After criticizing Mr. Vegas's music video, I came across a music video I produced and directed myself a while back and well, boy o boy, I can criticize it until infinity.

I was young (still am actually) so I was younger with less film experience. Excitment and the chaos of film making got to me and I over looked some things that would have made a big difference in the video, to make it go from 'Ok' to 'waoa'. However, along with inexperience comes lack of patience, hence when you get things done, you do not necessarily think thoroughly about it. Check out the video;

Problems? Where do I start!
Lack of a solid concept & story line. Choreography? well, needs ALOT more work done. Camera movements could have been more dynamic, but it's not so bad. And talking about lighting on the artist in my previous post, yes ladies & gentlemen, I know my ending has bad lighting on my artist specially, but hey, I was only about twenty one and still in film school? does that pardons me? Nahh, I think not.

One thing I am happy about though, three years later, I know I can do ten times better :)  And I think that's what counts most.

I often see music video’s which could have had so much potential for being a great video, however, one or two things caused a failure. To the naked eye, to the general audience, it might be ‘nice’, or ‘entertaining’ but to my eye, it could have been ‘Jack, you need to check out this link, this video is HOT!” but instead, it goes like this ‘Oh, it’s ok’.

It’s easy to sit down and criticize though, I must say. But nonetheless, I cannot help but to do so. However, I must mentioned, I have been in these situation, where quality is there, talent is there, however, something, somewhere goes wrong and the video comes out to be ‘Ok’, and not ‘Sexy’ or ‘Hawt’ as they say. It happens, deadline pressures, budget juggling, talent fails to show, rain comes along, location becomes unavailable due to circumstance…. You never know. Hence why it is very important to make sure your core crew is talented, diverse and handy. So when times like this happens, brainpower pulls together, and we think C R E A T I V E.

I give you an example of a mainstream music video that has quality, and talents, however, lack of direction, cinematography and editing has made it decline to ‘Oh, it’s ok’ after you watch it.

This video mainly failed to impress me because of three main elements. One, directing, two, cinematography and three editing.

BREAK DOWN; directing.
Point I: The performance of the dancers could have been more emotionally fueled with exaggerated expression. This would have added strong sense of emotional appeal to the video. We have a little bit of this, but not enough.

Point  II: Lack of close ups on artist and performers. In a mainstream video such as this, you are first and foremost selling the artist and the music. Lack of medium to close ups on the artist, lack of closing in on him closer when his hitting his high notes makes this video less successful in selling this artist. I find, people are more captivated when they see an artist on an emotional vulnerable level, and that’s what close up’s do. They bring a more intimate feeling to a video of this nature.

Point III: The transition between the club look to the elevator and the parking lot is rough. It takes too long in transition, too many uninteresting scenes which losses the audiences attention. Overall, the director has a good concept in mind, but fails to bring it out successfully in the video.

BREAK DOWN; Cinematography.
Point I: Shadows in wrong places, in most parts. We often can’t really see the performers faces. They are hidden in the dark shadow. I understand that this video was shot with high in contrast and moody intention, however, when shadows are in the wrong places, it kills the appeal and sexiness you are trying to bring out of a video. Another thing it kills is detailing on the apparel. The clothing are beautiful, sexy and sparkly, but the shadows cover that and kills the appearance of it. Ouch! I hope they didn’t spend too much money on wardrobe and costuming.

Point II: Lack of dynamic camera movement. Obviously this video is mainstream. Which is fine. It is also a dancehall music video. Which is great. But when you mix these two things together, you need dynamic camera movement, panning and tilting, quick zooms, wide shots, medium shots and close up shots for details. These elements hand in hand make the video dynamic, fun and sexy… especially when we have a close-up on the girls body moving, or the fellas dance moves.

Point III: Lighting is great when the shadows are not there, however, when it comes to Mr. Vegas, he is lit very poorly. Now, I’m sorry for my bold critics, however, going to according to societies standard, he is not the most appealing, ‘sexy’ man, so when you light a subject like that poorly, he goes from ok to ugly. On many parts of this video, he is lit very poorly, shadows on his face fall in all the wrong places. This is something that should have been priority when is came to lighting.

To conclude, the director tries to pull a Michael Jackson story line in the second half of the video. Which is understandable and they can do it because of the time we are in right now. The concept it self is very interesting because MJ is very POP, and Mr. Vegas is dancehall reggae, so to incorporate Jackson moves into this video is very interesting, however, they failed at directing, and choreography major. It could have been directed and shot more precise.

Obviously, the best thing about this video is the choreography. There are some great dance movements in this video. But hey, It’s Mr. Vegas! You cannot have anything less than that ;) I just wish we had some close ups on these hot sexy fellas … mmm…

Maryam R.