Music video - FCPX, HyColour Pro and Sony F5

Hi guys,

Thought I'd share my latest project, a music video which I directed and edited. I did operate on some shots but the cinemtography was done by Stephen Hart who does Discovery Channel, History Channel and National Geographic 'glossumentaries'.

We used the Sony F5, which is a beautiful camera, and the XAVC codec is native within FCPX 10.0.8.

I used the latest version of HyColour Pro to grade the footage, which was nice not to have to leave FCPX.

Anyway, enjoy!

vimeo.com/66805862

Hmmm

What am I doing wrong with the embed code?

Try going up to the Video button above the smiley faces, under Provider choose Vimeo then just paste the embed url (ignore ID)

then click Insert video

Actually I just tried it with your url & couldn't get it to work either. Vimeo is difficult here for some reason, I managed to do it the other day, but it's hit & miss.

Now I'll watch your video...

Well, that was a bit depressing. Hehe... Ok, visually, the camera & color works well for me. Nice skin tones despite the green room, no green cast. The focus work is effective, & I love the tracking shot from the piano to him. With this slow tempo, I think I might have preferred some slow cross-fades for edits instead of cuts. We have a bit of an issue in the first act, the pacing is so slow, song bare bones, we're experiencing dropping interest levels. All of this changes with the chorus, additional music then dried leaves & petals, all of that works beautifully. In act one there's a static shot straight on of him as we end a verse & it's held almost uncomfortably long.

Perhaps a directorial choice, would be to develop the concept of the old photos & or more cutaways. The song is melancholy but it sounds addressed to a girl (darling), where are her pictures? How about some photos of them as a couple? I'd love to see them rapidly dry up, fade & curl like those dried leaves. If we had something like that in the first section or the first time he mentions darling, it would up interest. Then as we're entering act 3 where there is a revival of hope musically & visually, the dried dead leaves have given way to fresh petals, how about we reverse the aging of the photo so it comes back to new life?

I know this is an entirely different artistic direction, but the way it stands, it's a quality song with appeal, but I just think you might lose people early on. Even the first time we see what appear to be his photos on the chair, it's a welcome respite from the dreary pace. I get it that it's a lonely life, or whatever he says, but a photo of her.. can make it even more lonely...

Beautiful shallow depth of field. I also like that the old piano had notes written on the keys, as the child had learned in this room...

Thanks for sharing.






J. Matthew
Global•Watch•Media•Consulting
www.GWM2.com

Twitter - @GlobalWatchM3

Firstly, thanks for your help trying to get the embed wokring. I'll have another go!

Secondly, thanks so much for your wonderful constructive criticism. I do really appreciate your time and words!

The pacing - I initially had a rough cut with a quicker pace to the first half. It also had a wider range of shots. The feedback was that they preferred a slower build up. The long hold shot of the singer was to try and engage the viewer with his emotion, thus being long enough for them to really feel deeply. I do completely accept that this can also be awkward for the viewer...!

I love all of your ideas for expanding the concept! I wish I had more time. The truth is, we turned up at the house without even a concept, and I quickly had to come up with a story using the props we had lying around. I'd love to have spent more time on some compositing and after effects, and I'd have done something like you mentioned with decay. The song is indeed about losing a lover, but the house belonged to the singer's Grandmother, who has recently gone into a retirement home. A photo of his 'darling' would have been great!

The numbers on the piano were a real fluke! We were so lucky they were there, it definitely subtly adds to the story. Glad you picked up on that!

The video really exists to test the F5, and our workflow using it. It just so happens my best friend is a singer songwriter. We will be shooting a lot more paid and unpaid work using the F5, so I'll be sure to post!

Really appreciate your words and I'm glad you enjoyed!

Since the post I've been ruminating on how I'd fake that photo decay in calendar flipping mode. You'd probably want to try some tests, but I was thinking a slow tracking shot, best in a concave curve, while you move an increment then blast the pic with a hair dryer for a while, then move a bit more, shoot a few frames, etc. It'd have to be smooth & organic looking, instead of something faked in post. My problem is I was thinking about something holding the photo in place on the table or whatever it's sitting on, so the photo only curls on the edges as it dries up, it never moves spatially. The obstacle is that most of the gorgeous furniture like those on your set (the wood on that piano is beautiful), would be damaged by the heat gun blast (there are those super hair driers for peeling paint, if the regular isn't strong enough). If it were on a metal tray that would look too staged, & also might discolor. So the ultimate thing would be to have it on something that can handle the heat like a large metal sheet or kiln tile but have it painted for green screen (or more probably another color you can key, like the orange of high heat manifold paint). Then cheat that shot in as a composite on the old table or desk, which would really pop if while we curved around the curling photo, dust accumulated on the table top. But now we're getting fancy & going over budget.

For the reversal, I'd love to see the photo coming back to life, then literally within it's frame turn to a little bit of video of the two of them together... stuck in limbo there inside that photo, his mind & memory...

Brilliant! I love this idea! If we did expand on it, which we may do soon as this was a test, I'd love to give this a go...

Thanks again my friend for your feedback and input.