Funky musicvideo - Juicy Jones, 'So Far From Home'

Hi all,

Wanted to show you guys my latest music video made for the dutch funkgroup Juicy Jones. Shot it on the last sunny day of the summer at a great location just outside of Utrecht. Great fun doing the shoot! I brought along a lot of gear but ultimately opted for simply filming handheld with my GH2-voigtlander combo. Opened up my voigtlander between F0.95 and F4 most of the time (using an ND fader) and deliberately tried to overexpose and let the sun flare to get that dreamy summersday vibe. Pretty happy with the result!

FCPX worked a treat in grading the footage. Used a Gorillagrain (fine) layer and a diffusion filter from Magic Bullet Looks on top of the grading to create the look. It may not be the most subtle look I've ever created, but it fits the mood of the song I think



and check out a fun little prologue we made as a lead-in to the release (subtitled).



cheers!

You probably won’t be overjoyed with this feedback. Sorry about that, but you did ask. Usually in such circumstances one gives the positive attributes first to soften the blow, enabling the artist to hopefully receive some of the criticism in the constructive spirit it’s intended. This time I’m going to call it like I saw it, & in the order that I watched it…

The first time I experienced this video it, I hated it, but it grew on me after repeated viewings. Not sure how you managed that…

Here’s what I wrote after first viewing…

Interesting title sequence style, avant garde, going for an artistic flair, not bad, then we get into the music. I have to be honest with you, after many years in the industry, the song just didn’t appeal to me. Sure I know they probably have a following, but it just wasn’t to my taste, no real melody, no hook, kind of off-putting. This feeling was exacerbated by the video style you went for. Your description sounded great, but the deployment not so much. Probably the worst was the shaky camera, you know… FCPX has a great stabilizer built in, it can smooth out your hand held shots to make them a bit more like Steadicam. Speaking of exacerbation, this earthquake cam was compounded by your overuse of flash transitions on top of light leaks. The other day here I joked about flashing lights causing epileptic seizures, well in this case, you’ve got the perfect storm of the song, the jelly cam & the strobing lights, the effect was fairly nauseating, though I will admit it lessened somewhat in the second half. The syncopated disjointed unmusicality of the song felt more like it had jazz leanings rather than funk as advertised, whatever it was had me slightly on edge & missing the audio sync problems. So, even though you were unable to cause a seizure you did manage to sneak one by, that’s got to count for something, right?

After a couple more viewings, as your piece grew on me, I notice there really aren’t that many shaky shots, but there were a few, probably the most jarring was on purpose, when you first walk up to the band emerged from the woods arriving at the 70’s party. One or two shakes soon after.

You had some nice shots, interesting costumes, great sets (the house & my favorite - the column he leans against to smoke his pipe). The face slapping incident connected to that was a bit confusing. Other positive aspects, the subtle use of speed ramping, the guy placing flowers in the girl’s hair, & the women pawing at your lead. Didn’t care so much for the shot of him leaping at the camera, fist raised like an angry rapper. It didn’t fit with his nature or the pothead buddhist hippy lovefest.

The concept of the video appeals to me, but like I said on first view it didn’t grab me or draw me in. Interestingly, with all the fog & light leaks, when we break from that, & he wakes up from the hookah piped pile of bodies, it’s such a welcomed respite with the sudden clarity. Intriguing reverse message there.

Just to reiterate, upon multiple viewings the video gained more acceptance with me, perhaps even the song to some extent, but like I tell every music video producer, you have to start with a song so good, that people can’t wait to hear it again.

Now, some better news. Your prologue was excellent, I loved it & not just because I wasn’t being assaulted with annoying sound, shakes & light. Perhaps you have a real talent for drama as well. First of all, to get believable performances out of non-actors is extremely impressive. The dialogue, inflection, facial expressions, all for the most part, fairly natural. Strangely, your lead is more appealing when he’s not singing. He may have a future onscreen. I might have softened that road noise just a notch or two on the exterior mounted car wheel shot. However, you had to invoke the suspension of disbelief, as it’s preposterous to think that anyone, no matter how much dope they smoke, would look for jumper cables by walking away from a busy highway & into a dense forrest.

