. Treat people as you want to be treated. Everyone here at this board has different ideas of what work. And everyone is human. No one likes ego.

If you [OP] want to consider my post bashing and/or offensive fine. But Sound is
basic filmmaking principles here
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.

At the end of the day: the advert is too long, it drags, I don't believe it fits with what you are trying to portray. The opening, I don't think there is any anticipation there. I would have assumed it was about cattails until we saw the car.

If you want anticipation, you have to build the aural and visual world around what you are actually attempting to portray. The crow/eagle/raven? How does this apply to your theme? Why did you chose it? What was the sound of the raven/hawk significant of?

These are questions people ask, and questions you should ask yourself and have answers to. Everything, shots, sound, juxtaposition are designed [or should be] to help tell a story and make associations.

Imagine the opening sequence. Quiet. And then you hear the revving of the car in the distance. Simply adjusting the idea here changes the perception of the [now seemingly gratuitous cattail and nature shots]. It adds purpose and it adds a general feel that doesn't currently exist.

That is basic filmmaking.

I think you would get a much better response if you [op] were to approach this as though you aren't the best film maker in the world. And actually asking for people opinions rather than gloating and saying [essentially] "look at my awesomeness"

And no, I'm not being harsh, or mean, I am being realistic and genuinely attempting to help you out.
 
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So I read the comments first and THEN watched the vid. Some of you made it seam like the vid was barely watchable. It's not. Whether the OP deserved the bashing – different story.

I feel the video fulfills its purpose. It's not perfect, but certainly good enough for proper web exposure.
 
i think the problem im having with the intro scene is twofold. first, i dont really feel the juxtaposition of grasses, dirt and a bird to a faux-ferrari. i think youd have done better setting up a ground level slow pan or rack focus on some abandoned pavement, rather than the nature vs machinery (or whatever the intent) thing

second, is the ACTUAL locations themselves.

the first shot with the clearing and woods, looks more like cleared acreage for a housing development.

and for me, cat-tails are emotionally connected to wetlands. and again this sets the wrong mental stage for what youre about to do.

and on the eagle or buzzard or whatever it is - id bet my life that it was not part of the storyboard. i bet you just saw it happen, shot it and thought "aww cool!"
am i right?

as far as the porsche video? its not overall any better than yours. i think it suffers from equal but different problems. the big difference between the two is their beauty-shots are much better crafted (meaning they probably spent most of their time on them) if you combine their beauty-shots with some of your actions shots youd probably have a winner.

as afar as the comments about yours being too long. i disagree. yours (as far as i know) isnt intended to be a tv spot. you called it a promo. and in that light it might not be long enough...

and again, i think most of the flame you received here was due to the way you presented it. there was a guy here last week who called his work "absolutely stunning cinematography" and i pretty much pointed out exactly why it wasnt. if hed said "hey check out this spot i did" we probably all would have said, "hey, thats kinda cool. but maybe you should try xyz..."
 
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wgzn said:
second, is the ACTUAL locations themselves. the first shot with the clearing and woods, looks more like cleared acreage for a housing development.
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This is what I meant. The location is no good for a Ferrari. Um, maybe it is ok for a faux Ferrari.

wgzn said:
as far as the porsche video? its not overall any better than yours. i think it suffers from equal but different problems. the big difference between the two is their beauty-shots are much better crafted (meaning they probably spent most of their time on them) if you combine their beauty-shots with some of your actions shots youd probably have a winner.
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"equal but different" problems? ;-) I agree, Porsche Top Gear-esque beauty shots and fake Ferrari action shots combined would yield a great combination.
 
wgzn said:
and on the eagle or buzzard or whatever it is - id bet my life that it was not part of the storyboard. i bet you just saw it happen, shot it and thought "aww cool!"
am i right?
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Why is this a contention of yours? Are you totally agaisnt any 'happy accident' or just in this case because you don't like the OP's enthusiasm for his work?
 
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Why is this a contention of yours? Are you totally agaisnt any 'happy accident'
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absolutely not! im all about the "happy accident" hell, i owe some of my best work to them.

the shot just feels very haphazard and i dont get how its relates to the car. and its really not a great shot anyway. if they cut from the wide to a closeup of the bird eating some prey right before the car kicks in, it might have made more sense.

for me its just an error in storytelling.
 
My two cents. I like the spirit of it. As someone who works as a location scout amongst my other jobs, I would of course suggest a better location where there is nothing to distract the viewer from the car. The side walk, pile of stones, etc etc, all take the viewers eye away from where you want it.

I would also advice caution (haha, like the roadway language :-P ) and watch the color red. It is a very finicky color, as odd as that sounds. It appears that you may have cranked up the saturation in some shots, but the blooming red tends to distort and look blocky, alias and piss off color correction nuts. If you don't have production monitor to correct to it is difficult to get color to a sweet spot.

I dig the treatment, and as a car enthusiast, I will say I like the spirit of it. Your heart and vision were close to the mark. And I am sure your next one will take into account all of the constructive feedback from the forum. Godspeed!
 
I'm all for giving props to anyone who actually creates something that gets finished- whether I like it or not. There's plenty of stuff on here that gets great reviews that I don't personally like. There's stuff that gets thrashed that I also don't like, but I give respect to everyone that finishes something.
The fact of is it 'sick' or not is the the eye of the creator. Your 'sick' and my sick are two different things. The one thing that isn't up for debate is being overly sensitive to criticism.
Bottom line is that as long as the video serves it's intended purpose then that's all that counts. If someone is out looking for pats-on-the-back this is the last place to look for it. Not only are some of the members incredibly talented and do amazing work, worse yet is the members that don't create anything but sit at their computers telling other creators how "they" would have done it. Those are the critics and they're usually a heck of a lot tougher then the talented people.
Either way, this is a tough room for the thin skinned..........

For the record- I thought it was ok. Nothing special but watchable like most ads. And for the record the yellow Porsche video while visual better on several occasions (never seen an ad driver smile at the camera...) the music about put me to sleep. If you're market is 70 year olds then that's fine. If it's 45 year old divorced guys looking to land a 21 it's way off.....
Just my critic-inspired opinion.
 
Oddly enough I liked this Red Car clip, I don't like too many things right away.
As far as trying to copy million-dollar car ads its very close.
Its missing the "Do Not Attempt - Professional Driver on a Closed Course" disclaimer.

I also liked the secondary color.

It could use bit tightening the edit, and a little more CC on the green/browns and car operator flesh tones and speedometer, but that's about it.
It serves its purpose.
Oh yeah, the art-cards in the end should color-match the creative (footage) part, plain black and white is a no-go in a promo.
 
Looks awesome !!

Didn't like the one of the pan shots (right to left), lost a bit of momentum from it. Loved the handheld shots, really gives it the look. Should have got a few CUs of the bird.


What kind of car rigs did you guys use ?
 
Hey guys, I do appreciate the constructive criticism. And a lot of you made good points, so consider them noted. Also, you guys have given me a lot of ideas for the next one. As for location: This was done on a very cheap budget and I found the most desolate place I could with the area I live in. Yea it sucked having to use that spot, but there's not a lot of places to not be bothered all day. As for the camera mount I used the manfrotto suction cup mount from filmtools. We threw a Sony handycam on it for all the mounted shots.
 
Dubdriver17 I enjoyed your video. Keep striving to be your best and don't let anyone damage your dreams. Keep up the good work.
 
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