Critiques wanted!

[SkyPath Studios]

Any critiques would be appreciated!

 

[SmilingOgre]

I see a lot I like and a few things I don't. A lot of nice smooth clips and a few annoying transitions. The close up of the drone on the wooden table is a little weird and doesn't fit the story line.

Opinion: The only thing one can gleam from a "critique me" post is the understand of the multitude of opinions that exist. What I like, others won't and vise versa. Overall opinion is simply overwhelming and of little value.

 

[Trippp]

Your premise is obnoxious and condescending!

 

[SmilingOgre]

Your premise is obnoxious and condescending!

I noticed that too.

 

[SkyPath Studios]

Your premise is obnoxious and condescending!

Not sure why you think it is condescending? The message is to make sure you don't forget to get out once in a while and have fun...

 

[SmilingOgre]

Not sure why you think it is condescending? The message is to make sure you don't forget to get out once in a while and have fun...

Yes it is that. It also eludes to the origin of creativity that being from within. As a musician I hear a sound in my mind and work to recreate that sound in the real world. As a videographer it is an image I have in my minds eye. In the end, I have to decide if I have succeeded or no. This is not to suggest that asking for a critique is a total waste but that it has limited relevance.

Having said that, if one is less interested in the art and more interested in becoming an entertainer, gathering data on what people like and don't like can sometimes help.

 

[redhawkdrone]

I think you have a good start, here are my thoughts....take them with a grain of salt.

First, if the theme is to go out and have fun then once you fly away from the house to the frozen lake at the one minute mark the call back to the houses later in the video is confusing. You left the house to visit the lake, I don't think you should show the houses or cars again until the day is over (see #3) because they are what you are trying to escape.

Second, I'm not a fan of showing the drone in the video. To me, I am viewing the world from the perspective of the drone. If you show me the drone then you take the viewer out of the video....you remind the viewer it is the drone's POV and the viewer is not actually there at the lake.

Third, you show the sunset at the 2 minute mark and then again later in the video. The sunset is telling the viewer this day/video is about to end.....but the video does not come to an end, it continues. After you get the sunset at the end of the video, then I think it makes sense to show the houses again.....because you are returning home from the lake.

Finally, I thought the transitions were overkill. This is my preference but they seem to overwhelm the story and not compliment the video.

 

[SkyPath Studios]

I think you have a good start, here are my thoughts....take them with a grain of salt.

First, if the theme is to go out and have fun then once you fly away from the house to the frozen lake at the one minute mark the call back to the houses later in the video is confusing. You left the house to visit the lake, I don't think you should show the houses or cars again until the day is over (see #3) because they are what you are trying to escape.

Second, I'm not a fan of showing the drone in the video. To me, I am viewing the world from the perspective of the drone. If you show me the drone then you take the viewer out of the video....you remind the viewer it is the drone's POV and the viewer is not actually there at the lake.

Third, you show the sunset at the 2 minute mark and then again later in the video. The sunset is telling the viewer this day/video is about to end.....but the video does not come to an end, it continues. After you get the sunset at the end of the video, then I think it makes sense to show the houses again.....because you are returning home from the lake.

Finally, I thought the transitions were overkill. This is my preference but they seem to overwhelm the story and not compliment the video.

Referring to the transitions...do you mean how fast and how many cuts there are? I'm asking because I only put one "real" transition plugin in which was the white explosion before the trees. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[SmilingOgre]

Referring to the transitions...do you mean how fast and how many cuts there are? I'm asking because I only put one "real" transition plugin in which was the white explosion before the trees. Thanks for your feedback.

Given what I see on TV you definitely don't have too many cuts. I started analyzing what I watch to try to understand how producers do things. The average clip is about three seconds long. That really set me back. I watch a full hour of three second clips? Yes, I do. The more I do editing the more I move away from obvious transitions. I don't really like a straight cut but most producers do. I will use a tiny cross fade, maybe 3 to 6 frames just to smooth a transition; almost imperceivable. But again, that is just what I like. Go with what your mind's eye sees. Use the segue that creates the flow you want.

