Donatello - ID# 201

Maine South

Division: AA

Music Video

Entry Description

Music video of the original song "Donatello" by Maine South students The Hustle.

Recent Teacher Comments

• 3/13 11:20 am - Good pacing, good song . Some interesting lighting effects and photography gave it a brash rock and roll feel. The video had a lot of visual excitement, but it could have been improved with more of a meaningful story. Is the older gentleman the artist Donatello? What is the relationship between the singer and the “artist” There are some unanswered questions there.
• 3/7 1:51 pm - Good original song- very catchy. Sounds good! The music is synced up to the lips very well throughout the video and the singer does a nice job of getting into the song.The concert shots look great- wish you would have used those more- the lighting was great and it gave a very professional look to the video. Many of the shots "look" different, as if you used a different camera for different scenes. Some shots look great- super clear; other shots look ok- grainy and old. If there was a reason for that, that would be one thing. Some of the shakiness of the camera got irratating, especially in the opening sequence of the video. Stay steady, use a tripod when needed. Got the whole painter theme, but the video did not have a strong storyline. Need to develop a story more from beginning to end. Effects were cool, but don't go crazy on them. There can be "too much" when it comes to effects, and you are close to the line. Make sure there is a reason for the effects- not just because they look cool. Overall- it's a good video for the group and the original song.

Judge 1

Positives: 1. It was fun to see you experiment with lighting and editing effects. Playing around like this is the best way to learn your possibilities and perhaps even stumble upon some interesting techniques. 2. The piece was cut on the beats and the general pacing of the edit was good. Although some of the editing effects were distracting from me.

Improvements: 1. Music videos are special bc they don't need conventional story lines. However, story lines really help keep the audience's interest, bc they keep revealing new information. It would have helped if your video had a storyline or visual theme. The video felt a little all over the place. 2. I appreciate your experimentation with editing. That is the only way to learn. However, sometimes less is more. If you have too much going on with the edit and VFX, its hard to direct the audiences' attention to special elements in the storyline or edit.

Judge 2

Positives: Good use of diverse locations. It keeps it interesting to watch for the viewer. There are a lot of experimental elements used in this piece - double exposures, slow motion, strobe - and they complimented the gritty, sort of frenetic nature of the song.

Improvements: Exposures are all over the place. Most are within acceptable range but there are a few times when the image is too hot - specifically in the basement scenes with the naked lightbulb over the lead singer's head. Unless it was intentionally this overexposed (it doesn't present as purposeful) using the exposure histogram on the camera is an easy way to prevent this from happening in the future. Audio levels were a bit too hot as well. It sounds like this was recorded live and it was all somewhat over modulated and the end result comes across as muddy. Additionally, the final product seems like it's louder than legal range. Watching the audio level monitors in post and adjusting accordingly - or using a limiter - is an easy way to correct this.

Judge 3

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Judge 4

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