My First Music Video!

[joreth]

Yeah, it's silly. I've been in the entertainment industry for YEARS and I even specialized in music videos back before digital cameras and digital editing became commonplace. I've logged in hours on top of hours in a linear edit suite on both video tape and film and I'm quite good at synching up audio to the video that matches it, particularly matching voice to mouth movement. I've even built a digital editing computer back when firewire was so new, Fry's Electronics hadn't heard of it yet.

But I've never edited anything non-linearly before!

Everyone keeps telling me it's easy, I'm pretty good with computers when I'm not being lazy and having my more experienced friends fix stuff for me. I have all the knowledge for the hows and the whys that underly the digital realm (just like I know the background in photography and film development that helps me to understand Photoshop better). I just never got around to doing it.

I really enjoy the band Nickel Creek. I can't find my mp3s of their music since my last computer crashed. I recently downloaded all their music I could find and I favorited some of their videos on YouTube.

They do a bluegrass cover of Toxic (yeah, the Britney Spears song). I know it sounds wierd, but really, it's a cool cover. But I don't think they recorded it anywhere, so I can only find hidden camera-phone recordings online, both audio only and video/audio. The videos all suck. They're low resolution and they jump and move all over the place, making me dizzy.

So I took the best audio recording I could find, and made a slideshow using still images of them I found online (funny, I didn't think of looking on their website, and now I wish I had - they are better quality pictures). I think it's a cut above most normal slideshow music videos because I actually took the time to place images that corresponded to their place in the song, and I made the cuts and transitions match the audio, just like I would have back in my old music video editing days of yore.

So, please check out the video and let me know what you think! Keep in mind that none of the sources, audio or imagery, is my own, so I had no control over the quality of either. I'd like some feedback so I can improve and move into this whole digital media era. I miss celluloid!

Watch on YouTube

Comments

[redheadlass.livejournal.com]

I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an expert on videos, but I really enjoyed that and I like how you, as you said, matched up what they were doing in the pictures to what they would be doing in that part of the song, plus the cool wavy pics when the song went all weird and wavy itself.

:)

For one, I think good job!

[joreth]

Thank you :-D

[mosthings1z.livejournal.com]

Yes.... What J said. That was most cool. I also like that they remade that song.... It is funny in itself. Great. Now I will have to check them out. Not a Britney fan, but I do like that song.... Did I just admit that??? LOL

The part I thought was the funniest was when the dark haired violin chick went into the real high note and the pic had her mouth open so wide. LOL dammit.... Then she went vibrato and the pic went wavy. Good job....

[joreth]

Yeah, they're really a very good band. They have strong bluegrass roots (the lead singer, Chris Thile, has been playing in bluegrass bands since he was, like, 8 years old) but their music goes way beyond bluegrass. It's like they take accoustic bluegrass instruments and just sort of let the music do what it wants to do ... they play funk, rock, blues, gospel, all in a sort of bluegrass fusion that is just amazing. If you're gonna check them out, check out their solo projects too. Chris Thile and Sean Watkins both have their own albums out in addition to Nickel Creek. Plus, there are 2 more albums out that are not on their official website. One is called "Here To There" and another is a greatest hits compilation. They're also just really nice people. They stand outside the venue of their concerts to sign autographs and talk to fans and they remain there until the last fan leaves (kinda like Kevin Smith). I had the opportunity to work for them when they played in Tampa and they were still there on the sidewalk when we were done loading up their truck. They signed my backstage pass.

I can't stand Britney Spears, but that song isn't terrible. I always figured I might like it if it were performed by someone who could actually sing and it turns out I'm right.

In concert, the band doesn't take themselves very seriously when they perform this song. So it's just as funny to watch as it is to hear. Chris even does funky little psuedo-sexy dances during the fiddle bits (the picture that I have him spinning around shows his dance pose, if you can pause it long enough to see what he's doing). In fact, that electronic bit where the image spins around is another joke bit. One of the backup band members opens up a Mac onstage to play that segment while the rest of the band freezes and points to him. Then he shuts the lid when it ends and they go back to playing real instruments. It's quite humorous.

I saw that pic of Sarah (the dark haired chick) and knew it was a perfect image to use for that bit ... I just couldn't resist! I did, however, resist the curse of all techno-newbies of using all the effects in one video just because I *could* and I saved it for the couple of places where I thought it was really appropriate, and to break up the long time on an image.

[mosthings1z.livejournal.com]

that is good, sometimes too many effects make me car sick. LOL