Working on the video. Suggestions / criticisms welcome

[DiscoverSpain]

Any criticism and / or suggestion is welcome

Thanks!

 

[FLDave]

Probably some of my regular comments, the clips are way to short to enjoy the lovely pictures. I think you subject is worth a lot more then 3:44. The clips just blink from one to another. There seems to be a lot of repeating of the same village setting on top of the ridge overlooking the river. I prefer more of a story where the view continues along so the view gets a better concept of geography rather than blinking along.
It seems like lovely territory but the short clips don't do it justice.
On the other hand, you know your intended viewer and you have the experience to know what that viewer wants.

 

[SmilingOgre]

This is not a criticism as I very much enjoyed the video as is. I would be interested in seeing the clips arranged a bit differently. This is not to say it would be better. I would have no idea until I tried it. I would have tried using the outlying area as establishing shots i.e. this town is in the middle of this lush land. Next would be the wide shots of the town. Then to street level shots arranged in categories, e.g. homes, business district, church. Finish a pull away shot of the whole town.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Probably some of my regular comments, the clips are way to short to enjoy the lovely pictures. I think you subject is worth a lot more then 3:44. The clips just blink from one to another. There seems to be a lot of repeating of the same village setting on top of the ridge overlooking the river. I prefer more of a story where the view continues along so the view gets a better concept of geography rather than blinking along.
It seems like lovely territory but the short clips don't do it justice.
On the other hand, you know your intended viewer and you have the experience to know what that viewer wants.

I totally agree that there are a lot of short clips in the video, and that at some points it goes back and forth, without much sense. The video starts showing medium shots of the village, jumps to the river (yes, pointless), and goes on to show the square where the Church of Santa Maria is and then enters it. Then it does something similar with the next church, gate of the wall and then it's a total mess and chaos.

Almost certainly the scenes are too short to realise the "story" I mentioned earlier.

Just to add that what the drones shoot, is a disaster, the colours are totally altered and without any sense: the greens over saturated, the reds too, the blues dulled, ...etc. So I didn't have much choice but to choose the scenes I could correct and place them in the video, according to their similarity in colour tonality. I will try to rethink the video again. Let's see if I can figure out how to approach it.

Thank you very much for your time to watch the video and comment!!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

This is not a criticism as I very much enjoyed the video as is. I would be interested in seeing the clips arranged a bit differently. This is not to say it would be better. I would have no idea until I tried it. I would have tried using the outlying area as establishing shots i.e. this town is in the middle of this lush land. Next would be the wide shots of the town. Then to street level shots arranged in categories, e.g. homes, business district, church. Finish a pull away shot of the whole town.

I think it is good advice and follows on from the previous one, so it reinforces that you must be right.

With the disaster of what the drones shoot, I will try to rethink the video again. Let's see if I can figure out how to approach it.

Thanks so much for your comments!

 

[FLDave]

I totally agree that there are a lot of short clips in the video, and that at some points it goes back and forth, without much sense. The video starts showing medium shots of the village, jumps to the river (yes, pointless), and goes on to show the square where the Church of Santa Maria is and then enters it. Then it does something similar with the next church, gate of the wall and then it's a total mess and chaos.

Almost certainly the scenes are too short to realise the "story" I mentioned earlier.

Just to add that what the drones shoot, is a disaster, the colours are totally altered and without any sense: the greens over saturated, the reds too, the blues dulled, ...etc. So I didn't have much choice but to choose the scenes I could correct and place them in the video, according to their similarity in colour tonality. I will try to rethink the video again. Let's see if I can figure out how to approach it.

Thank you very much for your time to watch the video and comment!!

Actually, I didn't have a problem with the colors as I like bright colours. I would think a great story flow and interesting subject matter would allow viewers to ignore non-perfect colour. Just my viewer opinion.

 

[Dale D]

Any criticism and / or suggestion is welcome

Thanks!

I have read through the other criticisms and mostly agree. Firstly, you have done a wonderful job capturing this beautiful and scenic village and countryside. Your flying skills are excellent, as are your editing skills. The music selection was appropriate.

My usual process is to try to produce a story line. usually, I start from a long view, then go to a mid view, and finally a close view. I would incorporate your hand held devices (??Go Pro, Osmo Action, Osmo Pocket, etc.) for the more detailed views of the village and the church interior. I think there was a bit of repetition of the village. You flew over the village and by the village many times. If you reduced those related views, your video would be a bit more concise.

Your films on Spain are all very enjoyable to watch.

Dale
Miami

 

[DougMcC]

I liked it and yes there were some quick jumps between clips. I don’t think it’s a ghost town as there are autos parked. But no people?? I might have started from a great distance over that peaceful countryside and flown to the city to establish its presence. So is this a dead city or monument ?

 

[Dave Maine]

As others have suggested, some thematic story would help. The color and tonality problems could be resolved using the color controls in your NLE so you would not need to use the shot color to structure the story.

The other thing you could try is to add some narration to define the story. Music sets the emotional tone, but doesn’t do anything for the story line.

 

[SmilingOgre]

Just to add that what the drones shoot, is a disaster, the colours are totally altered and without any sense: the greens over saturated, the reds too, the blues dulled, ...etc. So I didn't have much choice but to choose the scenes I could correct and place them in the video, according to their similarity in colour tonality. I will try to rethink the video again. Let's see if I can figure out how to approach it.

