hi there, im javoo, and i just joined this thread yesterday. id like to share a video i made a few days back to show others my flourishes. if youd please watch and give your opinion of the video and how well i did id be extremely grateful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vV119Ltqwo i worked extremely hard on it. due to a slow computer it took about six hours to make this.
hello ^_^
- Thread starter Javoo
- Start date
Cool
I thought it was very smooth and looked really nice. But seriously get yourself a fresh deck.
I thought it was very smooth and looked really nice. But seriously get yourself a fresh deck.
Okay, here are my thoughts throughout the video.
0:09 - I'm not like the music so far. Little melodramatic and I'm worried that you're over-promising on the drama.
0:21 - Right off the bat I have to take points off because you didn't show your face in the first shot. People watch performance art to see performers and you're not your hands, you're an actual person. Your audience wants to see more of who you are and not just how neatly groomed your nails are, nice though they may be.
0:29 - Ugh! Dubstep! Too many videos use it. What other genres are you into? We need to broaden the palette here.
0:32 - I'm not liking this closeup because your hands keep going out of the frame. It distracts from the action. That's bad because your handling is quite smooth and your pacing is pretty good.
0:39 - Okay I have to take points off again. You need to show your face.
0:47 - I just noticed that the lighting is a bit off. It's too focused in one space and calls attention to itself, but it doesn't create sharp enough shadows to make the visual dynamic enough to negate that.
1:05 - The angle here is not ideal for that sequence. I would have used a 45 degree angle as opposed to a 90.
1:24 - This one looks a bit washed out and it's a poor fit with the sequences before it as a result.
1:36 - You slowed the pacing to match the grinding feel of the beat here, which is good.
1:42 - I liked that image matching cut, but I'm not crazy about the lighting. It looks like the sun is going supernova behind you and it distracts away from the movement.
1:45 - Your hands are going out of the frame again.
1:54 - Just a side note, but the choice of a white shirt with the black cards was a good one. The sharp contrast helps the movements pop. The lighting detracts from the effect, but still points for effort.
2:16 - Not liking that cut nor am I liking the 90 degree angle of the shot.
2:29 - Interestingly this shot has a slightly different problem in that the colors are too dark. Compared to the previous short where the contrast was so stark between your shirt and the cards, some of the detail gets lost as the colors sort of bleed together.
2:36 - That was a jump cut. We don't like those, we want to avoid them.
2:44 - I'm not liking this shot at all. Too tight and the lighting is awful. It takes away from your movements.
2:48 - Also not a fan of the wifebeater. Short sleeves or long, let's commit to those. Sleeveless shirts are hard to pull off unless you've got really good arms.
Final verdict. You've got very good flow. I like the displays. You've definitely got chops. The problem is that you're shooting and editing your videos just like everybody else and it's burying who you are under very samey presentation. You need to pick some different music. I can easily see your stuff being set to some industrial, maybe a bit of new wave, or if you're feeling adventurous you might to be able to work out a routine to some of the really complex prog stuff like Rush and Tool using funky time signatures. Or if you're feeling particularly bold you could even try pulling off setting your stuff to Meshugga with all their crazy polymeters.
You want to set yourself apart from the other guys on YouTube, and the fastest way to do that is to show your face in your videos and learn the basics of how to compose a shot.
0:09 - I'm not like the music so far. Little melodramatic and I'm worried that you're over-promising on the drama.
0:21 - Right off the bat I have to take points off because you didn't show your face in the first shot. People watch performance art to see performers and you're not your hands, you're an actual person. Your audience wants to see more of who you are and not just how neatly groomed your nails are, nice though they may be.
0:29 - Ugh! Dubstep! Too many videos use it. What other genres are you into? We need to broaden the palette here.
0:32 - I'm not liking this closeup because your hands keep going out of the frame. It distracts from the action. That's bad because your handling is quite smooth and your pacing is pretty good.
0:39 - Okay I have to take points off again. You need to show your face.
0:47 - I just noticed that the lighting is a bit off. It's too focused in one space and calls attention to itself, but it doesn't create sharp enough shadows to make the visual dynamic enough to negate that.
1:05 - The angle here is not ideal for that sequence. I would have used a 45 degree angle as opposed to a 90.
1:24 - This one looks a bit washed out and it's a poor fit with the sequences before it as a result.
1:36 - You slowed the pacing to match the grinding feel of the beat here, which is good.
1:42 - I liked that image matching cut, but I'm not crazy about the lighting. It looks like the sun is going supernova behind you and it distracts away from the movement.
1:45 - Your hands are going out of the frame again.
1:54 - Just a side note, but the choice of a white shirt with the black cards was a good one. The sharp contrast helps the movements pop. The lighting detracts from the effect, but still points for effort.
2:16 - Not liking that cut nor am I liking the 90 degree angle of the shot.
2:29 - Interestingly this shot has a slightly different problem in that the colors are too dark. Compared to the previous short where the contrast was so stark between your shirt and the cards, some of the detail gets lost as the colors sort of bleed together.
2:36 - That was a jump cut. We don't like those, we want to avoid them.
2:44 - I'm not liking this shot at all. Too tight and the lighting is awful. It takes away from your movements.
2:48 - Also not a fan of the wifebeater. Short sleeves or long, let's commit to those. Sleeveless shirts are hard to pull off unless you've got really good arms.
Final verdict. You've got very good flow. I like the displays. You've definitely got chops. The problem is that you're shooting and editing your videos just like everybody else and it's burying who you are under very samey presentation. You need to pick some different music. I can easily see your stuff being set to some industrial, maybe a bit of new wave, or if you're feeling adventurous you might to be able to work out a routine to some of the really complex prog stuff like Rush and Tool using funky time signatures. Or if you're feeling particularly bold you could even try pulling off setting your stuff to Meshugga with all their crazy polymeters.
You want to set yourself apart from the other guys on YouTube, and the fastest way to do that is to show your face in your videos and learn the basics of how to compose a shot.
I love Steerpike's reviews, he really does break it down as much as possible and try and give the best advice to remedy issues. With that said I agree with Steerpike's review in its entirety. As the person above him also said, dude you need a new frigging deck. That was a nasty looking deck. I'm sure that's your practice deck and that's fine but if you have a higher quality deck make sure you use one in the next vid. Very cool flourishes man I wish I could flourish like that.
THANK YOU, someone who has very good ideas on what to fix. im not very good at editing and due to my annoying computer i basically have to get a shot of a flourish in one take or i have to stop the camera and restart. arcsoft showbiz is absolutely terrible. Also i would like that except i feel like my camera isnt good enough, plus when i flourish i sorta make this weird face where im like, all concentrated. but thank you very much, i will use all of this as it is very helpful
yeah true and im getting a few new ones soon. i would have used a new one but, i love LOVE my old shadow masters deck. it still fans a bit even. all my flourishes were either perfected or started off on that deck so it sorta feels special to me ya know? i wanted to use these tally ho's i got recently but when i got them i found that they are cut WAYYYY OFF CENTER along with all the cards being uneven in height o.o. bad vipers
I wrote a thread specifically about making better videos last year. Video production is a complex subject, but for your purposes all you really need right now are the basics. I give as much advice as I can in the thread as well as referencing other good resources to look up. I should probably also expand it soon to cover some basics on lighting, which can be tricky to deal with at first.