Nice performance.

Can you provide some info how you shot this? Looks like 3 cams were they all the same brand? Did you add sepia color effect?

What kind of boom did you use to get the over head shot?

Just some constructive feedback on the narrative at the beginning, It could have flowed better and it seemed a little slow to me and at times sounded like there were unnecessary pauses.

I personally would have liked a few more front facial shots of the performer's expressions. She seemed to be emotionally into the music and easy on the eyes. (;

I'm not really into classical (though I have a few Christopher Parkening and a Bach CD) but it kept my interest and I watched both videos all the way thru.

Overall great job!

The second one at least seems to have the blacks crushed.
Not too certain about the first dissolve in it either.

Bob.

Byron,

It was shot with 2 Sony cams. The overhead, on a crane, is a Sony HVRU. The other on a tripod a Sony HDR XR500. We did 2 takes so used some short clips from the other take, but had to be careful that all of the finger movements from the 2nd take were in sync with the audio from take 1. A pianist could notice if any finger movements don't match.

I agree that more face shots would have been good, but, being a pianist, Virginia is more interested in having her hands show as much as possible because that's what pianist viewers would most want to see.

As for the color effect, the director/editor wasn't actually going for a sepia color effect. He had in mind to take advantage of skin tone and the shiny dress, sequins, trying to bring them out while trying to minimize somewhat uninteresting things in the background, like the carpet on the floor.

As for the narration, both Virginia and the director wanted it to be in the mood of the piece. The Berseuse is a lullaby but also a lament for the children Chopin wanted but never had. The narration includes Chopin's own words, so the artists wanted it to sound thoughtful and somewhat sad.

Glad you found them engaging! I think Virginia is very talented at bringing out what the music has to offer, so she was an inspiration for the director and me, the little ole tech/assistant. [I was also somewhat of a "coach" to keep everyone's energy focused to get the best efforts from everyone present.]

Bob,

Thanks for the response. I'm not sure what you mean that the blacks are crushed. Do you mean the blacks have no detail?

See my comments on the color goals in my response to Byron. Perhaps bringing out the skin tones & shininess of the black dress resulted in the crushing of the blacks? Not sure what you mean by 'crushing.'

Which dissolve are you referring to--which piece and what is it you think could be better?

"Not sure what you mean by 'crushing.'"

There's no detail or separation in them. Look at 1:28, the shadow of the hair is just black, the dark top rear of the sleeve blends into the shadows in the background.
All of that could be due to the much less than calibrated monitor I have on this office PC however it's not much different to what most will be watching on. I have found anything that looks great on my reasonably accurate ProArt monitor survives well on anything. Your piece just seems to me to loose too much into the blacks ans shadows. I do appreaciate how that can be a problem having shot someone wearing a white shirt, black suit, and a black hat playing a black grand. You might need to address the problem with lighting and / or in post.

"Which dissolve are you referring to--which piece and what is it you think could be better?"

Sorry, should have been more specific.
The second one you listed (Polonaise Fantasie Op. 61) at 00:48. I found it visually perplexing as the shots are almost identical, by the middle of the dissolve I'd lost track of what I was going from and to. The preceding ones in the intro between animated stills are fine as it's a definate transition from one thing to another.

How you fix this after you've shot it I haven't a clue and I've managed to create the same problem for myself with the "help" of a client / talent who wants to use the end of one take as the start of another. Now all that would be good except between the two takes I'd move a mic. I can line her up accross the transition or I can line up the mic but not both and either way I'm creating something odd during the dissolve :(

Bob.

I do classical music videos almost exclusively, and I can tell you the most challenging from the point of view of camera/take and editing/cuts are solo recitals!

It's so much easier to shoot and cut chamber music ... At the other extreme, a full-blown symphony orchestra brings about challenges of its own.

But generally speaking, I totally agree that dissolving almost identical scenes is a bad idea.

