Muttley, love the video, definitely very entertaining! I disagree with Craftech about being too dark, this is mostly a personal issue as will as what K the monitor is used for viewing and editing. There is always some editing or shooting issues that would/could have been done differently but on your timeline, this a great video, without a doubt! I believe Craftech shoots a lot stage/ school plays,etc.... so he has a different "view" of a structured shoot/content presentation vs. a musicvideo theme shoot.

Liked it a lot - very nicely done. On my monitor it looks appropriately lighted.

My only issue was with the lyrics. They could have been better enunciated - I had trouble dialing in to the singer. This could also be my aging ears or the fact that my wife, a music teacher of 33+ years experience, is a stickler for enunciation.

Again, I liked it a lot!

Great stuff Mutts!

Grazie


Now I really

Well done. I agree that it was difficult to understand the words. The lighting seemed appropriate on my monitors. However, I was playing it on one of my 20.1" wide screens which has a very high resolution. There was a good balance of the singer and other scenes. It got even more interesting when you showed the guy sweating and obviously stressed. This is one I'll save for inspiration.

Nice! I'm going to have to go with the "couldn't make out some of the lyrics either" comments as well.. I was just figuring some of the verbiage was over my head and would be understood by the traders.. But I love the little smile she flashed at the end.. Nice pool shots also..

Ray,

Nice work, man! - Great lighting and the color's just popped - loved the contrast between the gal and the guy.

My $.02

I guess I don't have the ears for Country - it all sounds the same. I'm guessing that as has been mentioned, the joke in the lyrics will be understood by those who are in the industry. I would have perhaps visually enunciated the damage of the computer hardware a bit more. It was fairly dim.

A few of the shots looked as though you were going for the handheld look with the tripod and therefore were a bit jerky, almost as though there was some hesitation in the left / right movement of the tripod head before the actual pan was made, overall though a technical thing that most wouldn't notice and it's no big deal.

Audio was great, lighting superb. You're shining, brother!

Very clever!

The reason I think some are commenting about not understanding the lyrics, is the lead vocal track is overcompressed for my taste and sounds a bit canned in relation to the vibrant video. It's not the singer's enunciation (even though it is country); too much compression kills the sibilants and sharp consonants which are a big component of intelligibility in recorded tracks. Not criticism, just an impression.

My usual compression ceiling is 2.5:1 for vocal material such as yours, or 3:1 for screamers. I may go a bit higher for instruments, although yours seem well contained. I know that producers for broadcast will consider my numbers "conservative."

Keep up the good work!

Brilliant work, love the use of black, my favourite colour. I think one shot the blacks lift a bit but I'm being picky. Pool shot looks awesome, great lighting.

Must agree with comments above about camera moves though. Those snap zooms lost me. Too many jerky camera moves too and watch movement accross cuts, it just didn't flow right. Probably made worse because the image is so friggin good otherwise. Keep the flow lyrical to match the tone of the song. Try turning the sound off and watch it.

Bob.

The overall look and clarity is just awesome. I agree about the over-compression of the vocals, but hey, I'm sure Raymond didn't have any control over that,

As far as the jerky movement goes, one of the things I've noticed with web video is that you can have all the movements just as smooth as anything on your HD master, and by the time it gets to Vimeo (or even Youtube), your smooth movements look jerky.

In a case like this, the video that the client sees and pays for is probably just fine. I've been trying to do a lot less camera movement though myself because way more people see the web versions than the Blu-ray.

I don't want to be too critical but...

The trend these days in many TV shows and videos seems to be "get in tight and shake". But I'm always thinking to myself: For God's sake zoom out and stop shaking the damn camera, I want to watch the show !

The tight shots and shaking to me are in-your-face effects which really distract from the subject matter. It's like a slideshow where you have 100 different types of transition.It's intrusive. I don't want to even *notice* the camera work, I want to enjoy the subject.

To me this video doesn't allow the performer to express anything or "perform", it's all camera work and editing. Is she so awkward and/or ugly that the camera just can't linger for a while and let her do her thing ? It should be the message, not the medium.

The other problem I have with this sort of technique is that it treats the audience as low-attention span teens. I don't need jiggles, wiggles and a thousand cuts to keep me from getting bored. In fact the opposite is true: the clip was so busy I got fatigued just from the visuals and this detracts again from the whole point of the clip, which is surely the performer and her music ?

Then again, I'm probably not in the intended target demographic....

I know some of my comments are hash, but I hope they're of some value as an alternate viewpoint.

Thanks for the feedback, even the ones I didn't care for. =)

Little I can do about the lyrics/audio, I did put in a request for a mix that might have the vocals up a bit. Wasn't really sure if it was my system as I tend to have pretty strong base, but apparently it wasn't just me. I'll follow up and see if that mix was ever done.

