I don't ONLY shoot my mouth off

[Rob Ruffo]

Sometimes we also shoot music videos, among other things, including this one for the popular (and hot, and young...) French artist Danyka.

Finally something recent I can post right away:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bSq86phsOg

Shot on our Red One MX and lit mostly with Joker Bugs with various mods, including the fabulous new Big Eye.

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Would love to hear any comments, good, bad or in the middle.

 

[Rob Ruffo]

I've often made comments on other people's work and would love to hear your thoughts. As an indy prodco, we are somewhat isolated from other filmmakers.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I was going to respond privately since you PM'd me first with a link, but I might as well post now. It turned out very nicely considering what we talked about regarding lighting the maze in a somewhat stylized manner, which you were able to do. The front light was, of course, also very flattering for your lead. I also like the nightclub lighting.

If I had one criticism, which is somewhat budget-related, is that it would have been nice to not see the support base for the door, it would have looked more surreal to see a door without seeing how it could stand up. But that probably would have required painting out the base digitally in a lot of shots. Probably that side angle where the door was in front of the row of maze bushes, sort of on the outside of the maze, was the least interesting angle/shot of the sequence -- it wasn't as "magical" as the other shots in the maze.

Otherwise, I liked how you were able to light that maze considering your resources.

I also wasn't in love with that office location; for a drama about working in a boring office, it would be OK, but for a music video it wasn't either exciting visually and/or stripped down enough into something very bleak and horrible, you almost want something more like the horrible office in "Joe Vs. the Volcano" with the sickly fluorescents, industrial furniture, etc. Again, I'm just trying to point out things that could be better next time in terms of production design. The lighting and photography was fine.

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Wow David, thank you for taking the time! Money was, indeed, a deciding factor for many things, and we worked around it best we could, but I see what you mean.

 

[Douglas Learner]

Rob, I like it. The story you tell comes through very clear (I don't know the language so I'm in the dark on the lyrics). How was the video shot and how much planning went into the effects of her leaving the desk and multiple hers running the maze? Did you run into any problems in post that would lead you to do things differently next time?

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Thanks Doug! Everything was very carefully planned in advance including the exact timing in the song of where the VFX shots would go - you really need to make this effort this when you're doing VFX.

Fortunately there were no real unforeseen problems in post - just the usual countless hours staring at a screen while occasionally looking out the window at seemingly everyone else having a great time going out to clubs and eating at outdoor restaurants (our loft is a bit painful that way...).