What happens when you don't hire good people....

Chris Adler said:
I wasn't referring to you specifically. Other's have called them names. To me that's not people making fun of their work-- they're making fun of them.
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As far as I'm aware I'm the only one that called anyone names, and ONJ is ours and that's what we call her (we like rhyming slang).

You are welcome to like the video but this is Cafe ala DVX, if others want to mock it for a bit of fun, they can.
 
Liam Hall said:
See, now I feel bad. I read on Google it was a $12,000 budget and the song was made for a new Album. Turns out its a charity video:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/dec/07/john-travolta-olivia-newton-john-reunite

It's still terrible, but at least it's for a good cause.
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In that case it's probably a perfect fit for it's target market. Less cynical people like my mum who like a singalong and sentimental stuff would probably gush over this. She'd do the dance (probably in public just to embarrass us). The airport security guard giving the soldier a hug was cute. Some people completely melt for that kind of thing. They just like to feel good and love cheese. They love to give for the feeling as much as the cause. I'm just a big old meany, consequence of discernment. On the other hand I like B-movies so we all let our guard down for something.
 
Egg Born Son said:
In that case it's probably a perfect fit for it's target market. Less cynical people like my mum who like a singalong and sentimental stuff would probably gush over this. She'd do the dance (probably in public just to embarrass us). The airport security guard giving the soldier a hug was cute. Some people completely melt for that kind of thing. They just like to feel good and love cheese. They love to give for the feeling as much as the cause. I'm just a big old meany, consequence of discernment. On the other hand I like B-movies so we all let our guard down for something.
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I *think* (a guess really) that the cop and solder are actually father and son. And people in the video are friends & family. The changes made in the alternatve version are small, but only poke fun at the two stars and the people who made it. Not all the other people.

BTW, does anyone think JT was referencing Star Trek red shirts? Star Trek certainly had it's fair share of cheese.....
 
There is a difference between quality and entertainment. Hopefully we all strive for both.

It's a poor quality video that should make professionals gasp as appear to be doing.

If people like it anyways, that's the entertainment value.

I'm hearing two seperate issues here. imo.

As for harping on the video, haha, this is a video site. People aspire to get better here. How could they not comment on the poor quality?
And by that some us might even learn something.

I thought it was fun. I didn't think it was high end but I think I got the relax-a-bit-were-having-fun nature of it.
//And I think Travolta hammed it up a bit in a least one shot or two. :)
 
Gord.T said:
As for harping on the video, haha, this is a video site. People aspire to get better here. How could they not comment on the poor quality?
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Because if a DVXUser here posted something similar, the entire discussion would be different. And yet, because John Travolta is a famous actor, people think he should know how to make videos.

Guess what? You could be the greatest actor in the world, and not know how to turn a camera on.

And besides that, on a site that constantly harps on "content" over "video quality", it sure seems hypocritical now, doesn't it?
 
Gord.T said:
People aspire to get better here. How could they not comment on the poor quality?
And by that some us might even learn something.
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No tips have been offered about what they could have done better, just ridicule and smug comments. The only thing I've learned from this thread is a little more insight into the true nature of the other users in the forums.
 
If you want constructive criticism start a thread in User films or Film Discussion. This is the Cafe. This forum is supposed to be a laugh.
 
Chris Adler said:
No tips have been offered about what they could have done better, just ridicule and smug comments. The only thing I've learned from this thread is a little more insight into the true nature of the other users in the forums.
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Mit 7 goldenen Himbeeren ausgezeichnete, wie kann man besser tun?

Oh wait that was in the 'verbesserte' version given by the original poster...

There were numerous places where the camera framing just looked sloppy. One example where John is walking down an open portico, and the camera is angled such that the horizon line is canted, but the shot did not look like it was supposed to be 'dutched'.

The cutting back and forth between the car and the plane 'feels' wyrd. And so on.
 
Chris Adler said:
No tips have been offered about what they could have done better, just ridicule and smug comments. The only thing I've learned from this thread is a little more insight into the true nature of the other users in the forums.
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I tried to do that in the - as j1clark aptly put in quotes - 'verbesserte' version. But rather than write out a list of criticisms, I highlighted them and offered some "solutions". This is a forum about production after all, right?


  • Inside the cockpit looking out was flat white - not even some sky (superman!)
  • No reflection on the cockpit glass for the shot looking in (hence the cartoon clouds, then cg buildings of a large city, then the turtle trying to fly - which was mimicking ON-J's slow driving). I mean, there should be some kind of reflection, otherwise you might think he was just sitting in a plane that wasn't moving. Oh, wait....
  • The golf cart reflected in the mirror (a little sloppy, but I thought maybe the person shooting really wanted to be in it, so I zoomed in on that)
  • The look on JT's face - was he angry? constipated? (I think he was trying to scare us, so I added the text on his shirt whenever he looked angry)
  • The housekeeper/maid vacuuming (like I've said, it's nice he included her, but why so small? So I zoomed in each cut back to ON-J)
  • The strange dance move (hey - they're just shaking their bones, right? Hence, the skeletons)
  • The red shirts in front of the TV. What was that about?! (Hence the clip from Star Trek)
  • The quick cuts of JT pointing in front of the tree (Did they shoot a lot of that and have no place to put it? So I added some more)
  • Swinging from the chandelier (Really? Okay.)
  • The 180 violation when the two finally meet - well, nothing I could add really, so I just flipped a couple of shots in homage (unless JT has a right-hand drive convertible too)

And what was up with the horrible laugh at the end. Brought chilling memories of B.E. So naturally.... The crash at the end, well that sort of summed up the whole thing really.