As for the camera moves, I know a lot of you have seen much of my previous stuff and know that I'm not exactly "conservative" in that regard. It's a preference thing to be sure but I do try to tailor what I'm doing with the camera to whatever "I think" the video calls for. I defiantly didn't go shot for shot with the original, but when I did see it I recall noting that it did have a good number of whip pans/zip zooms, and camera focus, all of which are part and parcel to many a music video. Whether they're made that way for short attention folks or not as "alltheseworlds" has critiqued, probably so. But this was a parody and I did try to capture the most salient points of "Before He Cheats", at least in flavor. I'll concede a couple shots I actually do wish were a bit smother, first time out with the indiSLIDERpro, but I'm sure I'll get the hang of it and overall a nifty little tool.

Anyway, before I get too carried away with being defensive! Again, appreciate the feedback and you folks taking the time to give it a glance! Hopefully will get a new cut of the audio soon and swap it out.

- Ray
Some of my stuff on Vimeo
www.undergroundplanet.com

P.S. Um, if you think there's any chance in hell she's awkward and/or ugly, perhaps it's not the video and you might just need to get your eyes checked.

Nitpicking aside, I really do like it a lot. I absolutely LOVE the clarity and the intensity of the color. Some of that is the EX-1, but a lot of that is your talent and attention to detail. As in all your stuff, the picture and your talent is outstanding.

good video but some of the lighting is a bit unflattering. You have your light often at the talent's eye level without any diffusion at that thus you create this nasty shadow of the nose (that would be way less noticeable if you used a soft box, and even less pronounced if you you put your light a tad higher so that the bottom of the nose didn't create horizontal line shadow). Also i'm not sure if this is the case with this talent (and sometimes it is like with case of Monica Vitti of Antonioni's films) but you photograph her from below thus making her even less feminine.

I agree with Laurence. I think you did a great job with this. I also do not believe it is too dark in places. I think those shots fit the song. Thanks for posting,. I saved it. :o)

I think this clip is awesome. While I can see what other people are commenting on, it is after all a music video. The things that some have commented on, like the images being dark or the camera movements being shaky, are factually correct but IMHO not a bad thing. This is a very clever and impressive stylistic artist's impression. Sometimes, especially in a music video, it's OK to have style over content. It's important to remember that film (video) is an art as well as a language.

Good job.

No worries, though trust me I love to hear people support me or defend my choices! I've had enough criticism's over the years to take the good with the bad and to a degree, separate in my mind what are legitimate technical critique's and insights and those comments which are more or less differences in opinion over style or function.

The original video was a darker video, this was somewhat mimicked in ours. If I had to hazard a guess I might assume that they're pockets were a wee bit deeper than ours and they most likely had a slightly bigger crew then three, including myself. Our shoot was run and gun and we had minimal times for setups. We could only use two Lowel Omni's at a time or we would blow power. I suspect that they had some slightly better lights and possibly a few less problems with power. They might have even had a professional gaffer. They may have even had a stand in sit there patiently while the gaffer took his time to make things perfect.

That was all supposed to be tongue in cheek, not bitter, because I'm really not. If I wasn't proud of it I certainly wouldn't have posted it here! But what I mean to say is that I try my best to maximize minimal budgets and eek out as much bang for the buck and production value as possible. Compared to the original this was done for a pittance. If I were to say her's was probably in the 200k range I don't think I'd be overestimating. With that in mind our budget was laughable! It melts my brain to think of what I could do with a budget like that! With pennies on the dollar, a crew of three, three nights of shooting, and less then a week for the edit, I have no problems putting my name on this one. Now, with that said, it's not an excuse, because I don't think the video needs excuses, as I said I am proud and I stand by it. All the same a little perspective never hurt anyone and much of what has been stated will only ensure that my next is even better. =)

- Ray
Some of my stuff on Vimeo
www.undergroundplanet.com

Looked good to me, Ray, but what do I know?

Now that you've used it, how is the IndieSliderPro?

Ray - My monitor is perfectly calibrated also, and it looks great . As a former DP, my only suggestion would be a little fill from the right in the shots where she is standing by the pool in the green dress - only to be a little more flattering to the face of the singer.

Good job!

I just watched this again with my wife and my oldest son (nearly 16). Even though it's not his style of music he said it is very good. We all agree that this is well done! The quality of the video, good color saturation, nice definition of subject, interesting lighting at times, and many more make this wonderful. Is there room for improvement? Always. However, you should feel good about this and proud to show it off. I will definitely be using it for inspiration. Thanks for sharing.

nice one mate....

not my style, but hell, looked like it should do....

what do you deliver it on?

leslie

Going to give him a version for his iTouch, a full HD avi so he can run it off his laptop at conventions and whatnot, and then one for *ack* YouTube. And gave him a couple SD versions on DVD just so he would have em. I do have a bluray burner but sadly he had bought an HD machine.=P

Laurence, I love the indislider and it's going to be a mainstay in my toolbox. That said, it does take a little more finesse than I thought it would.

- Ray
Some of my stuff on Vimeo
www.undergroundplanet.com