hd youtube
         

Fatigue. This girl deserves better. How many videos has she made off the album? bring back Dougal Wilson. NONE of the videos off her record connected like Dougal's clip.

He has been the only one so far to tap into what the artist is about, and the directors assigned to these clips didn't get their shit together. I would give an arm or a leg given the chance, I'm just saying the videos were sloppily put together not that they weren't terrible.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this video if it was for another artist, by all standards it's professional and well done. It just isn't very exciting or special or entertaining, and again she looks bored. This is the criticism I labeled at her last clip, which is not a good showcase for such an interesting artist.

WTF is up with the hotspots? it's the typical synthetic video look that really kills alot of these spots. Cheap grading and unflattering lights, those are my only pet peeves. Ok where is the concept? it doesn't gel. This is a great song, ripe for interpretation. The sorta song that has any hack worth write multiple treatments for.

I'm trying to be fair guys, great artist average video. The question is this the best they could do?

         

Im totally with you on this AlanEdit,

This is the lousiest sort of artist-killing video,

People are gonna turn over and watch repeats of cash in the attic before they sit through 3mins of this schmaltzy whimsical crap.

Her last video wasn't much better but at least it didn't utterly descend into what clearly to somebody is a meaningful abstract narrative but to EVERYBODY ELSE is some kind of art wank...

ARGH

         

totally agree. this video is - have no english translation for the word - very kunstgewerblich. natasha khan is beautiful.

         

I'm actually a little depressed after I saw this. Because the artist is so great and she's got those videos.

Clearly I'm not in the minority here at antville if folks would do what the film industry does - test screenings, a lot of videos would be well off. Abstract narratives need a gimmick, a hook to justify their existence. I am not a fan of "artsy" with cardboard cut outs. That would work well for a band out of new york but A performer as pretty and magnifying as her is a tool, showcase the artist that is the goal. This is really killing her momentum, you become a torch bearer and original the videos gotta follow suit. Just a thought guys.

Here's a great example of a totally random video that works because the artist is magnified.

People are in love with her, the camera loves her. Bat for lashes is hot, why photograph her like a cancer victim? that sh*t is unexcusable. The dp did a poor job lighting the piece, and the grader should have done something about those hot spots. They're terrible. Red never looks good on HD as a main light source, shifting the gamma a bit to be a little warm not hot would do the trick. Free advice.

Sophie Muller would have done wonders with Bat for lashes. I think it's perfect marriage why didn't they go to her? sometimes the director overstretches him / herself into the treatment and what follows is something that doesn't play.

Say for example, I was the editor. There is good stuff there just not set to maximize what it's got. I would have turned to the director before shooting and showed them this video. Not to ape it, but to learn from it.

Totally relaxed performer, with props and simplicity would carry this song through. I'm disappointed they got something like this out, and things could be better.

WAY better. Thanks for reading.

Make a video like that one for Bjork and you'll sell 3,000 extra copies. Because it plays well to an audience. And plays well to the artist. Guaranteed. There's too many abstract ideas at the expense of playability and interpretation.

         

Some interesting points. To me going the "Bjork" direction wouldn't solve the problem you guys are describing. Bjork is a Nordic pixie that oozes charisma. She can do anything and it works; even Charlie Rose. www.youtube.com So she's not person easily copied. My feeling is that because Natasha is so cute, the instinct is to go the "pop" video route and make her the centre of all the compositions. She'd work better in a Corbijn video I think. Something where she doesn't have to sing at the camera. Personally, I'd like to see she swing axe. That'd be cool.

         

The latest comment makes a good point. "she looks like lilly allen." That would not happen usually.

         

Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!

         

I love it! best comment ^

         

Unfortunately, this is the bed we've made with RED and all the other HD formats.

"It's good enough". "John in Essex cant see the difference anyway". "Chavs don't know!"

So why not just pocket the difference? Pearls for swine anyway, right?

Video in any shape and form (there are no exceptions here) can not cope with highlights and burned out areas. It clips. And once it's clipped you can't get it back. It looks terrible.

Highlights of great dynamic range are a part of everyday world and what looks real. You can't control all of it unless you're shooting in a cave or underexpose 53 stops.

Film also clips, but just like a distorted old audiotape there's info there. You can fuck up film 20 times worse than HD and still bring it all back and lush. That's why we DP sound like such backwards crybabys all the time - we KNOW. And our name is on that product as well. Our reputation.

