Here's a music video...

http://www.vimeo.com/835920

...created for my wife for an internet singing competition. If you like Rascal Flatts, you'll love this! It was a great project that really put the camera though its paces (lots of steadicams shots). Make sure the 'HD' button is active on the video at Vimeo -- looks WAY better than the standard def version.

If you like her perfomance, go give her a vote as well! :-)

http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/VideosSeries/VideoView.aspx?vid=5002_85725688&=PBB_RascalFlatts_240_PPIMEMAIL&isep=1&pbapi=-1&pbvi=13833610

BTW -- the compression quality is horrible on the competition site, that's why I put it up on Vimeo for others to see (who have a more critical eye :-). Check out the Vimeo link first!

Jimmy

Great job! The location and steady cam shots worked really well. Nice editing too.

Thanks for the feedback Jim --

Yes -- I love the locations. The shots with the graffiti on the building/walls are pretty cool. However, it was a VERY challenging location in which to fly the camera. The terrain was very uneven, rocky, with bricks, debris, etc. all over the place. Kind of dangerous.

In some shots I was running up and down 100 yearl-old (steep) crumbling brick stairs to capture those moments that look like (hopefully) crane shots.

Thaks again --

On the shot where she was walking toward you on the tracks with the bridge in the background, were you using a light or reflector? The lighting on her was very nice. also were you using any particular preset?

Great video. I looked at some of the other entries and they don't even come close in production quality, creativity, and sound.

I noticed on Vimeo that you used the standard lens. Did you use any special presets or do color correction in the NLE?

By the way, she got my vote!

Very nice video! Professional results and stunning steadicam shoots. Beautiful song too.
A question: which transiction effect plugin you did used?

Great job. Were you using the single arm or dual arm smooth shooter. How did you find balancing the A1?

Jim --

No light -- I scouted the location earlier and made sure I shot at a certain time when the light would be good (late afternoon).

Preset -- Steve D 'Vivid RGB' (although it may be an earlier one). In retrospect, I'd probably go a bit more neutral as I ended up adding Magic Bullet (overall) – as well as additional color correction on individual shots.

Marcel -

Preset mentioned above. Color correction -- Magic Bullet (overall) and some color curves, saturation and gain adjustment where needed.

Antonio -

I edited this completely in Vegas Pro 8. I do use After Effects, but did not use it at all for this project -- mainly because I needed to turn this project around quickly - and I wanted to see what I could come up with completely within Vegas.

There are several transition effects used throughout this video. I wanted very organic light wipes, film flashes, etc. Since Vegas does not come with any of these (except for a very basic 'flash'), I used other internal effects to create the transitions -- i.e., 'glow' and 'film effects' in various amounts and configurations. I also used Digital Juice 'Swipes' (Liquid light) for a few of the transitions. Here I resized (and sped up) the light wipes and put them onto a track set to compositing modes, 'add' or 'burn.'

One other transition I used was simply using a shot of the sun (with lens flare) as I paned down over the roof of the building. Again I put it on a track set to 'add'.

In some instances, I created a combination effect, using two of the above methods together.

Jason --

Single arm. Haven't bought the double arm yet. I'm curious to see how that is however -- or perhaps I might graduate up to a beefier Steadicam rig.

Balancing the A1 is fairly simple -- I can do it pretty quickly now. I do wish it were a bit heaver. I use to fly my XL1 and the extra weight helped. I will add however that I put the smooth shooter through some pretty rigorous conditions and the resulting shots were very smooth.

As I mentioned above the terrain was incredibly uneven, ruddy, bumpy, rocky, etc. There is one shot where my wife is in the corner of the building surrounded by grafriti. What you don’t see is the hill in front of that recess/corner that was strewn with rocks, bricks and wood. I must have run up and down that hill twenty times to get the shots – tripping and stumbling all over the place. How I didn’t destroy myself, my rig or the camera escapes me. However, I saw it as a unique opportunity to get a cool jib/crane shot look for no added expense!

