Until lately I considered myself a poor excuse of a logo designer.
Yet at times one has to evolve despite of visual preferences. Yesterday I got a brief for an upcoming event 'Music for Maggie's'. Maggie's is a cancer support charity. My 'mental labour' was to incorporate music into the logo, and then incorporate WGPSN on top of it all if possible. In the meantime while awaiting client's response I decided to exchange 10minutes of my lifetime for possible 5 pageviews, so here it goes!
This is what I managed to squeeze out within two days of work for the interim show with an external examiner.
Quite happy with the result but I expect the final video to be even better.
I want to avoid a classic minute-long showreel, at least by the time the video content is as good as possible; the whole inspiration behind the clip came from Ortega Cartel's Lavorama (link below) - they made a 15 minute long video clip for their entire album and included some random footage/teasers/commercials in betweeen the main clips. The whole video is stylized for a tv broadcast with channels constantly swopped. I think this has way more potential to keep the viewer engaged (especially that it makes a whole piece altogether) than a 'cut it up' type of edit.
That was the biggest one yet I think.
I did get a lot of feedback and adjusted to them in the matter of hours for almost a consecutive week. All in all I ended up producing 5 different version of the same sequence, correcting the main logo, fixing the colours on the go, altering the sound effects and so and so and so...
Long story short - some experience out of it on various software with a happy ending.
Anyway it started 'randomly' with this:
Then the second version, a simple fade-in:
Thirdly (is this even a word?) a not-so-simple fade-in with corrected colours:
SFX corrected (due to ambiguous meaning behind the spray-can sounds:
And the final, which got split into two sequences to represent the intro and the outro.
And now for something completely different...
I have no ideas if it was one of them behind the concept and the editing process but this is just too good to be true.
The whole movie displays an amazing knowledge of contemporary blockbusters both music-wise and with the visuals (the indiana jones logotype for instance). It's a good fun and has this romantic edge to it as well (which is something to be very careful with - there's a very thin line between 'cute' and 'cheesy').
Put together very nicely, I liked how it featured the mixture of casual and dynamic footage, much like the popular form of a movie trailer which it was supposed to mock.
This production is a good example how someone educated in contemporary arts (or at least someone going to the theatre every now and then) has a great advantage over a casual video-maker. The ability to paraphrase some iconic and memorable scenes gives a nice angle to a production as well as makes the viewer laugh. This is accompanied with a selection of music from several big productions, it just all fits well. Thumbs up, very high.
After all I am just a part of random audience and I still enjoyed. I surely can imagine all the laugh their families had.
Well as said below - this is going to be way less interesting than the sports mixtapes.
I'm not sure what is the decissive factor behind the quality of an average video of this kind. Is it the market? Well could be.
The sport/freestyle videos are in general made by this next guy who enjoys performing as much as the actor for the sole purpose of documenting an event with their own point of view. It doesn't seem like much cash-related thing, more of a hobby.
This is a picture I took in Barcelona last summer and I imagine most of the stuff is made in a similar fashion (taking aside the promotional videos like the one for Levis bmx I featured some time ago)
So with sports - it's all about fun (or it's about money, but we'll get back to this).
The wedding market is completely different. It is a long known fact : people who get married tend to flush their money wherever it is humanly possible: orchestra, outfits wore once in a lifetime, expensive food, open bars and so and so. This is where the media specialists kick in: if the happy couple is willing to spent several hundred on little things like tissues with their names, why wouldn't they want to spent something extra for good quality photo/video coverage?
And yes, they do. For this reason alone a whole different category under photography has been listed: the wedding photography. This tends to have its own prizes and awards and is advertised as a completely different thing. It is right to certain extent: after all the whole process combines in equal measures studio and photojournalism.
Anyway, back to invitations. So for every happy couple there's a few even happier fotographers and camera guys who are ripping them off with a grin on their faces. Some husbands and wives decide to take a less traditional approach and rather than send beautiful papeterie, they would rather video their invitation and send it over to people. And since a professional would charge them dearly, there is another alternative - video it yourself...
Well, there is a reason why they are called professionals....
The 'not your average video invitation' to me seems... well, nothing but 'not average'.
A domestic camcorder produces less than satisfactory results even in such controlled environment as your living-room sofa. The unscripted footage might or may not work, here topped up with really poor sense of humour it just gets even more... well, average.
Oh my my... this blogging thing seems to really get me..
Anyway, going back for a while to the research part and my reports at the sime time...
As I focus on DSLR video making while browsing a ton of publications on the change it has brought about to the video industry I often come across the phrase how it spawned an army of indie film-makers and finally gave them some decent equipment to work with for a fraction of a cost of professional video camera.
Anyway, I think this would classify in the 'indie' not sure if was shot with a DSLR.
One of a finest examples of good film-making and a pinch of humour together..
I remember you could get higher quality somehwere but still, even on 240p it's entertaining. Enjoy!
