My first attempt at a video. Don't laugh.

R

RAMI

Guest
I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to lighting, camera angles, and anything else to do with video. I just went with my instincts and used what I have at home. I hope I didn't make too many newbie mistakes to make this watchable.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, like with most everything else, your instincts are pretty spot on. Cuts, transitions, timing, lighting are all good. You make the best you can with what little you got and you find that creativity drives the video. (You probably also found out how much work it is)

The one thing that comes up missing to me is a break away to some cool action shots. You flirt around with the bag and pulling punches and stuff. It'd be kinda cool to see more of what you do. Obviously the training, martial arts, boxing, etc are the other major interests in your life, do more with it to show off.

I like the silhouette stuff too. I have been thinking of doing that with my daughter playing violin.
 
Chili said:
Yeah, like with most everything else, your instincts are pretty spot on. Cuts, transitions, timing, lighting are all good. You make the best you can with what little you got and you find that creativity drives the video. (You probably also found out how much work it is)
Click to expand...
Really? Cool. Thanx a lot, Chili. I honestly don't know how amateur this looks. But I guess many "pro" videos deliberately have a "home" look to them, so maybe it's not as bad as I think.

The one thing that comes up missing to me is a break away to some cool action shots. You flirt around with the bag and pulling punches and stuff. It'd be kinda cool to see more of what you do. Obviously the training, martial arts, boxing, etc are the other major interests in your life, do more with it to show off.
Click to expand...
I shot a lot of footage of me training. But, to be honest, even the little bit I put in, I felt a little pretentious. So, I tried to just use parts that were either a little humorous, or that I was able to sync with the music in some way. But I wasn't comfortable putting too much footage of me training. I thought the tune had enough aggression that a slight boxing theme might suit it.

I like the silhouette stuff too. I have been thinking of doing that with my daughter playing violin.
Click to expand...
That happened totally by accident. I thought using only back lighting would give me a kind of "aura". A ll it did was black me out. So, I went with it and totally blacked me out, and then inverted it to white when the vocals over-lapped each other in the verses.


I have to admit, it was a lot of work to edit etc....But it was fun as hell.

Thanx man. :cool:
 
Last edited:
Hey, if nobody comments on this in a day or so, do you mind if I post it in the Clinic? I don't know how much traffic this section gets, but I guess I'll soon find out.
 
Actually not bad. I liked the dummy being used. I would say the backdrop portions you could have used a green screen and put yourself in a street or some kind of background to have made it a bit more interesting.

You're right about the traffic here, not much action.
 
I enjoyed the video. It moved along briskly with snappy edits, and some cool touches (e.g. the boxing, the dummy). Silhouettes were great. The guitar playing bits, with you standing against the back drop were a bit unexciting, and you looked a bit like a rabbit trapped in headlights. The lead guitar bits were fine. After you had done the lead guitar bits, the interest dropped a bit, because from then on the visual story had finished, i.e. we were just getting more of what went on before.
 
DM60 said:
Actually not bad. I liked the dummy being used. I would say the backdrop portions you could have used a green screen and put yourself in a street or some kind of background to have made it a bit more interesting.

You're right about the traffic here, not much action.
Click to expand...
Thanx. I was going to use a green screen actually. But I figured, for my first video, try not to use every trick in the book right off the bat. I didn't want to bite off too much more than I can chew. Next vid, I'll try some green screening. I actually had footage of me playing guitar while walking on the treadmill, but none of it looked good.

gecko zzed said:
I enjoyed the video. It moved along briskly with snappy edits, and some cool touches (e.g. the boxing, the dummy). Silhouettes were great. The guitar playing bits, with you standing against the back drop were a bit unexciting, and you looked a bit like a rabbit trapped in headlights. The lead guitar bits were fine. After you had done the lead guitar bits, the interest dropped a bit, because from then on the visual story had finished, i.e. we were just getting more of what went on before.
Click to expand...

Thanx. Yeah, you're right. Without an audience, I had no idea where or how to look for those guitar playing parts. I didn't want to look into the camera, but I also didn't want to look like I was trying too hard not to look at it. I probably should have had less of that, but I did try to keep it little 1 or 2 second shots. It's a lot harder to fill up 3 and a half minutes than I thought.
 
2 things I just noticed. Yesterday, Youtube had a "HD" tag on my video and gave the option of watching at 720p quality. Today, there's no HD and it only goes up to 480p.

Also, when I watch my vid at home on WMP, it's synced up perfectly. On Youtube, the picture is slightly ahead of the sound.

Is all this normal?
 
OK, some of you are going to hate me for this, but I just deleted it.

I watched it again this morning and really don't like the guitar playing segments at all. Greg mentioned that I didn't put any drumming in there, and I had to hit myself in the head with a "Why the hell didn't I think of that?".

Mods, if you want to delete this thread, please do. The link isn't working anyway.

Sorry about that.
 
I say we keep the thread going because there are some comments that can give others some ideas or help. If you post a remix, you can put the link up here and/or we can edit the first post for you.

If you're adamant about deleting, let me know. :)
 
Chili said:
I say we keep the thread going because there are some comments that can give others some ideas or help. If you post a remix, you can put the link up here and/or we can edit the first post for you.

If you're adamant about deleting, let me know. :)
Click to expand...
No problem. Keep it up, I got no problem with that. You have a point.

Anyway, I'm probably going to re-upload it in a day or two anyway.

Thanx man.
 
OK, I just re-uploaded the final version of this video.

Not sure if anyone's going to see this, but it's there anyway. The link is in the OP, and here:
 
Last edited:
Good job. I like the edits you made; the drums, the knocked down guy.

I see some sync issues. For me, they are difficult to deal with. You think they're good in the editor but when you go to render, something changes. Then YouTube conversion seems to make it worse. It's a cat chasing its tail kind of thing.

Good song to do your first video with....
:)
 
Chili said:
Good job. I like the edits you made; the drums, the knocked down guy.
Click to expand...
Great, thanx Chili.

I see some sync issues. For me, they are difficult to deal with. You think they're good in the editor but when you go to render, something changes. Then YouTube conversion seems to make it worse. It's a cat chasing its tail kind of thing.
Click to expand...
Exactly!!! This video is perfectly synced until it got to Youtube. Not sure if I should try to compensate because the video plays fine in WMP. It's only in Youtube that the sync is off. Not sure what to do about that, it's frustrating.

Good song to do your first video with....
:)
Click to expand...
Yeah, it wasn't my first choice. It's a 2 or 3 year old tune and not what I consider anywhere near my best song. But it was the only one that I was able to come up with ideas for, with the over-lapping vocals answering each other, and the general aggression in the song which lent itself to a slight boxing theme. I have better tunes that I had no idea what to do with.

Thanx for the comments, man. :cool:
 
I just uploaded a new version to Youtube. I noticed that the picture was slightly ahead of the music after being uploaded to Youtube, so I just pushed the picture back about 2/10 of a second. Hopefully it will help.

Same link as in the OP and all the posts above this one.
 
Last edited:
Thanx guys.

It was fun, but I have to say it's a little too time-consuming when you're main love is actually playing music.

If I make another one, I'm probably going to go the simple route. Like, a 4-split screen thing of me playing each instrument or something.

I'm not saying this is epic or anything near that, but it is amazing what you can do with a camera that fits in the palm if your hand. :)
 
A youtube star is born. If you mess with it any more, when you are doing the chorus, singing with the punching dummy would be really cool.

Looks like you put in a lot of work on this. Not a bad start as all.
 
I like the additions, but the sync seems way off to me. The picture is later than the sounds. It's a real good video though for your first try.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top