From what I saw, I think you are being a bit hard on yourself. If you haven't already tried it, Davinci Resolve has a wonderful color system and a free version that is very powerful. There is obviously a bit of a learning curve but there a lot of great tutorials on the web and it quickly became intuitive for me. Also as per Dale D's suggestion, I am a huge fan of mixing ground footage with arial. Great way to round out a story. The little DJI pocket camera is amazing for it's size and easy to use and carry. The footage mixes well with DJI's drones.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

Actually, I didn't have a problem with the colors as I like bright colours. I would think a great story flow and interesting subject matter would allow viewers to ignore non-perfect colour. Just my viewer opinion.

Understood and thanks for clarify!!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

I have read through the other criticisms and mostly agree. Firstly, you have done a wonderful job capturing this beautiful and scenic village and countryside. Your flying skills are excellent, as are your editing skills. The music selection was appropriate.

My usual process is to try to produce a story line. usually, I start from a long view, then go to a mid view, and finally a close view. I would incorporate your hand held devices (??Go Pro, Osmo Action, Osmo Pocket, etc.) for the more detailed views of the village and the church interior. I think there was a bit of repetition of the village. You flew over the village and by the village many times. If you reduced those related views, your video would be a bit more concise.

Your films on Spain are all very enjoyable to watch.

Dale
Miami

Thank you very much for your suggestions. As I think I will edit another version of the video, I will try to keep them in mind when I do.

And also thank you very much for your compliments to my videos.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

I liked it and yes there were some quick jumps between clips. I don’t think it’s a ghost town as there are autos parked. But no people?? I might have started from a great distance over that peaceful countryside and flown to the city to establish its presence. So is this a dead city or monument ?

No, it is not a ghost town, people live in it although very few: I don't think more than 100 people. It was summer, it was very hot and the sun was very strong, so I guess almost everyone was at home.

Thank you very much for your suggestions!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

As others have suggested, some thematic story would help. The color and tonality problems could be resolved using the color controls in your NLE so you would not need to use the shot color to structure the story.

The other thing you could try is to add some narration to define the story. Music sets the emotional tone, but doesn’t do anything for the story line.

Color problems are not exactly easy to solve in the clips I shot that day with the drone, and I'm used to correcting.

I'm not a fan of adding narration, either in the form of text or voice in my videos. I think it would break the essence of them, which is to show in the most beautiful way I can, different places.

I'm taking a look at the video to see how to reorganize it.

Thanks so much for your time to watch the video and comment!

 

[DiscoverSpain]

From what I saw, I think you are being a bit hard on yourself. If you haven't already tried it, Davinci Resolve has a wonderful color system and a free version that is very powerful. There is obviously a bit of a learning curve but there a lot of great tutorials on the web and it quickly became intuitive for me. Also as per Dale D's suggestion, I am a huge fan of mixing ground footage with arial. Great way to round out a story. The little DJI pocket camera is amazing for it's size and easy to use and carry. The footage mixes well with DJI's drones.

Thanks for the Davinci Resolve suggestion, it's what I use for editing and I think I'm managing quite good with it.

Regarding handheld cameras, I'd rather use something better than a DJI Pocket, which I've already used and wasn't quite convinced.

No, I'm not being hard on myself but I just find that the colors in the video are not good.

Thank you very much!

 

[CorralesDan]

You’ve heard enough suggestions so all I’ll say is the village and church are lovely subjects. And your flying seems good. I also liked your choice of music. Keep up the good work.

 

[zinnware]

Any criticism and / or suggestion is welcome

Thanks!

Things I like:

• Sound track
• Syncing of scenes with sound
• Variation of scenes, angles, inside vs. outside clips.

Things I would change:

• You gimbal pitch seems to be set to 90 degrees (Horizon is mostly center in the frame) I would pitch your view down in the following scenes about 6 to 12 degrees to still keep the sky in view but put the viewer's focus on what you want them to see and appreciate. I would change the pitch for scenes at 1:33 through 1:47.
• I would switch the sequence of these two scenes: 2:23 and 2:28. Why? Because the viewer will first see the church from afar and then get to see it up close. That said, I really like the composition and flight path of the scene at 2:28.
• I personally do not like how the video ended with the pixilation of the final scene.
• Flawless smoothness of camera and flight paths. Absolutely no jerking.

 

[DiscoverSpain]

I have tried to unify all the comments, re-edited the video and here are the results. I hope the re-editing was to improve the video.

Thanks to all of you.

 

[Lister]

First, the negatives:
It's usually better to save the wide shots for later. Revealing everything all at once at the beginning removes any chance for the viewer to experience any level of suspense. At the risk of appearing sexist, think of the job of lingerie.

The very first music cue/picture edit is mis-timed, in my opinion. The music hit might be better if it precedes the fade-up by a few frames. Having it lag by a couple of seconds as you've done, seems a mistake to me.

The electronic glitch effect on the closing shot, if intentional, is out of character with the rest of the show.

Now, the positive: Really well flown and photographed with lots of variety (especially the non-aerials) to maintain interest.