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Home ? Your Videos ? Music Video for Netherlands band RnAM

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26/04/2016 15:58:52

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		I'm on an international song writer's forum where people frequently collaborate on projects. Recently one of my favorite artists there asked me to make a Muvizu style music video for their latest song. The song pays homage to the disco era, so they wanted the set to have a 70s look and use colors that werein popular use at that time. I used a set from the store that was uploaded by Dannynw23 (thank you!) and made few changes to it.

Rather than doing the usual music video with a band playing the song the whole time, I decided to build a story around it. There's a line in the song that says "Holding you close this sweet loving could never be wrong", so I set about the task of making it wrong anyway. ;-)

The opening scenes exist only to establish the love a dog feels toward his owner. Later when the girl pops the band's cassette into the player, the dog's imagination takes over, and he fantasizes about being a bit more human-like (yet still a dog) and wowing the girl with his dancing and guitar playing prowess. By the end of the song the dog is so convinced of his fantasy that... well, I'll let you watch to see what happens.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/l1r7kzs6dtzbyg2/RnAM_HoldingYou.mp4?dl=0
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26/04/2016 16:19:37

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		Link to RnAM's web site: http://www.rnam.net/eng/songs.html

The band RnAM always posts videos with their songs, and they are quite adept at video editing, so I didn't include titles, credits or anything, knowing they will want to do that. I also sent them links to all of the rough footage in case they want to replace any of the scenes I used with other scenes that I cut, but which they might like better... so what I posted here should be regarded as just a placeholder for their final video.

They are so impressed with Muvizu that they just bought it for themselves, and I hope to lure them to this forum. They are absolutely wonderful people, two of my favorite people in the world!

Regarding this video: Its the first time I've used one of the "not quite quadrapeds" in a video, and although the ability to walk like a real dog is not there, I was more interested in seeing if I could capture dog mannerisms in other ways. There were a couple of scenes that I thought turned out quite "doggy", and given the biped limitation imposed by Muvizu, he ended up being a "fairly" convincing dog (based on the attributes I was shooting for)

I'm a newbie, so any comments, criticisms , suggestions etc are welcome and appreciated. I make no claim of being good at this, and I'm fairly thick skinned, so no need to hold back your real observations. How will I learn if I don't know the specific ways in which I suck? ;-)

Conversely, if there's any aspect of it that "works" for you, I also want to know that.

There is a concept called "conscious competence" and it involves developing an awareness of what works, so you can duplicate successes predictably (as opposed to throwing spaghetti at the wall hoping that something will stick). Acquiring conscious competence involves thinking outside the realm of personal preference and getting a much larger basis for evaluating what works.. and the only way to do that is by getting feedback from others.

Thanks in advance for anyone who takes time to critique this and any future videos I may post
edited by PatMarrNC on 26/04/2016
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26/04/2016 23:06:16

mindiflyth
mindiflyth
Posts: 77 		Is there any way to see this on Youtube or another video sharing site? I don't know if other people will have the same problem, but for me it was so choppy and laggy that it was hard to see what was going on. Are the first 35 seconds supposed to be silent?

It looked good from what I could see, and the blob did seem to work very well as a dog.
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27/04/2016 01:19:58

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		Dropbox is not a good place for streaming, best thing to do is just download it (dropbox allows that) and watch it from your computer.

(Right click on the link > save link as...)

I didn't want to put it on youtube because I know the band will change the video to meet their needs, and other members of the music forum subscribe to my youtube channel. Out of respect for the band, I want the forum to see only their final version.

I imagined the footage at the beginning (which *IS* silent) to be moved to the end of their finished video as out takes, playing concurrently with the credits. But Now I'm hearing that they'll probably ditch that footage altogether to keep the video moving so people don't click away. ;-(
edited by PatMarrNC on 27/04/2016
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27/04/2016 01:20:25

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		The video worked great for me. I was wondering about the beginning silence, too. I have a dog and we dance together so that part was funny, although he usually is only dancing because he wants a treat, and knows that if he looks all that happy he ends up with something to eat. He is just thinking about his stomach.

It sure looked like a Disco. I was expecting to see John Travolta and The BeeGees (or however they spelled their name). It was a fun video to watch, and the 4 minutes flew by. I am new, too, so can not comment on anything technical.
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27/04/2016 01:32:39

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		thanks Rocque! Your impression of the video was exactly what I was aiming to create! Peripherally a 70s disco music video reminiscent of the BeeGees ... but with a personal hook for anyone who has ever had a great dog buddy they play with! I tried to capture the "fake stick throw" that enthusiastic dogs always fall for... and the way they zero in on a dangling hand and sniff it, knowing it will lead to getting petted.

