robinschmidt, 10. July 2007, 14:55
The Mexicolas - Shame (Dir. ElSkid)


www.chromeproductions.co.uk

Shot for no money at all we made this video out of bits and bobs from the garden shed, a snorricam (bodymount camera), a box of old flares, a very scary skip full of mannequins and a couple of dedokits. The idea was to make the video look 20 times more expensive than it actually was... did we manage?
         
No, in a word. But that's basically why I enjoyed it
         
I think you did. looks great. well done! snorricam is very effective.
         
The look of the video is fine: you managed to get good material for a no-budget. The real problem is the editing really. No structure. It's just far too choppy. It seems you were aiming for "an all out assault on the senses" type experience, but that doesn't mean your editing has to be like a machine gun all the way through the piece. On the contrary. The choppy technique becomes stale very fast indeed. And the "power" you might have had at the beginning disappears quite quickly frankly. Hence the numbing effect, hence the boredom I felt while watching this -- independent of the track's quality or of the band's performance. I feel that what you gave us was a "first draft." Not the final cut. Insert moments where we can catch our breath now. Contrast with the rapid (also numbing) fire of the song's beats, and you might get something a tad more interesting.
         
Shit yes. I'd like to see you guys write on some better songs.

Agree with nofare that there needs to be a lil bit more of an arc to the editing/'story'line. But frankly the editing and dop skills are pretty darn good.

And you need to get rid of the torsos/bodypaint. That's not a good idea.
         
Thanks guys, all comments most welcome. It's bastard hard to be objective when you're editing your own material and you tend to get lost in fretting about what you didn't manage to shoot rather than working with what you did to its best ability. The band wanted an all out assault, that's what they got!

Next up is Betty Boo, remember her?

Thanks again
         
Btw, the performance parts were really tops, all the rest needs work.

I'd love to see a performance-only version. (Although I liked the yellow amphibious thing.) I mean seriously, you were lucky to have a creative team who can rock performance like that. (Harder than what's on Headbanger's Ball!) Or was it just the camera?