 

[Filaofsoul]

Like stated above everyone see's things differently but there are some basic editing and storytelling approaches that make a video shine. IMO the 1minute mark when you flew from the porch over the rooftop like heading to the ice - Should have been the beginning of the video and all shots should have been around the peeps on the ice and few snow scenery shots when clips exhausted a nice sunset maybe over head house shot would have completed the video and your story would have been delivered get out and have some fun and would be a nice 1:30 video. The house, car, drone shots???????? As far as transitions use Cuts, fades, dissolves. The opening transition the shaking not good because you are still on the same scene. Take this video organize the clips into categories and reedit and post. Nice flying the drone shots.

 

[Jet skier]

I see a lot I like and a few things I don't. A lot of nice smooth clips and a few annoying transitions. The close up of the drone on the wooden table is a little weird and doesn't fit the story line.

Opinion: The only thing one can gleam from a "critique me" post is the understand of the multitude of opinions that exist. What I like, others won't and vise versa. Overall opinion is simply overwhelming and of little value.

Your editing skills are top notch no doubt there are some things I did not like likelooking down fast spinning makes me dizzy most of the special effects I find very effective but you should work more on dynamic drone shots like Assending orbits, descending orbits, Gimble tilting with rotation. Keep Up the nice work

 

[Dale D]

Any critiques would be appreciated!

Well I watched it twice because I wanted to really study it and critique it critically.

My overall impression was that this was a mish-mosh of scenes, not necessarily in chronological order, to try to tell a story of getting away from a hum drum life in Illinois to the cold icy air of of a frozen Wisconsin lake.

Although you tried to tell a story, the quick edits, overdone traffic scenes, overdone drone scenes, and whiz-bang swirls of ice from overhead (dizzying) made me reach for the stop button. You messed up the chronology a lot, and thus, failed to tell a story properly. Rather, I would rather have had a short opening traffic scene of leaving your town, some traveling footage, and arrival scene. Then, I would have had an establishing scene such as the snowy neighborhood, the house, and then, going towards the frozen lake and the recreational life on the lake. Finally, I would have done a single return to home and sunset. All of the clips could have been reduced, not related so often, and the entire film could have been made more viewable by making it shorter. As I like to say, less is more.

As always, just my personal opinion. (BTW, I grew up in Chicago and visited Wisconsin may times).

Dale

Miami

 

[CorralesDan]

You have received some different thoughts about your video, so I want to add just one compliment. You do a good job timing your cuts to the music and that's something I still need to learn. I'm terrible at it. My philosophy on my videos is I make them for an audience of one - me. It would be different if I made commercial videos for a purpose, but I don't. I'm open to suggestions on how they can be better, but at the end of the day, I choose what I like and sometimes I'm my harshest critic.

 

[SkyPath Studios]

You have received some different thoughts about your video, so I want to add just one compliment. You do a good job timing your cuts to the music and that's something I still need to learn. I'm terrible at it. My philosophy on my videos is I make them for an audience of one - me. It would be different if I made commercial videos for a purpose, but I don't. I'm open to suggestions on how they can be better, but at the end of the day, I choose what I like and sometimes I'm my harshest critic.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions! As for timing my shots to the music here is what I do. I do my edits in final cut pro so I don't know if it will be the same or similar to your software. I increase the size of the sound in the templates with the settings dial in the right middle of the screen. You can use the lines (Big spikes mean a hard beat in the song)... sorry for the lack of term... and everytime I see one I will add a marker (M) on the beat. I'll zoom in a lot on the music in the timeline and move the markers in small increments to where the beat is. By doing this I just line up my shot with the marker and cut. Super easy. This process should be done before you even add any of your footage in the timeline. Let me know if this doesn't make sense.

