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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 :)

another music vid... red one

christopher witzke

christopher witzke

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Louisville/Cincinnati/Nashville/Indy
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www.chriswitzke.com
Had the pleasure to shoot a vid for a band here in Louisville....

Red One with a Canon 24mm f1.4LII on a seven jib. lit by 5 or 6 lowel pro lights with dicroic glass on them.

Edited in FCP-X and sauced with a little of the new FCP-X Mojo plug-in.

quick 3 hour shoot and 1 hour edit.... simple, quick, and free.

[video]http://www.chriswitzke.com/billy/snapshot720.mp4[/video]

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Great little video. Plain and simple, straight, just like the song. Good work !

By the way, I also liked the stills & reel on your website ;-)
 
Thanks all.... I was getting a little insecure that no one responded to the post.... not that I need the props, but I guess maybe I do? I just figured that since nobody in the video was famous then it didn't matter. I'm just a few hours from Nashville and would kill to do a video of someone like Lyle Lovett, John Hyatt, Sheryl Crow, Kings of Leon etc.... they all live there.

yes... I try to keep things simple but also strive for a timeless look. Also... it's just me.... I don't have a crew or grip.... heck, I don't even like folks helping to carry my gear. I'm weird that way. Maybe it's because I come from a commercial stills background?
 
Really nice shots and lighting. The song is pretty good too. Keep up the good work!
 
Great job.. I have to say it's nice when you don't have to make a video flashy to get someone to watch it! The song was really top notch.. These guys should go far, and your video is perfect.. Looks great, but doesn't take away from the music at all..

My goal in the next 6 months is to shoot a rap video with out cars, bling or women!! Think anyone will watch it?

Great job!
 
They have an excellent studio quality sound. Like the Joe Satriani kind of riffs. The video was not bad either!
 
This looks nice, but people hire you to do what you've already proven you can do. Big names most often want cast, a story, a concept - and this means crew and actors. Start hiring crew and actors and prove that you can efficiently work with both. This video, no matter how good it may be in its own ways will only get you work doing other gigs in 3 hours with no crew. Also, why only 1 hour of post? I sometimes spend 10-14 16 hour days in post, making every last cut perfect, and always spend as much time on set as budget allows. I don't care about missed sleep - I really push myself to the edge of endurance and the edge of the good will of everyone involved, every time. In this way I am the same as other high-end music video people. You want to compete with us? Do what we do.

Clients don't care about your weird, frankly counter-productive quirks about carrying your own gear (why should they?) They only care about results, and big clients will scour the world finding the best results they can with the money they have.

Sorry to be harsh, but the reality of the music video market is harsh - I've had actual Marines be impressed by how hard my wife and I work and for how long without rest. It's not unattainable, but be ready to do everything needed to succeed, most especially to stop caring about your personal preferences about how to do things are and only use the best, most efficient way that best serves your client's needs, not yours.
 
Thanks Rob....

Honestly.... I've never made a dime off of music videos.... I make the majority of my living doing commercial stills for ad work.... and motion for TV spots, shorts, docs, etc. Mostly concepts for CA's at ad agencies. I very rarely post work from agencies.... for various reasons. Most of this work is very time consuming and done without haste.... and invoiced accordingly. I'm definitely not a lazy person... and even with two young kids, a wife, and a farm with horses.... I still easily put in over 60 hours a week at work and do whatever it takes to get the job done... I've had many a all night production stint.

I have no desire to get into the music video biz.... I do it for fun and most always when it's a friends band that I'm shooting for. In this case the singer is a very good friend. I do what I can to help.

I do it for fun..... for the freedom to do it my way..... and part of the joy is to do it quickly, intuitively, and without distraction on my own terms. And in turn it builds my intuitive muscle.... It will always make me wiser and better and that is the payoff.

I do however consider the traction I get from shooting music videos to be great at getting me noticed.... and do get other work ( paid ) because of them. Not that I'm keeping tabs or anything.
 
Solomon Nero said:
Does the band have a website or on itunes? Id like to buy that song. I dig it :)
Click to expand...

Their working on it..... feel free to download the video link and convert to mp3/aiff if you like. It's being played on the radio here in Louisville... getting good traction.
 
christopher witzke said:
Thanks Rob....

Honestly.... I've never made a dime off of music videos.... I make the majority of my living doing commercial stills for ad work.... and motion for TV spots, shorts, docs, etc. Mostly concepts for CA's at ad agencies. I very rarely post work from agencies.... for various reasons. Most of this work is very time consuming and done without haste.... and invoiced accordingly. I'm definitely not a lazy person... and even with two young kids, a wife, and a farm with horses.... I still easily put in over 60 hours a week at work and do whatever it takes to get the job done... I've had many a all night production stint.

I have no desire to get into the music video biz.... I do it for fun and most always when it's a friends band that I'm shooting for. In this case the singer is a very good friend. I do what I can to help.

I do it for fun..... for the freedom to do it my way..... and part of the joy is to do it quickly, intuitively, and without distraction on my own terms. And in turn it builds my intuitive muscle.... It will always make me wiser and better and that is the payoff.

I do however consider the traction I get from shooting music videos to be great at getting me noticed.... and do get other work ( paid ) because of them. Not that I'm keeping tabs or anything.
Click to expand...

That's 100% cool. I made my comment because you yourself mentioned you'd like to land big name country acts. It didn;t mean anything as a criticism of your work.
 
My only criticism would be to tighten up the sync at :27 when the bass comes in. His finger movements on the fretboard are too early. It made me think the sync was off on my audio audio card (which happens every blue moon).

Perhaps it's the way he "played" it while shooting and it needs a bit of retiming as well.
 
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