Thanks for sharing

As with my videos, TrixTrax' comments are harsh, but can be interpreted constructively (I'm still reeling from the comments on mine and trying to significantly up my game but haven't had much time for it yet).

Besides that, there are sections in your video where the brightness and tone changes (too) drastically between cuts. Also, there are bits later in the segment where the singer's lips don't exactly sync up with the music, which is quite disconcerting. Lastly, for the real 8mm effect, use an 8mm camera or two. A bit of a hassle, not being digital and all, but they are still there and can be used for good. Also, perhaps emphasize the story a bit more in this video.

Maar afgezien van die kleinigheden, mooie film!

Thanks guys for some good feedback.
It's not too harsh, and seemed quite well founded actually. I definitely agree with some of the criticisms as there are parts where I think the concept worked less than perfectly.

-The lip-synching was actually the result of the band getting into the studio again after the shoot to re-record the song with about a 5% tempo increase. So I struggled to re-sync it, and the part where the singer walks towards the camera never fully worked.

-the brightness changes were another thing I didn't plan for. The band wanted more exposure of them actually performing as a group, so I integrated the final performance into the choruses earlier on. In general I thought it was a compromise worth making, though ideally I would have shot more performance footage during daylight to make the video flow more naturally towards the evening.

-Also I can understand when the start of the video feels a bit too epileptic with shaky footage, light flashes etc. I can imagine that part could have been improved with some better establishing shots.

But in general I respect TrixTrax' feedback and acknowledge the flaws, though I don't necessarily agree with the severity of their effects. They are great pointers to keep in mind in future projects! (and I've become a lot more efficient with my Steadicam Merlin since then )

I do stand by my choices and understand that opinions differ. Where one person feels sick of watching shaky/flashy footage, another relishes in the chaos of the image for example. As I said I am happy with the result, but definitely appreciate your well put feedback and criticisms!!


As an interesting sidenote; Last year I produced the first music video for Juicy Jones, which was styled completely different. It might even be a complete opposite in concept to 'So Far From Home'. Might be funny to see how I, and especially the band, decided to change things up this time! (it was my first project in FPCX by the way!)

Cruel but fair, harsh but valid, yes these are my calling cards. Happy to hear you weathered the storm, Reinout.

Indeed one man’s catastrophic chaos can be another’s welcomed liberation from conformity. However, there are certain structures in music as well as light that appeal to the human mind. Every garage band has a smattering of followers & the starving artist syndrome seems romantic in novels & films, but at some point the artist discovers perhaps his message is worthy of reaching more people. Does this mean we must sell out to be popular? No, but to reach the eye, ear, mind & heart there are specific channels that are proven to work, there’s still plenty of room for latitude, creativity & artistic expression. To reach people, to touch them, to sell albums, get airplay, to be truly memorable, takes more than talent, it requires genuine appeal which must be offered in a manner that people can receive.

Thanks for sharing your Wonder video, in many ways I actually liked it better technically, but So Far From Home has a more interesting story. This one… well, no story really. The beginning was a bit weird where he’s moving his mouth & no sound, but that’s art I guess. Absolutely loved your artistic direction in this one, the color grading on the coat as he’s fiddling with keys, is completely gorgeous. The lines, the steps, it all works… well, wonderfully. And, finally some controlled chaos I find rather appealing, your chorus sections here with the dreamlike light-leaks actually work better than in the recent vid. I think the appeal has to do with color temperature, it feels much warmer, whereas in So Far From Home, the flashes are whiter & colder. Also your man is much more magnetic when smiling joyfully like this, instead of posing as a wannabe street hooligan in his previous angry fist sequence. There is however, one section near the end that doesn’t work for me, it’s a different kind of chaos, or more like a cacophony of noise while you have a sort of cheesy overlay appearing on the wall behind him as he stands frozen on the steps. The effect looks very cheap & amateur, well below the grade of the rest of the film. The “music” in this section certainly doesn’t help either. Startled wake-up ending has been done before, but I like it here. Nice job (but you’re not going to win any friends in Al Gore’s Green Gaia Party with that plant assassination section… )