Commercial I made for my friend's axe company shot on Scarlet - thoughts?

[John Irwin]

I just had a great experience directing and editing this video about my friend who makes axes in his garage (the guy featured in the video is the owner of the company).
While we were filming one of the critical forest shots, we lost contact with the drone, it got lost in the trees for which we were all holding our breath (see second video).

The good news is, we got the part of the shot we needed! Take a look at the full spot (opening shot pre-crash) and there's another one later in the spot. I hope you enjoy.

And the actual Drone crash:

 

[Clayton Taylor]

looks good, but I think it may feel better if you take out the opening drone shot.

 

[Keith Van Orden]

It looks alright but
-Firewood and axes should be evocative of warmth, and all your footage is color graded to look very cold.
-I'd lose the drone footage and anything shot with a gopro, unless you can color grade it to match. The shot following him through the ferns is nice but the colors are very flat and I find it distracting. The underwater shot is so decontextualized that I don't think it adds anything.
-It kiiinda looks like he's about to murder that mountain, at the end. You could honestly move some shots around and end it with the shot of him walking out of frame, leaving the city skyline behind.

Other than that;
Rain shot looks fantastic
Stuff in his workshop looks great.

 

[Scot Yount]

What I want to know is, how the hell did you get Peter Coyote? He really has a great iconic voice.

 

[John Irwin]

Re: feedback

Re: feedback

Thanks for all the feedback.
We were extremely lucky that Peter Coyote had purchased axes from the company and was friends with the owner. He did it as more or less, a favor. We wouldn't be able to get him otherwise because our budget was next to nothing.

Interesting that two you of thought I should lose the drone shots. I tried to match them to the other footage as best I could but I feel like they add a lot. It's not a shot you see every day. I hear your point though.

Keith, he did murder that mountain at the end. I thought that was a given.

 

[Scot Yount]

I also think the drone shots don't really add anything. Maybe it is because everyone has one and uses it in everything they do. People in news use the zoom a lot. Why? Because it is there....and nearly all of the time it adds nothing. Star wipe anyone? Seriously John, I think you did a great job on this, and there is a lot of emotion in the work, and that is what counts most.

 

[Brad Webb]

I agree with most of this, although I disagree about the drone and gopro footage, i think you should absolutely use it.

I'd lose the opening drone shot and start on the axe making, because that's what this is really about, but keep the drone shot of him in the forest because it's a cool shot.
You can keep the underwater shot if you have a shot of the river he's walking through. You just need to establish there is a river before you go underwater.

I think you should end on a closeup of the axe.

It looks alright but
-Firewood and axes should be evocative of warmth, and all your footage is color graded to look very cold.
-I'd lose the drone footage and anything shot with a gopro, unless you can color grade it to match. The shot following him through the ferns is nice but the colors are very flat and I find it distracting. The underwater shot is so decontextualized that I don't think it adds anything.
-It kiiinda looks like he's about to murder that mountain, at the end. You could honestly move some shots around and end it with the shot of him walking out of frame, leaving the city skyline behind.

Other than that;
Rain shot looks fantastic
Stuff in his workshop looks great.

 

[Clayton Taylor]

And I was only saying drop the opening drone shot - I think it'd have a stronger impact opening on the scene after that.

 

[jake southard]

I for one, like the establishing drone shot of the "woods". After all, the first word he says is wood. I say keep it

 

[Bob Gundu]

If say lose the portion of the opening drone shot that is really over exposed. It's too long a shot anyway.