Piotr

As I´m doing classical concerts myself and I saw both films to the end I couldn´t resist to write this comment. I´m really no videoexpert at all but an amateur musician.
Chopins music is very sensibel and dynamic and to illustrate it with 2 static cameras must really be a challenge. Its interesting to see the hands of the pianist but not almost all the time.
I think that a third static (narrow) cam on her face would made it easier to edit (especially dissolves) and watch.
I normally hate too much zooming and shortcuts but I think some smooth crooping and more cuts in suitable passages (there are lots of them in my opinion) would better reflect the dynamics of the music.
In short I think its too much difference between the dynamics of the music and the dynamics in the picture.
Regards
Aje

I agree. Below is some Chopin I've edited lately - but again, it's a trio, so cutting is more obvious :)



Piotr

PS Of course, this is a pre-graded version, needs CC and leveling - but cuts are the point here :)

PPS The fully graded, stabilized and synchronized version is already available on DVD and BD - those interested to get one please contact me :)

Awesome!
2 operated cams and 2 fixed cams - am I right?
Is one of them a GoPro HD Hero2 standing on the keybord side?

Do you study the musicpeace before the take? It seems so with your fine close ups when needed.
The bigger the orchestra (not to mention choires) the harder to do right close ups I think - if you don´t know the music or have many operated cams to choose from.
I deliver mostly dvd so using fixed HD cams gives room for "computer zoom" without losing resulotion when needed.
I´m sure you´ll get a good result when edit is finished.
Regards
Aje


Regards
Aje

Yeah - although I'm not a musician, I usually know the pieces by heart before I cut my videos :).

The keyboard close-ups were indeed recorded with the Hero mini-cam; what a pita to edit! The clips have already been de-noised, but they obviously need the final WB touch (green tint). But the most difficult part with this camera has been synchro problems - it records 29,97 fps while all the other cameras (and the project) is PAL 25 fps. In the version posted here, there are still a couple of less-than-perfect sync moments - being a musician yourself, I bet you can spot them :) The thing is that while the Hero takes are in perfect sync in the project timeline - once rendered out to 25 fps, they randomly lose/add a frame, and the sync is gone... Never again a camera set with different frame rates!!!

Piotr

Hi Jaums, just been watching the first video. Seems to have some quality, though on the stills transitioning I felt you could have taken significantly longer for each transition & gone a lot slower (including displaying many of them for slightly longer). The transitions felt quite rushed for me as a viewer.

Aje,

Our purpose was not to create the most beautiful and entertaining piece, but to center on the playing of the pianist. Pianists always want to see the hands--to me it's a kind-of obsession, but whether their own or another's, that's what they want so we went along with it. It would also be valid to do a production in which the piece was the center focus--then you could get creative with all sorts of visuals, zooming, etc, but that was not our goal this time.

If we had a 3rd camera, we certainly would have used it on her face most of the time. With just 2 cams & just one cam operator there wasn't much movement we could do. The one cam operator did move the cam on the tripod from time to time as she was playing.

Bob & Piotr,

The dissolve in the Fantasie at the end of the narration is actually smooth and gradual from the painting of Chopin to the pianist. Somehow in YouTube, especially played from the paste here in this thread does not always play the same--sometimes it looks jerky.

Playing from the YouTube Link that shows the YouTube window, I can't find a way to change the quality settings, go full screen etc. At higher resolution that dissolve looks better, but not as well as the render from Vegas.

Simes,

The flow of the stills was pretty much dictated by what the narrator was saying. Once the mention of Chopin's mother was complete, we needed to move to the next visual. We could have used less visuals, but then maybe it would have seemed too slow--now we are into a very subjective, artistic matter.

Is the whole thing interesting enough to watch more than once and you get something more out of it each time? Maybe that's too much to ask for!

Thanks for your thoughts.

Jaums
AB INDEPENDENT PRODUCTIONS
www.youtube.com/jaums

"The dissolve in the Fantasie at the end of the narration is actually smooth and gradual from the painting of Chopin to the pianist"

That's fine, what happens almost immediately after it is what I have a problem with.




Bob.

Jaums, I'm a pianist and Chopin is my favorite composer for solo piano. Other have commented on technical production and post details. I really enjoyed the content of your work, especially lingering shots of the hands, which I much prefer to watch than the performer's body movements or facial expressions. And, wow, what a talented pianist. Thoroughly enjoyable.

-Steve

Steve,

Thanks so much for your comments. I'll forward them to Ms. Hogan!