Quicktime: High | Low

Real | Win | YouTube

         

So i think Ben is one of the freshest directors about. Other promos very nice in cinematography, script, and overall execution. I think Jeremys music is quite limp to be honest and in that sense when you look at Ben's stop frame / time lapse effort earlier in the year he does an amazing job of actually blending visuals and music so the two arts merge and you are forced to listen, watch and enjoy.......the music is lifted by visuals.........this is a poor effort. I think the dancing montage is poorly lit, and operated, the chosen actor garners very little sympathy for some reason..........god......i'm being verey harsh. I dont know..........all directors have weak moments and i know all too well the sweat that must have gone into this pop-promo......but if you are going to put your work on display then be prepared for all forms of critique.

         

To me it seems there are nicely observed portraits in the three principles, "sympathy" I know those streets n stairwells, even down to the blue paint! Mus' be Borough Councils equivalent to 'Battleship Gray' (wot I mean is I live, walk 'n work in identical locations/neighbourhoods) such combined wiv the lens up yer nose technique, actually made the actor believable

Poor lighting - it ain't the precise lighting beloved by Japanese directors true,
However intentional or otherwize it adds to the english ordinariness n reality ov the entire piece

Tell u a-morph u wanna come round wiv me n observe. Bad lighting is standard on the jobs I do, its do or die, no f'kin faffin about lighting! Its hard enuff maintaining a groups interest in the task required fe takin' one shot, before the inevitable goldfish mentality, that seems to beset people when faced wiv a camera lens, takes over!

The vid looks real to me given the locations n storyboard!

         

the narrative flow worked for me (didn't cotton on until the right moment late on). i liked the way the actors were handled.

i also think it was brave to treat the dancing neutrally in terms of photography and styling, in order not to give the timeframe away - however i find her outfit wrong (too modern), an i don't find this sequence's lighting particularly beautiful (but then, on couples dancing i'm still imprinted by dougals orange spot). weakest part: the track. just didn't win me over at all.

         

Progosk..........u are to pop-promos what the stig is to racing enthusiasts........so people from all sides, directors,commisioners, producers think you.......well anyway. THE TRACK. Weak music like i mentioned and if the notes dont grab ya it's all over.......till the fat lady sings.......muz church!

And Mr Robodug...........u say bad lighting is standard on all the jobs you do.......who are you and what do you do. Lighting in the truest sense is almost a lost form. With Digital Interlace on Spirit machines and Da Vinci machines so poewrful you can light whatever ident, promo, commercial, viral in post. I think other promos of Ben's and his DOP have had NO lights and looked better, no doubt a combo of the weather gods and a good TK/DI operator. The debate can talk about budgets, time scale, bad schuduling, crisper/shinier film stock........god dont get me started. We are very fortunate though.

         

my philosophical leanings are commonly misconstrued.

         

If only life was like an anamorphic lens flare.(PRIMO)

         

a-morp? your name, its missing the an

woz it by design?

         

The problem I have with this video is that the story is not very interesting, and after a few seconds I didn't really care about what was going to happen next.

I liked the idea of alternating the old man and the dancers, but the editing is slow (ok, that's partly because of the song), the dancers lack charisma, and the old man is having a very boring day.

Sorry :(

         

amorphic (adjective) Definition: Having no particular shape, lacking definite form; also called amorphous.

Or does this word not exist in the UK? ;)

I like the video.

         

Indeed it does familiar, but I woz under the impression we were meant to be intellectually stunned by Mr A-morphic's grasp ov anamorphic's The specifications of such could be considered the opposite to his name (intended I'd say)

Hence my link

His posts are rather pompous n' condescending

         

Thanks for the comments so far..... I like to make divisive work.

Thought I'd wade in for a moment to mention that the DoP and colourist are the same as on all my previous videos - and for better or worse, lighting and grade are very deliberate. Given our resources, we decided to go for a stark naturalism. I think we'd have done the same with more resources.

Incidentally, a-morph, while you can effect the look in many ways after you've shot, the idea that you can light in post is a bit of a stretch.

