Hello all,

Just finished editing the music video I've made for a group called Glorious (www.gloriousofficial.com)

It was shot on a XL1S (PAL) edited with vegas and I cropped it in post. I'm pleased with some of the shots and less pleased with others. But I want to add that this video was shot with a very slim budget (less then $500) Some of the locations are in sopot - Poland and Tivoli in Denmark/Copenhagen...

I want comments before I hand it over to them..
So let it rip!

/Andreas

LINK ->

http://www.atamashi.com/Gloriousupinyourworld.wmv


(colors are quite off when you watch it on a monitor/It might be the codec) and yes, I'm going to look over the editing once more after you kill me with your comments..

hey that's some great work! I was impressed with the quality of the shots. Looks great for DV. The content of the video was a little cheesy but I blame that on the song. Some of the locations got a bit repetitive but that's normal for a music video. Nice color, nice composition, nice edit. Looks good to me and I'm sure they'll be happy with it.

Come on all, more comments!

(Thanks Brad! how nice of you!)

Andreas,

Wish I could help you out...but I can't see it. The audio comes across fine...but no video. Maybe others are having the same problem?

FYI - I downloaded it to disk and used the latest version of Window's Media for Mac. Ever consider using Quicktime?

So, all you quicktime lovers...
The video in MOV ->

www.atamashi.com/Gloriousupinyorworld.mov (http://www.atamashi.com/Gloriousupinyorworld.mov)


Keep the comments floin'

I need to get better at doing this, and by reciving comments from you are one part of doing better video..

/Andreas

Good work in a technical matter. Colors, composition, editing.

The music and kind of musicvideo are not my cup of tea (stereotype Eurovision Contest-music). I always think that, even with a small budget, try to make a video more original, so that it's being remembered afterwards. To my opinion Dieter Meier of the Swiss group Yello said it right a couple of years ago: "... with Yello we do not try to sound like American popmusic, Americans can do that much better." Which was the reason why their music was special and original (for a long time).

I think you did a good job.

The silhouette shots came out lovely, and you picked some nice frames. I when they are under the dock. Especially when he is swinging out of focus. I also liked the rollercoaster shot, but the cut at the end of the shot is flawed a bit. It seems to stop on an unmotivated freeze frame.


Going forward though:

If a shot is too dark, think about using a different shot. I.E: one shot in the hallway when they knock on the door. Unless it is motivated, it just looks like a bad shot was stuck in there, and it didnt advance the story.

Don't be afraid to let the artist go out of frame during action sequences, if gives the video energy, and chances are you won't cut be on them for the whole take. Let them move around if they feel it.

To establish a connection to the artist, it would be nice if we saw more closeups of the artists. You have practically none of the girls. THe only extreme CU you have is of the balding blonde guy eating cotton candy. When an artist walks toward the camera, that's

Being a fan of girls myself, I would have liked to see more close-ups of them as well. The scene where the guy wins a prize and chooses the brunette hottie, for example, could have used a tight shot of her expression before moving on to the next scene.

Also, I prefer choreography to be a little messy, so that it looks like the dancers are just sort of making it up as they go along. I don't mean tripping over their own feet or dancing out of synch with the music, but moving with some sort of passion or energy. A lot of the dance moves seemed stiff and rehearsed, like they were trying to keep themselves in frame.

I actually thought the choreography came out nice for an amateur video. The shots, color, and overall story were also pretty nice actually. Good work.

OK, I really respect all of the opinions and in some way I agree on most of the comments. But I still want to remind people that there was a very slim budget, I was responsible for everything (and that was very time consuming and hard) I'm not super pleased with it, but I don't think its bad either.

It was my first project like this, and I did learn alot from it.

Anyways, Thanks for the comments and I'll have them in my mind for the next project!

/Andreas

Is that Abba?

J/k. Good job. Fun locations and good framing.

Andreas, after I got over my scary ABBA nightmare flashback I liked it. (I am old enough to remember them from the 70s)

They also reminded me of a traveling singing group from the 70s called 'Up with People'.

You should definitely submit this to Disney or Nickleodeon. It fits right in with their formats (good looking, young, upbeat and squeeky clean). Assuming the group is going after the teen market.

Congrats.

Bravo, Andreas!

Very nicely done...there aren't many who can produce something this "slick" on their first outing, and doing all the work themselves.

I realize you're probably wanting detailed critical feedback above and beyond "I like it" or "I don't like it." The only critical statement I can come up with concerns one of the closeup shots against the bright, blue sky. It's the man with the short-cropped dark hair. He needed a bit of fill light...or a bit more fill light...since he's a bit too dark.

Otherwise, it's technically well done. Nice pace, editing, composition, etc.

I particularly liked the shots under the pier. How many locations in all did you use? In fact, how long did it take you to shoot? What camera did you use? What kind of lighting setup did you use, and in which scenes?

Details, please.

