60 second Campaign Video - Shot on HV20

[erikbaldwinson]

I was the Campaign Manager for recently elected Nanaimo City Councillor George Anderson (George is 20 years old). This is the campaign video I shot with the HV20, edited on my laptop using the rotoscope tool in adobe after effects to achieve the white background, and composed the music in Cakewalk Sonar using a variety of different audio samples.

We were under intense time constraints as there was no script, which left me with 1 hour of footage to re-arrange and cut down to 60 seconds of dialogue.

I already recognize the audio cuts aren't smooth (lack of footage) at some places and the music volume is too high towards the end of the video (my mistake). I also recognize he isn't lit properly (as we didn't have properly lighting). Besides these points, I welcome critical feedback!

Thanks,

Erik Baldwinson

erikbaldwinson@gmail.com

[Erik Bien]

Well, if he's "recently elected," I guess it must have worked!

I've worked on a few political spots, and when you have a candidate who's that comfortable in front of the camera and comes across sincere as he does, I tend to think simple ads like this are the most effective. No B-roll of him shaking hands and kissing babies or high-dollar voiceover talent intoning smears about the opponent, just the candidate looking the constituents in the eye and asking for their vote. You've already identified the few minor technical shortcomings, so all that's left to say is ...

"Good job!"

[HueyNRolf]

It's a decent enough job. Agreed the lighting could've been better, also his voice sounds very roomy, like a camera mic?
Get yourself a lav. Even a cheap one would be a big improvement on what you have here.

[Almohada]

You had to rotoscope him out??? Ouch.

Yeah I agree with Huey, I noticed the audio, too. If you had a lav on him, then it would be a top notch spot.

[erikbaldwinson]

Thanks everyone for the critical feedback.

Yes I agree the audio sounds bad, I used the Rhode Videomic.

What mic would you suggest?

Adobe After Effects now has a new tool for rotoscoping which automatically adjusts for similar frames, making that process not quite as time consuming.

Thanks,

Erik Baldwinson

[cgbier]

The mic is fine if you can get it closer to your victim (boom).

Adobe After Effects now has a new tool for rotoscoping

You mean Roto Brush, or did they come up with something newer?

[HueyNRolf]

What mic would you suggest?

How much do you want to spend?

AT the low end there's the Audio Technica ATR3350 ($20).

For the freedom and convenience of wireless, you can get something reasonable (UHF) starting from $300.