"be like you" music video (in progress)

[Rich Lee]

Hey guys, i haven't posted anything new here in a while, thought i would share some new footage. I have been directing my first music video for a band called buckfast. They are an indie band from SF.

Anyway, we still have to shoot parts of it, its definitely taking a while to do because of people having day jobs and the availability of locations.but its all good, the band is in no rush, yet.

This clip is the middle portion of the video. its still a little bit rough, and is missing a bunch of vfx, and some of the vfx in it are rough/sloppy.

All shot with a dvx100a 24pa. i was the dir/dp, which was also my first real lighting gig with pro equipment.

http://www.rich-lee.com/temp/BF_V5d_UC_CD.mov

I also posted this on dvxuser.com so anyone who frequents both sites, my apologies for being redundent. just looking for some feedback.

[Pat Chaney]

This is excellent, especially considering that it's work in progress and can only get better. I really like the look you have created here, and the cuts fit together really well.

I had originally assumed that you make a living from this, but re-reading your post it seems not. You certainly could do though, based on what I've seen. Good luck if that is your aspiration.

Thanks for sharing.

[Lathe Austin]

Good stuff looks better then a lot of music videos that have whole crews working on them with a large budget.

[Nicholas Foster]

Awesome work Rich...as always. Did you have to do a lot of coloring in post? And if so, would you mind sharing how you came across that look?

Thanks alot,
Nick

[Rich Lee]

Thanks!

Pat-no i dont make a living as a director, some day i hope. Im doin stuff for free/spec right now just to experiment with the tools and build a reel that will hopfully be good enough to get a gig someday. thanks for the support!

Nick- Well, alot of the look came from lighting on the set, i rented some kinos and arri lights and did my best to get an interesting look on the day. im happy with how it looks even before color corrections. but i wanted it to be pushed a little more, so i did alot of messing around in after effects, added the vignetting and the blur on the edges. also used magic bullet to get that "bleach bypass" look. I think when i get around to the finishing it i will come up with my own look rather then using MB, but for now its an easy way to get it close to what i want.

actualy, with the blured edges, i used a plugin for AE called Frischluft. Its the best depth of field/lens blur plugin as far as im concerned. You can build mattes that it will use to grad the bluring, and the way it blurs is MUCH better then if you did it with a gaus or liner blur. Its simulates real lens blurs very well. definilty worth a try. its kinda slow though.

Rich

[Christopher Reynolds]

Hey Rich, this looks great for being far from finished. Your effects seemed subtle and and tight (not the hip hop term "tight", the professional "tight"). I can't say much for the front man in the video, but the music sounds cool.

The lighting makes everything look very clean and sterile, it looks great. What kind of Arri lights were you using?

When you said Frischluft takes a while, you mean rendering? What kind of a system you working on? Video card, ram, processor(s)

You are a badass Rich, keep on keeping on.

[Greg Boston]

Awesome work, Rich! I also liked the song. I will have to checkout this band. Do they have a website?

Thanks for sharing!

-gb-

[Alfred Okocha]

Very nice clip indeed! This really looks like a "real" clip! I like it all.. just one small detail..(I might be the only one thinking this so feel free to disregard..=)
The nurses should all have their hair properly tied back.. You don't see nurses with a bang that long in her face.. (At least not around here) and it kind of destroys the hospital feeling for me.. which is a real shame since the other things are spot on!

Anyway... keep up the good work.

[Christopher Reynolds]

I think it's already been shot so the nurse thing couldn;t be fixed unless more money was forked out for another shoot. Good observation though...I missed that.

[Rich Lee]

thanks guys

Christopher Reynolds- I used an arri 1k. Yeah, frischluft take awhile to render, im on a 3.4gzp4, 1g ram, nvidia 5900. but the render times are totaly worth the wait, its so good.

Greg- the bands site is www.buckfastmusic.com. all the songs on this latest album are really good, and the guys are really cool as well.

Alfred-Yeah, the hair, on the day i was like, cool, lets just havea little piece hanging down. well, i totaly spaced on it, cause with such a small crew and me doing alot of other things besides directing, it just kinda sliped through. By the end of the day it got larger. i totaly noticed it when i was cutting, like, yeah, that hair is long. Eh, wutrugonna do, i think it will be alright, no one else has noticed it. On another board someone notice finger prints on some of the tools...oops...ehehe...but i can fix those...

[Kevin Kwak]

Very professional. I enjoyed the short clips on your homepage too.
How many years of experience do you have under your belt? Thanks.

[James Emory]

Very good work Rich. Where did you get those anatomic schematic animations? Was that applied in post or were they projected on set? The intercutting of those animations, the instruments and the surgeons was well done too. Keep it up!

[Christopher Reynolds]

Thanks for the input Rich, I am comforted in the fact our computers differ slightly (although my cpu is only 2.8 ghz). I'll definately look into getting Frischluft for AE now. Take care.

[Kin Kwan]

Whoa! Great job, Rich! I loved the color and the lighting of the shots. Like Christopher said, it gives a clean and sterile feeling to all of the shots.

Did you mask out the people and overlay them on top of each other as a cloning effect? That's really, really cool! I didn't even notice that the people were the same until I watched it the second time! The only complaint I have is the quality of the masks, but like you said, it's a work in progress and the vfx isn't polished yet. I think everything will look perfect once it's done.

Again, great job!!

[Rich Lee]

Kevin- i've been working in the entertainment industry since i was 16 (im 26 now). started as a scupltor/favricator for broadway shows and theme parks. Around 4 years ago i got into doing cg stuff for my self, just making things and posting them on the internet for critique. then about a year after that i got my first job as a cg/previz artist. i have been doing that for a little over 3 years now. now i am a previz supervisor, and get to work with very talented directors and artists, its an amazing place to be, i get to learn from these guys and get payed. anyway, i have been getting into shooting my own stuff the past year and a half. we shall see where it heads.

James- a friend and i made the anatomic animations. none of them were on set, i tracked and composited the animations onto the shots in AE.

Christopher - cool man, frischluft is killer.

Kin- yeah, i am masking out the people and layering. im glad you didnt notice them at first. hopefully, once its done, the end will make people go.."ooohhh" and want to see it again, and see that everyone is the same. yeah, the mask arent much better then garbage mattes right now, just need them for place holders.

thanks everyone for chekcing it out. fri oct 1st we will (hopefully) shoot the rest of the video. cant wait!