New OK Go music video shot on Panasonic GH4

[rndmtsk]

Overall I don't think the GH4 was the right tool for the job.  The GH4 is amazing and that didn't really come through in that video.  A black magic production cam or some other global shutter machine might have been noticably better.

 

Or they could have sacrificed the 4K for for a 1080 mode which has perhaps the best rolling shutter of any DSLR.

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

We are Film-makers. Video-makers. If there's anyone who will criticize the video, it's us.

You can't ask us to watch this from the POV of a fan teenager of the band, if you want that POV, there are many forums for contemporary music. 

If we find a flaw in the video, we will criticize and point it out, otherwise we're not good filmmakers and don't know what's right and wrong.

And when we do, we shouldn't get a pretentious - rude reply asking us to show our own work,

or telling us we have to go and make a better video to be worthy of criticizing. We don't.

___________________________

Anyhow

In my opinion, the video had only one terrible flaw, which is the Warp Stabilizer artefacts. I have the right to say that, and you have the right to disagree and say they specifically intended to put these artefacts.

It's a film-making forum, you know?

The video also has many merits, the creativity, execution and hard-work which really stand out here. 


 

[Homerus]

I've recently stabilised GH4 4K footage (cameraman on the back of a bicycle, lots of shakiness) with Lock&Load and it turned out perfect. (no, I don't work for them)

 

There are 3 very important considerations when you shoot for post-stabilisation:

 

1. Shoot with a high shutterspeed - this prevents trails, trails can't be removed in post.

2. Shoot with a wide lens - the wider the better, shakiness decreases when shooting wider.

3. Good software - I've tried many, many plugins that failed at doing proper stabilising

 

And if you shoot with rolling shutter:

 

4. Look for a plugin that has rolling shutter reduction, it really helps.

 

[Guest Ebrahim Saadawi]

There are 3 very important considerations when you shoot for post-stabilisation:

1. Shoot with a high shutterspeed

This is the most important tip. shooting with a shutter > 100 is the secret to good post stabilization.

[Bruno]

The raw looking camera moves actually didn't bother me as much as the pretentious gimmicky concept, or the lack of one. They used all kinds of visual tricks that have been done many times before but with no story line or main concept to guide them, it's all kind of random, trying to be Michel Gondry but lacking his genius, since his visual gimmicks always serve and fit a story or concept.

But hey, it's got millions of views, so I guess it did the job!

[Tim Naylor]

It could've been shot on a Fisher Price pixel vision and I would've loved it. Regarding Gondry's "genius", surely you can't say Bjork's "Human..." is that deep. Nothing on the level of his feature work. Not knocking Gondry, but I think he too understands that videos by nature get as a deep as a comic book compared to a novel. 

 

I applaud the audacity by OKG to shake things up and make people question the nature of a video. In the end, it captures and embellishes the spirit of the song while also selling the personalities of the band. What more could they ask for? Less "warp"?

[Tim Naylor]

We are Film-makers. Video-makers. If there's anyone who will criticize the video, it's us.

You can't ask us to watch this from the POV of a fan teenager of the band, if you want that POV, there are many forums for contemporary music. 

If we find a flaw in the video, we will criticize and point it out, otherwise we're not good filmmakers and don't know what's right and wrong.

And when we do, we shouldn't get a pretentious - rude reply asking us to show our own work,

or telling us we have to go and make a better video to be worthy of criticizing. We don't.

___________________________

Good point. It's rather obtuse to use the old "make a better one" or shut up argument. Imagine if that extended to all facets of life ( i.e.: "Make a better country if you don't like it. or "you find a better way to deal with the Middle East"). Anyway, this video does bring up the dichotomy between content and technique (gear and execution). At what point does technique become an impediment or benefit? What end of our technique truly influence the audience? For example, contrary to many here, I feel 4k is insignificant compared to 2k for virtually all audiences. Which is why I shoot almost all of my narrative work on a 2k camera. In terms of this video, I feel the same about any "warping". It's so "lo fi" that warping is the last thing anyone would notice. But if it were present in Lawrence of Arabia.....

[Albert Car]

Even though I somehow understand those, who are disappointed due to the image quality, it definitely is a special kind of music video, where the esthetics of the final image do not matter as much, as the really well thought out choreography and magical perspectives etc.

Now I can't help but wonder, what you guys say about my first GH4 production. It's a music video to a song called "RoboLiebe" which means "RoboLove". I know it is german, but you should get the idea. 

 

Just click on the Thumbnail:

 

The footage was shot flat in C4K, which was put on a custom 2.5K Timeline in FCPX and later on graded with FilmConvert.

(My friend, who wrote and produced the song, wanted this certain look) 

 

Feel free to comment on my work

Thanks!