So what happens these days is this: people can't really put their finger on it (because they don't have the competence), but they get let down, disappointed, underwhelmed by how all the stuff we shoot looks now. Subliminally, there's something lacking. Not as lush as they know it can be. So they blame the DP. "Wasn't very well shot/lit", they say. When in fact, the only reason it looks crap is because they decided somewhere that two bobs in their pocket is better than 2 bobs on the screen.

In fact, some prod.co's have a media intern grading Red footage inhouse, to save two more bobs, and this helps not very much. Yes, you know who you are.

That's why we fight for film. Not to be uncooperative or steal the food from children's mouths - but because by not fighting, we'll end up labelled "bad lighters" and unemployable.

Under breath, of course.

         

jesus christ... the last comment is way off the reality of making videos on the budgets we have to these days.... You think directors/prod cos are pocketing the change from choosing red over film ? Yeah right! This is the real picture:

Most videos are made for under £25k these days. Shooting on film just isn't an option unless someone somewhere gives you an amazing deal or the director chucks his/her fee in.

The last few jobs I've worked on I've REALLY wanted to shoot on film but the producer turned around to me and said- well you can either have 20 people in your crowd and shoot on red, or have 5 people in your crowd and shoot on film. Or I can tell the art department that their budget has fallen from £500 to £10. Your choice.

I know exactly what shooting on red does to my video aesthetically but I simply can't afford the aesthetic I want. The best you can hope for is to work with a DOP who knows how to shoot video- soft lights abound, info in blacks and no hotspots.

         

I really don't think it looks half as bad as the concept is...that's the real issue in my opinion.

         

this chick looks like a cross between shannon sossaman and lily allen. good and good. personally im grateful to read the comments about red camera. i just started shooting with it. 2 projects that havent been colored yet. and i am anxious about how its going to turn out. fingers crossed. as for the video. im surprised, seems like exactly the kind of piece the antville community would champion, but then again i havent seen any other works for this artist. i thought the video was actually decent. kept my attention. speaking of lily allen, thought it was better than the recent lily allen video that alot of people seemed to really like. But yeah the lily allen video did LOOK better

         

Shoplifter.

I was not singling out anyone in particular - hence why I didn't specify. It's not the producers fault or anyone else's - it's an accumulation of stuff.

Budgets haven't moved much. I've shot a million videos on 16mm for 25K or below in London. What used to be a 16mm budget less than a year ago is all of a sudden impossible to shoot on 16mm now. So what's happened? I'd love to know.

I'd also like to clarify that I think the Red is a great camera for it's price. I'm thrilled that it has come along and scared the shit out of bloodsuckers like Sony and shaken things up. And I think it has a great future. But I'm not going to say it looks better than film until it actually does. I'm sure that day is just around the corner.

In the meantime, we're going to have to accept that we will be stuck with less satisfying end results until they lick it.

         

Stratobee is right. Directors are often wrong.

It's very nice to have a concept and fight to get it onscreen, but the format you choose and what you can afford means making adjustments. And some directors are like Billy Walsh in entourage: the just don't want to. Some directors know how to stretch a budget, they are usually the ones who also edit and know what to get away with. If they don't do it for the budget they'll get someone who will. It's a tough business.

I'm also against the idea of using budget as an excuse for the video's quality, and that card is as old as pair of loafers. One of the things HD is good for is you can shoot more footage to compensate, and stage things with an eye on footage count to play with.

Bad lighting is bad lighting, budget beware. Blaming the camera is pointless. No one did here I'm saying in general. Shooters who know how to light for it get good results, and directors need to tailor what the camera actually does to their aesthetic requirement. Shoplifter is right, but why do we have so many shitty looking Red videos? it's not film can't be lit like film this video was lit with sources that are harsh on the subject.

What is the best look I can get with the budget afforded? Red is very unforgiving especially with those Reds. In pre production meetings, I normally come in before they shoot and talk to the director about staging. Sometimes it gets heated (one job I butted heads with the DP over the grading) the response usually is "why is the editor here"? my response is "to save your ass from getting carried away". Knowing what can be done in grading solves a lot of the problems with Red footage, it's surprisingly intuitive, but the clipping is a bad omen. Not even fast lenses can solve it. I've seen DP's do creative things to overcome the limits of HD, and those videos demonstrate what the format does well: by not emulating film.

Everyone wants to shoot on the Red, it's great but so is Super 16.

Spot metering your clippings and getting a decent monitor in the budget would help offset some of the problems, talking with your colorist does too. Assuming of course, it isn't an intern. Lol.

