Ack! This will be harsh and you will not like it one bit, but I can promise you that if you heed my advice, the business will do better (and you'll attract a higher paying clientele).
First. NEVER show your camera on your home page, unless you are SELLING it. Are you in the business of equipment or making images?
Two. Stick with one or two fonts, a harmonious color scheme and a no-scroll website (whenever possible).
Three. Each page should be like a poster; eye catching, informative. Don't expect more than 30 seconds of page view...if you're lucky!

Take a look at any professional photographer's website, especially the high end ones. That is what you want to emulate, whether you're in Boonsville, or Beverly Hills

I used to build my own sites, and regretted every second of it. I know that I'm not a web-designer, so I left it to the pros.

Surf the web a bit more, check your competition's websites (in major metropolitan areas, especially).

Good luck.

short film "Consesnus
 

This was made last weekend as part of the 48 hour film project in Des Moines.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE22AD9FazQ

Our genre was Political Drama
Character - Alan West, door to door salesman
prop - roll of painters tape
line of dialogue - What's it to you pal

My First Music Video - Alt/Rock Performance
 

Hello everyone! This is my first posting in this section. I’d love if you were able to offer some feedback, both on what I’m doing right and what I should/can do better.

http://fmw.teack.net/lullaby/lullaby_01.html

I was asked by the band to come out and be a B Camera - I've never shot a music video before, but I've seen many and know what I like, or what I'd like to try and do at least. The last video production I did was *very* controlled and stable: always on sticks, slow pans, no zooms, good exposure, tack sharp focus.

I went for grit on this one. I wanted to do everything to get away from the orderly style, just to try it out. This was all hand held, arm-extended swooping in-your-face shots with aggressive colour grading (which is also used to hide the grain in the blacks). I was only on sticks for two takes - one when with the singer's face is up close, and the other was a wide.

I’d really appreciate some constructive feedback, thank you.

Well,

It felt very organic. The camera moves were good, and it "felt" like a music video. I only have two issues with it.

1. Structurally, there was just nothing. It's a shoot of a band. There's no story at all. I think what separates pro music videos from the rest is that pro videos tend to be mini movies. They have a story line that gives you some reason to care about the band or the song or both. Here, we have some guys playing on a stage. Or at least we assume it's a stage because there is no audience, and nothing of a "space" is shown around the band.

2. Lighting. Yes it's gritty and heavily graded. And it works. In fact, I think it looks terrific! But, on the closeups of the lead, and for some of the others, you have no eyes. And I think in order for us to make any kind of emotional connection to these people playing, we need the eyes. I found myself paying far more attention to the technicals of the shoot, than the artists, and I don't think this is what you want for the average audience.


Now don't get me wrong. This is certainly a cut above most of what I see. I thought it was really well done. And other than those two nit-picks, I've got nothin!

Good stuff.

I'd love to hear any feedback.

Wow, I just finished my first music video today. It looks nothing like that!
What size room did you have to shoot in. I would love to be able to shoot on a stage big enough to do selective lighting with a black background.\

Great job.

My first video, in the studio
 

I run a small recording studio as well as doing wedding videography.
I don't get too many chances to combine both for some reason, but here is the result.
We were just going to do a very simple 1 camera, in front of the mic shoot, but as we were doing it we came up with some other ideas and decided to run with it.

http://www.vimeo.com/1436889

It's not metal, hip-hop, dance, pop or anything else. It's just what you would expect from a small town songwriter.

Perrone, that's exactly what I wanted, honest feedback, thank you. I agree with everything you said, and have some answers for you. Glad you like it overall, means a lot to me, especially since your feedback is so balanced.

1) Totally agree - stories are so important. There was/is a story that's been shot, but it was done with out me, several months ago. This was more of a pickup shoot - just the band playing, and it was the only shoot that I was involved in on this video. The story starts with a young girl, being left alone in front of a TV as the song says, then shows her later in life as a gorgeous in-her-early twenties doing a photo-shoot but living a jaded life, and continues on from there. My shots will edited with the story, but all I have to show are my shots, and from the DP/showreel perspective. This isn't the final video that'll be shown, rather, I'm using this as an experimental piece to show my colleagues (you) to get perspective on if I'm doing it right or not :D I also had fun shooting + editing it.

