Oxtongue Lake Near Algonquin Park

Reelstories · Aug 26, 2021

This is a video I shot at Oxtongue Lake near, but not quite in, Algonquin Park. Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Robert Prior · Aug 26, 2021

First impressions:

Don't like the green letters — too neon. Plain white would be better, I think. Maybe a more naturalistic font? This one seem a bit heavy.
Nicely synced to the music. Relaxing music, unobtrusive and fitting.
Liked the transition from river to straight-down view of boaters at 0:27. Nice little bit of storytelling, with some (gentle) action.
Around 1:20 I'm getting dizzy — lots of spinning about, could use shorter clips here to vary the pace a bit. Or intermix the spinning with distance shots.
Most transitions were cuts, except a dissolve at 2:25. Inconsistent. Maybe make all transitions fairly quick dissolves (0.5 seconds)?
Shots seem grouped together: pans, tilts, straight down, rotations… Would be more engaging if the shot type varied between clips.
Colour balance for the straight-down shots and the side-view shots looked different: greener and more vivid when looking straight down. Might be an exposure thing, might be time of day, might be lack of bright sky/reflection in shot. Can be fixed post-production, but I have no idea how (it's my niece with the degree in film-making).
Liked the sunset finish, complete with descending crane shot. Maybe start with ascending crane shot?
Final fade-to-black would be a good place for some credits. (Maybe you are planning that? It's pretty long for just a black screen otherwise.)

How many flights did it take to gather the footage for this video? You must have run through more than a few batteries!

Reelstories · Aug 26, 2021

Thanks for the suggestions. They're appreciated.

1. Yeah, the green is a bit on the neon side, I agree...tried to be a bit out there with it...have used white previously in most of my videos, but thought why not...but I realize that it wouldn't be to everybody's taste.

2. The spinning...I see what you mean...tried to have spins to right and spin to left side by side...symmetry?

3. Don't you think it's a good idea to vary the transitions a bit? All dissolves would get boring quickly, don't you think?

4. Now that you mention it, I see what you mean about the shot types being grouped together. I'll need to think about that more.

5. I did a very quick color grading on this video, so the shots don't match 100%...I'll probably bring down the saturation on the down-facing shots. It's a bit too vibrant.

6. Sunset was a different time of day. Had to make it quick as I was being bitten by mosquitoes.

7. I don't generally put credits on my drone videos.

8. I used 3 batteries on the first flight, and half a battery on the second flight. I had to cut my second (sunset) flight short as the mosquitoes were really bad.

Thanks!

Robert Prior · Aug 26, 2021

Reelstories said:
3. Don't you think it's a good idea to vary the transitions a bit? All dissolves would get boring quickly, don't you think?

7. I don't generally put credits on my drone videos.

The advice I've got from professionals is to minimize the types of transitions, especially in a short video, and to stick to cut or dissolve rather than use fancy ones. My niece said if you're doing it right people don't notice the transitions, they just accept them. Her advice was cuts in a fast-paced video, quick dissolves (0.5 s or less) for a slow video.

Why not have credits? Give yourself some credit! Even just

Cinematography: Reelstories
Music: Random Musician

If you don't want to have credits, shorten the time the screen is all black at the end. It's currently black for 8 seconds which is a very long time in video.

Reelstories · Aug 26, 2021

Thanks again for the comments.

I'll definitely play with the transitions on the video to see if I can make them less obtrusive. I agree completely with your niece that the only transitions that should ever be used (with rare exceptions) are cuts and dissolves.

You're right about the length of the black...it probably should be shortened a bit. I actually didn't realize it was as long as it is.

Thanks for taking the time to give me such extensive feedback.

Ronen

Dale D · Aug 27, 2021

Robert Prior said:
First impressions:

Don't like the green letters — too neon. Plain white would be better, I think. Maybe a more naturalistic font? This one seem a bit heavy.

Nicely synced to the music. Relaxing music, unobtrusive and fitting.

Liked the transition from river to straight-down view of boaters at 0:27. Nice little bit of storytelling, with some (gentle) action.

Around 1:20 I'm getting dizzy — lots of spinning about, could use shorter clips here to vary the pace a bit. Or intermix the spinning with distance shots.

Most transitions were cuts, except a dissolve at 2:25. Inconsistent. Maybe make all transitions fairly quick dissolves (0.5 seconds)?

Shots seem grouped together: pans, tilts, straight down, rotations… Would be more engaging if the shot type varied between clips.

Colour balance for the straight-down shots and the side-view shots looked different: greener and more vivid when looking straight down. Might be an exposure thing, might be time of day, might be lack of bright sky/reflection in shot. Can be fixed post-production, but I have no idea how (it's my niece with the degree in film-making).

Liked the sunset finish, complete with descending crane shot. Maybe start with ascending crane shot?

Final fade-to-black would be a good place for some credits. (Maybe you are planning that? It's pretty long for just a black screen otherwise.)

How many flights did it take to gather the footage for this video? You must have run through more than a few batteries!

I too, thought the green tree tops were a bit over colorized, with too much saturation or vividness. They are ghastly green colors that do not exist in real nature. Over all the film was smooth and calming, with nice flights. I think the transitions should have been more cross fade or dissolve than cuts. The top down corkscrew was a bit nauseating. One small rotation would have been sufficient.

Dale
Miami

DaveS · Aug 27, 2021

Overall, great job my friend. Great flying. Robert and Dale have plenty of excellent suggestions that I agree with. I would even cut out a few shots looking straight down. You don't need that many. I loved the music and I think a few dissolves would be perfect with it. Ending shot was perfect!

Reelstories · Aug 30, 2021

Hi Everyone,

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions. I did a second edit of this video incorporating the ideas that were made here. These are the things I changed:

1. Reduced saturation
2. Added more dissolve transitions to better capture the mood of the video
3. Moved some of the overhead shots to give more balance to the video
4. Reduced/slowed down the number of spinning overhead shots
5. Added title at the end of the video

Let me know what you think of this revision:

Dale D · Aug 31, 2021

BRAVO! You really did a fine job of reconstructing the film. The color grading was much more realistic, the top down rotations were kept to a minimum of of less than one revolution, and the pace of the film very calming and smooth. The reduced saturation makes a big difference. Now it is a very watchable and enjoyable film. Great job.

Dale
Miami

Reelstories · Aug 31, 2021

Dale D said:
BRAVO! You really did a fine job of reconstructing the film. The color grading was much more realistic, the top down rotations were kept to a minimum of of less than one revolution, and the pace of the film very calming and smooth. The reduced saturation makes a big difference. Now it is a very watchable and enjoyable film. Great job.

Dale
Miami

Thank you Dale! I'm glad you liked it. And thanks for the critique. It really does help to make things better. RG