         

It was the accusation that directors would shoot on a worse format and pocket the money difference that was so absurd. The last job I shot on red was about to be shot on digi until I put my foot down. That's the reality i'm talking about. If directors can afford to shoot on film, they will... some will throw their fee in to do it too.

We can talk bollocks until the cows come home but I have to say that unless you are a producer sitting in the hot-seat making Cecil B.udget Demille's latest video it's hard to comment accurately why red is or isn't chosen on any given project. My point is that 99.9999% of the time it's because of budget, not because of aesthetics or trying to pocket money (!?)

slightly unrelated note: I don't know for sure if this is shot on red, but it's the kind of video that really suits the red's aesthetic: videos.antville.org

anyway.. this is a big detour from discussing the video at hand...

         

Wait, so that ISN'T Lily Allen?

         

stratobee you're mostly right, but my take on things is just that making a video is so ridiculoulsly stacked against people who genuinely want better, that I decided to stop making them. it's not one single person to blame. and who is pocketing the money? the label, who are fucked financially to begin with. it's screwed from top to bottom.

the situation is untenable, financially. the idiocy of the red is ingrained in the fact it was marketed killer style by a sunglasses company that knows marketing really well. people i know who have no knowledge whatsoever of cinematography have been bleating on about how it's going to change cinematography since before it was released due to hype in Wired mag, etc.

so this got ingrained in the minds of people with purse strings who don't know jack about photography.

likewise, HD is so beloved by clients and agencies cause they can sit on the set and actually second guess the DP.

On the other hand, HD is viable to shoot on, with its own strengths and problems that can be adapted to. What it takes is the right DP. Look at what Claudio Miranda or Dante Spinotti can do with the thing. The thing that's flipping my lid is that the really young DPs you meet don't care for or have time for a true cinematic education or even an interest in, say, the history of painting. They've grown up with immediacy and digital empowerment with none of the hard knocks that teach you some valuable lessons.

Everywhere we look the population is going up but the mantra is "we'll do more with less". To which I say, watch "The Wire" from start to finish. And the problem is everyone who drops the bar by showing that it's possible to shoot and edit and grade etc. everything yourself shoots everyone else in the foot. It's possible, but it's stupid. That extra voice of an experienced colorist is going to give you options you haven't considered. That great DP is going to allow you to focus on other things on your shoot day.

It's pretty hard to say the Red hasn't been good for no budget videos when you look at Josh Logue's Empire of the Sun videos or the one Michael Ragen DPed for Damien Jurado.

I still think no matter what if you're shooting HD you must underexpose as best you can. Outdoors, expose for skies. At least you can boost shit up with a power window in post if need be. But that highlight has got 0 information in that linear curve, and always will, no matter the camera for now.

Likewise MV directors are in an impossible situation, which is why I stopped making them, that the DP is insulated from. The budget you write a treatment for from the get go is impossible. The exptectation and demand and demands imposed on you from the get go are just too fucking much. Again, if people don't respect Chris Milk and try to penny pinch on him, then there's no barometer of reasonable budgeting left any longer.

if there's no budget, they should just leave it up to the musicians to administer a budget as they see fit and leave it at that.

but that's the music business. ahem.

         

alanedit, if your DP needs a budget dispensation to figure out you're overexposing highlights, they actually might need to go to film school or something.

and the idea that HD allows you to shoot more is a lie. You can shoot more shit, but the fact remains that the camera did not change how an AD breaks out the day and how fast you can rehearse things or get a prop to do what it needs to do in the moment it occurs. Sure you can roll on shit without the discipline of rolling film, but that has its own weakness. The rhythm of a mag change is one of the best pauses for problem solving that exists.

         

one last thing, like your average DP and Editor you failed to see one of the things that the drop in budgets has really killed in the music video...

the crush on art direction, an area I find people want to spend less money in than even post now.

and if you don't have anything interesting to shoot...

         

You don't have anything interesting to edit...

I like the thought.

There's no money in post either, well you know there's just no money period. But how about solutions? it'll be great to use this forum to shed light on how to overcome the budget crunch by using ingenuity as a virtue, and not let the budget thing be the means of it all. Real creativity I mean. I will do a post on editing for example, to add my two cents. Nobody focuses on art direction, exactly right. Some other things are being prioritized, styling for example is an area were a lot of money goes into. People gotta look good, but you're right aaron they need to be surrounded by something too. There's no money for post either so what do you do? would love to hear what possible ways overcoming the deficit can make.

