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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Sexy low budget video that looks like a high $$ production

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Frank Glencairn

Frank Glencairn

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Dan Blank (Director etc.) did a jaw dropping job on the new music video for the vintage dance troupe, The Satin Dollz .

Filmed in Hollywoodland, California in glorious 7-D.
Produced for less than $2000.

I was surprised when I spotted my old friends, Ian, Ken and John of The Jive Aces in that great flick.

http://vimeo.com/13762496

Also check out the VFX breakdown - it´s even better.

http://vimeo.com/13774835

Frank
 
Wow I would have said the wardrobe budget would be over $2000. Very nice job! Obviously a lot of people worked for free. The composite work was really great.

The only thing that threw me on this was the lip sync. It looked like they were not really singing. I have done a very small number of music videos but on one particular shoot I had a lead singer who had it in his head not to sing but to pretend to sing. I told him I was only using the playback for him to keep time to and that the audio was coming from the recording in the final edit. But he was sure that I could only use the audio from the camera.

It took like 5 takes for me to get a little upset and say "I need you to really sing or it is going to look fake!" I think he finally trusted me. This video looked like what I remember of those first takes, a singer performing to lip sync and not singing the way they did for the recording. The lip sync is not "off" per se but it doesn't look like what I am hearing. The production value is so good I didn't notice how they did the visuals. I figured they had tons of extras. The break down really surprised me, incredible. But there was a disconnect in the performance and audio track that didn't sell it all of the way.

Just my reaction. Still a great job.
 
Great work - I think the lip sync being approximate can be attributed to singing to a speeded up track while shooting slo-mo?
 
Frank Glencairn said:
Dan Blank (Director etc.) did a jaw dropping job on the new music video for the vintage dance troupe, The Satin Dollz .

Filmed in Hollywoodland, California in glorious 7-D.
Produced for less than $2000.

I was surprised when I spotted my old friends, Ian, Ken and John of The Jive Aces in that great flick.

http://vimeo.com/13762496

Also check out the VFX breakdown - it´s even better.

http://vimeo.com/13774835

Frank
Click to expand...

Here's my beef with you: Here we pay living wages to everyone on our crews, except for a few interns who are a minor part of our team, to whom we supply other benefits, and who never stay interns for more than a few shoots.

$2000 is a crock of S__T. It's $2000 if you feel that a professional's time is worth nothing, and bragging about it only makes clients feel the same way. If a D.P. is not making $1000 per job, he or she is falling back on their rent - then we have a set designer - same thing, at least $1000 per shoot - then what? Who is editing it? Who is the grip? I suppose you feel that equipment should also be rented for free. - If that is true that many members on this forum are well on their way to bankruptcy.

There is nothing to be proud about in bringing down prices in your field of endeavor, making it impossible for other to make a living.

A short, personal film is one thing, but if you undersell to clients on paying gigs you are a jerk, not a hero.

And by the way, it's painfully obvious that it was shot in 7D.
 
Rob Ruffo said:
There is nothing to be proud about in bringing down prices in your field of endeavor, making it impossible for other to make a living.

A short, personal film is one thing, but if you undersell to clients on paying gigs you are a jerk, not a hero.
Click to expand...

Wow. That's a little over the top. I'm not sure why you feel so threatened by this video. Sometimes people work on projects because they want to, or maybe they are bartering favors, or collectively using it as an opportunity to experiment and learn. I think every professional on this forum knows that isn't a sustainable business model, but there is a time for it.
I think they did a fantastic job.
 
ericyoung said:
Great work - I think the lip sync being approximate can be attributed to singing to a speeded up track while shooting slo-mo?
Click to expand...

Well that is worse than my guess, you can't change the timing without messing everything else up. Especially on a short budget. Unless you really know what you are doing.
 
Martin Weiss said:
Cough, cough, DVXuser, cough.

Gesundheit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I posted it also over at DVXuser, why not?

Rob Ruffo said:
There is nothing to be proud about in bringing down prices in your field of endeavor, making it impossible for other to make a living.

A short, personal film is one thing, but if you undersell to clients on paying gigs you are a jerk, not a hero.
Click to expand...

You are not getting the big picture Bob.
This sort of flicks@these kind of budgets don´t take nothing away from you.
Those clients never been in your market in the first place.

Cause a group of hobby chorus girls would have never been able to pay "regular" prices, so they would not have a video made at all. So what do you loose? An unmade video?

A flick like that, is ether made cheap or it is not made at all.
So you are not loosing anything here. This is not about undercutting.

You got a hungry new breed of filmmakers, that has a hard time to get into the industry, because they have nothing to show and the bouncers at the doors of this industry makes it even harder.
And then you got clients like those girls, that have low budgets, so they can only afford young hungry film makers.
What´s wrong with that? It´s not your market and not your league.

