My first music video
 

Hi everyone, I know this is a bit OT for this board but I wanted to share it with my fellow wedding/event people. I'm excited to have just finished my first music video. As many of you probably know my work primarily involves wedding/events and occasionally commercial and corporate work.

At my own wedding this past February I ran into my cousin whom I haven’t seen in many years. Growing up I remember her always being involved with music with a particular affinity for piano. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that she’s now a Contemporary Christian artist who just published her first album- available on iTunes and CDbaby (re: Caitlin Jane).

After I got a chance to actually listen to her album I was blown away. It sounded great, and she is extremely talented! We touched base after the wedding and threw some ideas around and decided to produce a music video for one of her newer songs entitled “Unborn”.

The song tackles the issue of teen pregnancy and abortion in loving, non-aggressive way. I was thrilled to be starting such a cool project and, as a Christian myself, to be part of something sending such a poignant message.

Thank you all for taking the time to watch.

Glen, that is superb, absolutely beautifully shot and edited and a great song!

Really liked the use of shots and flow of this piece.

Fantastic!

Cheers,

John De rienzo.

Glen... Beautiful work. Obviously talent is spread throughout your family.
I have recently been in contact with a bride that I don't think my "low light abilities" suited her needs. I passed along a great recommendation to you and your crew. I hope you don't mind. I just think highly of your work.

Steve

Well, Glen, what can I say? It's well known that you are a top name in the wedding industry, but you should look into the music video industry very seriously after this one. Because this is definetely a mind-blowing work! It's not only superbly shot and edited like John said (to a point that I could hardly believe this is your first one) but you've got the emotional aspect of the song 100% ! And this is the important thing for me because I may get impressed often with various video works I watch around the Net, but I rarely feel emotions like the ones coming from your video (last videos that did that for me were Pacific Pictures' "Snow" and Robert Balasko's "Gupsy Wedding").

If you feel mighty proud of this work, you are absolutely right. This one is ready for the big music stations.

Hey Steve, thank you kindly for watching and commenting!

Low light abilities? Don't you shoot with the same cameras as me?

Hey John, thanks for taking the time to watch and comment, and thank you also for the comment/like on Vimeo! Much appreciated.

Wow, just...wow! Thank you so much- that means a lot to me, really. I'm in the same boat- there is lots of work that is visually impressive but stuff that hits me emotionally makes the biggest impression on me. One amazing one was Darrell Boek's video several years ago which was a tribute to a fallen soldier. I didn't know the guy or his family but was brought to tears watching it. IMHO this is what's it's all about. Video is absolutely the most powerful form of media when used correctly.

Thank you for the compliments about the quality of this piece. It was nice not being confined by the difficulties of live events without retakes. There were several aspects of this production that gleaned light on my lack of experience. For one it was overshot tremendously. I shot both performance scenes (piano, and field) ten times! I used various, glass, angles, and varied movement with static/locked-down shots. That came to bite me in post when I realized syncing up ten 1080p angles in multicam was quite a chore for me AND the computer! I did, however, find that the new 422 (proxy) worked perfectly for this.

Again thank you so kindly for your comments. Now I'm off to check out your aforementioned videos! It sounds like we are on the same page in regards to our taste!

PS I would love to expand beyond weddings. I truly enjoy actually having control during shoots. However I must say this is the first project where the majority of the work was BEFORE post!

Awesome work Glen. Production value absolutely through the roof.

Thanks for sharing this piece and also what it was like producing your first music video as a whole. Was very interesting to hear your thoughts on the experience vs. live events.

Cheers,

MB.

P.S. I think I remember seeing a still shot of the heavy lifter above the pianist so was good to see the final shot!

I forgot to ask before Glen. What camera did you use?

Yes, you are correct! I ran into Dennis Wood (Cinevate, CEO) at a seminar in near NYC and he mentioned liking that shot as well! lol

Matt, thanks for watching and commenting man.

No sweat, 5DmkII. I started shooting this before the firmware for manual controls was out. The entire Piano scene was done with the whole "cover your lens to open the aperture" work-around/trick. lol

Lenses used were: 50 1.2, 85 1.2, 135 f2, 24-70 2.8.

Other gear: Cinevate Pegasus Heavy-Lifter, Redrock Micro Field Bundle

NLE & Software: Final Cut Pro 7, Magic Bullet Looks.

