Critique my new piece?

WillStart

WillStart

Active member
Went to a field yesterday to try to catch some golden hour filming. I was a little bit late and ended up being super crunched for time before I lost the light, but I managed to get some shots.

One of the hardest parts for me was keeping color consistency between shots of the wheat, which I eventually stopped trying to do. They were shot at different times with very different types of light on them, so it was incredibly difficult to make them match. I would have also have liked an ND filter so I could have opened the lens wider on the rack focus shot, but I don't have one at this point. A slider would have also been nice as all dolly movements were done on a 10 foot PVC dolly track.

So please tell me what you guys liked and didn't like!

 
Watch your title, make sure you're in the "title" safe area.

As for matching color, its all about assessing your color (white balance) in the original shots and then applying your color correction to bring all of the shots to a certain color. Its tough, but play with that white color wheel and you'll get it.
 
That footage was really stunning. Everything about it is so crisp and clear. May I ask what was going on with the road in the intro? It looked super sparkly or dotted or something.

Besides the colors being a bit random between shots, even though they still came out really great, the only thing I didn't like was the fitted text.
 
Just out of curiosity, if you're producing web-only content, what's the point of the having titles in the title safe area? I always do it for things going on DVD and such, but for web i've never bothered.

And yeah, that's what I tried to do. I played with it for a long time but eventually I just couldn't really get it and decided it wasn't worth it for such a small project.
 
It's just because there's such a high level of detail in the asphalt that it ends up looking like that when the embedded player is so small.

Thanks for the critique! Why didn't you like the text? Any suggestions for what I should do with the text next time?
 
I'm probably about to go full retard, but what does title safe area mean?

And I'm so jelly of your FS100. And your eye for color correction/grading. All your shit is soo good when it comes to coloring.
 
Because IMO it looks better. I hate when titles are right against the edge of the frame. Its just a good habit to have for sure.

And @BaBa the detail you're seeing in the road is just because the image is such a high resolution and the image screen is so small. full screen it and it disappears.
 
It's an option you can turn on in FCP and other editors, its limit of where a TV may cut off your video (all depends on the broadcast and the tv) and so you put the titles in that area so that they don't get cut off. It really doesn't matter for web stuff, but like i said, i think it looks better.
 
At first I was like what. Then I realized there are two evans here.

Personally Will I've never been the type of guy that likes blocked, or crunched together, or really any type of text that is even a tiny bit elaborate. I've always loved text to be as simple as possible, just a centered title or like a little By: _________ in the bottom right corner or something. I think text is really a big personal preference as long as it's not hideous. Also dat full screen. mmmmmmm
 
Ah I gotcha. Definitely personal preference, but also definitely something I will keep in mind nonetheless. haha thanks Evan!
 
i'm holding a freeride longboard competition soon, kinda like giants head, we're not sure where and when yet but we have some sponsors lined up already
 
hit enter to fast.

And we'd love to have you document the event. We could probs pay airfair and accommodations.
 
Hitch a ride with Mike Slota or something. haha.

I don't know, if you really wanted to come ( no pay) i have a bunch of friends in vernon who'd be more then happy to pick you up and bring you down here.
 
Amazing work as always! This is a beautiful area to shoot at. I didn't mind the title much at all, but then again, I may be similar to you and most of the time i like my titles perfectly nestled into a right or left corner. My favorite part had to be the little segment from :20-:22, seriously though that was amazing. The noise in the shot at :49 kinda bothered me but not that big of a deal. Great stuff stoked to see more.
 
On the subject of design, I gotta say Will, pleeease use a different font. You have beautiful footage with MS Paint titles superimposed over them. I know graphics aren't your forte and that's understandable (I'm in the same boat), but if you take the time to learn at least a little bit of graphic theory it goes a very long way. I promise.
 
No idea. I'm actually in the process of figuring this out. I have a new website and business cards that need to get out the door...all they need is a good logo.
 
I love the shot of the road will, great framing but mostly amazing textures in that shot. the time of day probably helped that a lot but did you do anything to enhance all those textures. and how were you shooting with your new baby. I got to play with one a few weeks ago and they look way too modular to hold without gear.

what lens did you slap on there?
 
My brother majored in Graphic Design, so I've heard him talk about various aspects of the art. One of them being that drop shadow is a major no-no. Another being that you need to keep everything a certain distance from the edge, although I don't know the formula for that (if there is one).
 
I love the shot of the road will, great framing but mostly amazing textures in that shot. the time of day probably helped that a lot but did you do anything to enhance all those textures. and how were you shooting with your new baby. I got to play with one a few weeks ago and they look way too modular to hold without gear.

what lens did you slap on there?
 
Ah I see. Yeah I'm definitely not down with the drop shadow.

I'll look into it more though, see if I can find anything.
 
I also found an awesome site...couldn't remember it in the last post. They do pretty comprehensive newsletters that are super helpful.

http://www.bamagazine.com/

I'm actually taking a graphic design class this year just because I know how much bad typeface/logos can ruin an otherwise perfectly good video.
 
Thanks! I didn't do anything to enhance the textures, the sunlight just helped provide a lighting situation that really brought out the contrast in the asphalt. I usually had the camera on a tripod (only one glidecam shot) so it really wasn't too bad.

i used the nikon 35mm f/2d af. as of right now it's the only lens i have for the fs100
 
Yeah Before & After is pretty bomb. Whenever I feel like I need some fresh fonts, textures, ideas... I use Stumbleupon. Set your interest to Graphic Design, and start stumbling. You'll get sites with free fonts, pages on theory, other peeps portfolio, etc... good brain food. Ill link some sites when Im not mobile, but stumbleupon is a good start. Im a designer, so feel free to ask any questions!
 
From an amateur's point of view,I think the color consistency problem was helped by the fact that you did a sort of progression from day into night. And the shot at 0:14 reminded me of the part in gladiator when he is imagining going home. I also loved the song choice.
 
Loved the camera movements, composition, and editing..top notch. If I have to critique it i'd say that the tracking long shots got a bit repetitive especially ending it with two consecutive ones. A few other notes

- really enjoyed the shot at :14

- would have loved to see the next shot at :18 for a half second longer, loved the slow tilt up while tracking backwards I just think that kind of shot deserves to be on for a little longer

-the static shot at :30 was a little awkwardly placed, i like the idea of having a stationary shot like that I just think you could have found a better place to put it. I also think a real slight rack focus could have added to the shot as well, it looks basically like a screen capture. Changing the focus very subtly would give the shot a little more character I think

that's just nitpicking though and just personal preference. But like I said, I absolutely loved watching that.
 
Amazing, amazing work Will. That camera sure puts out a damn good image, and that lens is tack sharp. I personally didn't mind the color variety, thought it added a level to the short and gave it a sense of time change (sunset, which is what you filmed, so perfect). there was one static shot that didn't have anything else going on with it, which, like jacuse said, was a tad awkward. other than that I thought it was killer
 
Thanks! I wish I didn't have as many tracking shots either, but by the time I ran out of light those were what I had primarily shot. I wish I'd had more time to get more pan/tilt shots and maybe some other glidecam shots.

I also would have liked to have held the shot at :18 longer. Unfortunately the track was on very uneven ground and I didn't execute the dolly move very well despite trying it a few times, so I only had a brief period of smooth movement, and that's what you see in the edit.

Looking back on it, I can see how the shot at :30 is awkward. a rack focus would have helped for sure.

Great critique, thanks for the feedback!
 
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