What happens when you don't hire good people....
- Thread starter keylight
- Start date
Come on... this is John Travolta, guy has millions and airplane in backyard, then how hard was it to ask last director he worked with to contact his DP or contact agent, as some holiday video its ok and whatever but as official release this is terrible.
It just puts him and her in bad light.Ive seen even some unknown actors whos worried and ask questions when camera on set looks like DSLR and they worked on film with 35mm film cameras and i perfectly understand their fear.
Travolta should be concerned about quality even more.
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And that's why everyone's quick to dogpile on him over this video, regardless of any other factors. But again, no one wants to tell me why the content doesn't suddenly seem to matter any more, just the technical aspect of it.
Egg Born Son
Veteran
This thread was supposed to be a joke but someone got serious.
The video is cheesy, but the sentiment is nice for those that like it. The production value is way off, but does it matter? High production value probably wouldn't have made a great deal of difference. JT gave an opportunity to a friend, that's nice. Do you need to get upset because others are having fun with it (whether we're laughing with- or at-), I don't think so. Is it wrong for others to mock it, I don't think so. Having an unfounded go at Gary isn't necessary. Glass houses. I'm not telling you to back down from your position or even that you're wrong. But for someone going on about others making personal attacks you're getting some splashback.
Gord.T
Still "Senior Member"
I personally have no problem with Travolta being in this video or how much he makes. Or even the video since I now know it was shot by a friend. The song was pretty good. And it was for charity I now know.
The only other thing they could have done, maybe, is to shoot it with a home camera style to make it more homegrown maybe. An old 8mm? Cell phone? I don't know. They're getting the views so it worked. I do like hearing everone's opinions/insight though.
Interesting thread.
The only other thing they could have done, maybe, is to shoot it with a home camera style to make it more homegrown maybe. An old 8mm? Cell phone? I don't know. They're getting the views so it worked. I do like hearing everone's opinions/insight though.
Interesting thread.
Doc Bernard
Indie Arms Member
Maybe it's because many of us are not writers. Our creativity is shown by things like framing, lens choice, lighting, sound (but since this is a sync....n/a), etc. Even so.....the story was lost, at least for me.
Maybe this was their first attempt at filming their own thing........LOL, oh, wait.....
Chris Adler
Veteran
The only personal attacks I saw in this thread were aimed at JT and the production team.
keylight
Veteran
Given access to a shooting location, a plane, a classic convertible, a fixed amount of time, two well known stars... and $12,000....
Don't you think YOU could have done a better job?
That's what it comes down to for me. To see such effort and expense spent on that kind of result....
I think Liam nailed it when he wrote:
Chris Adler
Veteran
I don't. I think his comment is silly.
keylight
Veteran
It's obvious that you don't think Liam nailed it, but since that wasn't the question (just my opinion), you've left us with the conclusion that you don't think you could have done a better job. And perhaps that helps to explain why you're having a problem with other people's points of view.
Then again, maybe you meant to obfuscate or were just being deliberately obtuse.
I fail to understand why you want to take this route. It means absolutely nothing unless you start putting up compare/contrasting material, and then it becomes a pissing match. Anyone saying, "Well I could have done better" is simply bragging. No one cares.
Now, if you can get 3 MILLION views on your content, then maybe you can start comparing.
Chris Adler
Veteran
Keylight, you obviously haven't read any of my posts. Who's to say they didn't aim for exactly what they produced? Different productions require different degrees of effort. Perhaps they figured adding anything more to it (regarding production value) would result in no gain. Actually, maybe they would have gained less by adding more value, since that would have obviously required more time and energy. Getting a product to market fast was their goal, and every day shooting or stuck in post is lost money. Think outside the box.
I just want to sort of point something out that may not be obvious to a lot of people on this forum, if not most:
In regards to someone's financial status, connections, etc... it is almost impossible for those people to produce something very good for very cheap, because EVERYONE knows their own value, everyone has larger fish to fry, and there are other blockades that would stop them from conducting a more professional production.
Unions, for one.
I'm only posting in reference to knowing the entire story, and in response to people's concerns with John Travolta's money. This might have been what they could do in a short amount of time with the LEAST amount of hassle.
As for this thread, nobody's insulting anyone really but I do see some trolling going on, and that should probably take a backseat.
In regards to someone's financial status, connections, etc... it is almost impossible for those people to produce something very good for very cheap, because EVERYONE knows their own value, everyone has larger fish to fry, and there are other blockades that would stop them from conducting a more professional production.
Unions, for one.
I'm only posting in reference to knowing the entire story, and in response to people's concerns with John Travolta's money. This might have been what they could do in a short amount of time with the LEAST amount of hassle.
As for this thread, nobody's insulting anyone really but I do see some trolling going on, and that should probably take a backseat.
keylight
Veteran
$12K is a ton of money these days. I've read all of Chris' posts and his position seems to be that to have done a better job they would need to have spent more time and more money. And everyone here (almost) knows that just isn't true. I could hire someone for $12K to do a much better job if I wasn't able to do so myself. So time and money are not really valid excuses for the quality of video, IMHO.
Chris Adler
Veteran
No, my position was they probably didn't feel the need to make it better than it was. I never said, nor implied, that they did they best they could for $12K. I don't have a breakdown of the budget, do you? Without knowing what they spent it on you have no way of saying you could have done more for less.
keylight
Veteran
You're right. I don't know what they spent the money on. I can't begin to imagine how they spent $12K on that video. Maybe they spent a few thousand on food for everyone (a few hundred would be fine). Maybe they had to pay the housekeeper $1K to get her to vacuum in that one shot, or another $1K on renting the car.
But I don't need to see THEIR budget to know that better could have been done for less. Anyone who has spent enough time in the world of production should know what can be done with $12K. I once shot a corporate video in an empty pro-basketball stadium, brought in a 4 person crew, gear, talent.... for a one day shoot for $6,500. Price included rental of the location too. Oh, and the short script. Granted, it took a couple of days to secure location and get all the pre-pro done on it. But then, what doesn't? Even this JT/ONJ video probably took a day or two to arrange.
You may be right that they didn't feel a need to make it any better. But if they got what they wanted, then what they wanted could have been done for less.
A few people here might remember the old thread on whether or not its possible to make a great film for $10,000. I came down heavily on the side of it not being possible. My big thing there was that donated resources (equipment, talent) still need to be budgeted as if they were paid. Same is true here. I'd budget donated time and equipment as thought it were paid. I just can't figure out where or why they would have spent $12K on this video.
Chris Adler
Veteran
Yeah, you never know. I shot a short with a $65K budget and my last one for a few hundred. What they spent it on is for them to know.
Id like to point out interesting fact that many "Average Joes" on youtubes left bad comments about production quality of this video, so we are not insane here and people DO CARE about prduction quality and can recognize what looks good and what dont without any knowledge about cinematography, also number of dislikes says something so that millions of views is nothing to be proud of if you'll be known as that guy who did that bad looking music video that people are making fun off.
Chris Adler
Veteran
My ex is a grease fan and I'd be shocked if she doesn't repost the video on Facebook as soon as she sees it. She's the target market, and they couldn't care less.