         

robo: You were way over my head. :)

         

Blimey........what a stir. Ben...........part of me dosnt want to fall into this trap set by myself, robo-drug but i enjoy faceless conversation and the anonimity afforded by modern technology.........as i'm sure we all do..........i remember seeing a dvd extra's of Lock Stock shot by Tim Maurice Jones many moons ago.......the film looks slick.......super slick......pastels, slo-mo's, high contast etc etc. Seeing it in the cinema i was quite shocked when realising it was shot S16mm. Anyway.....on this DVD were deleted scenes.....NOT GRADED.........the lighting was flat......dull.......the colour flat........dull...........the film stank of no-budget. These deleted were not afforded the luxury of a very expensive grade and i might as well have been watching some exteriors of only fools and horses shot by the old school BBC film crews and thier SR2's before the advent of vision film stocks which means that now anyone can point a bolex and it can look beautiful.............please reply

         

I await ur postin' an example ov a produced short, a-morphic, made with this wonderful vision film stock, which means that anyone now, can point a bolex and it can look beautiful, so I can marvel!
'the proof ov the pudding' they say......

         

just watched this again, the song and the video are both growers, I likes em both now.

theres something in bens work (that ive seen) where theres a kind of play with genres. So a video can be intimate, naturalistic and self-referential and at the same time cinematic. The treatment of the dancers allows them to be seen as allegorical, rather than being part of the main narrative or something like a flashback.

The pace of the video is unusual but then the pace and structure of the song are unusual as well. always refreshing to see things done a little differently intit.

         

R-drug..........please say you are setting a trap for me......please tell me you are winding me up...........that your last comment was a joke......some immature naive statement made by someone without any comprehension about the changes in film and TV technology in the past 10 years.

         

I too have re-watched this, collett - several times. Spurred on, mainly by the verbal trench battle wiv morphic's techno spiel Where on first listen, being overcritical, I dismissed JW's singing, and concentrated on the video. Ur point is valid, it grows on u I also still see nothing technically terrible in the execution ov light in Ben's vid

As for morphic any trap is set by ur own lips, u dug the pit urself ! Giving the wide range ov PC's n Mac's people viewing these posts have, I deduce many don't calibrate their expensive X20AV's or Apple Cinema LCD's on a regular basis, to be stunned by the magic fairy dust, ov 'vision film stock' dun on an auld bollox's, sorry bolex,

I therefore suggest, ur techno babble is only ov consequence to ur own self importance, put up or shut up! Oh n' bering in mind my immature naivety and lack ov comprehension, err ....would that be a H16 RX5, SBM or an EL Mk II bolex standard, or super 16, (or as I almost forgot) super 8 or regular RX4 pro?

         

You got me in leg robo but luckily no major arteries were damaged. I now have a very bad limp but my GP says if i get plenty of rest i will be able to walk in the coming weeks.

The main thing is i enjoyed the operation.......oh you forgot the EBM from the early 70s.

         

We shall meet on another battlefield a-morph, ov that I have no doubt, Your last post made me laugh, glad to see u have a sense ov humour. lol

         

This is a very simple, very plain video but with a sprinkling of magic here and there, much like the song. Ben has a knack, as one poster put it earlier, of bringing the song to life visually. I like the way the song and video both grind forwards, like an old man. Someone mentioned the editing being too slow but quite rightly said this matched the song. Any faster and it would have overpowered the video. The edit pace is correct - is in tune with the feel of the song and footage.

As for the lighting, we are so used to blown out, super-graded footage that we see something simple like this and it 'feels wrong'. Suppose its a bit like eating McDonalds all week, then munching on a carrot. The carrot may be better food but it will taste like shit. Ok i'm over stretching the analogy here, but hey - i'm a fast typer...

         

Jus' seen this clip on Ch4's 4 Music-4 Play Jeremy Warmsley talkin' bout his music It woz only a 15 min show

Woz there any other dope u did wiv him Ben?