My Rap Video WARNING shirtless man...

[BillGrant]

Hey Guys,
This is literally last weeks shoot. We did this in an old elementary school. I was contacted by the producer for this one and he planned out the concept, hired the dancers, models, etc. and found the location. Just a side note, I met this guy while doing a shoot at a local music studio owned by a friend of mine. I did that shoot for like $75. But, I got to meet alot of people in the business here that may pay more right? Anyway, my friend Howard came down from Rock Hill to help with this because he owed me a shoot (which we traded for this) This is his lights and backgrounds and expertise, and my cameras XHA1. This is shot with the VIvidRGB preset, 60i at 1/30 of a second. Oh and be gentle on the green screen stuff, it is my first attempt...
Also, this is real rap music like these guys are talking about booties and thugging and stuff so if you get offended easily may not want to watch. And there is a male model with no shirt in a few shots...
enjoy
www.grantdigitalmedia.com/gimmiesome

[HankCastello]

First off - great work!  Professional stuff!

If there was any greenscreen problems, I didn't notice them.  I use Ultra CS3 for greenscreen.  I've found it's much better than the NLE's built-in stuff, but haven't tried AE yet.

If I have to come up with something to criticize, it sort of jumped out at me after awhile that there were an awful lot of waist-up shots that tended to get mundane.  I think more full-length, close-up, shoulders-up and xtra-close-ups mixed in more might help.  And I didn't like cutting the female dancer off at the knees.

[BillGrant]

You know Hank, that's what bothered me too, but our background was 9' wide, and that's just what we got. I blocked off a space for everyone to know how far they could go, but if I pulled out even 1 more inch, I was off the background. If they backed up farther towards it, we got shadows and the like. That was the hardest part for me in shooting and editing. Also the performers stayed put and didn't move around too much. I don't know if you noticed, but I zoomed in and out in post and I think it passed without notice. Thanks for the comments. I'm working on revisions now...
Bill

[HankCastello]

Everything's a compromise - we've got a HUGE greenscreen (a blue one too) so movement is less of an issue, but we have to IRON the dang thing before most shoots!  Do you know what a pain it is to iron a huge greenscreen???

[Jordan Berry]

Hank@ I'm sure your wide does the ironing, right?? 

I liked the video, I mean, I liked what you did with it

I agree the zooming in added a breath of fresh air..

.. You could video from farther away and use a garbage mask to get rid of all the non chroma key video, allowing for more creative zooming

I bought my first 20 x 10 screen yesterday for $46.00

[HankCastello]

.. You could video from farther away and use a garbage mask to get rid of all the non chroma key video, allowing for more creative zooming

Excellent idea!  I don't know why I didn't think of that.  The narrower perspective should make it even easier to shoot.

Jordan - I hope you got a decent screen for that price, it sounds pretty cheap.  The material needs some heft to make it more wrinkle-resistant and so it will lay properly.  I paid just over $300 for my screens (apiece).

[BillGrant]

Well,
I'm not sure if I succeeded or failed in my zooming because you guys didn't notice. Probably 50% of the shots were reframed in post. I zoomed in and out. These guys just didn't move much from their one spot. You know the other issue I have is the pastel backgrounds we got from gelling the white background. I wish we had done those on green as well. Not major but a little aggravating to me. Bottom line is the producer likes it so off we go!
Bill

[HankCastello]

Bill, I didn't notice any issues with reframing or post-zooming.  Those things usually (always?) lead to a loss in quality, but maybe because of the fast-changing scenes, they went unnoticed.  I'd say you definitely succeeded!