Music video Would love feedback

[Nick Morrison]

I thought the video was awesome, as someone who primarily does a lot of videos and have shot over 20 videos last year I think this is very good work. I don't even agree with most of the comments regarding lighting. I think perhaps only thing lighting wise is you could have used more color temperatures mixed in, everything was normal tungsten and seemed a tad bland. If you lit with tungsten then have the background geled up with cooler color temps like rap video greens/teals/blues etc it would have really popped more. Everything else was great, I thought the artist was great for a lower level guy.
Guys saying you can get $7-8k? No idea what they're talking about, whether they mean for total video budget or pay but those budgets don't exist at the low end don't fool yourself lol believe me I shot 20 "low level" indie videos last year in NYC, I think some guys here don't have much real experience with music videos

I'm the one who said 7-8k, and I do know what I'm talking about. My second video hit #1 on MTV.com, ranking higher than Adele, Katy Perry, and every other major label artist on the site for three days straight. You can see it here.

I mean 8k for the TOTAL budget. Shoot, posts, etc. We got 4k for that one, and I put in another 6-8k alone as I knew MTV was into the song. It was a gamble. Small videos yeah are between 2-4k. Bigger ones (soup to nuts) can get you 10k. Most of my budget went into locations, crew, color grading especially I paid through the nose for. I shot for two days non-stop, and that isn't cheap. Insurance, gear, van rentals, etc.

But that's just me.

Our edit alone (with one of my favorite editors in NYC, he is one of the best) was 10 sessions.

To do a great video requires a lot of time, money and dedication, and as you say. There's no money in it, and it's not worth it, so I stopped doing it even though the last one "did well".

Peace out.

 

[Paul Gotham]

i really like it.

 

[Paul Gotham]

This is an amazing video considering the budget. Great work!

 

[Rob Ruffo]

I agree = Charge more! It serves no one to undervalue what we do. We do not answer the phone on a music video under a sustainable price.

Even if the camera is yours, for example, you have to charge for it because you have to pay it off.

Also know that 1K videos will quickly get you other 1K videos, and that 20K videos will get you other 20K videos and so on. If you keep doing 1K videos you will only go broke and burn out.

That said, you did amazing work with very limited lighting and time resources. The acting is very good for a friends and favors crowd. Excellent even.

However... FIX THE SYNCH!!!!!!! You can't have an artist mouth any words that are not the lyrics, perfectly in synch, (especially in rap) EVER. Synch is way, way off. Synch by eye - it's not that hard.

 

[Domenic Barbero]

thanks for the critiques. sadly he had some troubles singing to the words perfectly. He wanted this growly appearance, which in the end just messed up the word sync, pretty bad, trust me we spent lots of time in post trying to find a solution, but for 1k you can only spend so much time. lol

 

[Rob Ruffo]

thanks for the critiques. sadly he had some troubles singing to the words perfectly. He wanted this growly appearance, which in the end just messed up the word sync, pretty bad, trust me we spent lots of time in post trying to find a solution, but for 1k you can only spend so much time. lol

Cool. But learn from this. Don't let your artist spoil his/her own product by doing something foolish. Yes they're the client, but you're the director until after the shoot. They are in your hands, and its' your job to make sure they look good, even if it means an argument.

 

[Domenic Barbero]

i agree 100% i def take the fault for that. When you are doing so many jobs on set, its hard to remember everything. Like im pulling dolly and my cam op is the only one who can see whats goin on for some takes. I should have been closer to see the action. Next time, more attention will be paid. Promise

 

[Adriaan Kirchner]

Looks great for basically no budget

 

[Domenic Barbero]

thanks Adriaan. appreciate it.

 

[Robert Aldrich]

I assume you shot that in 24P, and the "found" footage is 29.97, which means you get those ghostly, jittering interlaced images . That was the most distracting thing to me, I'd have gotten that footage transferred to 24 for a good look. Otherwise, it looks great, very pro and you needn't tell anyone you only charged $1,000.

 

[Domenic Barbero]

the footage actually looked ok before we started. we got the jittery image by using a couple effects. wanted to try to make it seem a little more projection like since those were the images on the projector, but i agree, i didnt come out as well as id hoped.

 

[Robert Aldrich]

Got it. I always test, multiple times, for final output on the medium it's going to. Depending on where you're putting it, conditions vary. Those little technical glitches can get you if you don't catch them!

 

[jimhare]

Come on, it's a music video! If there is ever a time to pull the tricks out, this it. Otherwise the director would make the mistake of trying to create high art in place of 3 1/2 minute entertainment.

Keep the tricks, keep it visually interesting, and keep the attention. You did great.

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.

 

[Kacey Baker]

Come on, it's a music video! If there is ever a time to pull the tricks out, this it. Otherwise the director would make the mistake of trying to create high art in place of 3 1/2 minute entertainment.

Keep the tricks, keep it visually interesting, and keep the attention. You did great.

Jim says it best!

 

[Domenic Barbero]

wow, thanks jim. very kind words. I appreciate it.

 

[John Galeano]

@Peter we don't know what we're talking about? I get budgets for that all day! I think your the one who doesn't know what he's talking about. For the work Domenic put into this video it would have been a 10kbudget all day. Keep doing your 20 indie videos while I collect.

 

[Mohamed Younis]

Sick beat, I love the guy's flow. Great subject matter. (Could you post a link to a mixtape he did or something?)
The cinematography and the edit are great for any budget tbh.

 

[Domenic Barbero]

thanks mohamed. if you go to www.conceitmusic.com there should be plenty of goodies there

 

[Rob Ruffo]

Come on, it's a music video! If there is ever a time to pull the tricks out, this it. Otherwise the director would make the mistake of trying to create high art in place of 3 1/2 minute entertainment.

Keep the tricks, keep it visually interesting, and keep the attention. You did great.

I agree. Music video is the eye candy business - but a good story or concept works well too. Anyway, you did a great job in general. Next time, get more $$$ because you deserve it.

 

[Scott Crawley]

We're film makers, trickery is our business and make it look like a million bucks is our mandate. You hit them both. Great job.

Backlight, fans and smoke may be fairly common techniques now and the audience may even recognize them as such, but it works here without seeming hackneyed. They suit the narrative and mood that you chose to create and all of those choices served the tiny budget. Too dark? I don't know about that but that speaks to my own personal taste, and it is a subjective point. If I may clarify; the shot may have been underlit to some but it doesn't look under exposed. It was well shot. Light less to make it look like more. It's a well known "trick" that works, and I don't think it gets old. It just needs to suit the narrative and mood, which it does. Again, I say well done.

It looks like there is a lot of good advice here... Great thread guys. More close-ups wouldn't hurt, I see the point. If you had time and money to get outside of that room it would have been nice to see the "victims" applying the "lesson", spreading the word though I understand your limitation.

I'm betting your client is extatic. If he isn't slap him in the head. Kudos.

Sick beat, I love the guy's flow.

This is a little OT so please forgive me. I see and hear this comment often, used the same way to describe the same background rhythm at the same tempo. The only thing that seems to be different is the cadence and that generally isn't due to any kind of interpretation, it's because the words and natural phrasing are of course, different. So what does it mean? Is it a comment on the written words (the poetry) or is it the performance? I don't get it.