Check out my music video
 

ON IFILM...

http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2474316

shot with a canon xl-1

let me know what you think

Great job Mike. What procedure did you use to get the look? Love the lighting effects.

There's no effects what so ever. It's all just lighting. It was all shot in a studio and we had a really great DP.

Good stuff, I liked it. The lighting was great.

I wish the song was recorded/mixed better though.

The audio quality comes down a bit when it was encoded for the web. It sounds much better on the master tape.

oh well...glad you liked it though.

Yeah, I understand that, sorry if I offended you or anything...

The actual video was awesome though, great camera work, editing, lighting....etc, etc.

What did it take to build that set? I am asking because I need to build a set for mainly my public access show, and maybe some for some other videos, and I don't really know what the best material would be to do it extra cheap, heh, i'm talking cardboard boxes here.

Nice work, Mike. Very well shot. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you come up with in the near future.

Great work! Unique set, lit well and in an intriguing fashion, and great pacing with the editing. Oh, and your model looked like Pat Benatar (not that that has anything to do with anything).

Hey cool set. Not easy to do a whole video in the same room. The XL1s is a great camera, it looks like it worked out great in the video.

I guess the only criticism I would comment is I think the strobe light part went on a little long, kinda took me back to the 80's. I like how you got mostly parts of the singer, since he is the most important to the fan.

Again, cool set. I also like the window idea and the women singing the chorus on the song.

thanks for sharing!

RE: Alex...

NO you didn't offend me. (it's not my band anyway) If I was that easily offended, i'd be in a different business.

As for the set, we had flats (pre-fabbed set walls, most studios have them), so the only hard part was dressing the walls to give it that "look". That's why we hired a set designer :). It took about a day to built and prep. We only had one room. For the girls shots, we just reversed the set. We used red because DV picks up red very well.


RE: Mark...

The strobe part was kind of taylored to the music. This is another part that kind of lost some affectiveness on the web. I think with the frame rate used, some of the strobes are lost. There's more black spaces. I agree that it's alittle 80's...but it sure was fun the edit. (and I grew up in the 80's)

Just to give a different opinion, I didn't think the strobe effect went on too long and really liked that part of the video...especially how it kicks in with the music.

Echoing others, the lighting was fresh and provocative (as well as the strobing), effective fog and diffusion. I have an xl1 that I've only used for docs up until now. Encouraging to see how it handled your setups.

"There's no effects what so ever. It's all just lighting." MM

Most of the "fx" where done in camera (w/lighting)!?

To me that just emphasizes the attention DV creatives need to give to proper lighting--I being one of them who only recently has begun to study and enjoy the Photon Mgmt. forum.

Thanks, but I can't really take credit for the lighting (I produced and edited).

We shot on frame mode with the shutter speed at 60.

Thanks for all the feedback.


MIKE

Hey Mike--The video looks great. I could really use a producer like you out here in Oregon--gearing up to shoot my first music video here in a couple weeks. To that end, how did you achieve sync in post? I'm shooting with a DVX100 and will either be editing on FCP or Avid Xpress Pro. What exactly is the process for syncing up, besides having some form of playback on set? Thanks and, again, nice work!

Peter

Peter...

Thanks. If I was anywhere near oregon, I'd love to help ya.
As far as sync, if the band is pretty tight, it's not that hard. On set, have a LOUD stereo to playback on, have the band play along with the CD. When you edit, just make sure the drums are in sync and everything will fall into place. Just watch every clip for sync, you may need to tweak here and there.

I edited on Xpress DV, went pretty smooth.

also,
Check out my short...
http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2474315

Mike,

The video rocked. And, you and the DP did an excellent job with the one room - that is tough. I agree with John, that the strobe sequence did not last too long, rather as long as the solo/break section. It is good to see producers/editors syncing the video with the music, thereby reinforcing the form of the music. I really enjoyed the contrast of the verses/chorus sections to the solo section. The lighting was also fantastic. What lens where you using on the shoot to compliment the lighting, etc.? Keep rockin'!

Clay

Hay I loved the video, you capturered the beat and the action superbly. have a look at my videos if you get time and email me a link if you want your video shown there.
all the best Roy
www.latestmusicvideos.com

Wow, really nice!

Mike, can you tell a little about how you shot it? Some of it was clearly hand-held. Did you have a dolly? Steady-cam? Which lens?

What did you edit with? I'm particularly interested in editing to music -- do you have any particular theory or style, or do you just do what feels right?

Sorry for so many questions, but it really was nice work, and I'd like to know more!

shot well, too bad about the band though.

gerry

Thanks guys...

It was shot with a Canon XL-1 (frame mode) with stock lens and a wide angle adapter for a couple of shots. The XL-1 loves RED, so I'm glad we made the set red...I think it helped the way the video looked. Yes, we used a dolly for most of the shots.

Edited on Avid XDV...nothing crazy in the editing, no FX's, filters or anything. My style of editing on a project like this is to edit the band in first through the whole song and than add the shots to support the story. After I have the rough cut, my director sits with me and tweaks it to make the story work as he visioned it.



Check out my short...
http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2474315

Hey Mike... I agree with the others, great video. I liked the short too. What was your budget for the music video, I always like to know whats fueling the fire???

Thanks,
Emery

Re: Emery

We spent about $1600...But we actually paid the crew!(2 camera ops, 3 grips, set designer, actress) No one worked for free except for the director and I. It could have easily cost an additional $2000, but we got a great deal on the studio, lights, dolly and all the grip equipment.


The next video we get we're hoping to get more $$ and do it on 35mm. (MTV wont play anything unless it's 35mm or HD) So we're hoping to move up the ladder.

Good lighting

You did this with ONE camera? Lots of takes I guess.

The Actress was good- except for the Stevie Nicks head twitch thing got annoying.

F&ck MTV, 35mm or HD! keeps the rich- rich and the poor poorer.