This can be a door opener, like Reverie was a door opener for Vincent la Foret.
Does anyone here blame him, that he did that for an obscene low budget?

For the filmmaker and the crew, it´s nothing like a PR campaign, where they finally can show their talent.
They get a lot of attention on the web and elsewhere, gain experience and something nice for the portfolio.
It´s a win-win situation for the filmmakers and the girls.

If YOU would lower your prices to get down to that market, now THAT would be a problem.
And if you look at this as a business only and not also as a passion and love, where you sometimes just give and sometimes receive, than you are in the wrong industry IMHO.

Filmmaking is way more than just business.

Frank
 
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@frank: great video, great feel, well done
@rob: doing small videos for people who cant afford big crews is totally fine. possibly the girls did do a lot of the organising (clothes, bars etc.)
@martin: to give this thread a context to red, "see how easy the postworlflow would have been with scarlet" somewhere in the first lines would have done it :)


i am biased: i love burlesque
 
Cüneyt Kaya said:
@martin: to give this thread a context to red, "see how easy the postworlflow would have been with scarlet" somewhere in the first lines would have done it :)
Click to expand...

Given that he posted this in the Off Topic section, I'm not even sure that's necessary. Lots of things get posted here that aren't RED related, hence the category title.
 
This is the classical hen and egg problem:

Where do all these great new guys come from?

I agree that I could easily spot it as a 7D production.
As to that: I have a bit of a:
So what?

It works, and it works well...

I wouldn't have done it on a 7D, but then I don't need to...

I do free stuff, too - when I think it's fun and a good cause on a project that wouldn't otherwise be realized, AND I think it is good that it is realized - for whatever reason.

Often those projects are the most fun.... OR the most frustrating! -:)
 
It would be more proper to say something like "we only had $2000 cash. All other services were provided for free". Ultimately, you're saying "I'm so talented with $2000, imagine what I can do with more money". Well, we both know it wasn't a real budget. Can you imagine a producer demanding the same quality next time because you did it before?
Anyway, I'm tired of these "look how talented I am with no money". Wishing you well.
 
David Collard said:
"I'm so talented with $2000, imagine what I can do with more money"...
Anyway, I'm tired of these "look how talented I am with no money". Wishing you well.
Click to expand...

usually this leads to "producers mode on":
why the heck should i give you more money when you can do this with
2000$?" ;)

distributors mode on: why the heck should i pay you a MG of 200 k when you made it for 50k? i'll give you 30k and we will see how the movie will sell at the theatres.

but as always, there is someone who will get more money when shwowing this type of stuff.

wish you luck frank
 
It's so funny how everyone is so proud and laudating when something gets done for under a certain ridiculous low amount but then gets really upset if someone wants to hire out his RED for something low.
 
David Collard said:
It would be more proper to say something like "we only had $2000 cash. All other services were provided for free". Ultimately, you're saying "I'm so talented with $2000, imagine what I can do with more money". Well, we both know it wasn't a real budget. Can you imagine a producer demanding the same quality next time because you did it before?
Anyway, I'm tired of these "look how talented I am with no money". Wishing you well.
Click to expand...

that's what I am saying too. It's one thing to say "everyone was paid fairly, and we did it for $2000 (or whatever number) because our clever concept was shootable in 3 hours with almost no post and we were so mega-organized" and another altogether to brag about your ability to exploit people and not pay them - and this includes rental shops, costume suppliers, etc. Why should they go bankrupt for you?

A friend has a band and no money? Fine, but don't post about how little it cost unless it cost so little because you were clever (i.e."We figured out a way to light the whole scene with just one light" etc.) , not because you are an exploiter- otherwise let the quality of the work, if it is there, speak for itself - or don't post.

I suggest a Reduser ban on "unpaid exploitation bragging" applied to any poster basically saying 'look at me and how many people I was able to screw over - aren't I great?"

This is something I feel very strongly about: No, you are not great. You are a parasite that hurts hardworking people trying to feed their families, and I have no respect for you at all.
 
Julio Quintana said:
Wow. That's a little over the top. I'm not sure why you feel so threatened by this video. Sometimes people work on projects because they want to, or maybe they are bartering favors, or collectively using it as an opportunity to experiment and learn. I think every professional on this forum knows that isn't a sustainable business model, but there is a time for it.
I think they did a fantastic job.
Click to expand...

Its' not over the top - sure some projects can be done for non-commercial reasons - that's fine - the problem is bragging that it cost $2000 - why do that? He's just bragging about how he undervalues the people who work for him. He should add up fair salaries/rental fees for all involved, and make that his claimed budget. Then we can be impressed, or not, on a truly legitimate basis.

"We only had six hours" "My crew was two people" "It was 105 degrees outside" these are fair claims of legitimate obstacles overcome
worth mentioning and being proud of. Free staff should be kept discreet, and reserved only for real favors and real personal projects.
 
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