Was that Benny Andersson behind the counter at the 'teddy bear' booth?

Kind of corny for me, and we still throw ABBA gold in the CD player at parties.

You nailed the music styling with the visuals. It has a nice look and feel to it and certainly won't confuse anyone. Reminded me of Monkee's/Partridge Family TV era.

Is the band more characterized by the male singers? I definitely got the sense that they were the 'leads' and the girls seemed to be more background singers. The audio reinforced this. Maybe its just this track. If they all share equal performance roles, the girls should have dominated the video. The unfortunate (maybe fortunate) side effect of having girls in a band is that they absorb much of the visual attention. (Just ask Benny).

Definitely submit to Disney.

Just my opinion.


T

Nice, nice job! It's unbelievable to me that anyone could spend so much time on the shoot/edit and produce such a great-looking music video for under $500. I hope other artists don't find out :)

Are you finished editing or planning to throw it back into Vegas for tweaks? I totally agree with all the compliments you've received, but also the comment about the freeze frame on the roller coaster segment. And is the video slightly out of sync at 1:55 or is it me?

Just out of curiosity, and forgive my ignorance, but, is this style at all common in Europe? And what's the story on the two-fingers "signing" I saw several times?

I have to say, that as one who is sick and tired of seeing hiphop on VH1 as the music video standard, your video was a breath of fresh air. Admittedly, the "reach for the sky" segment buried the needle on my cheese meter, but if that's the artists' take on it, then that's their business.

Bottom line--you're one talented guy!

the choreography was killer!

Congratulations on a great example of what DV has made possible for a single individual with talent. I loved the framing and the light. WMP9 does a great compression with a relatively low bit rate, but is probably why some users couldn't see video. I also learned from the critiques of others who saw things I missed. And thanks to Lorinda for adding "buried the needle on my cheese meter" to my cache of great expressions - recognizing that it didn't reflect the general tone of her critique.

David Hurdon

wow, what can be said about this....

After watching it i was left a bit confused and disturbed...

The scary part is, the video seemed to have a strong production value...

And the even scarier part is that someone with that much working knowledge of video/film would produce such an increadibly cheesey video.

I dont mean to rag on ur video... its definitley Disney style. I laughed hysterically at the fingers pointing to the sky part. Im not sure if that was the emotion/reaction u were looking for but atleast its some kind of reaction. This video is two steps away from being a comedy... I think you should have went for it alllll the way and really made it cheesey. I mean I know its hard to believe that it could get anymore cheesey than it already is but i think you have it in you :-)

To those who commented on the choreography and found it to be "good," I certainly hope you dont have any coreography in your next projects.

I really hope all of you dont find me to be flaming this guy. But lets ger serious, this type of content will never recieve any praise or recognition.

Great effort though, keep em commin.... lets just tone down this swiss next time around.

Oh and i think the band might be too old for a Disney audience... if they were 15, youd have a real money maker on your hands. Im not sure how much room their is for 2 middle aged, somewhat homosexual looking men on the Disney network. But possibly consider dropping the girls ang going after the gay market, and thats not a joke. Thats a huge market, lots of money to be made.

please dont take anything Ive said to heart. I do commend your effort and I found it very refreshing to see a low budget video with a strong production value... and it was strong. If you can just work on some conceptual issues I think you could produce some good work.

-Emery

I take back some of what i said... its just so damn entertaining to watch. And i noticed that only one of the guys looks middle aged, the other looks pretty young. Disney here you come! :-)

-Emery

Oh and yea, that one freeze frame cut on the roller coster part is un-motivated and breaks up the flow. It would be cool to see a matte transition where the backround drops out and the coaster flowed through, and out of the next shot. Seems like that would fit right in with ur theme and its relatively easy to do in After Effects.

Hi all and first off, I would like to say thanks too all for great responses! Even Emery :)

I'll do my best to respond to them, I'll start off with John Locke.

John: He needed a bit of fill light...or a bit more fill light...since he's a bit too dark.

A: Actually, I didn't even light. We where traveling so much I could not bring any light to location. I wanted a second guy with me on location but the band said it would break the budget so Instead I hoped for nice weather. But I always tried to put them in "good light" and see what the background was. If the background was bad I'd try to change them to a diffrent position or place. (I think that's the reason the choreography came out like it did)


John: I particularly liked the shots under the pier. How many locations in all did you use? In fact, how long did it take you to shoot? What camera did you use? What kind of lighting setup did you use, and in which scenes?

A: We where in loads of diffrent location, (in order of shooting)
Stockholm/Sweden, Visby/Gotland/Sweden, Sopot/Poland, Studio/Helsingborg/Sweden. All the nice studio shots got cut out because it didnt fit the video as it where at all. The shots under the pier we had to wait 4 hours for the light to be just right:) We shot it with a low pace and it took about 3-4 days. I used a PAL XL1s camera and there was not lightning at all invovled (exept for the studio but non of that material is shown.)