 

[Dale D]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions! As for timing my shots to the music here is what I do. I do my edits in final cut pro so I don't know if it will be the same or similar to your software. I increase the size of the sound in the templates with the settings dial in the right middle of the screen. You can use the lines (Big spikes mean a hard beat in the song)... sorry for the lack of term... and everytime I see one I will add a marker (M) on the beat. I'll zoom in a lot on the music in the timeline and move the markers in small increments to where the beat is. By doing this I just line up my shot with the marker and cut. Super easy. This process should be done before you even add any of your footage in the timeline. Let me know if this doesn't make sense.

Yes- I try to make the timed music cuts synch with the clips. I'm using Adobe Premier Pro, which allows me to enlarge the size of the music file to watch for the beats. I usually lay down a few clips before adding music, since I need to get a feeling for what kind of music I need to search for- e.g.: cinematic, epic, calming, hard beat, etc.

Dale

 

[SmilingOgre]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions! As for timing my shots to the music here is what I do. I do my edits in final cut pro so I don't know if it will be the same or similar to your software. I increase the size of the sound in the templates with the settings dial in the right middle of the screen. You can use the lines (Big spikes mean a hard beat in the song)... sorry for the lack of term... and everytime I see one I will add a marker (M) on the beat. I'll zoom in a lot on the music in the timeline and move the markers in small increments to where the beat is. By doing this I just line up my shot with the marker and cut. Super easy. This process should be done before you even add any of your footage in the timeline. Let me know if this doesn't make sense.

You're on top of it. Many DAWs will find beats and tempo automatically just as you have manually. Now you've got me interested. Cubase (which I use) allows for simple cut, trim, arrange of video clips according to what I have read. Once the audio is quantized to beats and bars it would be a synch to line everything up.

 

[SkyPath Studios]

You're on top of it. Many DAWs will find beats and tempo automatically just as you have manually. Now you've got me interested. Cubase (which I use) allows for simple cut, trim, arrange of video clips according to what I have read. Once the audio is quantized to beats and bars it would be a synch to line everything up.

I'm not sure exactly what your asking. If you have the audio blown up and you add markers, and then shrink the audio, the markers are still in the same place. They are suck to the audio by default, (unless you choose not to) at least in final cut pro and premiere pro.

 

[SmilingOgre]

I'm not sure exactly what your asking. If you have the audio blown up and you add markers, and then shrink the audio, the markers are still in the same place. They are suck to the audio by default, (unless you choose not to) at least in final cut pro and premiere pro.

Sorry, if that read as cryptic. I was just thinking of a way to do the same thing you are doing but in Cubase which is an audio mixing program primarily. Just thinking out loud.

 

[Jriley]

I like the video clips captured...but "you will always get more with honey". Want to get me interested? Entice... don't insult. Don't try to shock a person into sense with words....deliver the message a bit softer.

 

[Johnny20]

Well I watched it twice because I wanted to really study it and critique it critically.

My overall impression was that this was a mish-mosh of scenes, not necessarily in chronological order, to try to tell a story of getting away from a hum drum life in Illinois to the cold icy air of of a frozen Wisconsin lake.

Although you tried to tell a story, the quick edits, overdone traffic scenes, overdone drone scenes, and whiz-bang swirls of ice from overhead (dizzying) made me reach for the stop button. You messed up the chronology a lot, and thus, failed to tell a story properly. Rather, I would rather have had a short opening traffic scene of leaving your town, some traveling footage, and arrival scene. Then, I would have had an establishing scene such as the snowy neighborhood, the house, and then, going towards the frozen lake and the recreational life on the lake. Finally, I would have done a single return to home and sunset. All of the clips could have been reduced, not related so often, and the entire film could have been made more viewable by making it shorter. As I like to say, less is more.

As always, just my personal opinion. (BTW, I grew up in Chicago and visited Wisconsin may times).

Dale

Miami

I agree with this. There were some elements clearly aimed at telling a narrative, but they should be at the start. If you want to capture a youtuber's attention, you should start with something more action packed like the ATV, rather than some anonymous intersection