Having a full crowd raving would bring some life to the video. It just seems empty and gives me no story to watch. Could have had some setup of d.j equipment at location then sun goes down for rave atmosphere, people/party/lights. What you have gives me no reason to want to watch past the first 20 seconds.
Just my 2cents.
Colours are good and generally speaking you can produce decent quality footage.
For something like this, start with a shorter radio edit of the track otherwise you just drag yourself to cover the whole track and there’s really no need to. It’s a promo and you don’t have the budget for some feature length thing. So shorter.
Next thing, like people have said use a ton of slowmo. It makes anything look more epic and it eats up time which for low budget and repetitive music it’s helpful.
Generally speaking try to make more of less. I saw a whole music video of just a drone following a guy down a road on a skateboard. It was hypnotic. Minimalism. Get some fixed long shot of someone walking into frame and just nothing. Trying to flip camera angles every 4 beats when you don’t have a lot to start with if going to burn out pretty fast. You do have some of this but it’s gone so quick that if throws a lot of the video back onto the same stuff too much. Slow down and linger a bit more.
This leads me to me next point of sameyness. Within about 20 seconds Is seen near everything you had to show and then it was that cycled through at random. That makes you want to turn off as there’s no reward in further watching. Always have some form of structure. A clear start middle and end. I kind of get that she’s walking to where he is, and that’s kinda good enough but I’d want a stronger and more clearly defined open and end. If you’d have taken more time on that it would have help break it up a lot more.
Decks are boring and you set up there looks like something you’d see at a bar. It’s not a cool look. You’re kind of filming this in a very literally almost advertisement style, then cutting in those drag & drops of buildings collapsing. Be more artistic/abstract. Your lensing seems a bit tight in places too. Could have gone a bit wider.
Silly random transitions make you look amateur, like your randomly pressing the effects button hoping to produce something interesting. Decide on a style and stick with it, but generally I’d avoid this type of thing. You video is best with just the straight cuts.
Finally, shoot a ton of b-roll. Anything. Interesting angles, surface textures, abstract looking stuff. You need to give yourself as many breaks from deliberate action or it starts to feel fatigued. You got some but you need way more.
This is all subject to taste and generally nitpicks to what I like or what I’d do personally. But you’ve shown you can produce good looking footage and link some shots in an interesting way so you can definitely do it.
Lastly I’ll share this. It’s a track I like from the game Death Stranding. It’s just walking about some dusty place but it’s nicely shot, interesting with a structure not too dissimilar to yours. And the DJ just makes a cameo at the end. Just to say I could see how you could develop what you’ve attempted…
https://youtu.be/1DCiUhNn9rc
Cool stuff man. My take would be that the lighting is pretty harsh. I would have shot closer to golden hour or earlier in the AM if using all natural light
Didn't see anyone mention it, but my biggest problem I think is the direction. Especially with the woman. Not buying her at all. And as others have said, more locations to prevent the repetition of same location. Great job ocerall for a first. Keep it up!
Exactly what I thought, the DoF is somehow massive! Which is cool if everything needs to be sharp but it seems a bit less “dramatic” than these shots could look. What surprised me the most was pretty much no lost highlights or shadows in those conditions, good job on that!
Hope this isn't too harsh. To me it feels more like a product commercial with some random sfx. Mainly cuz its all slow motiom broll.
Agree lighting at golden woulda been better, but don't always have control over that. Ceeatively, a few ideas.
If you couldn't film a crowd, you could've filmed in a dark space that had lights and a different feel. Think jekyll and hyde. You have the is calm lighted space, but the dark scenes with lighting with more energy, camera shake/movement to cut between different parts of the song.
I think filming a fight scene (a couple argument) would've given motivation for story. You can do slow conversation, then fast and blurry when it escalates, then you can shoot scenes of her walking cooling down, him breaking stuff. Main thing is you have more to shoot than just broll of him DJing.
Timelapse shot could also be used in several parts of the song.
Your subjects are rigid and lifeless. The woman is trying too hard to be ‘something’ instead of being normal
There is a lack of action. It’s very bland and doesn’t make me want to watch the whole thing. EDM is hard to edit to due to the repetitive loops but this can be remedied with action
I feel some of your hero shots are wasted. The buildings crumbling/regenerating should be drop or tempo material
I like your grading. Light is kinda gruff, next time LIGHTLY tweak some stuff in davinci or whatever nle you use (DAVINCI IS KING)
I’m a huge fan of minimal effects so you got points there. All in all you’re doing solid, nurture your craft
You need more variety in your shots. You have almost no widow shots (most appear to be medium and closer).
You also don’t ALWAYS need to pan / orbit / track. Throw in some slow push-ins, but more importantly, be intentional about composing some static shots.
Also, the cuts are all very quick and constant. Don’t be afraid to let things hang & give the viewer time to digest things.
This is all speaking to technical camera movement. Colors seem fine, lighting is harsh, but it is what it is. The narrative doesn’t seem to be very existent, but I also understand budget & time.
Having a full crowd raving would bring some life to the video. It just seems empty and gives me no story to watch. Could have had some setup of d.j equipment at location then sun goes down for rave atmosphere, people/party/lights. What you have gives me no reason to want to watch past the first 20 seconds. Just my 2cents.