2) Again, totally agree, - gotta be able to see their eyes. Next time, I'd demand a bounce/eye-light be used in addition to the overhead lights. In the raw footage, you kind of can, but crushing the blacks removes eye-detail. I've tried using a spot vignette to raise the exposure on the singer's eyes, but since I shot this with HDV, I've already pushed it to its max. Next shoot I do, location permitting, I'll bring along the Mac Pro and shoot uncompressed, and properly light the eyes. Thanks Perrone!

Mark, thank you, that's very kind. I'll admit, the raw footage looks pretty bland - spending time with the 3-way Color Corrector then some time in Magic Bullet Looks can really do wonders, even with HDV. And yes, I lucked out with being invited to a stage with black drapes and a full lighting setup - lighting from overhead really looks pro.

Some Specifics: I shot this with a single-chip camera with the addition of a 35mm lens adapter with the HDV codec (this is the best low-light footage I've seen this rig produce since these setups aren't known for doing well in darker situations). It was fun, and good learning - thank you for the feedback; if anyone else has something to say I'd appreciate it too.

My new film: Stiletto
 

Hi there

First time poster - just made a new short film which I'm quite pleased with. It's called Stiletto, and I've made a website for it:

http://www.stilettofilm.co.uk

There's also a short teaser trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/billster1977

Please do have a look and let me know what you think!

Regards

William Mager

Short High Def vocal piece - King John
 

Hi everyone, recorded a High Def vocal piece using sony XDCAM HD, feedback welcome and enjoy.

can be found at

http://www.londonmarkfilms.co.uk/kingjohn.htm

or

http://www.vimeo.com/1391012

Nice package! I watched the youtube trailer - I want to see the film now. The music, acting, lighting, sets, graphics all fit together nicely, well done. It looks like 16mm, so I'm assuming it was shot on 16 - was it?

No comments or critiques at all, guys?

No actually...
 

...it was shot on HD. A panasonic variocam with movietube adaptor.

We had a fantastic grader at the Moving Picture Company who gave everything a very filmic look.

(I'd get in trouble posting a 16mm film on a DV forum wouldn't I?)

This is very good! Very well out together and done. almost had me thinking it was real like a 60min or dateline type of documentary man. How long did it take for you to put this together? Great video

hey great film!! Story was awsome and the shot selection i thought was also on point with what you wanted to do they fit very well with all the sequences that were going on in the movie! for some reason thought my favortie shot was when she went into the brifecase and pulled the gun out! Dont know why my i always like those shot angles!!!

Thank you for the compliments. It was done for the 48 hour film project so it was done in a weekend. Written Friday night. Shot on Saturday. Edited on Sunday. It was a lot of fun to work on.

Here's a breakdown of the weekend. idea meeting friday night 7-12 script written 12am -6am. Shooting Saturday 11am-6pm. Rough edit done midnight. Resumed editing Sunday morning at 9. completed at 6:30 pm.

Hey Joe, I think the lack of responce is because you first have to download it from a torrent and it's pretty long, people on the internet tend to be a bit lasy i suppose.

Anywayz, I skipped trough the movie because a lack of time to watch it completely, but I must say it looks very good. Seems a pretty serious subject, especially for someone at a age of 17, to handle in a film. But I must say you get a great performance out of the actors. I also like the close photography, even though i felt personally that the framing sometimes was a bit 'off' but that was just my feeling. Also the recorded sound sometime didn't match the professional look.
Ca you say how much your budget was for this film?

BTW, is Joe Desmond your internet alias instead of Harpreet Dehal?

Nicely done.

The audio was good, but not as good as the shooting, so that is the only thing that could use improving.
It sounds like you were using good quality gear, I think the room you were shooting in was the problem. Rigging up a couple of pieces of acoustical foam just outside camera view on either side of the actor could help with what sounds like comb filtering to me. Although you would have to work around the lights of course.

Thanks for your response!

The camera was a Camera XL-2 and the budget was a little less than $4,000. A lot of it went towards rentals and food. We never had a sound guy so the audio is one of my bigger regrets (often times it was just a cast or crew member, or even myself after hitting the record button aiming the mic and boom pole)... I fed it into the back of the XL-2, as well, so that might be another issue.

The actors were great, I agree. The adults were cast off of Craigslist and the teens were my fellow classmates from high school.

