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watch How is this promotional video I did for someone?

This is the sort of video that scream for a time lapse.

It would have been cool to get a lapse of a few hours with the machines or people working.
 
Okay thanks. You mean show more of the people working? I thought it might be kind of boring to show that, cause they kind of take forever. What you see is the best clips, or so I thought.
 
Honestly, I thought is was decent, especially for the amount of experience you have. A lot of these comments are a bit over-reactive. This isn't a music video,, it's a corporate video. It doesn't have to have super tight match-beat edits or be cut way down. The client wants to see the building process and may not want to hurry it up.

My main gripe is the abrupt ending. It needs more a a reveal. For the final sequence, you could possibly show some close ups of the windows, walls, doors, and then have the overall reveal shot, which could be a zoom out or a tilt up/down. You could even get a shot of a few managers looking at the building and then cut to a reverse behind them, zoom out and reveal the whole building, with them standing next to it for perspective.
 
Yes, he is getting these responses because of how he proposed this. As a draft and he's looking for opinions. He relies on the forum for every move, he needs to button this one up and move on, as the creative mind, either make changes or stand your ground. No more questions! :)
 
Yes, we are hard on him, but we keep telling him to go out and shoot something.

He finally does post an actual, recent project which gives us more than a hypothetical on which to base feedback and it gives Ryan a firm place to start learning by examining his own mistakes.

You did say the most important part of what he needs. "He needs to start learning" and "examining his own mistakes".

A little more after this one.

Let's get back to being supportive of each other

Lets say he's addicted to drugs. Would it be supportive of others to tell him, "It's ok, you keep on using drugs" ??? No of course not. It's enabling.

You guys are a good chunk of his problem. It's clear to virtually everyone here that he needs to stop with the questions, go out and make films to learn. If you stopped answered his mostly stupid, time wasting, excuse ridden questions, he'd be forced to either shoot or if he's trolling, give up.

I work a few weeks here, a few weeks there over the last year and a half dealing with groups of disadvantaged people who are down on their luck and we use our filming work as part of a method to help them get back on their feet.

So while I do appreciate you saying we need to be supportive of each other, what you're doing is the exact opposite of what he needs. You need to stop supporting his addiction which has him in the hole he has dug. You need to start thinking about what he needs to get out of his hole. He needs a routine of doing the hard work, the routine of working out problems for himself and a routine of self analysis. Support in the form of enabling is the last thing he needs.

Back to parts of what he needs. He also needs to listen to others with more experience and learn to filter out the rubbish. These BS imaginary fiends in which he guides his forum questions needs to stop if he has any chance.

He needs to shoot. He needs the light bulb moments to start dropping.

Honestly, I thought is was decent, especially for the amount of experience you have.

Good for 6 years of experience?

This is enabling. Encouraging him to the point that it's ok to spend so much time on film making and only have 2 projects in 6 years.

Have you considered that part of the reason he's only completed 2 projects in those 6 years is due to the enabling on this forum?

The client wants to see the building process and may not want to hurry it up.

If anything, in its current form, it needed to breathe more. Unless this is a piece of a bigger picture, deciding to only edit as a montage was the error. That was the failing decision point. Every decision after that point becomes moot.

As a draft and he's looking for opinions. He relies on the forum for every move

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.
 
Good for 6 years of experience?

This is enabling. Encouraging him to the point that it's ok to spend so much time on film making and only have 2 projects in 6 years.


For only doing two projects, this video is even more impressive. I want to enable Harmonica to keep shooting. My advice would be to stop asking us how we feel about this and ask the client, instead.

On a side note, I typically stay out of his threads, because I don't want to feed the questions and banter that don't go anywhere. I don't know why everyone keeps responding. The only reason I popped into this one is because he had something to show. I was not disappointed. If he makes something else, I will check into that one, also.
 
For only doing two projects, this video is even more impressive

I'd say it's about on par for the course. It's about what I'd expect to see from a film student doing their second solo project.