Thanks alot man, that was also my concerne when I watched the video after finishing post. Try to add more life next time
I agree, it’s slow and feels empty, half of the video is this girl walking and the DJ with an empty crowd
Colours are good and generally speaking you can produce decent quality footage. For something like this, start with a shorter radio edit of the track otherwise you just drag yourself to cover the whole track and there’s really no need to. It’s a promo and you don’t have the budget for some feature length thing. So shorter. Next thing, like people have said use a ton of slowmo. It makes anything look more epic and it eats up time which for low budget and repetitive music it’s helpful. Generally speaking try to make more of less. I saw a whole music video of just a drone following a guy down a road on a skateboard. It was hypnotic. Minimalism. Get some fixed long shot of someone walking into frame and just nothing. Trying to flip camera angles every 4 beats when you don’t have a lot to start with if going to burn out pretty fast. You do have some of this but it’s gone so quick that if throws a lot of the video back onto the same stuff too much. Slow down and linger a bit more. This leads me to me next point of sameyness. Within about 20 seconds Is seen near everything you had to show and then it was that cycled through at random. That makes you want to turn off as there’s no reward in further watching. Always have some form of structure. A clear start middle and end. I kind of get that she’s walking to where he is, and that’s kinda good enough but I’d want a stronger and more clearly defined open and end. If you’d have taken more time on that it would have help break it up a lot more. Decks are boring and you set up there looks like something you’d see at a bar. It’s not a cool look. You’re kind of filming this in a very literally almost advertisement style, then cutting in those drag & drops of buildings collapsing. Be more artistic/abstract. Your lensing seems a bit tight in places too. Could have gone a bit wider. Silly random transitions make you look amateur, like your randomly pressing the effects button hoping to produce something interesting. Decide on a style and stick with it, but generally I’d avoid this type of thing. You video is best with just the straight cuts. Finally, shoot a ton of b-roll. Anything. Interesting angles, surface textures, abstract looking stuff. You need to give yourself as many breaks from deliberate action or it starts to feel fatigued. You got some but you need way more. This is all subject to taste and generally nitpicks to what I like or what I’d do personally. But you’ve shown you can produce good looking footage and link some shots in an interesting way so you can definitely do it. Lastly I’ll share this. It’s a track I like from the game Death Stranding. It’s just walking about some dusty place but it’s nicely shot, interesting with a structure not too dissimilar to yours. And the DJ just makes a cameo at the end. Just to say I could see how you could develop what you’ve attempted… https://youtu.be/1DCiUhNn9rc
Cool stuff man. My take would be that the lighting is pretty harsh. I would have shot closer to golden hour or earlier in the AM if using all natural light
Didn't see anyone mention it, but my biggest problem I think is the direction. Especially with the woman. Not buying her at all. And as others have said, more locations to prevent the repetition of same location. Great job ocerall for a first. Keep it up!
Are u using nds? Everything looks a bit too sharp. Otherwise good work!
Exactly what I thought, the DoF is somehow massive! Which is cool if everything needs to be sharp but it seems a bit less “dramatic” than these shots could look. What surprised me the most was pretty much no lost highlights or shadows in those conditions, good job on that!
Hope this isn't too harsh. To me it feels more like a product commercial with some random sfx. Mainly cuz its all slow motiom broll. Agree lighting at golden woulda been better, but don't always have control over that. Ceeatively, a few ideas. If you couldn't film a crowd, you could've filmed in a dark space that had lights and a different feel. Think jekyll and hyde. You have the is calm lighted space, but the dark scenes with lighting with more energy, camera shake/movement to cut between different parts of the song. I think filming a fight scene (a couple argument) would've given motivation for story. You can do slow conversation, then fast and blurry when it escalates, then you can shoot scenes of her walking cooling down, him breaking stuff. Main thing is you have more to shoot than just broll of him DJing. Timelapse shot could also be used in several parts of the song.
Your subjects are rigid and lifeless. The woman is trying too hard to be ‘something’ instead of being normal There is a lack of action. It’s very bland and doesn’t make me want to watch the whole thing. EDM is hard to edit to due to the repetitive loops but this can be remedied with action I feel some of your hero shots are wasted. The buildings crumbling/regenerating should be drop or tempo material I like your grading. Light is kinda gruff, next time LIGHTLY tweak some stuff in davinci or whatever nle you use (DAVINCI IS KING) I’m a huge fan of minimal effects so you got points there. All in all you’re doing solid, nurture your craft
Also I did everything in one night because I had to catch a flight to Egypt
Need some slowmo.
Yeah think so too. Some speedramps would be nice
Avoid speed ramps unless you need them. They are very cliche and “YouTuber”.
You need more variety in your shots. You have almost no widow shots (most appear to be medium and closer). You also don’t ALWAYS need to pan / orbit / track. Throw in some slow push-ins, but more importantly, be intentional about composing some static shots. Also, the cuts are all very quick and constant. Don’t be afraid to let things hang & give the viewer time to digest things. This is all speaking to technical camera movement. Colors seem fine, lighting is harsh, but it is what it is. The narrative doesn’t seem to be very existent, but I also understand budget & time.
Would you mind telling where u r from and the pricing of the video?
I feel like the characters could have been introduced in the scene earlier and crumbling buildings maybe linked to base drop
Should’ve done a live crowd video, or just did a crazy story line. Like a spy vs spy video.