Thank you all for your compliments and comments. Much appreciated –

edit to remove double post -- sorry!

Hi james,

The usual questions... what were your camera settings for your video shoot? 30F, 24F? I loved the general overall quality of the video. Now I may have to look into getting a Glidecam 2000Pro or 4000pro! Sigh!

How did you accomplish syncing the various shots? I imagine it was quite a task!

James,

That was wonderful! I think you hit the colors and lighting perfectly. I really enjoyed the composition, both video and song.

Thanks for sharing!

Ray

Julian –

Shot at 60i, 1/120 shutter – because:

In post, the video was slowed down to 75% of normal speed. I wanted very smooth fluid slow motion – that’s why I ‘over-cranked.’

From my HDV 1080i project, I rendered out to 24p .

Sync was pretty interesting. But wait you ask, “the singer was in sync with the vocal even though in slow motion!” Yes, during shooting she had to sing to a special playback CD sped up to 125%. Very strange for the singer (my wife), but she got used to it. The end result is great though.

I did have to manually match up/sync each shot in post after slowing down each shot to 75% normal speed. Somewhat time consuming, but worth it. The whole video takes on a very fluid easy feel – perfect for this song.

Ray –

Thanks for the kind feedback – appreciate it!

Julian –

Shot at 60i, 1/120 shutter – because:

In post, the video was slowed down to 75% of normal speed. I wanted very smooth fluid slow motion – that’s why I ‘over-cranked.’

From my HDV 1080i project, I rendered out to 24p .

Sync was pretty interesting. But wait you ask, “the singer was in sync with the vocal even though in slow motion!” Yes, during shooting she had to sing to a special playback CD sped up to 125%. Very strange for the singer (my wife), but she got used to it. The end result is great though.

I did have to manually match up/sync each shot in post after slowing down each shot to 75% normal speed. Somewhat time consuming, but worth it. The whole video takes on a very fluid easy feel – perfect for this song.

Ray –

Thanks for the kind feedback – appreciate it!

Very creative! I really enjoyed watching the video. I especially like 1:25-1:32 (outstanding editing technique, matches music well) and 2:49 on, nice subtle touches. Has a very professional feel, nothing cheesy imo.

Thanks for sharing and good luck to your wife!

Thaks Randy for the nice words and specific feedback-- much appreciated!

I'll pass the good luck wishes on to my wife --

Jimmy

Very well done. I voted for her!

Glidecam needs to use you as a demo!! Excellent. I voted for her too.

Travis, Tom --

Thanks to both of you for your comments and support!

James,

I can't add much to what's already been said, but this to me was a phenominal video. Your wife has an incredible voice and your videography was superb. I especially like the moves you've done using the Glidecam.

Listening to the song and watching the visuals, I was truely "in the zone".

Shiv.

James,

I looked at the other videos on that site and they are pretty crappy. Your wife sings so much better than 99.9% of them. Your video has really moved me in many ways.

The filming, editing, audio, everything you've done is so incredible!

I don't know the band, never heard the song before but the way your wife sings it is really beautiful.

Just had to write another post and tell you.

Very nice!

The only complaint I have is that it seemed like in some parts of the video, there was no "emotion" with her singing.

For example, when she's in front of the mic, you can "feel" that she's really singing. In other parts it feels like she's just standing there moving her mouth.

Other than that, it was an excellent video...VERY professional looking!

I voted, too. :)

I see her becoming a big hit!

Wow... I was looking into to cameras and you sure sold me on the A1. I watched the video and was blown away. To me it looked like a "real" video that would be aired on Vh-1 or Mtv. Super impressed. I thought you had to spend tens of thousands to get video that looked that good.

I've since seen others get great shots with this camera, but yours was the first one so I had to reply. I couldn't sleep after I watched it. I was inspired thank you.

