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championofnorthhuron - Posted - 04/06/2013: 15:56:34
My first personal music performance/video attempt using different camera shots. The challenge of course... synchronizing the audio track between scene changes. Fun project. Filmed in the basement of an old house I own, and played on my spun-rim Brooks Masten banjo with skin head and Dobson tone ring. Played in triple C tuning (gCGCC) capo at 2nd fret... for key of D; 2-finger thumb-lead style.
JanetB - Posted - 04/06/2013: 19:49:47
Looks and sounds old. You seem to have met your synchronization challenge well. The 2-finger picking sounds great. The vocal was just a little hard to hear. The whiskey was colorful! Thanks for the entertainment this evening.
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 04/06/2013: 20:13:12
I think that's really a terrific video. Very fine version of that tune. Great atmosphere. I like both the singing and the playing very much. There's a lot of feeling in both.
I would remark that I did find it a bit jarring that you're seated in some shots and standing in others. i think the multiple camera angles might have been more effective if you had moved the camera, but adopted the same position for the second run-through of the song.
I myself have had what I consider fairly good results by using the editing tools in IMovie to make videos shot from a single camera angle have the feel of multiple cameras. I use different cropping on various shots, as well as panning and zooming using the so-called "Ken Burns" effect. I think it's easier to do this than to shoot multiple takes and then try to stitch them together all synced up to a single soundtrack. [Not all of my videos use these effects, but if you're interested in seeing what it looks like, I can point you to a few that use it to good effect].
championofnorthhuron - Posted - 04/06/2013: 21:00:57
Marc and Janet,
First, thank you both for the comments. It is always encouraging and feels good to receive positive feedback from respected BHO members who put forth themselves such quality sound and video clips such as you both do.
Marc... I'm not familiar with IMovie, and will need to check that out. I just use Window's Movie Maker, and an issue I encounter is that the more editing, effects, and transitions I add... the more the preview becomes so choppy to view that I really don't know what I will get until I actually publish/export the final media product to my hard drive. When I go back and watch my video, I can see what you mean about the transitions being a bit jarring. I also think I recognize what I think may be a common beginners mistake... too fast of a tempo (do you agree)? That one is so tough. I guess that's the value of recording and critiquing your self. I would certainly welcome and appreciate your pointing me to any videos you have where I might learn from the way you have transitioned between different camera shots.
Janet.... yes. I can also recognize the vocal level being a bit weak. I think I need to experiment and learn how to best position my mic. I feel I am singing fairly strong, but perhaps need to learn where/how to position the mic to emphasize the vocal more?
Thanks again to you both for your comments.
Edited by - championofnorthhuron on 04/06/2013 21:24:35
Marc Nerenberg - Posted - 04/14/2013: 07:36:32
Sorry to take so long to reply (on the other hand - this way I'm bumping your thread back up the list, giving other people a fresh opportunity to check out your excellent video).
With regard to editing videos, I haven't used two camera rolls as you did here. My technique is to shoot the whole video from a single fixed point, and then use editing features that involve cutting the video into a series of clips that are then cropped differently from each other, inserting cross fades between them. As I became a little more sophisticated at that, I discovered the "Ken Burn's Effect" tool, that allows me to set different cropping for the beginning and end of a clip, and the editing software automatically inserts the necessary zooms and pans to get from one position to the other - creating the illusion of camera movement. Attached are two videos that demonstrate these techniques, the first (Poor Aunt Lisa) from before I figured out how to use the Ken Burns Effect, and the second (Golden Bird) that uses that effect. (There are a lot more videos on my page that use these techniques, including one of Darlin' Corey that also uses the Ken Burn's effect quite a bit - probably too much).
As for microphone placement - I usually find that it works best to position the microphone where it's best for the vocal, and the banjo will take care of itself.
Edited by - Marc Nerenberg on 04/14/2013 07:42:25