BTW, for those of you who are wary, the download is smoking fast. I downloaded it yesterday to test the speeds... On a FIOS Verizon line, it took only a few minutes to download the whole 700mb movie (connection belongs to a lucky friend, and with 100+ seeders, the download speed was averaging 2000KB!!)

Cheers,

tried to shoot 35mm style, without adapter
 

with this short action sequence i tried to shoot as 35mm esque as i could without using 35mm adapters. i used a mini dv , sony dsr 400p

tell me what you think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nttzBZ3Fcdw&fmt=18

I'll tell you what I think Matthias: I liked it! A great audio mix, and mix is the word that springs to mind - from light to shadows, long shot to closeups, static to movement, long takes to quick cuts, deep dof to shallow dof.

And I liked the quality you were able to squeeze out of Youtube too - how did you manage that?

tom.

Well that is a nicer camera to begin with. Looks great even on Youtube.

Well here's the scoop on how the client liked it.....He was really impressed and had nothing but positive comments. I talked with him about how I took an approach that did not necessarily become a documentary style. He thought it worked really well and gave a good glimpse at the performance and his art. He liked the effects, titles and promotional style (which was a major concern for me considering he was very against the initial suggestion of such things).

Finally he offered to do more modelling work for stock footage to offset the time I spent editing together the promo clip.

So he's happy, I'm happy and I appreciate everyones comments.

All the best,

James

Thanks Mark, I take all the points on board and will give it a go....again many thanks for your response...

And some video. Rough smash cut of some footage. Compressed down from 720P

http://www.kewlaid.com/baynewerkz/vi..._WEB_SMALL.mov

Lisl and the Lorlok - Feature Dark Fairy Tale
 

Now shooting. We are in our second week of principal photog. and looking to be done shooting on or around the 17th. Screen grabs will come shortly.

Official Website www.lislandthelorlok.com

Shamwari: A Wild Life
 

This is the project that i have just finished working on and my very first credit!



http://www.facebook.com/pages/SHAMWA...FE/15885407631

super exicited about it !
I editied and worked as third camera. and production assistant oh and computer chick.
I would love to here what people think!
cheers


Jen

ALPS ATMOSPHERE - A new Sony EX1/Letus Extreme short
 

It's here, I hope you like it:

http://www.marcomenestrina.com/news.html

Mission: Liberia (feedback appreciated)
 

Greetings

I posted an unimpressive trailer with some of the footage from this mission a while back. I'm finishing up the main feature (~20 minutes) and, since I really haven't touched any sort of video in about twelve years and have nobody else to confer with on fine-tuning (or even rough tuning) the product, anything you all could add would be helpful.

Last time, sound and color management were mentioned as two big problems (along with iffy camerawork, but I can't redo that). I've never dealt with color correcting video or fiddling with audio before, tried it anyway, so if there are any obvious gaffes or tips, pointing those out would help, too.

Thanks.

edit: hmm... link would help, huh?

http://www.vimeo.com/1484997

n e w MUSIC VIDEO ;)
 

New Music Video I finished recently. Shot 2 days in Kentucky/Cincinnati . Shot on XHA1 and Nikon Primes. FCP and AE7. Just tryin to do something different ! Its' the only way lol ,..

www.gpalumbo.blogspot.com

Dunny ft. Hi-Tek - "513rd Anthem"
http://www.vimeo.com/1425502

I kept waiting for the "something different" but I didn't see it.

I think in this case its wrong to complain about cam work and colour correction because the content is the important part i.e the good work that you are doing over there. I found it perfectly watchable as far as camera work goes.

With Colour correction and audio you just have to sit for hours and play around with the settings, trying out all the filters and effects. I don't know what you edited it on so i don't know if you have this available to you but using a noise print to reduce background noise is one of the best things about any audio program. Say you had a hiss all the way through your clip, you just highlight a small part of the hiss, set a noise print and apply it tp the whole clip and it will take the hiss out completely. You can try applying it to any unwanted audio like fridge noise, fans, i even used it on cars once, its saved my ass a few times.

Here is a small tutorial on how to use the one i use which is soundtrack pro that comes with final cut studio although most sound programs have this ability.

http://www.geniusdv.com/weblog/archi...dtrack_pro.php

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Andy.

