Love S.O.S. - ID# 367
Neuqua Valley
Music Video
Entry Description
This music video uses a combination of live action and stop motion to portray the main character, a small robot named Hugo, as he gets lost in the city for a day. He gets separated from his inventor who is unaware he is even functional, leaving him to figure out his own way to navigate a hateful and unaccepting society. Hugo's model was built by hand for this project.
Copyright Info
Recent Teacher Comments
- 4/16 2:45 pm - STORY: Your story is very, very clear which is a major strength of your music video! The robot is trying to navigate a world that isn’t necessarily nice or welcoming and the emotions of that experience come through clearly. The way new characters are introduced and how they respond to the robot help flesh out the world and the emotions. SOUND: Overall your sound is mixed appropriately. I think a nice bonus would be to add in sound from some of the clips you include. And this could be very subtle. For example, we could hear the father calling his son to get away from the robot at 2:16. Adding in these moments of audio can really enhance your audio mix. CAMERA: Camera framing and movement are thoughtfully handled and help tell the story. A standout is your use of both eye-level and point-of-view shots from the robot’s perspective. This is a great way to bring the viewer into the robot’s emotional world and you did a great job with this! You have some shots that are underexposed, especially at 3:00, and 4:16, and then you have some shots that are overexposed like at 0:51. This overexposed shot is possibly due to harsh sunlight. If possible, film at a later time in the day, or at least when the sun isn’t so intense or use manual settings to better control exposure levels. There is also visible noise/grain in low-light scenes like 0:11, 3:00 and 4:15. This is likely due to high ISO in auto mode. If you’re filming in low light, try to bring a source of light into frame. It can be a lamp, phone light, or you can even bounce light off a white surface like a poster board or reflector to gently brighten the subject. LIGHTING: You use the available lighting effectively throughout your video. As I wrote previously, make sure you pay attention to where you have harsh lighting or no lighting at all so that you can prevent those over/underexposed extremes! EDITING: Your pacing is strong throughout your music video! I thought your sequences flowed together especially when the robot started doing pranks like at 3:16 to 3:27. This is a very creative piece and you kept it visually compelling and interesting throughout the 5 minutes. I really enjoyed this piece! Keep up the great work!
- 2/18 10:19 am - This music video takes a unique and creative approach by telling the story from the perspective of a cardboard robot, as well as the perspective of its creator. The concept itself is fresh and engaging, bringing an interesting dynamic to the narrative. It’s fascinating to see the contrast between the robot’s viewpoint and that of its creator, and this dual perspective adds depth to the story, making it more immersive and thought-provoking. The use of stop motion in this video is highly effective, and it’s clear that a lot of effort went into making each frame come to life. The movement of the robot, especially, is smooth and well-executed, giving it personality and making it feel more real despite its cardboard construction. The stop motion technique adds a tactile, hands-on quality to the animation, making the entire experience feel more tangible and connected to the viewer. The pacing of the video is well done, maintaining a steady rhythm that matches the song’s energy. The ebb and flow of the visuals align with the changes in the music, keeping the viewer engaged while also allowing for moments of emotional depth. One of the standout elements is the emotion conveyed on the robot's screen. The ability to convey feelings through the robot's simple digital display adds an unexpected layer of character and emotional complexity, making the robot feel more relatable and human-like. This is a clever and effective way to deepen the connection between the viewer and the character. One area where the video could be further enhanced is through the use of lighting, depth of field, and camera movement. Introducing varied lighting techniques could help set the tone for different moments, adding more contrast and atmosphere to the scenes. For example, softer lighting could be used to emphasize moments of quiet reflection or emotional vulnerability, while more dramatic lighting could highlight the robot’s actions or pivotal moments in the story. Depth of field is another area that could elevate the video, helping to draw focus to key elements, like the robot’s expressions or the creator’s hands at work. Using a shallow depth of field in certain shots could create a more cinematic look, while also emphasizing important details that contribute to the narrative. Additionally, incorporating more dynamic camera movement—whether through subtle pans, tilts, or even zooms—could help keep the viewer engaged and add variety to the visual storytelling. Overall, this is a creative, fun, and emotionally engaging music video. The concept of telling the story through the cardboard robot’s perspective, paired with the strong use of stop motion and emotional expression on the robot’s screen, makes for a unique and enjoyable experience. With the addition of lighting, depth of field, and camera movement, the video could be further enhanced, but it’s already a strong and imaginative piece. Well done!
Judge 1
Positives: Stop motion is hard, time-consuming, and so challenging. I am impressed at the attempt! The robot is adorable. I love the cheekiness of the design.
Improvements: With the edit, it’s sometimes difficult to distinguish who is speaking to whom. Some camera shots don't do much. Thinking of Broll. Every shot must be essential. A solid color grade needs to be imposed. A lot of this ois too dark and often washed out.
Judge 2
Positives: A five-minute music video with no music performance is ambitious and hard to pull off. You almost set yourself up for failure. But for the most part you succeeded. The stop motion was nicely done, and continuing this jittery/non-smoothed aspect of stop motion throughout the live-action footage was fantastic. Generally the story was pretty clear, and there was considerable emotional punch given that your main characters amounts to a 3-D stick figure with emoji faces.
Improvements: You are trying to do a five-minute silent film, and generally they have to be super simple stories. Historic silent films that had characters mouth dialogue would use inter-titles to help get points across. When you get to character motivation in the second half of the video with the new friend, the story gets muddled mainly because it's just too complicated. Finally, a little more care could have been put into staging for available lighting. But you just had so many setups I'm sympathetic to how hard that must have been.
Judge 3
Positives: The use of stop motion is super creative and I don't see it done well often. Takes a lot of work. Great job. Even the faces on him change. Really good attention to detail on this and great execution. I like how the robot has a personality throughout and is felt. Think the story reads well while the robot is interacting with characters. Good job on that.
Improvements: I think the stop motion was a lot clearer of a style and would liked to have seen that play out for the entire video. That photo jump-cut-like style can work.
Judge 4
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Judge 5
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