I want [snip] Harmonica to keep shooting

Of course. It's the only chance he'll improve. Spoon feeding works for some students and they either learn to become independent or become irrelevent. Others like h44, need to learn independent thought. Once they achieve that, guiding their steering in the right direction is often the best course of action.

ask the client, instead.

Unfortunately, he's not ready. It's an outcome that is bound for failure.

I typically stay out of his threads

I think I'll also refrain. It'll be interesting to see if enablers cause another 6 year delay to his career where we'll see his next 2 films.
 
Come on H44!!

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that's why you speed it up and compress a few hours into a few of seconds.
it's called time lapse photography

this is the first video that came up when i googled time lapse construction.
time lapse gets started 10 seconds into the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3iI6S7TuCA

Oh I see. I couldn't do the time lapse cause I was only allowed to be there for like two hours per construction day or less. I also missed some of the days, cause I couldn't be there all the time unfortunately. Plus I couldn't leave the camera on record for that long cause of it's 15 minute time limit without overheating. But I would have loved to have done a time lapse for sure, if possible.
 
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Oh I see. I couldn't do the time lapse cause I was only allowed to be there for like two hours per construction day or less. I also missed some of the days, cause I couldn't be there all the time unfortunately. Plus I couldn't leave the camera on record for that long cause of it's 15 minute time limit without overheating. But I would have loved to have done a time lapse for sure, if possible.

don't you have a t2i or t3i? there is a time lapse function in magic lantern.
 
To help answer that, you need to answer the following: Before shooting, what was your plan?

The plan was to show the construction in progress, and show the 'befores' and 'afters'.


As for having that feature in magic lantern, I didn't know that. Are you saying that magic lantern will keep the camera on for more than 15 minutes? Is that okay for the camera?
 
I have a Panasonic point and shoot that can do time lapse (I just discovered it in the menu!) Even an iPhone can do a time lapse.

Time lapse is great. It's so powerful, so intriguing. Almost anything that is done on time lapse can keep your attention longer than a standard clip. Ask Casey Neistat.

H44, I am glad you posted something. I can't add anything that hasn't already been said, but I would stress a few points.

Speed it up. Clips are way too long. You can tell the story with 2 second clips. People are very quick to pick up on what's going on in a scene. If you make them wait a second or two after they "get" that clip, it gets painfully boring.

Add in the close ups like others have suggested. It's interesting and It adds to the story.

Find a different song. This one doesn't work at all. Sure, it's a cool beat, be we aren't snowboarding or sky diving. It's construction. I'm sure someone here can come up with a suggestion on a corporate groove for $20.

I get the feeling you don't understand something. Do you understand what they mean about timing the music to the shots? The change needs to be on the beat. Not just on the "beat" but, keep a consistent change on the same beat.

You are trying to tell a story. The problem is that you are asking the audience to imagine parts of the story that you didn't capture, or that you didn't include.

Even If this is all the footage you have I think you can make this a lot better by speeding it up and changing the song and timing it properly.

Good luck, let us see the final product.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
A note: speeding up can also mean shortening clips.
Just saying before we get the Charlie Chaplin version next.
 
The plan was to show the construction in progress, and show the 'befores' and 'afters'.

So that's the concept. I assume that's what the boss asked you to do. What was your plan to turn this concept into a film? Was your plan "shoot stuff and edit it" ?

Not just on the "beat" but, keep a consistent change on the same beat.

Be careful with this. When done right, editing is an invisible art. Continually cutting to the same beat can bring the editing to the foreground to the point where the viewer is anticipating a cut.
 
Are you saying that magic lantern will keep the camera on for more than 15 minutes? Is that okay for the camera?

It's fine for the camera. It's not taking continuous video the whole time, just taking photos at intervals (i.e./ take one photo every 2 seconds which will speed up your footage to condense one minute into one second of footage at 24p or 30p).
 
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