An amazing example how a little well-thought CGI can benefit a production. If the song could be described as a 'feel-good' or sunny, the colorful grading really goes well with it. The production puts a lot of focus on the character/the performer which makes it more 'filmy' than regular performance mix-tape. Good use of short sequences, apropriate slow-motion in the build-up/filler parts. Very eye-catching transitions between slow-motion and normal tempo during the tricks. The audio is rather not standard for a skateboarding film (in therms of pace/music genre) yet gives the production qualities of a feature movie + the lyrics obviously fit, captain obvious.
This is an extraction from a breakdance mixtape. Most likely shot with a HDSLR, the mixtape features a set of songs put together to work as a whole. Less popular songs, very good interaction with the video (see the part around 1.40with the trumpet sequence). A fairly good choice in the clips length - they can both showcase the performers and shift according to the tempo. The changes in length give the impression of unpredictability: if the music video is too structured it becomes boring as the viewer can foresee a change in sequence. A variety of focal lengths have been used, which again is good for unpredictability and some variety on the screen (this is key element in productions of this length : another breakdancer would love to see the whole production anyway, but a casual viewer may be bored after a while).
This is relatively short compared to the rest of the clips (only 1 minute). With the clips unusal length, it still manages to include a quick 'filler' clip : this gives character to the production as it is not 'just' a flat performance sequence. Rather un-popular choice for the song, yet well-thought: of all the sports I used in this research reel basketball is probably the fastest in therms of pace; hence the insane tempo of the song keeps it well together and manages to squeeze in quite a performance in under 50 seconds (plus the first filler sequence). Good combination of static shots and dynamic panning/close-ups
The movie opens with a strong post-production and animated logo. This video is shot extremely well: with a use of multiple cameras and/or multiple focal lengths and angles. The superb quality is achieved thanks to amazing capabilites of a RED camera (shot on 120 frames per second then slowed down to 25 achieving spectacular high-quality slow-motion). A less popular yet catchy song used for the background music. Contrary to the previous entries, this video puts an equal emphasis on the tricks and the performer/character: while other videos focused on the performance, this is rich in close-ups. It features some dynamic shoots, probably with a support of a shoulder rig or a glide-cam. The RED camera's capabilities enable amazing depth-of-field
5. Fort Minor - Remember the Name (alternate stunt video).
This is an alternative version for the music video of Fort Minor's hit single 'Remember the Name'. This clip is a good example of combining several performers together and at the same time featuring the 'casual' music video elements (the close-ups for the vocalist etc.). This video is a great example of how the movie sequences can respond to key elements in the song's structure: the ball hits the ground with the first drum part, the skater lands accordingly with the 'gunshot' sound etc. Good post-production. An extremely popular song with a rhytmic structure that mixes classical instruemnts with strong drum and bass lines makes this production an instant-hit
A commercial series sold as a mixtape. Good camera work, a lot of post-production (time-remapping, slow motion etc.) Terrible choice of music (this is true for the whole series): the 'heavy' hip-hop is rather repelling and contrary to the song in goosebumps would not be appreciated by a casual listener. Very poor design work: the series is advertised with a brick-wall background as its trademark
A set of bmx freestyle sequences accompanying a popular Hilltop Hoods song. Slightly more active camera, random cuts: the editing obviously focused more on the bmx tricks rather than tempo of the song. The author preferred to leave longer, uninterrupted freestyle clips at the cost of relevancy to the song. Good choice of rhytmic and ear-catching song which falls into viewers head and stays there for a while. Very little post-production (the old-movie intro, single time remapping and some fades to black are the only examples). Interesting fact: the video itself has approx 6mln views on youtube, whereas the orfficial Nosebleed Section video has only around 500k
Notic was an AND1 (a popular sport accesories company) rival in 1990-2000s. The Goosebumps freestyle is a well put-together mixtape, it makes fairly good use of the music in the beginning of the sequence, then after it progresses (see clip 5) it gets slightly more random: the clips do not follow the rhytm too well, yet the visual value of the tricks remains high. There is no dynamic camera movement (no panning etc.), most of the time it's just sequences shot off a tripod in fixed position. The movie was filmed in several locations then put together. A good selection of rhytmic movies, the hip-hop music is well-associated with basketball as a sport. Good post-production work (time-lapsing) at the beginning. The author has used the advantage of fixed camera when Goosebumps gets closer to it: cutting the middle-part of the clip so the player seems to be 'fading in' closer and closer (0:30-0:33)
Ok getting started.
I have no clue how this content (apparently massive after a while) can be assesed in 20-30 minutes as I was told. Anyway, it's like that....
Project 1: Streetsport RGU.
The research.
Originally I pulled together a research showreel: a couple of inspirational/visually attractive sequences that may (or may not) enhance the production.
In a set of posts to come I will put them up here with a brief description/analysis.
The product:
Along with another Viscom student we went to shoot several events and a freestyle session and then aim to put this together as a promotional video.
Oddly enough, this is 80% done already, or at least I think so.
...
Just recently I have been thinking this could take off as a pretty good short documentary... just random thoughts. Now that after months of saving up I finally got my 5d Mark II I should be able to raise the bar a bit. Will see.
