Music video i've been working on

[Andrew Robinson]

On 23 October 2011 22:49, Andrew Tarpinian <evildead at nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> Side note - my major pet peeve is the opening shot, I think the camera work is unacceptable but I'm not allowed to cut it. Wondering if anyone else thinks it's a distractingly bad shot as well?

First off, I have to say the whole video really is absolutely
outstanding! I've seen many a major label video that cost a fortune
and didn't look as good.

It seems really picky to make any negative comments on such a top
quality piece of work, but since you asked for constructive criticism,
here goes…

The length is a problem from one angle, and an opportunity from
another. I'd be tempted to do a short edit that keeps to just the
'song', no intro or credits, and release both versions. The short one
will get people interested, the long will keep their interest.

I don't have a problem with the opening shot, or the vignette, or even
the lip synch not being spot on at times - the project has got a
slightly, quirky, dreamlike feel, and these bits are in keeping with
that for me.

Having said that, do I think you could cut everything before the first
shot of the bass player at 0:27, without losing any of the film's
impact. The crowd shot at 0:54 is noticeably wobbly, could it be
stabilised, redone with a tripod,  or swapped with another shot? The
video looks like a million dollar production up to there, but that
shot jarred a bit for me. The 3 arches shot at 1:38 would look better
if the floor didn't appear to tilt to the right, I'd try distorting it
to look flat. The cut from close-up to close up at 2:16 irked me,
because her eye movement seems repeated, as if we've jumped back in
time a fraction of a second - not sure how you'd fix that though,
possibly throw in a quick shoot of something else? The river and
horizon at 2:33 not being horizontal was possibly the most jarring
thing for me. The pan down the Empire State building was a bit
jarring, if you cut in after the panning had started it would look
nicer. The eyes closing at 3:17 are great would be much better if they
were absolutely in time with the music. I'd throw in half a second
more black at the end of the video, before the logo and credits to
give people time to relax and realise it's over, and the very last
logo after the credits has noticeable colour-stepping on the fades, so
I'd hard cut in and out of it (unless it's just a youtube compression
problem).

I can't stress enough that these are all very minor things, and just
my personal opinion on what I'd tweak if I was at the controls - the
fact that I've come up with a list of minor things isn't a comment on
the very,very high quality of the work, just my thoughts on how to
give it a final polish!

- Andy_R