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watch Please critique this animated 3D music video -- "Smitten"

simplecarnival

simplecarnival

Here's a video I made as part of an eventual 40-minute "video album" for my band, The Simple Carnival. This is the opening track to the album, titled "Smitten." You will need red/cyan 3D glasses to see the effect properly. (The red filter goes over your left eye.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voKNKTPxXTo

Because this is a work-in-progress, I'd appreciate feedback on how the video is directed/edited (Is it easy to follow? Is there anything distracting?). I'd also appreciate feedback on the 3D effect.

Thanks! :)
 
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Heh, this band could pass for some of the Bee Gees earlier stuff. :cool:

Honestly, the 3D effect ain't that great. Some specific mentions:

1) At 0:33 (rooftop starts, to about 0:47), it's actually quite blurry when zooming (or on) the duo.

2) The only "real" 3D moments seem to be happening on the closeup of the one-eyed face, as stuff scrolls downwards. 1:01 , for example.

3) The sunset/silhouette bits seem pretty weak, depth-wise.
 
Wow, this song is a throw-back. This song is like "Super 8", but for music. Harkens back to that era when funky 70's soul was melding with soft rock.

I like!

The video? I don't have those old-school 3D glasses. Who does?!











Oh, wait. Zensteve does. Dammit, Zensteve! Please, do not make me physically force you to see "Avatar 2" the way it is meant to be seen.
 
Cracker Funk said:
Wow, this song is a throw-back. This song is like "Super 8", but for music. Harkens back to that era when funky 70's soul was melding with soft rock.

I like!
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Thanks! I was aiming for alternate 1979 sort of sound, so the "Super 8" comparison is especially accurate. :cool:

I wasn't clear whether you got to watch it with the red/cyan 3D glasses... :huh: I've actually been surprised by how many people "just happen to have" a pair of 3D glasses near their computer, though!
 
Hmm, all 4 pairs that came with Night of the Living Dead 3D are backwards. Wonder if the movie will be any better if I flip them around? Probably not. :lol:

I flipped the lenses on a pair. Much better stereo effect, though the colour palette becomes fairly muted.

So why'd you make it 3D to start with?
 
I have no idea about the animation or 3D stuff, but it is an unwritten law when doing a music video to avoid illustrating exactly what is said in the text. Is it a good thing, is it a bad thing to do so anyway? I personally feel, that the text is illustrated too closely, I'd rather have images, that are vaguely related, adding a new dimension, opening up to something else, telling another story. So, maybe you could try and get a bit away from the illustration and add something new? That would be my suggestion. Or put in another song and keep the video as is? :)
 
Zensteve said:
I flipped the lenses on a pair. Much better stereo effect, though the colour palette becomes fairly muted.
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I agree -- that's an unfortunate side effect of any color anaglyph movie. I'm hoping that by the time I'm done with this project, if enough people can watch 3D Blu-Ray, I'd release it on that format so those color issues won't be a problem. In the meantime, I'm trying to pick colors that still look somewhat OK with red/cyan glasses.

Zensteve said:
So why'd you make it 3D to start with?
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Three reasons.

1) I wanted to make a visually immersive experience. I realize that my drawing/animation skills are not going to compete on a Disney level, so 3D is a way to make up for that and offer something a bit different in its place.

2) I've observed that the people around me have increasingly shrinking attention spans. I feel like the traditional music album is nearly dead -- albums are only used as background noise while you're performing some other activity. (I'm guilty of using music in this way too.)

I used to have friends with a dedicated music room where you'd sit in the 'sweet spot' and listen to a new album from beginning to end on an excellent-sounding stereo system. Nowadays, I don't know anybody who does this. But I do know plenty of folks with home theater systems, which are used in pretty much the same way. So why not make something (with a visual component) for home theater systems? And if you have to wear 3D glasses, you're not going to be doing the dishes at the same time (at least the first time you watch it). You're probably not even going to check your cell phone. You're going to want to look at the screen, so you don't miss the next interesting thing that happens.

3) I like 3D!
 
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Markus S said:
I have no idea about the animation or 3D stuff, but it is an unwritten law when doing a music video to avoid illustrating exactly what is said in the text. Is it a good thing, is it a bad thing to do so anyway? I personally feel, that the text is illustrated too closely, I'd rather have images, that are vaguely related, adding a new dimension, opening up to something else, telling another story. So, maybe you could try and get a bit away from the illustration and add something new? That would be my suggestion. Or put in another song and keep the video as is? :)
Click to expand...

That's a fair enough criticism. I think some songs/artists benefit from a less-tightly coupled visual/lyric connection, while my own aesthetic works in a sillier/literal way. But it's cool if you don't feel that it does. That's why I posted this -- so I can hear these sorts of things and keep them in mind as I move forward. Thanks for the feedback!
 
simplecarnival said:
That's a fair enough criticism. I think some songs/artists benefit from a less-tightly coupled visual/lyric connection, while my own aesthetic works in a sillier/literal way. But it's cool if you don't feel that it does. That's why I posted this -- so I can hear these sorts of things and keep them in mind as I move forward. Thanks for the feedback!
Click to expand...

My pleasure, you know you have this Rammstein video, whatever you (or me) may think of the music, the chorus goes something like "without you the birds don't sing, without you etc." or something like this. So spontaneously I would have supposed a "love affair", someone losing his love. I was surprised to see that in the video, they were doing a mountain trip in the fresh air, then along the way one of them dies. It's somehow related to the lyrics, but not too directly and throws a new light on the "without you".
 
Markus S said:
My pleasure, you know you have this Rammstein video, whatever you (or me) may think of the music, the chorus goes something like "without you the birds don't sing, without you etc." or something like this. So spontaneously I would have supposed a "love affair", someone losing his love. I was surprised to see that in the video, they were doing a mountain trip in the fresh air, then along the way one of them dies. It's somehow related to the lyrics, but not too directly and throws a new light on the "without you".
Click to expand...

Thanks again for this critique, Markus S. I took your advice and put it into the new video I did (again, it's a 3D video, you'll need 3D glasses, etc.):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Vt11n4dtE
 
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