Out for a walk and ...

[Fran Guidry]

My video projects are mostly of the "look at me play guitar" variety. I started shooting to promote my CD and now I probably play guitar to have something to shoot.

I was out for a walk the other day, took a local trail along a creek that I'd never taken before, and stumbled over an old truck chassis in the greenery near the creek. And there's this Hawaiian song called "Holoholo Ka`a" about a jalopy ride around the island.

Holoholo Ka`a Slack Key - YouTube

The wood spoke wheels say 1920s, the bolted frame, big high mounted differential, and safety wire suggest commercial truck or military vehicle. It's been there long enough for a tree to grow up through the frame rails, but so far no graffiti!

Fran

[Colin McDonald]

Fran, I've watched this a couple of times and had meant to reply. Nice guitar playing!

It's an unusual sort of video, but I enjoyed it. I'm not sure that everyone would agree that it makes sense in the conventional way, but I've seen a good few pretentious high budget music videos which made considerably less. It is uncomplicated and relaxing to watch but you must have spend a while filming it if you did it all yourself. Thanks for posting!

[Fran Guidry]

Thanks, Colin. I call my stuff "look at me play guitar video" and you can find similar clips in profusion on various guitar forums.

I do shoot and edit this stuff by myself, I'm the producer, director, DP, crew, and talent. I'm learning and progressing very slowly, but having plenty of fun along the way.

Fran

[Alan Melville]

Hey Fran,

Well done.

A couple of points that you may wish to consider;

Zooms, try and slow them down a little, give the viewer time to absorb the content by holding the frame you've zoomed into, particularly in a vid of this sort. You're not rushing off, and there is no moving action, so use the stillness of the scene to your advantage. :) Think of it as keeping with the tempo of the music.

Pans, same same as the zooms, don't be scared to slow them quite a bit.

Composition at 1:48 is good, consider using a slider from that point and sliding to the cameras right from that point until you slide out of the frame.

Lighting was quite good, a couple of little blowouts but not bad.

Well done and keep it up.

Al

[Fran Guidry]

Al, thanks very much for taking the time to watch and comment. I have a lot to learn and forums like this are my main source of knowledge.

Fran