Tom: Is the band more characterized by the male singers?

A: No, But the girls actually sing less. I cound not put a girl shot in when the males sing solo. They actually said to try to balance so that the girls was shown as much as the guys but I guess I'd fail there and I will re edit some of it and squeese more of the girls in.

Lorinda: Are you finished editing or planning to throw it back into Vegas for tweaks?

A: Yes, I will try to tweak a bit more, I personally feel the colors need to be adjusted and I noticed a problem for people worth knowing. If you ever get to do a music video and they serve you their song on a CD. You put it on to your project and rendere it out and play it on the TV. You will notice the song sounds flat and very dull in the TV speakers. It's mixed after good sound systems and not siple TV speakers and they will wreak everything. I'm going to have to put a few hours remixing the song so that it fits television speakers. I just thought I would raise a warning flag on that subject.

Lorinda: but also the comment about the freeze frame on the roller coaster segment. And is the video slightly out of sync at 1:55 or is it me?

A: Yes, but only on that file, It's a compression problem and it's not on the video at all. Windows mediaplayer 9 was the codec I choose for compression but it has those artifacts.

Lorinda: And what's the story on the two-fingers "signing" I saw several times?

A: Funniest question ever! You know there are a hardcore/rock sign out there, (You put your thumb, and index and pinkey out and pull ring and long finger in) They wanted to make the "pop" sign. Actually it was just put in as choreography in their dance but I thought it was funny/cheesy so I said we would use it as a pop sighn and market it that way:)

Lorinda: Admittedly, the "reach for the sky" segment buried the needle on my cheese meter,

A: Yepp, I know;) I kinda intended the video to be like that..

Tim: the choreography was killer!

A: Actually their all dancers. And really good but I think the coreography was, 1. Bad because I got constraints on them all the time, (dont move out of the light, you have to stay centerd and so on) and, 2. They perform a lot with this song and they made the coreography so that they could dance with a mic in the hand. (If you watch the coreography you see that the left hand is at the side all the time, it's because it's the "mic" hand. They have to perform on small spaces, so it's also a thing that makes the coreography a bit dorky looking.

Emery: And the even scarier part is that someone with that much working knowledge of video/film would produce such an increadibly cheesey video.

A: This is the biggsest question for me to respond to but I'll give it a shot. When they first gave me the song I felt nothing. I did listen to it over and over again to feel something but I coudn't. It was really frustrating but when the time come to shoot I figured comedy was my only tool because it't not an emotional song. I actually got so frustrated I thought I'm not even going to figure out how to shoot the video, I'll just shoot as it comes and cut it all together. (And so I did) and that's why I personally feel the video fell a bit short for my own standard. But on the boat (the sneek on to) I came up with the even cheesier idea of them running around doing pranks. So to sum up, I wanted the video to be funny/cheesy because I felt it was the best thing I could do for them because of me not feeling ANYTHING for the music.


Emery: To those who commented on the choreography and found it to be "good," I certainly hope you dont have any coreography in your next projects.

A: They are actually very good dancers but if you read my reply to Tim you know why it came out as it did.

Emery: Oh and i think the band might be too old for a Disney audience... if they were 15, youd have a real money maker on your hands.

A: Yes, they are a bit old, but their music goes very well with the ages (under 15 and over 40) here in Sweden. They never intended it to be commercial in ages (20-30) Many of the younger girls like them because of the brown haird guy who are very good looking and the fact that he stared on a soap opera here in Sweden.

Emery: Oh and yea, that one freeze frame cut on the roller coster part is un-motivated and breaks up the flow.

A: It was a compression problem, read more about it on my reply to Lorinda.

Thanks all for the nice replys!
I will take this to my heart and try to think about it the next time!

/Andreas

Andreas,

Thanks for the gracious reply, and for letting us in on the fun. Besides all the talent, you're a true gentleman.

Wish my first music video had turned out half as well. Keep up the good work!

Hey Andreas,

thanx for not taking all my comments to heart. You hit exactly what you were going for and i must say it works very well for what it is. I showed it to some friends last night and we all had a good laugh... there is something abit addictive about the song/video... infact, im gonna watch it again right now. Anyways, keep up the good work.

-Emery

Oh and have you ever tried shooting in frame mode on the XL1? It really takes that harsh "home video" look off. Maybe you should give it a try?

Emery:

No, not at all! I like people who gives me "negative" critisism. (spelling) As long as they keep it constructive and not attack me personally. And you did none of that so I found your post very entertaining to read.

I tried to use frame mode, and it gives less resolution so I try to avoid it in bigger projects, (and If I shoot frame I can't make slowmo) But I think you are right, I should have used it...

But I'll try to figre out how to do the material I have now to look like "film"

It was intended as a laugh, and they intended their song to be fun. They want to spread love and things like that and I like it when people can have fun to the things I do..

Cheers
/Andreas