My First T2i Music Video
 

YouTube - J. GUNN - " Pinot Noir " Music Video

This is my first music video,so I would really like any input you guys can give.

For this video I just used available lighting for just about all of the shots. The only shots I used any lighting was for the wine bar scene. For lighting I only had a Light Panels Micro and that was it. In hindsight I wish I had something a little brighter.

I graded it slightly with Magic Bullet Looks to create a kind of washed out look. I'm a newbie to color grading so your input would be appreciated.

The entire video was all shot in one day and it took me a few weeks on the edit. Let me know what you think. I really enjoyed shooting this music video and look to do more in the near future. Anything you guys/gals would have done differently??

Equipment Used:
Canon T2i
Canon 50mm 1.8
Tokina 11-16
Flycam

YouTube - J. GUNN - " Pinot Noir " Music Video

Dara, very well done for your first shot at a music video. I'm curious what frame rate you shot at? If you did it in 30, 29, 25 or 24, how did you get your slow motion to look sooo good?

I've never shot or edited one before, but I wish I could see him sing a bit more. The shots that tell the story seemed 3-5 seconds too long.

The lighting was really good throughout. The colors and contrast at the bar scene seemed a bit off.

Other than that there were about 30 things I could point out that I liked.

Well done mate!

For a first music video I would say this is amazing work, Agreed that the bar scene needs a little work. A couple ND filters for the day time shots. I would have graded it a little differently but I'm certainly no expert in that area either. Keep on filming

Thanks!! I really had alot of fun shooting this video and look to do more in the future. Your input is golden. Everyone on this board seems so awesome and knowledgeable, so i'm glad you guys like my work.

Thanks. I shot all the performance scenes in 24p. All of the narrative scenes were shot in 60p and I conformed them to 24p using Cinema Tools. There was only one quick scene that I accidentally shot in 24p and I just slowed it down in FCP. Can you tell which one? Overall it was a really smooth process and I'm pleased with the results.

I totally agree on the bar scene. Lighting was a big issue here. All of our locations were open for regular business as we were shooting so we couldn't setup any lighting that would interrupt their normal customers. The wine bar shots came out really dark so I tried to do what I could to revive them. Anything you picked up on (ie increase/decrease contrast etc.) that I could do to fix it?

On the grading, I'm a total newbie to grading. I actually would like to take a class on it. This was actually my first time doing any grading whatsoever. Usually I just shoot on the Standard Picture Style and just color correct for exposure, white balance, etc. I'm interested to know how you would have graded it.

Thanks again for your time and kind feedback. It really means alot!

Nice song and good job on the video, though I agree the colors seem a bit off. Two suggestions with regard to the color and contrast: HTP can be helpful, things got a bit clippy in the exterior and a bit harshly high contrast overall. Also the colors go pretty red in a few scenes which feels unnatural especially on skintones, I dont know if it was intentional. I've seen this a lot with Canon DSLR footage, I'd say its likely from the standard picture style and mixed daylight/tungsten lighting conditions but maybe exacerbated by your post workflow and whatever magicbullet is doing. Based on the color your daylight blues and green plants are tending toward, id say you just need more yellow all around. You may have better luck with color rendering using neutral profile with contrast -4 saturation -2. I also find that common FCP workflows often increase the contrast and reduce the latitude of footage if you are not very careful, did you use FCP?

Thanks Noah. I read mixed reviews about HTP. Some people said it helps reduce blowouts, others said they never use it. I left it off for this shoot but I think I may play around with it before I do my next outdoor shoot.

Yes I did use the Standard Picture Style. I originally intended to use the Neutral Style you suggested because I've read it gives the best results when you want to grade....to be honest I totally forgot to change it since I'm always in Standard...Mental Mistakes...

Yes I do use FCP. First time I heard about it increasing contrast. I think I may try a second pass at grading. How would you suggest adding more yellow?

Thanks again for the help. This is exactly what I was looking for in terms of color grading. Do you know of any good resources to learn more about grading? Anything would be greatly appreciated.

Almost can't believe it's your first video, great work Dara! First of all, I think you succeeded in telling the story you wanted to tell, so that we, the audience, can understand it. Overall, the rhythm of the video is just right to me. Cuts were good. A very useful tip I got when editing narratives (and in general) is to focus on eye movements, it makes cuts more natural. But to me, it seems you already did this.

Also some still shots (for example of the silk ties in the shop) would have looked slightly better on a tripod. Some camera shake during walking or actors moving/talking etc is no problem, but as soon as you have shots with no action in it, you'll notice the cam is not locked down.

Already said here, but definitely try for more consistency in color/exposure/grading in the narratives, helps it blend easier into one story.

Since we now have 24p, shallow DOF, the last piece of the holy grail is the art of color grading. I'm also just starting my first color grading experiments, but there are a lot of useful tutorials on Youtube or Vimeo. Some useful exercises are trying to match your footage to a certain 'film look' you want to imitate, in the end you'll learn it yourself, create your own look.

YouTube - Color Grading and Color Correction

Thanks Michael. I really appreciate the feedback. I will be sure to check out the tutorial you posted and try to find other similar tutorials. I'm learning that Color Grading is a completely different animal. I will be spending time in the near future trying to get a handle on it. Thanks again.

Did he buy 1 rose or 12?

Nice work!

Agree with Michael's comments above. Great first video. You have the big things down, that is you can tell a story with your camera. That's something you're born with and nobody can teach. That's the big battle you've won.

The little battles now will be color grading and shot selection, working on keeping skies and streets from being blown out. I imagine they'll come naturally to you real soon if you keep working on it.