Other notes: Edited offline using ProRes 422 (proxy) and colored online with ProRess 422 (HQ). Probably overkill (re: HQ flavor) but I figured it couldn't hurt especially since I was shifting the huges pretty strong in some shots. The 422 proxy footage just fell apart, as it should I suppose.

I think that after my objections on the use of DSLRs for events and other stuff, I will say that I was -somewhat- wrong and I will buy a couple of 7Ds in the very near future. Because we too are thinking to experiment with music videos and were thinking between a DSLR or EX1. I think the Canon offerings win in some important departments.

Also, I shouldn't forgot to mention that your cousin is a very talented musician. Congratulations to her also, I will surely check her Itunes page after this one.

Great stuff, Glen. Especially loved the change in color grading between scenes to reflect the different moods.

Dimitris, you might want to research the 7D more. Quite a lot of people are expressing dissatisfaction on the 7D versus the 5D for certain issues; overheating (seems to be the top concern), image sharpness, low-light performance, overall image quality, cropped sensor. I heard that Canon is coming out with a 24p update for the 5D, which could make it a no-brainer for some people.

Hey Glen,

That was a very nice piece and cool that you could produce it with a relative.

As the parent of an adopted child, I found the piece really very moving. I hope you find an audience for it.

You're right about all that Travis. I've done a bit of a research on those Canon models and I am aware about the problems, the most important being the overheating one. I still don't get it how Canon put on sale a camera with such a problem. Regarding low light, although inferior to 5D, it surely will be vastly superior to my FX1s. The advantages I see on buying 7D instead of 5D are
a) price difference, especially if you go for more than one
b) already own some lens that are compatible with the 7D
c) 50p is an excellent option if you use slow motion in your videos (we like it, though some would say it's out of fashion :) )

We're still thinking about it. But I won't lie, main reason is the price of 5D.

Ironically enough I'm not totally sold on the use of DSLRs for event video. There is more difficulty in shooting and in post (relating to audio) and transcoding etc. It would be worth it if you could charge an extreme premium for it like a DSLR package which are priced higher than your slough of existing packages. However I'm not convinced most enough clients can be "sold" on the difference. Granted I see it- night and day. However I always go back to my wife's perspective. She isn't a videophile and is, well, a woman which is the majority of our audience for weddings. The story-telling and ability to both convey and evoke emotion are most paramount. I find that I have plenty of more growth to do in regards to structuring the feature itself in regards to time-shifting, vo's, timing, use of audio etc. In other words there is enough to keep me busy rather than struggling with keeping subjects in focus during the precessional.

On top of that is the issue of audio. I just shot a DSLR wedding with a friend recently and I brought along my R44 which we connected to the band and got a pristine feed. I was just notified from him today that the audio drifts. This is even with the 23.97 content coming out of the 7Ds....which supposedly shouldn't happen. To me I would NEED more compensation to produce live events with these cams for the aforementioned reasons and several other not even mentioned. Many people are, however, and doing so quite well, and more power to them. Maybe one day I'll change my mind but- having an effective 16mm-600mm zoom lens and monitored onboard audio helps free up my mind to work creatively, and quickly during event shoots which require both.

Granted this is not a popular viewpoint and is sort of ironic considering it's in a post showing some work that I shot with DSLRs. However at this point, for me, I feel DSLRs are better suited for commercial/corporate work. I couldn't imagine shooting this music video with my A1s!

PS I don't think HDV is totally dead. I just shot a wedding in St. Thomas recently with my Canon XH-A1s and was very happy with the image quality it was producing:

http://www.msprotege.com/members/Laz.../sttomas01.jpg


http://www.msprotege.com/members/Laz.../sttomas04.jpg

Hey Travis, thanks again man!

Regarding your 7D comments- the overheating issue has me worried as well. Granted there isn't many times where I'm in direct sunlight and high heat for long periods of time (I'm on the east coast)- the fact that it's a possibility scares me.

However owning two copies of both cameras (7D and 5D) at different times I can honestly say that I like the 5D better. Marginally better image quality, and my lens choices are suited for full frame. The 7D isn't a slouch though- 60p is ultra-cool and it's comparatively inexpensive b-roll cam. I recently sold one of my 7Ds and picked back up a 5DmkII. So now I'm back to one of each.