So those were my comments. Sure, spending a couple of hours putting everything in wasn't the best use of my time, but it sure was a fun way to point out my problems and offer up some solutions.
 
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I believe this video is made by someone who knows his stuff - and he deliberately made it look trashy. Trash sells nowadays, all the pixel peeping is in vain IMHO.

Just look at the mainstream videos nowadays - every other video has some quote on quote SUBTLE triangle, horus eye, whatever reference to the damn illuminati, because hey they know it's selling, it's creating a buzz for free. Look at that latest video from that chick Kesha...LOL...how more blatant can you get.

But people buy into it. Blame it on sheep mentality - there's no hack for that, look at the politics, look at everything, people are gullible by design and that's that.

Rebecca Black Friday - 45 million views
Nicole Westbrook It's Thanksgiving - 13 million
Hot Problems Double Take - 16 million
Gnesa Wilder - 3 million

These "songs" (except Rebecca Black of course) are few months old.

Apparently, trash sells, idiocracy welcome aboard :D I'm not even getting into the views and influence of those same sounding, redundant, bland techno-pop overproduced stuff that's everywhere nowadays...that's even worse because they're supposedly "serious" artists LOL
 
Gary Huff said:
Because if a DVXUser here posted something similar, the entire discussion would be different. And yet, because John Travolta is a famous actor, people think he should know how to make videos.

Guess what? You could be the greatest actor in the world, and not know how to turn a camera on.

And besides that, on a site that constantly harps on "content" over "video quality", it sure seems hypocritical now, doesn't it?
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To be fair Gary, there aren't many DVXUsers who have made 64 feature films.

Also, no one is pixel peeping. It's the content that we all find funny. They could have shot this on Alexa with Roger Deakins behind the lens and it would still be hopeless. You can't polish a turd...
 
Liam Hall said:
To be fair Gary, there aren't many DVXUsers who have made 64 feature films.
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And to be fair, Liam, you have to admit that he acted in 64 feature films, he didn't "make" them. Where is this idea coming from that because you acted in lots of films that you should suddenly have technical knowledge in order to pull one off from scratch? It makes no sense.

It's the content that we all find funny. They could have shot this on Alexa with Roger Deakins behind the lens and it would still be hopeless. You can't polish a turd...
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By what metric are you calling it a turd? Again, another point I keep having to make because hardly anyone in this thread will give me a straight answer. Why is the content bad simply because you don't like it? It has 3 MILLION views and it was published mere days ago. How many 3 MILLION views YouTube videos do DVXUsers have? And out of those views, it's about evenly split between likes/dislikes (6118 vs 7239 at the time of this post).

Obviously someone likes it, so who are you to call it a turd? By what metric is your opinion more valid than someone else's? How does this jive with the idea that "content is king" and then that good "content" is whatever people like? Does that mean the majority of people liking it is (and is only) good content? What about 1 person? What if a single person enjoyed that video out of 3 MILLION views, is it good content then? 10 people? 100? 1000?
 
Im sure he would find awfully lot of experienced people wanting to film this video for him even for free.No excuse, sorry.
 
Gary Huff said:
And to be fair, Liam, you have to admit that he acted in 64 feature films, he didn't "make" them. Where is this idea coming from that because you acted in lots of films that you should suddenly have technical knowledge in order to pull one off from scratch? It makes no sense.
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Yes, I don't disagree with you. I've met lots of actors who can't tie their own shoelaces, but give them a character to inhabit and a script to perform and their gold. No one is blaming JT for the camera work or the direction, but his company name is on it, he's in it and his performance is hilarious.

Gary Huff said:
By what metric are you calling it a turd
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Short answer, by my own judgement. I don't care what rednecks think or what people who eat soup with a fork think. I trust my own judgement on matters of taste.
 
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Gary Huff said:
Obviously someone likes it, so who are you to call it a turd? By what metric is your opinion more valid than someone else's? How does this jive with the idea that "content is king" and then that good "content" is whatever people like? Does that mean the majority of people liking it is (and is only) good content? What about 1 person? What if a single person enjoyed that video out of 3 MILLION views, is it good content then? 10 people? 100? 1000?
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It's an interesting debate and one I have firm opinions on, but it probably one that needs its own thread rather than putting a downer on peoples' fun in this thread. If you start that thread, I'll happilly debate those points with you.
 
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