[Mike Smith]

It seemed to me that you felt it might have been possible to do better, howsever much you were (very likely) driven along by events, what was practical, what the customer was thinking, what resources and people you had to hand.

And, perhaps not strangely, I sometimes found people on low-to-no budget can be more time-consuming, perhaps more picky, more demanding in wanting to go over every step and every decision for themselves, on your clock. Pf course when yout time is costing them nothing, it can perhaps be easy for tehm then not to value properly the time and resource (of yours) that’s being consumed, or to lose sight of the value of that.

I think it’s a great sign you’re thinking it over and trying to work out how to get better output – I look forward to seeing great stuff of yours before long !

[Mike Smith]

The English is great. It makes sense.

Perhaps in principle a way to approach a new market, style, genre, might be to spend time looking at as much work in the field as you can, just soaking it all in and trying to “get” what’s going on: what do people particularly favour (and why), how broad is the existing spread of work, are there “obligatory” elements that are always or almost always present …? What filming styles predominate? Settings? Design approaches? Use of colour? Editing speeds and rhythns ..?

Then, assuming it’s not a genre you favour as a viewer / user / consumer, perhaps you can find two or three friends or contacts who do like and watch, and get to talk to them about the music videos they like. It could be interesting to find out what they remember.

Looking up awards for music videos (and tracks, even) in the target genre over the last few years will yield a list of work that has been widely seen as successful – a clutch of videos to make sure you have seen and are aware of, as a lot of your target audience will be.

Of course for a low-budget video many things will be not possible. So it might be worth spendinng some time searching for little known bands in the market segment and looking at what they’ve done, trying to get a “feel ” for the market so you understand and react like a fan might … and see what people have been able to achieve on a low budget …

Specifics on your video – well I’m not really big on dance music so it’s a bit off field for me. So these commments come with caveats, and are intended to be thought-provoking and helpful rather than critical – she’s lucky to get a polished-looking video for free. But things that struck me, things that might help work to stand out more, might incude:

The setting, look and feel to me seem more old-style martini ad, lifestyle advertising than contemporary dance, where exotic location and extreme lifestyle – ultra gloss or ultra grunge , but rarely everyday, mundance settings are often chosen. Is a laid-back “lifestyle” group of 20-somethings at a sort-of house party really a good choice of subject …? Isn’t this club music, with all that implies for audience and likely audience self-image, identification, what might appeal …?

The photography is quite flat – lighting-wise and in choice of lens. Is that good? Not sure that using colour saturation to pick out the singer is doing much for you – is it a little too subtly done … ? Are these the best shots you can get? The little break-dance scenes risk the feeling of your uncle trying to be cool in this context – is this good …?

The dancing is very “ordinary” – it’s not really showing me anything fun, fresh, striking, anything I haven’t seen a lot of, anything I find amusing or hot. Does it risk looking like a group of normal, quite pleasant people at a slightly over-lit, slightly embarrassing party … does this make the singer look as good, and as cool, as is possible ..?

The pace of editing is quite slow. Very often dance (music) videos seem to burn through imagery very quickly, even if much of it repeats (perhaps with little variations) as the vid progresses …

Much more importantly, how do you feel about it? Is this the best work you could hope for, or what would you like to have done …?

[Mike Smith]

Maybe you should be having this conversation with your customer …? Better to engage and discuss, showing time involved and kit needed, than come in hard with a pre-developed “this is my demand” approach … If you can show comparable rate with graphic designer as a yardstick and approach them nicely they may be surprisingly amenable. Big risk for you to turn off a customer without a supply of others to replace the work – if you want the work – I didn’t pick up what the day job is.

[Mike Smith]

Your video can only be part of a broader investment pitch. The pitch overall will need to sell the business concept, the market potential, the strength of the management, the potential returns.

The video will be short and sweet, and could add the sizzle to that sausage …. maybe there’s a need to build on the sell-like-hot-cakes cliches of the market segment to demonstrate the team has the vision and ability to produce and distribute very appealing product at profitable prices – business people as well as master bakers.

And overall you’d want the video to be slick and attractive, leaving the audience wanting more information …

[Mike Smith]

I’d agree with a lot of Joseph and Bill’s comments.

There are lots of really good people joining the industry.

To my mind, a lot of the complaint is not so much about youth but about deprofessionalization – the idea, attractive to many and in the commerial interests of some suppliers, that anybody can pick up the appropriate tools and produce great – or even professional – work, without aptitude, effort and skill at least, and probably some training and experience wouldn’t go amiss. Npbody, I guess, imagines that buying Logic or Cubase turns you into a musician or Final Draft makes you a writer … but in video, well ….

So, I hope you enjoy the industry and find and enjoy great projects.

[Mike Smith]

xara is a very strong illustrator alternative – better in lots of ways – albeit Windows only ..

[Mike Smith]

Vegas shouldn’t be freezing ; are there system issues to be addressed ? If you want a Vegas alternative, another contender to look at is Edius; there’s a free trial and it’s quite hardware-tolerant. https://www.grassvalley.com/products/edius_pro_6.5

[Mike Smith]

You could contact the rights holders with details of the project and ask for a quote for rights clearance fees, so that you can show that to your cleint and then add that to your production quote if s/he wants to continue.

[Mike Smith]

Doesm’t that effect fade the audio between two clips on the same track, rather than across tracks? https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/premiere-pro-track-audio/

[Mike Smith]

You make good points Jonathan. If I’d been smart enough to realise you have only the 500D, as you indicated, I’d have responded differently. You do urgently need kit you can depend on (such as the missing Panasonic.)

Trying to film interviews with the Digital Rebel / T1i / D500 must be very stressful; you’d want at the very least manual mode and much better audio control.

Would you be thinking something like a 7D or T4i / 650D might be enough for you for now, maybe sticking with whatever lenses and accessories you might have? (I guess I’m dreaming there!) Or wouild you be thinking of some other DSLR-style kit, like the 5D, the Nikon D7100 or the lumix GH3 …?

Or migbt you do much better with something more video-oriented and versatile like the Panasonic, or a Canon XF100 – much better video ergonomics, high quality pics, much better audio handling?

I still think that making the very best out of what you have is the right approach, but I do feel that the kit you have is tying both hands behind your back. For the company to put over the right kind of image to its customers it must really want to do a little better than the 500D will allow …

Good luck with it. Maybe you can work with your boss on some kind of vision of how you want to represent the company in video, what kit you might consider, and what kind of approach to keeping up to date is going to be appropriate and affordable. With camera technology at advancing at least as fast as in mobile phones or other areas, 4 year old kit is quite long in the toorh ..