         

all good stuff on the "to RED or not to RED" debate, But the problem with this video is not one of format, it is one of content,

         

another terrible problem facing the industry is the 'jack of all trades' syndrome. people who don't have specific disciplines and roles. I mean, afterall, the whole filmmaking business is one big team effort. we all rely upon the skills of others to bring the best to a job and make it as good as it can be. this ideal is immediately compromised when someone is, ahem, 'multi-skilled'.

I KNOW this is a by-product of dwindling budgets and accept that many many people ARE really talented in more than one area, but the fact is that the overall quality and production value of videos (even taking into account the budgets) is pretty poor these days.

There are plenty of junior flame ops or telecine assistants or junior editors at ALL the big post houses that would LOVE to cut their teeth on promos, short films...ANYTHING. and they have the kit to do it. proper kit.

I know there are some rather good programmes out there that people can stick on their macbooks and edit/grade/comp until the cows come home, but this really is never a subsitute for a skilled/trained professional (even if they are a junior) who has access to high end equipment. I think the budgets have forced too many people to THINK they can do it themselves but, it is simply just that. D-I-Y! It's about the people who have the skills and are properly trained, NOT a copy of Apple Color and an instruction manual on your lap.

If i fell down sick in the street i would prefer to have a paramedic turn up than a girl guide, no matter how enthusiastic and helpful the girl guide might think she is. Leave it to the pros...they are out there, you just have to ask nicely.

         

WHO DIRECTED THIS VIDEO?

         

Times they are a changin'. :) To me though, there will always be a new wave of directors the rolls through that turns everyone of these industry-ending limitations, into a springboard for fresh approaches to film-making. First and foremost, this medium is about story-telling, and that's the element that will both redeem a clip with poor production, and render a film with even highest production values unwatchable.

         

I agree that filmmaking is about storytelling but musicvideomaking is not always. I mean how many 90's heyday Hype Williams video tell a story. I can only think of a few. What's the story of Windowlicker or any of those De Thurah videos people blow their loads over?

A lot of times a music video is just about making the artist or what's around them look pretty and epic. It's a nice idea to live in this world where creativity and ingenuity can conquer all but the music video world is just not like that. Unfortunately it takes manpower, nice cameras and equipment, great locations, etc to pull off a grand video.

I know people have been saying it for years but to me 2009 is really the year music videos died. There just have not been that many memorable videos this year so far and a lot of the up and coming directors who work I enjoyed haven't even made a single video this year. Megaforce, Bruntel, Albertin, Saam, Moyes where are you?

Did these guys just decided they hate making music videos all of a sudden or did the realities of the process just render the effort not worth it?

         

Director: Johan Renck

         

say it ain't so...

         

boom! wow...

         

It is so. I confuse nothing:

creativity-online.com

         

yes, but those credits also have the artist down as being modest mouse...

         

JOHAN RENCK?

THAT Johan Renck?

         

I thought it was Johan. This is actually a pretty basic Johan video minus the care. Maybe it was forced out too soon? It looks like a first cut without a color grade.

         

I feel forced to step in here. This is NOT directed by Johan Renck. He directed Daniel, but not this.

Svana @ Black Dog.

         

I'm not sure where you get your information from but I can tell you categorically this was not directed by Johan Renck. It was directed by a friend of Natasha's.

         

This CV lists RN Video Productions as prodco.

         

So finally who directed this? a friend of Natasha's?

         

His name is Robert Paulson.

         
His name is Robert Paulson?
         

phew. thx, svana. (sorry, budget.)

         

Sorry for confusion. Looks like Creativity Mag had their credits wrong.

         

Someone kindly take his name off the heading for this post...? Please...

         

director rupert noble- one of natasha's friends NOT johan renck

         

"Rupert Noble (pictured) trained for five years as a woodwind and brass instrument repair and renovation specialist studying under seven well known repairers. Leeds College of Music 1982-84 Newark woodwind College 1984-1987. In 1990 Rupert established Toot-Sweet Woodwind and Brass specialist workshop in Nottingham - winning the Princes trust business of the year award in 1993. He has subsequently taught over forty advanced repair students from all over the world. He now freelances through the Country undertaking between 20-30 repairs every week." Also available for your wedding.

         

@Macguffin: I betchya a nickel those great directors are spending a bit of time doing commercial work to fill the coffers. Then they shall return. A handful of great music videos will continue to be released by great directors each year. It's too fun a medium to die completely. Also I wouldn't be surprised if interactivity becomes important for sucess. :)

         

not even in dante spinotti's hands does hd ever look better than film

         

I know money is tight at labels but surely sometimes you have to scrap a video to stop it damaging an artist.

         

Red One vs. 5D Mark II vs. Lumix GH1