Music video Would love feedback

[Domenic Barbero]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVSNfq9h7ww

Just finished this up. Budget, 1k, my town is pretty small so there isnt much big money bands here, but i would love to know what you all would charge for a product like this, so i know what i would be looking at in a larger market.

Also would love some feedback. Thanks guys.

[Ryan De Franco]

Just curious--budget $1,000 to produce, including production design craft everything that wasn't you? Or you charged $1,000? Either way you've aimed to make it look like a lot more than that and I think you've done that

In a larger market this would be made with more lights and electrics to position them. Maybe the underexposure works because of the theme. The thing is you have dark skintones and we just can't see them at all, often, and most people look at that as an automatic mistake when other subjects/objects are brightly lit. (I've done this too, thinking it's edgy and unique, but the response I get is "it's just hard to see.")

On the other hand you used darkness to make your locations look cinematic and raw--perfect. It's about the overall feeling of light and dark, things seem to fall heavily onto one word or the other without much gray area in between. Rimlight and spinning fans are awesome, and not seeing faces works for these characters, but there's a roughness to the lighting that feels digital, very clean. Again, totally fits with the subject, just observing.

The curved dolly shot is money.

[Domenic Barbero]

whole video start to finish, including cast, crew, equipment, food, wardrobe, production design was 1k. I literally made 100 bucks on it maybe. all we could afford for lights was a 1k, 2 arri 650s and an arri 150 for over top of them. Wanted a little grittiness to it with the feel, but had i have had access to more lights i would have loved to have them. We had a nice mathews dolly. made it awesome.

[Domenic Barbero]

plus caucasian victims and african american hero in dark areas, its hard to light both and find a good middle ground. thanks for the feedback ryan, that was just what i was looking for. :)

[Nick Morrison]

Real feedback? OK. For $1k, you have done a sick job. I've done two music videos, and they both cost me $8k each. Thats also cuz I'm insane, but still...I live in NY, and nothing costs $1k. So amazing job. This video looks like $10k to me.

Second. The visuals are great. Awesome. Very well shot, some awesome shots.

My only advice would be to consider next time promoting the rapper a bit more. To me, this feels more like a short with the rap song as your soundtrack, than a music video that promotes the rapper. He's almost secondary to your story in your cut. I would have like to have seen him more at the top, establish him as the artist, then go into the story. As it is, we get to him late, he seems less important.

Also, and this is less important, but if you are going to tell a story, I was so intrigued, I wanted to see more. Get more clarity. I know music videos are supposed to be mysterious, but you went and committed to the story angle, and you got me hooked, so I wanted more. The character at the top with the mask is so great, I wanted to see him again, more. He reappears at the end, but I wanted more of him. I get it that the rapper is him, but still...he's a great character, and he's established at the top.

Lastly, if you are going to go montage and blend that into the story, I would consider next time a couple of more "wow" shots. You have a few great ones, with a couple of more you woulda knocked me out. But again, that necessitates a second day of shooting probably, more money, so considering what you had to work with, you did a sick, sick job.

Amazing. Really.

[Kacey Baker]

Great work. Music videos are subjective on every level as is art, and there are no rules to music videos' treatments other than the guide lines put forward by the A&R manager or the Artist. So if you got the tick of approval to shoot as is than two thumbs up. Clearly you went for the cinematic vibe and achieved it. Someone mentioned above you don't see much of the artist... can I ask if this video was intended to develop the artist's brand?

[Chris Henze]

Nice effort.


I guess my note is find truth and film it and leave tricks behind. I felt when I was watching that you pulled every "trick" you could to try to make the piece seem expensive. The result is I'm continually distracted by the flashing light, projection, plastic sheet, etc. instead of being taken by the performance. I know there are a lot of people who make good livings with tricks but I don't think pieces like that stand the test of time. If the artist doesn't have it and you're trying to make something out of nothing, my advice is to find another artist. You've heard what is said about lipstick and pigs. If you're willing to do this for 1k I'm sure you can have more options.

I see a lot of effort and some real care for doing good work and that you've been able to find more truth in other pieces that you've done. So I just want to reinforce the concept of truth not tricks.

[Domenic Barbero]

the artist told me he wanted to do a video that was as heavy as the song. so thats the treatment i came up with. He said he wanted to do something that was different and that people wouldnt just throw away immediately and lump him in with other rappers. This was his first music video. I told him for the price we would have to do something that sticks all in one location and can be shot in less than 6 -8 hours. Which then became very hard to come up with a concept and a location that fit the bill. On a 5 minute song, its hard to not do something cliche by staying all in one location. Im hoping that this didnt turn out cliche. I do agree though after watching it a few times that now i notice the constant fan spin.

[Chris Henze]

I understand the challenges, we all face them all the time. In this case I think you had to push too hard to overcome them, it shows and maybe didn't work.

I also think may have got caught up in how well you could solve the issues. Look, cheap video, crappy song, bad artist, but I made it look good - be impressed. I may be sensitive to you doing that because I have to stop myself from doing the same thing.

I still think you'd better serve your business if you used the time you spent on this piece searching for a better artist and doing a simpler video for them, even if you didn't get paid anything. A good artist is so special that there's no doubt of their talent. I'll never forget the first time I worked with Roger Daltrey in the rehearsal studio. He warmed up by singing "See me, feel me, touch me" it was so unbelievably special I'll never forget how much he drew me in. I use that experience as a standard in evaluating artists. I get the feeling that you hold yourself to a high standard, I'd suggest to make sure you hold what you're putting in front of your lens or what you're applying your creativity to that same high standard.

[John Galeano]

Hey Domenic well shot, Loved it! I think ur nuts for charging what you did lol..