archived-videos New Music Video

[dmontgom]

Hey everyone, this is a music video that I put together for a contest. The deadline was supposed to be today, but it's apparently had the deadline extended. If I'd known they were going to do that I would have filmed a couple more scenes I wanted to do in here, but it's a moot point I guess.

This was my first attempt at a video, and the one upside to this is that I didn't have to worry about sound since that was taken care of by the band holding the contest.

Anyway, any opinions, thoughts, critiques, etc are all welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpZd3Sjw9OY

 

[DreamLarge]

Hey everyone, this is a music video that I put together for a contest. The deadline was supposed to be today, but it's apparently had the deadline extended. If I'd known they were going to do that I would have filmed a couple more scenes I wanted to do in here, but it's a moot point I guess.

This was my first attempt at a video, and the one upside to this is that I didn't have to worry about sound since that was taken care of by the band holding the contest.

Anyway, any opinions, thoughts, critiques, etc are all welcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpZd3Sjw9OY

I thought the acting was good. Liked the colors. After a while the back and forth of happy vs sad got a little boring. Music had a slow and somewhat scratchy start. Overall very beautiful.

 

[dmontgom]

I thought the acting was good.

I was quite happy with the job they did. I met them both in acting class, and I noticed both of them right away. Both of them have some talent.

Liked the colors

Some of that was luck, some of that was done in post. I had some incredible lighting where I filmed, but to emphasize the difference between the happy and sad I boosted/reduced the saturation. I had fun playing around with that, but I wasn't sure if I went overboard on the happy scenes.

After a while the back and forth of happy vs sad got a little boring.

Yeah, if I'd known I would have more time I would have filmed a few extra scenes. I wanted it to start out with him having dreams, flashbacks, seeing her ghost, etc... but I didn't have the time.

Overall very beautiful.

Thanks!

This wasn't just my first time doing a music video, but also my first time filming in a public place. I did the best I could to be mindful of the people just trying to enjoy the park, and for the most part people were very nice, including the Boston Police officers who kept riding by on their bikes.

This was a lot of fun to make.

 

[serge]

I don’t feel good, I feel depresses after this. Way to Eastern European.

 

[ChimpPhobiaFilms]

Way to Eastern European.

Define "Eastern European"

 

[Scorer]

Personally, I felt like you did a good job.

However, I felt that rather being a music video, it was a video with music over it.

I also hated the scenes of the girl talking to the camera, I thought that could have been done a little differently.

And yes, it does tend to get a bit boring, it seems like a lot of the same thing, but overall, I think you did well

 

[dmontgom]

Personally, I felt like you did a good job.

Thanks!

However, I felt that rather being a music video, it was a video with music over it.

I can see that, and kind of agree. I was going for a narrative music video, but came up a tad short.

I also hated the scenes of the girl talking to the camera, I thought that could have been done a little differently.

I had originally planned to film some scenes with the guy alone in his home having bad dreams/flashbacks/etc, and that was intended to be used for that. We ran out of time to film, so I had the footage of her talking and decided to use it to break up the monotony. It was meant to be talking to him, but I guess the lack of his scenes totally screwed up the context.

And yes, it does tend to get a bit boring, it seems like a lot of the same thing, but overall, I think you did well

Thanks again. I really think I could have done better with more time, and now this is one more learning experience under my belt. I learned a lot doing this. I also feel like I'd do better with a 3:30 song, with a little faster tempo. In other words, a completely different genre of music. The slow pace for the first couple minutes of the song made it tough to keep the video pace up yet still match the feel of the song.

 

[dmontgom]

I don’t feel good, I feel depresses after this. Way to Eastern European.

Yeah, not quite sure what you mean by the Eastern European part... sorry it's depressing. But thanks for checking the video out!

 

[ChimpPhobiaFilms]

The thing that bothered me most was that not much happens. And I think for something sad, the transitions should be more subtle, and less flashy. There also could have been less of them. If I had made the video, I would have either A) just cut to the flashbacks or B) blur into the flashbacks. But that's more of an artistic choice, not a flaw. I also think the color grading could have been better.

But anyway, good job! I really liked the music, the acting, the scenery, and the cinematography. The editing is good as well. Keep it up!

 

[dmontgom]

I was adding the flash effect to the transition as sort of a visual cue (at least in my mind) that it's sort of a flashback to happier times... but looking at it over and over now critiquing myself, I think maybe I could have gone a more subtle route.

In the color department I went really overboard on the saturation of the color during the happy scenes, and did the exact opposite with the sad scenes. I was really trying to put some emphasis on the mood shifts. If I hadn't been trying to manufacture mood swings I probably would have been more subtle in my color grading.

As far as the scenery goes I was thrilled to be able to film where I did. The Boston Public Garden has tons of beautiful areas for filming. I don't know if that last shot looked familiar at all since I filmed at a different angle, but they were sitting on the bench that Robin Williams and Matt Damon sat on in Good Will Hunting... well, I can't confirm it's the exact same bench, for all I know the city of Boston has replaced it, but it's the same spot.

Anyway, thanks for all the input everyone!

 

[Scorer]

I was adding the flash effect to the transition as sort of a visual cue (at least in my mind) that it's sort of a flashback to happier times... but looking at it over and over now critiquing myself, I think maybe I could have gone a more subtle route.

In the color department I went really overboard on the saturation of the color during the happy scenes, and did the exact opposite with the sad scenes. I was really trying to put some emphasis on the mood shifts. If I hadn't been trying to manufacture mood swings I probably would have been more subtle in my color grading.

As far as the scenery goes I was thrilled to be able to film where I did. The Boston Public Garden has tons of beautiful areas for filming. I don't know if that last shot looked familiar at all since I filmed at a different angle, but they were sitting on the bench that Robin Williams and Matt Damon sat on in Good Will Hunting... well, I can't confirm it's the exact same bench, for all I know the city of Boston has replaced it, but it's the same spot.

Anyway, thanks for all the input everyone!

Agreed; I can see why you tried it, because it could be a cool idea, but in this case it didn't work. I think it would have been better if the atmosphere stayed cool, but maybe shot it a little different to differentiate, but I dunno, just spit-balling here.

 

[CourtneyLauren90]

I loved the story behind it, the shots need some work though...for example the shots in color were very over saturated.

It had A LOT of feeling, it brought tears to my eyes!

Beautiful story telling, loved the symbolism...

Would love to see your work progress in the future

 

[dmontgom]

I loved the story behind it, the shots need some work though...for example the shots in color were very over saturated.

Yeah, I kinda over did it there with the saturation on purpose... I thought it would work... swing and a miss. I agree with what Scorer said, try to differentiate using different shots next time. I'm gonna chalk that up as part of the learning experience.

It had A LOT of feeling, it brought tears to my eyes!

Beautiful story telling, loved the symbolism...

Would love to see your work progress in the future

Thanks! I love all the input I've been getting, and I was really going for emotion here, so I'm glad it had that effect.

I'm also really glad to hear what didn't work, if people don't tell me this stuff, how can I learn? So again, thanks to all who have given their input!