So is there a talent attachment or accessory? I'm sure that had a lot to do with it not just a good camera. Anyway great video I voted for your wife.

I would have like to see her perform the song more. One draw back to filming fast and slowing it down later is she didn't get a chance to really get into it maybe? I don't know. Would be interesting to see how her movement would translate.

I don't care for Country Western music at all, but this song was very, very good and the video was also top notch. I voted for her.

Shiv –

Wow – thank you for the very nice compliments. Glad it got you ‘in the zone’!

Yes, I had a great (albeit kind of dangerous) time with the Glidecam. Usinging it on projects like this is not only fun and creative – it also tremendously bumps up the production value.

Yes, the competition is really an amateur competition – and yes, we went WAY overboard – but my wife is a HUGE fan of Rascal Flatts and I really wanted to help her do well. I’ll pass the compliments on to her – thanks!

Bryan –

Thanks for the great feedback. I agree completely with regard to the performance. We shot this very quickly and if I had it to do over again, I would absolutely focus more on performance dynamics – which she is completely capable of (she is a former singer/actress). Working so quickly and being buried in trying to get a pretty picture, things suffered a bit there I’m afraid.

Although, it is interesting what slow-mo does to a performance (more on that below). Thanks again!

Tom –

<[quote]So is there a talent attachment or accessory?>

LOL! I wish!

Thank you very much for the compliments and feedback – much appreciated. I’m glad you liked it so well and were inspired (sorry you lost sleep though!). I’ve felt that same inspiration looking at others work on this board as well.

Regarding performance and slow motion (continuing from above): Again, I agree with your point. It’s been a learning experience and interesting to note how slow-mo affects performance. By that I mean that too many subtitle moments together, combined with slow-mo, can lead to a rather flat performance.

However when the wind is blowing the hair or a person is walking, moving, gesturing, etc, it really looks nice. I guess the key is striking a balance. As mentioned above, I would definitely spend more time there if I were to do it over.

On the other hand, even though she isn’t moving – the camera is flying all over the place. The slow-motion effect is very present there and smoothes the camera movement very nicely. Nevertheless – it’s the performance to which people respond, not the camera moves. Although some might argue that in a creative project such as this, the camera becomes a ‘performer’ or cast member so to speak. Clearly, the video would be very different if the shots were all static.

Even so, I’ve never once heard anyone say (present company excluded), “Wow, what an amazing tracking shot.”

Other things you don’t often hear:

“Loved that f-stop setting”
“Superb depth of field there”
“Tremendous Bokeh”

:-)

I guess that’s why we have these boards!

And lastly, no you don’t need a million dollar budget to achieve good results. I shot this for zero dollars (okay, maybe the price of a tape). A good eye, nice location(s) and talent goes a long way.

Thanks again everybody (for the contest support as well) – it’s been great getting your feedback and having this exchange. It helps tremendously!

James,

Now all that rermains is getting the votes :).

However this turns out I think the combination (the two of you) is a very potent one.

James,

Now all that rermains is getting the votes :).

However this turns out I think the combination (the two of you) is a very potent one.

Thanks!

Have a great weekend all --

I don't care for Country Western music at all, but this song was very, very good and the video was also top notch. I voted for her.

Thanks Kelly! Sorry I forgot to thnank you in my last reply!

Jimmy

Haven't been back to this link for two years!

What Hurts The Most-Music Video on Vimeo (http://vimeo.com/835920)

Here's a new version of the video with color grading via MBL -- and a new music mix.

Note -- the competition ended over two years ago...

Hi, James! Might I say that that was one fine piece of film making you did there! I just picked up a used XH-A1 and am going like crazy with it learning, shooting...etc, and in going to the videos that were shot with this camera and it's younger brother, it is proof positive of the quality imagery that can be produced. Again, well done, and thanks for sharing...sorry it took me 2 years to find it (LOL!). BTW--great song, too!

Cheers,
Terry
P.S. Did your wife win????