Florida musician and film/editing newbie. Lotta questions I need answered.

E

Evill_cam

Hi there,

My name is Evill and I am a professional musician. I play with a band called Cypress Spring based outside of Panama City, Florida. Within the past 9 months my best friend and buisness partner have jumped headfirst into the video production buisness. I will be using this forum to ask and answer any question I can or need to.
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What up admin, I've looked at some of the critique forums and not a lot of people reply from what I can tell. Any suggestions to one that I can receive some pretty quick feedback?
 
There's no real rules or answers, but here are a few thoughts from my years on here:

Try to give as well as take. In other words, don't just post a lot of questions and leave.
Ask a question or two and engage with people who respond. Thank them for their answers, and follow up with additional questions if necessary.
Offer support and feedback to other members where you can. If you don't have knowledge to answer someone else's question(s), help out by watching and giving feedback on videos that people post.
 
Evill_cam said:
What up admin, I've looked at some of the critique forums and not a lot of people reply from what I can tell. Any suggestions to one that I can receive some pretty quick feedback?
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You might be disappointed if you're looking for pretty quick feedback. No one "lives" here at the ready for quick replies. Most of us regulars check in once or twice a day so if (for example) you post right after someone has looked at "new posts" it might take all day before they check back.

I second mlesemann; not a lot of people reply so YOU should change that. You have the power to make this place a little better by offering feedback as well as asking for it. we get a lot of what I call "drive-by" members: they pop in, sign up, ask for feedback and never return. Or never reply to the feedback. For us regulars it's a little discouraging.

Stick around, Evil. Participate, offer your feedback, get to know the regulars, maybe even become one. You'll fine we are happy to offer feedback and advice and answer questions to people we know are sticking around.
 
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The reasons for non-response are myriad. Primarily, though, the folks that you really want to respond - Indie, Directorik, Mlesemann and quite a few others - are working professionals. As you should know as a musician and filmmaker yourself, the work is all-consuming. Besides putting in 50-60-70-80 hours a week at our chosen passions, plus spending time marketing ourselves and the business aspects of our profession, we also have real lives - significant others, children, parents, laundry, food shopping, cleaning our homes, spending an evening paying bills, health issues, etc. And guess what? We also need time to decompress, enjoy ourselves and recharge the batteries.

It is all too common for people to join this forum looking for positive feedback on their projects, and, getting honest criticism, get huffy and never return - the hit and run posters who want us to "critique my 100 page script," critique my first 130 minute movie," ad nauseam. We just don't have the time; we could spend all of our time answering pathetic wannabes and never get out own work done and living the rest of our lives. Hence we now tend to reserve our precious spare moments for those who are real members of our community, not casual visitors. We, as working professionals, are more than happy to share our knowledge and experience with those who share our passions, but have become very leery of the multitude of time-wasters who constantly come to this site.

As mentioned in the previous above posts, stick around and participate; that's what being a member of a community is all about.
 
Evill_cam said:
What up admin, I've looked at some of the critique forums and not a lot of people reply from what I can tell. Any suggestions to one that I can receive some pretty quick feedback?
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Just post up your work in the most appropriate category! The site just went through an entire overhaul and it's getting back up to speed after the downtime. You can help! ;)
 
Thanks everyone for the great advice. Not trying to be a "drive by" member. Went through a couple personal speed bumps, hence the lack of communication. Brethren Productions is still on full steam and I will participate more in the discussions and critiques.

We actually have a meeting today with a potentially huge client (corporate sponsors, very active in our community) so wish us luck. Any and all advice is accepted. Dont worry about this guy getting "huffy" over constructive criticism. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

Link to our last official project -
https://www.facebook.com/1113749905460049/posts/1337463316422039
 
Evill_cam said:
Thanks everyone for the great advice. Not trying to be a "drive by" member. Went through a couple personal speed bumps, hence the lack of communication. Brethren Productions is still on full steam and I will participate more in the discussions and critiques.

We actually have a meeting today with a potentially huge client (corporate sponsors, very active in our community) so wish us luck. Any and all advice is accepted. Dont worry about this guy getting "huffy" over constructive criticism. I'm a big boy, I can take it.

Link to our last official project -
https://www.facebook.com/1113749905460049/posts/1337463316422039
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In the opening phone conversation you have both people facing the same direction.

Generally when two people are having a conversation on screen they are facing in opposite directions.
This makes it feel more natural to the audience, like the two characters are "facing each other"

This isn't as essential for a phone conversation and i wouldn't call it a mistake but i bring it up as feedback for something you might not have considered.

Even on the phone films tend to have people looking in opposite directions, or you can have them both be facing forward to the camera etc
One example of a phone conversation in film, leo looks to the right and matt looks to the left.

One guy is on the left side of the frame. the other guy is on the right side of the frame.

Jump to 2 minutes

I like your opening and closing shots how they bookend each other.. a drone coming down to the ground to open and then a drone flying up to end.

The worst looking shot is the bad lighting indoors shot when the second guy is talking on the phone.
should have spent more time on the lighting there.
 
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Great eye on the phone convo. We had to use an alternative take for the indoor portion because, as you said, the lighting was garbage, even worse in the original shot. Appreciate the feedback though dude, very helpful.
 
Evill_cam said:
Great eye on the phone convo. We had to use an alternative take for the indoor portion because, as you said, the lighting was garbage, even worse in the original shot. Appreciate the feedback though dude, very helpful.
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An easy fix would be to take that frame and then swap it horizontally in your video editor. then the guy would be facing the other direction.

If you dont have the equipment or knowledge to properly light someone try putting them next to a window when inside.
That'll give you light. And if you use white poster board to reflect it back to the subject it looks even nicer.
 
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