Indeed the 7D will smoke the FX1 and any other HDV camera for that matter. The biggest difficulty is getting wide on the 7D. They have ultra-wide lenses made to work with APS-C sensor but they are all lower-grade glass. Yes I'm an L-snob. ;) (thus the very reason my lens collection is small).

If you can swing it I'd say get one of each. That way you'll have one (7D) for slow motion, and that extra boost on the long end, and another (5D) for your wides, low light, and lead camera for edge in IQ.

Thanks for the insight Glen. Actually I agree that we are not abandoning my HDVs yet, after all, we've go through so many adventures together! :) If you add the fact that we are living in a country where temperatures might reach 40-45 C during summer (yep, it's a tough job), the problem is more than serious. What we think is to use the DSLRs for the more "artsy" stuff that will go to the appropriate videos (I mean the B&G preparation, photoshoot and a special ceremony use as a third cam, where the shooter will go for the more artistic angles inside the church). I am not feeling enough safety to go full coverage with the DSLRs yet. But for controlled projects like music and corporate videos I've got no second thoughts.

Sorry we went off-topic! :)

what a beautiful piece Glen...I've always followed your wedding work so it's a pleasure to see your first music video

Glenn, what a marvellous video. Even though us professionals tend to watch out for and notice the logistic aspects of making a video like lighting, camera work, editing, etc. This particular piece just takes one's hand and leads them deep into the story itself. I forgot that I clicked on this video to look at technical aspects and only after the video had ended realised I didn't see any of those things! And THAT, my friend, is what we all strive for. To get sucked into the story with such intensity that you forget everything else. The video weaves itself so tightly with the song, its message, and its general feel that they seem as one. Beautiful.

May I congratulate you and your cousin for this song and its video. It transcends all boundaries, faiths, cultures, and traditions.

Please grace us with more of such inspiring work.

- Ali

No such thing as "off-topic" so long as it's video related! :)

PS I was originally going to bring the 7Ds to shoot the wedding in St. Thomas. I'm sooooo glad I didn't it was 80-90f there with super high humidity!

Hey Rochelle, thank you very much!

Awesome, that's great man- I totally agree, thank you!

Beautiful work Glen! You were a bit self critical about your grading abilities over on another thread, but I think the coloring in this one is terrific (along with the lighting). Mind if I ask which MB Look you used?

I used two looks for the entire piece, but varied the internal settings and opacity of each:
1. Coolish Alternative and 2. Blockbuster

Great work Glen.
I always LOVE when a wedding videographer comes up with something like this.
Absolutely nothing to point.

L.R.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I recall reading a post somewhere where someone had issues with their 7D overheating INSIDE a reception hall. This might not be the norm, but it would sure worry me for shooting anything outside in the sun.

By the way, you're spot on with the VDSLR comments. So many people are quick to jump into the newest technology, but most have yet to master the finer art of story-telling via video. I'm not knocking anyone for adopting the new technology, but I definitely agree with what you said. It's easy to get distracted by technology sometimes.

killer stuff glen. loved the vibrancy, lighting, and the especially the color from the blueish tones in the bathroom to the warmer tones at the end.

P.

the 7d with the 14mm rectilinear is super solid. i dont know what all this fuss is about over the 7ds - we use and abuse these suckers and have had no issues.

P.

Hey Patrick, thanks for watching/commenting man.

I'm a bit worried about all the overheating I've been hearing about- however putting it in perspective, there are very few environments where I think I'd trigger it. That said my USVI shoot recently WOULD have been one of them. Thankfully I decided at the last moment to bring the A1s and not the 7Ds.

only just seen this....it's excellent!
pretty much all the same comments as above really

v.nicely produced glen...

amazing finished piece! your stuff always continues to inspire :-)

Thanks Scott! Btw, keep in touch man- we haven't chatted in a while!

Hey thanks Richard!

Amazing
 

Wow I think I just cried a little. Very touching song.. and your skills, amazing!

Glenn, it's great to see this piece getting the attention it deserves. It's something like -20C out right now ... meaning at least overheating would be the last of your concerns ;-)

Cheers,
Dennis Wood
Cinevate: DSLR Rigs, Camera Sliders, Follow Focus and More

Hey John, welcome to DVinfo- and thank you for watching and commenting.

Thanks Dennis! lol- maybe freezing concerns at that point! ;) I thought it was bad here- you Canadians are brave folk! Do you all drive Subarus with Blizzak tires or what?!