The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Hi Songfight! This is Electric Heights. Their album was produced at the studio I work at, and I produced their first music video. They had no budget, terrible planning, and couldn't agree on any details before or after the video was shot. This was not the most enjoyable creative process, but I'm pretty proud of the result nonetheless. Have at it!

groovy like a movie !!!

I like all the close up shots. It must be really hard to sync up movement and audio because it doesn't really seem like that band matched the audio a lot of the time.

Well, this band was a little easier than the last video, because they actually play to a click (hence the drummer wearing headphones). But yes, syncing 90+ clips is a hyooge pain in the ass. I liked being able to incorporate a little After Effects into this, I look forward to doing more of the same.

Not bad for something with no budget or planning.

The glitchy-smeary layer stuff seems really out-of-place in this genre of music. I'd associate that more with Nine Inch Nails or something. Also, I'm not a fan of videos that are just the band rocking out in front of a camera, unless there's something really different to it, like this one (where the band did several takes while listening to the music played at half speed, then the video sped up 2x to give it a nervous twitchy feeling):



The technical execution seems competent, at least. I just don't think the video itself brings anything to the song that you don't get by just listening to it. Not that that's your fault or anything, of course, you're just shooting and editing the thing.

Not bad, I like it. Looks pro to me.

I've got a bigger challenge for you, Sober. Or maybe just ideas. How could an online band, like Billy and the Psychotics, with member in different states and never physically play together, put together a cool video that doesn't look like a chopped up spliced together home movie?

Billy's Little Trip wrote:Not bad, I like it. Looks pro to me.

I've got a bigger challenge for you, Sober. Or maybe just ideas. How could an online band, like Billy and the Psychotics, with member in different states and never physically play together, put together a cool video that doesn't look like a chopped up spliced together home movie?

That's a neat idea, BLT. This is obviously easy with audio, but video provides some challenges.

You could greenscreen it, but that would be difficult to pull off. Lighting, focal length, and footage format differences would make matching a nightmare. Even if you nailed that, you're set up for a lackluster performance at best.

I think the thing to do here is embrace the uniqueness of your band. Showcase your individual isolation rather than hide it. Splitscreen each member playing their instruments in front of a recognizable landmark near their home. Like, if you have bandmates from San Antonio, Seattle, and Boston, have them playing in front of the Alamo, Space Needle, and the Bean. Or whatever. Choreograph weirdly-synced gestures and looks, to transcend the distance. Just some thoughts.

*Edit: I wrote a snarky comment to fluffy, but that's pretty stupid. I think that, since I joined SF when I was 19, I tend to sometimes act like I'm 19 when I'm on here. Continue!

That's a thought for the think tank. I also thought of doing just acting scenes with the members that fit the song, get a lot of filler footage and splice it together into some kind of visual story like one of those non dialog French film, like The Red Balloon. Pass it off as artsy farsty.

Is a green screen the only way to cut a person out of a video and paste them on a different background? Or is there some fancy pants computer program that can do it like photoshop works with still images? It would look cool to have us playing, then have crazy ass backgrounds behind us. In fact, I'd prefer that to being on stage. A video should draw the viewer in with it's visual awesomeness as well as the music.

Sober wrote:*Edit: I wrote a snarky comment to fluffy, but that's pretty stupid. I think that, since I joined SF when I was 19, I tend to sometimes act like I'm 19 when I'm on here. Continue!

Man, I was saying that the parts you did were technically good, given the constraints. I just wondered why you went with the particular smeary visual effect that you did, and otherwise my criticism was with the aspects of the video that you already apologized for and had no control over.

That said, if you'd synchronized the smears to the accents in the song, it'd have probably felt a lot more cohesive. But that would have meant spending a lot more time on it, and time is money, and money was scarce.