It was fun exploring the various actions trying to find approximations of the moves I really wanted. Typing and writing both worked pretty well as petting if you substitute a dog's head for the keyboard. At he end of the BIG LAUGH action, the character crouches down, which simulates the "Who's my good boy?" pose

When the band posts their version later this week, I'll post a link to it

Thanks for taking time to comment! I appreciate your kind observations!
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27/04/2016 01:42:54

ziggy72Muvizu mogulExperimental user
ziggy72
Posts: 1988 		Good stuff, liked the end joke.

Feedback? Well Mindiflyth's right, you can't have absolute silence - even just a simple bird track then house ambiance would have let the viewer know their speakers are still working The dog is funny, so dopey looking, but I'd have used a darker colour to help hide the joins. At 31 seconds it looks like she has a tiny hand and is holding a huge cassette with her hand palm outwards. Depth of field would have helped there, so that only the cassette was in focus. And having her hand the right way round Big Grin Your cross fades are a bit slow, IMO, but that's when it gets down to personal style rather than technique. You could have stuck a few smoke effects in there as well, but I don't know how PC power you've got (I'd have stuck every effect in there - come to think of it, I did with my Pink Droid set - lasers, smoke, lights, the whole shebang. Made the PC complain of course but it looked good).

You can find every ambient sound sample you'll ever need here, BTW : http://www.freesound.org/
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27/04/2016 03:01:08

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		ziggy72 wrote:
Good stuff, liked the end joke.

Feedback? Well Mindiflyth's right, you can't have absolute silence - even just a simple bird track then house ambiance would have let the viewer know their speakers are still working

good point. Note to self: no silence

The dog is funny, so dopey looking, but I'd have used a darker colour to help hide the joins.

I've tried various color combinations, and there's more going on there than just the color... the surfaces have different reflective qualities... even with black, its noticeable where the blob ends and the dog's rear end begins. But that's a good point, I need to research how to get the same surface on the attachment as is already on the blob (if in fact that's even possible)

At 31 seconds it looks like she has a tiny hand and is holding a huge cassette with her hand palm outwards.

Busted! I tried to get by with an all-purpose hand model with no thumb.. I agree it looks bad. Since then I've made an updated left and right hand for future videos, but it didn't make it into this one. Thanks for letting me know I didn't get by with that cheat.

In my defense, I'm coming from the world of 2d comic strips where it's very common to show a hand with 3 fingers and no thumb holding onto an item. I can see that I need to let go of the 2D paradigms because people who are accustomed to 3D representations won't accept what the comic strip audience has been trained to accept.

Depth of field would have helped there, so that only the cassette was in focus.
hey that's a good idea! thanks!

And having her hand the right way round Big Grin

I
feel
so
ashamed...
Your cross fades are a bit slow, IMO, but that's when it gets down to personal style rather than technique.
agreed. I was experiementing to see what I like, (and what others like)... now I know that its best to keep it moving

You could have stuck a few smoke effects in there as well, but I don't know how PC power you've got (I'd have stuck every effect in there - come to think of it, I did with my Pink Droid set - lasers, smoke, lights, the whole shebang. Made the PC complain of course but it looked good).
smoke was on my original list, but for some reason I didn't get around to it (for no good reason except maybe laziness).... your PinkDroid video is a classic! The epitome of what a music video should be!

You can find every ambient sound sample you'll ever need here, BTW : http://www.freesound.org/

Thanks for taking time to offer your insights! I respect your opinion and I agree with all of your observations... now I just need to acquire the skills and patience to start refining my approach.
edited by PatMarrNC on 27/04/2016
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27/04/2016 03:14:15

RnAM
RnAM
Posts: 1 		Hello everyone!

We've just joined this forum and we are complete newbies to Muvizu, but we would like to learn all about it!
Just purchased a faster video card to make the program run more smoothly.
Anyway, we are very grateful that Pat created the video for our song Holding you.
Here is the link to the final video:



Hope ya all like it!

Rob & Anne-Marie
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27/04/2016 03:22:07

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		RnAM just sent me the link to their edited version of the music video:


It addresses a lot of the concerns that were pointed out about the first draft I posted. I like what they've done with it, and it definitely moves better than my version!

And I really like the SMACK at the end!

I'm glad they're happy customers, and I'm especially glad they bought Muvizu!
edited by PatMarrNC on 27/04/2016
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27/04/2016 12:42:25

WabbyMuvizu mogulExperimental user
Wabby
Posts: 98 		Bravo Pat Cool
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27/04/2016 14:24:33

PatMarrNCMuvizu mogul
PatMarrNC
Posts: 1738 		Wabby wrote:
Bravo Pat Cool

Thanks Wabby! I appreciate your encouragement!
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28/04/2016 01:07:45

Rocque
Rocque
Posts: 359 		ziggy72 wrote:

You can find every ambient sound sample you'll ever need here, BTW : http://www.freesound.org/


I use Free Sound. It is a great site and the price fits my budget.

Also, WOW, to the final one, other than no chair for the keyboard player, then animation was pure eye candy with all the effects.
It fit the music very well. The poor puppy ending was about right, too. Thanks for sharing.
edited by Rocque on 28/04/2016
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