I think you found a lot of good things in the footage that you can work with. Here are some things I'd try:

1. Re-arrange the pieces so it builds into a more compelling story. Right now I think your audience is getting ahead of the story in many places. I really liked the drumming sequence that becomes sparks in the night with the pastor saying "You are the light". I'd try that at the beginning and see if it works. Or you might try the piece at the end with the blonde lady telling the story on the altar, I especially like the part where she says, "Are you ready to go to Lofa?" (edit it to make it shorter). I think it sends a more compelling message to the audience about the piece. There are other pieces that could work too, those ones just came to mind.

2. Narration - I felt a disconnect between the narration and the video. It could be the visuals don't match, it could be the edits are in the wrong places and are leading or coming late with the narration. It could be both. But the narration sequences started to drag after awhile. One thing you might try is letting those pieces breath more so that the audience can absorb the narration points better. Also try putting in "fluff video" between sequences of people talking (in the video and narration), that might help it breath a little. Specifically, when the Liberian pastor is speaking, I felt like the cuts before and after, came too fast to remember what he was talking about.

Anyway good job, it's always a process editing, especially when you're expected to do something spectacular with whatever they give you.


Also you might want to check out Pray The Devil Back To Hell it's a film about Liberia which won the Tribeca Film Festival 2008 Best Documentary Feature Award. I was lucky enough to join a private screening with the director and editor (my editing instructor), really great documentary, grabs you and just keeps you riveted the whole time. Supposed to be a short run in theatres near the end of 2008, then later on PBS.

Thanks for the link!

As to the tools-in-question...

Shot with a PD150, certain shots with a DVD103, (those two don't match together so well :D), some of the "post-mission interview" shooting with a TRV950 . Onboard mics everywhere. All the editing has been in FCP5. The church computer has Soundtrack... I didn't try to play with it in there yet. There were a few tracks where I found FC's "Hum Remover" aud filter settings that perfectly matched the hum I'll get from the PD150's mic in certain settings. There were a number of scenes with people talking all over one another that took a large amount of fiddling with questionable results. There's a bunch of blown-out audio that I know I can't do a darned thing about (or is there?).

I believe I agree with you there... originally, I put together 30 minutes, then got a strict time limit of 22... I think I made the mistake of trying to squish everything instead of just letting some more bits go (and, of course, probably tossed some that should've stayed and kept some that should've gone).

Thanks! I'll be watching for it

What I usually do is find the mini-stories within a piece and build those as separate sequences. Then I find/build up the "most interesting story" and drop the mini-story sequences into it, at strategic places. The end result is it feels like that "most interesting story" gets woven into the other pieces. The mini-stories act as side trips to keep the piece moving along and interesting.

The upside of this method is that when "someone" wants the piece shorter you can shorten the piece very quickly (in a matter of seconds) without losing the overall story. Just find the least interesting mini-story and delete. Or the other "request", they'd like to highlight a different story with the piece. It's very easy to take that story and then drop in the different sequences as needed.

In Final Cut Pro, I do this with nested sequences. In Vegas, I do this with nested projects. Not sure about Avid, Edius, or Premiere but I'm sure they have similar functions.

Travel Doc
 

I'm pretty excited about this video - it's a trip we're taking next week. Let me know what you think of this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOYu3khrbIk

I'm shooting and uploading as we're down there, to let people back home know how we're doing.

First time I've ever done a trip doc like this, but I'm stoked.

Bodybuilding supplement promo - need feedback - rush!
 

Here is the first two and a half minutes of the promo I am working on for Maximum Human Performance, a bodybuilding supplement company.

http://www.vimeo.com/1497713

I have about an hour of workout footage that I shot recently...

http://i347.photobucket.com/albums/p...eononeknee.jpg

...and about a DOZEN hours of old footage and interviews shot by others in the past year, along with many still photos from the Muscular Development archive. This clip comprises the first page of the script that was supplied to me.

Time is of the essence! I have to complete this by the end of the month and the script is 7 pages long! Feedback is valuable.

I found that compelling watching even though I can't stand the whole body building narcissist thing.
It has all those core 'great story' attributes of someone setting a goal, failing, not being deterred, further dissappointments, regrouping etc.
Inspiring stuff.

That's a nice compliment. Thanks.

I too am not a fan of the sport, but you are right, all the elements are there if you just bring them out.