Super 35 Period Piece Music Video!!!

[Guest Relentless Filmaker]

Hey every body the Thompson/Hafer duo is back with another music video! This one was shot on a super 35 Arri BL4 with Zeiss lenses. We shot on the Kodak 500T expression and the 250 D stocks. We would love to hear your feedback.

 

 

http://www.demobrianthompson.com/Misd/JustGo/QT.html

 

 

Thanks,

 

Brian

[Michael Nash]

Very nice stuff. Very elegant lighting and composition. How much of the color design was done in camera vs. post? Obviously there are enough of the vintage browns in the production design and wardrobe, but there also appears to be some slight desaturation in telecine (but Expression is kinda low-sat to begin with). In the "performance" scene there's a strong blue light in the BG -- was that just "full blue" or did you go stronger to compensate for any suede-ish filters or telecine correction? How did you deal with lighting the train interiors?

 

Regarding the direction, I feel like it could have used more tight coverage of the singer performing (with shallow dof), to help draw the viewer into his emotional space and further separate those scenes from the rest of the storyline. I also think it could have used a little stronger camera movement, starting static but building up to the climax of the story. I would have loved to see the camera moving on the singer's coverage during the last chorus. It felt like the camera held back from the emotion of the story a little too much.

 

But very slick, good loooking stuff. Seems influenced by "Snow Falling On Cedars" and "Pearl Harbor" (two of my favorites, visually).

[David Mullen ASC]

I thought it looked great. A few close-ups in the narrative sections were a little TOO tight to be elegant in 2.35 -- I'm referring to some of the shots of the girl at the train station, but also some shots of the guy had too much headroom cropped for my tastes (I'm only saying that since this video is shot in a cinematic "scope" style.)

 

Really nice work overall.

[Chris Cooke]

Nice job. I could tell that a lot of thought and artistry was put into lighting the train scenes whith the lead singer and the cello player. I loved the little slash of light on the door, the contrast in the walls and the blue background. I also liked the fact that you focused on the girl on the OS as the guy was leaving. The editing in the middle of the song was a little choppy and felt abrubt but I liked the editing for the rest of the song. The most powerful moment was when the dude was in the battle fields singing the song into the camera and flinching when guns/bombs going off.

[Wendell_Greene]

Beautiful work. I love the attention to detail in the art direction, hair, make-up and wardrobe. This would play well alongside My Chemical Romance's music video for "The Ghost in You" directed by Marc Webb.

[Guest Relentless Filmaker]

Very nice stuff. Very elegant lighting and composition. How much of the color design was done in camera vs. post? Obviously there are enough of the vintage browns in the production design and wardrobe, but there also appears to be some slight desaturation in telecine (but Expression is kinda low-sat to begin with). In the "performance" scene there's a strong blue light in the BG -- was that just "full blue" or did you go stronger to compensate for any suede-ish filters or telecine correction? How did you deal with lighting the train interiors?

 

Regarding the direction, I feel like it could have used more tight coverage of the singer performing (with shallow dof), to help draw the viewer into his emotional space and further separate those scenes from the rest of the storyline. I also think it could have used a little stronger camera movement, starting static but building up to the climax of the story. I would have loved to see the camera moving on the singer's coverage during the last chorus. It felt like the camera held back from the emotion of the story a little too much.

 

But very slick, good loooking stuff. Seems influenced by "Snow Falling On Cedars" and "Pearl Harbor" (two of my favorites, visually).

 

Michael, Thanks for checking out our work.

 

1. In post the only thing that was done really was to crush the blacks and desaturate it a bit.

2. The blue light in the back was an HMI just blowing through the window

3. All the interiors were shot with natural daylight or an HMI through the window and thats it

4. I have some tighter stuff of the singer, but I feel they are too tight. and I really like to show that train car it has a very good look, its actually the second oldest train car in the united states.

5. I have never seen Snow Falling On Cedars but I will definately check it out

 

Wendell, Thanks for the comments. Marc Webb is one of my favorite music video directors.

 

 

Thanks for all your comments I appreciate you guys taking the time to check our work.

 

Brian

[Michael Nash]

4. I have some tighter stuff of the singer, but I feel they are too tight. and I really like to show that train car it has a very good look, its actually the second oldest train car in the united states.

 

Just remember you're telling a story, not making a train commercial. ;-)

 

And I didn't mean go even tighter on the singer than the tightest closeup, just do more of it. The tightest CU in there (profile against black) is plenty tight for 2.35 framing.

 

But again, it looks great. Thanks for sharing it and discussing it with us.

[Rolfe Klement]

Excellent work!

 

Where did you get it graded?

If it is OK to ask what was the budget?

 

thanks

 

Rolfe

[Dan Stone]

Loved it! Very nice.

 

I watched it with my girlfriend and here are a couple of non-technical things she brought up with which I agree that stuck out:

 

1. When he got shot, massive amounts of blood came out of his mouth immediately, which detracts from the sweet feeling of the video. It would have been nicer to have a closeup of a little bit of blood dribbling. Her response was: "Ew, gross" rather than being sad.

 

2. He had the picture perfectly placed in his hand when he fell to the ground as if he had been running with it, which is kinda cheesy. It would have been nicer to have him taking it out of his helmet or pocket as he lay there. Or, have it laying beside his hand.

 

3. Near the beginning at the train station - before he leaves - there's a couple to the right that is a bit distracting. They're standing apart, not moving - and she has her hand on his lapel. They look like they didn't hear the director say 'action'.

 

I must say, though, that the final product was very well done. Your period shots were fantastic and there were many shots that made me pause and say, "that's a really nice shot".

 

Not that I'm qualified to say so, but very nice job!

[Guest Relentless Filmaker]

Thanks for the comments guys... And the critisizm.