The Secret Video
Here it is, the hitherto unposted delight of probably one of my favorite projects I have ever worked on while at film school: S&S Video Field Documentary #1. (Please Right-Click and Save As ...)
The goal was simple: "Create a short documentary that outlines a process."
I chose the process of cleaning and re-stringing a guitar. However, at the 11th hour, JJ discovered a very large crack winding its way up the neck of his relatively brand new $2k guitar. So instead of re-stringing the guitar, JJ opted to play a song for me instead. I think that if JJ had realized how much of a pain in the ass it would be to make what is essentially a no-budget music video, he might have chosen to re-string the guitar afterall.
We started the project late in the evening, around 8PM, if I'm not mistaken. We were interrupted by a fire drill and finished the project around 2 or 2:30 in the morning. The song, So Damn Lucky by Dave Matthews, was lengthy, as you can observe when you watch the movie, and so doing the song 9 or 10 times over and playing it with any precision each time became a daunting task as the night wore on.
JJ, slightly unsettled by the discovery of a nasty scar on the pretty face of his costly prized possession, took at least two takes to get into the project. After a few more, a lot of his initial energy wore off, as did a lot of mine. While performing a song for the camera under the heat of the lights can be a fatiguing process, constantly battling with overheating equipment and remaining locked in one position (essentially halfway through the motion of an abdominal curl) for six minutes at a time was just as fatiguing - and considerably more painful.
Of the things I dislike about the project, I am extremely disappointed that I didn't take the time or effort to find a better mic for JJ - both of us find that his voice sounds very flat with the equipment and setup I used. I was also somewhat disappointed that, despite having done around 9 or 10 takes, I didn't get a single audio take that was good the entire way through. There was a hitch in each performance at some point - usually around the middle of the song, making it very difficult to edit for performance. As it stands, I believe there is only one place that JJ messes up noticeably and two places where my editing is noticeably crappy.
Of the things I like about the project, I feel that the audio on the guitar was top-notch. I think the entire range of the guitar was captured beautifully with the mic I used. I think the lighting is beautiful - not too harsh, just soft enough to create a tone that matches the vibe of the song nicely. I feel that JJ's playing was excellent in every take even if he forgot a few words in several takes. And I feel that the camera setups were very good. I don't think there's a single shot that I didn't like from the entire evening.
When all is said and done, I think the project was a complete success: I created a video that shows a process. The editing and sound were more than decent, though not perfect. The performance was superb, if again not perfect. And the subject itself was entertaining, though somewhat lengthy. If I recall I got a B+ for the project (I think ... something around that area). I would concur with that grade.
I would very much like to do another project like that in the future.
The goal was simple: "Create a short documentary that outlines a process."
I chose the process of cleaning and re-stringing a guitar. However, at the 11th hour, JJ discovered a very large crack winding its way up the neck of his relatively brand new $2k guitar. So instead of re-stringing the guitar, JJ opted to play a song for me instead. I think that if JJ had realized how much of a pain in the ass it would be to make what is essentially a no-budget music video, he might have chosen to re-string the guitar afterall.
We started the project late in the evening, around 8PM, if I'm not mistaken. We were interrupted by a fire drill and finished the project around 2 or 2:30 in the morning. The song, So Damn Lucky by Dave Matthews, was lengthy, as you can observe when you watch the movie, and so doing the song 9 or 10 times over and playing it with any precision each time became a daunting task as the night wore on.
JJ, slightly unsettled by the discovery of a nasty scar on the pretty face of his costly prized possession, took at least two takes to get into the project. After a few more, a lot of his initial energy wore off, as did a lot of mine. While performing a song for the camera under the heat of the lights can be a fatiguing process, constantly battling with overheating equipment and remaining locked in one position (essentially halfway through the motion of an abdominal curl) for six minutes at a time was just as fatiguing - and considerably more painful.
Of the things I dislike about the project, I am extremely disappointed that I didn't take the time or effort to find a better mic for JJ - both of us find that his voice sounds very flat with the equipment and setup I used. I was also somewhat disappointed that, despite having done around 9 or 10 takes, I didn't get a single audio take that was good the entire way through. There was a hitch in each performance at some point - usually around the middle of the song, making it very difficult to edit for performance. As it stands, I believe there is only one place that JJ messes up noticeably and two places where my editing is noticeably crappy.
Of the things I like about the project, I feel that the audio on the guitar was top-notch. I think the entire range of the guitar was captured beautifully with the mic I used. I think the lighting is beautiful - not too harsh, just soft enough to create a tone that matches the vibe of the song nicely. I feel that JJ's playing was excellent in every take even if he forgot a few words in several takes. And I feel that the camera setups were very good. I don't think there's a single shot that I didn't like from the entire evening.
When all is said and done, I think the project was a complete success: I created a video that shows a process. The editing and sound were more than decent, though not perfect. The performance was superb, if again not perfect. And the subject itself was entertaining, though somewhat lengthy. If I recall I got a B+ for the project (I think ... something around that area). I would concur with that grade.
I would very much like to do another project like that in the future.
posted by Dave at 12:02:00 AM
2 Comments:
Dave makes beautiful films etc, but I absolutely hate the singing on this thing. Makes me cringe every time I hear it. That said, yay, I'm famous.
Aww. What else can I say but AWW. Dave and Jay, that was great. :)
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