Hi everyone! Thanks for all the great feedback. I have been busy and sort of forgot about this thread until I saw it jump to the top of the board this morning!
Well done. Your videos keep getting better. I think Jan's wide shot on the chair interview should have been tripoded, and possibly her closer interview chair shot as well (was that a separate camera or just digital zoom on the 1 cam?) other than that it was nice!
It was neither! Only one camera but we shot the interview twice and asked her similar style questions. Jan is not media trained (nor did we want her to be!) so the answers were never going to be identical so it was a case of getting her to tell the same story a few times and then creating it again in the edit.
The only thing I would add to the above comment is maybe positioning your main character/interviewee off centre of the screen.
What camera/lens setup were you using?
Shot on a C300 with my EF lenses. A subjective choice but as a viewer I feel that if he is talking down the lens he is talking to me which was the aim of the video.
Wow, great job!
I agree with this:
Also, I like the handheld look, but it is a little shaky. Did you edit in Final Cut? If so, did you try applying stabilization? I bet that'd smooth them out just enough to not look quite so jerky.
I really liked the music choice! Where'd you get it?
The handheld seems to be a bone of contention! Unfortunately it was a stylistic choice, I could have kept it steadier on my shoulder if I had wanted but it's a style that I really enjoy and I think it allows for the piece to have a more documentary style to it.
Nice balance and timing between the talent and the seniors. Music was appropriate. Emotional content is not easy in a short segment, but you captured it nicely. (If I were going to nitpick it might be some color balance issues where the whites are overblown.)
Good work.
Lighting was always going to be a nightmare on a quick turnaround and when I hadn't had a chance to see the locations before shooting. A lot of the light was practical apart from the small LED I had meaning that colour was going to be all over the place (and it was!). Unless I had had maybe one assistant and a couple more lights I can't think of a way I could have corrected it in this scenario!
Well Done. I agree that Jan's interview should have been done with a tripod and/or a slider but it wasn't all that distracting as is -just could have made it better. Three elements really made your video shine for me:
1) Excellent Script that told a story, flowed well and had a call to action -the interstiual text screens to emphasize main points in the voiceover were well done.
2) Your Audio track was excellent -clear vocals despite not seeing any lavalieres and the music volume was ducked just right to not compete with the vocals.
3) Lighting was well done -looked natural while clearly focused on the subject... and your focusing was right on as well.
Care to share what equipment you used and any particular challenges you had to overcome? Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the comments. Happy to answer any other questions you may have. I shot on a C300 with my EF lenses. It was very quick turnaround with a phone call on the Thursday to shooting on the Friday and edit completed the next week.
It was tough as this was a subject matter I hadn't covered before. Also, I had to use some of the archive footage as on my quick turnaround there weren't any events that we could capture apart from the Bingo you see a few shots of (which isn't the most interactive activity!).
I probably should have pushed for an assistant. Carrying all the kit (camera, tripod, bits and bobs and full deco kit that I didn't even use!) took its toll on my back and didn't allow me to focus completely on what I was doing.
The handheld section with Jan seems to be the most controversial. It was a stylistic choice but it seems that people would prefer it less shaky. I really like it how it is but can understand that it might not be everyones cup of tea.
Lighting was achieved through making the best use of practical and natural and supplementing a little with a little LED litepanel. I wanted a 1x1 but couldn't get anything on short notice.
The biggest hurdle was getting a phone call from the client whilst I was on another job telling me that it needed to be exported in the next few hours! It really highlighted the importance of making sure the deadlines are clear as they had never told me anything specific and were still asking for changes the morning of the deadline, all which I had to do whilst working on other jobs.
You did a great job! You got a bunch of great view points but the only thing I would say is either using a tripod or monopod in the shaky parts. Perhaps you can run stabilization to fix it? Either way, great footage and great editing!
Thanks for the compliments. The shaky cam was intentional. From the opinions shared here I will probably ease off a little next time but I am glad I did it as I can learn from my mistake!
The video is meant to appeal to a younger audience and I know that this is style that is commonly used for that demographic so I thought I would give it a shot.
Great job. I agree with comments about using tripod for the woman's interview and not centering the male.
overall very nice and pro quality.
Thanks! Pro quality is a great compliment and exactly what I wanted to go for. Hopefully I can share this round a few local businesses and show that I can make videos above the level of my peers. It's already helped me get my foot in the door for a small almond milk machine business here in London and I should have that video to share soon!
Great video, great voice of the commentator, some very nice scenes showing the loneliness!! But you do not get better from only compliments!...
The handheld feel is very appropriate in the dynamic scenes but, as told already, not in the interview-parts. In FCP you can stabilise and play with the amount of stabilisation to optimise. I personally also would avoid having scene after scene after scene with the handheld effect. One or two handheld scenes and than at least one stable scene would feel better for me.
The light in most of the video is excellent. But there are at least two pieces where the overall feel of the lighting is dreary (part of the interview with the lady-volunteer against the brownish background) or where faces are invisible (right at the end).
I personally think the music sounds a bit cliché and uninspired. It is o.k. for part of the video, but I think adding one or two different pieces would make the video better. But I appreciate that choice of music is very difficult to get right and there is always the hassle of copyright.
But overal a very good effort. Keep on filming and editing!!!
Most of the shots of the elderly interacting with each other had to be shot as is as it is there time to enjoy themselves and not meant to be a proper filming time. Ideally I would have liked to have control over what they did but unfortunately I had to be very much in documentary mode and just capture what I saw!
Music was a difficult one as I didn't want to waste too much time searching for something that worked and was affordable! Whilst shooting I did have something a bit like this track in my head as I wanted something that started quite solemn and lonely and then became a bit more uplifting. Instead of using two tracks I tried to cut the track up so that when the story is a bit more positive the music reflects this.
Overall thanks very much for all the comments.
It has definitely gave me lots of points to consider for the future.
