What Makes a good video

As some of you may be aware Martin and I are doing a London juggling scene video and we want to make it as snazzy as possible so I was wondering what you guys thought made a good video and what is really cool about the London scene that should be included.
fire awayy

P.S.
We are DEFINITLY FOR SURE going to be filming on Clapham Common on Sunday asuming the nice weather holds out, hope to see some people there.

ummm...

Funky London locations (Martin contact juggling on the tube is a good un )
or is it all gonna be shot at workshops n meets?

Puncturing of smugness (NO DIGNITY!)
equivalent of bails in a skateboarding vid. less spectacular in spinning/juggling usually, but you should get footage of someone doing an inadvertent nadwrap at some point...

Tricks so sick they're ugly and vice versa

Hug ambushes

Foreign accents

Idiocy

- Good music always helps
- Dont go over board on fancy camera effects.

if drew gets on the video can we heckel him and call him a sell out or is he magically going to apear on this vid like he does on every one elses?
if drews on it! i will buy it; unless its going to be digitally remastered on the net ie: downloadable.

i second the use of 'foreign' throughout

there has never been a better time to say: location, location, location...

the southbank, a skatepark (stockwell is free, playstation we'll have to request permission so eff that!), westminster/ the tower, one of the 6 major train terminals would be great but like the tube i think filming is prohibited the london eye and finally, can i reserve the big iron sculpture @ broadgate (in the city) for one burn...?

slam sections i generally detest (anyone seen 'the reason'? ) but here they may well be 'enjoyable'

more eostrogen pls.

we can do that - anyone know where the nearest hrt clinic is...?

1112pk
You might think that you can heckle me,
and yep, id say that your pretty good at it,
ruda and funny, all the qualities that every good heckle should have

but thats nothing compared to danae, she can heckle like a sweet razorblade kick to the nads.

i guess its a bit like nutella spread on marmite crisps.
a bitter crunch but with a lovely sweet after taste.

have patence and divx, you'll hear them soon



A

what? more vids? sweeeeeeeet!
:rubs hands together:

In my opinion good videos need to have some kind of narrative to give it some flow.

..like this thread!
and now for something completely different!!

Fair point well made!

good music and well edited together intresting places to spin, try to get something new. i like to spin really long poi... get some1 to do that on top of a wall andjust play around

i sugest filming certain parts with a fish eye lens

Using a tripod is generally a bonus as camera shake can be a problem

yeah pk!

i been saying that for ages (after doing poi and watching the reflection in a clock pendulum!) but they're really expensive and no-one has one

maybe the cheap (and possibly cooler) alternative would be one of those curvy mirrors like you get instead of cctv cameras in shitty off licences.

ya know, the more i think about it, the more i really want one of those mirrors...


i so wish we'd had a camera on wednesday night i saw some pretty good juggling

come to nottingham if you want big curvy mirrors... me and thistle at big curvy mirror
and just a big mirror (well big expensive one)

wicked photos!

was that the one that used to have a focus point about 15 feet above it?

iirc they had to change the angle so that it didn't randomly fry passing birds on hot days

don't think we'll be allowed to borrow that for the london video though...

All good suggestions thanks, I was thinking a good thing for the ending credits would be drew trying to nut himself with his poi and for twenty mintues while a ridiculous amount of credits scroll by and end with a freeze of his pain filled face
One of the main things I'm trying to capture is the sillines that goes on, i.e. juggling sculputres or just the incredidbly stupid yet stupidly funny stuff that gets thrown down like every 20 seconds at Clapham common but everyone gets really techy when there a camerea around.
Maybe I should do a get over your fear of the lens workshop or if I tell people that I'm not actually holding a camera enough they'll belive me.

yes pigeon pie galore (although i think it is an urban myth)

Things that make for a good video:

1 - a THEME.
Have an idea in mind what message you're trying to convey through the video. Anything from "look at our cool skills" to "see us having fun" to even making some sort of statement about real-life issues.

2 - a PLAN.
Have some ideas in mind for what shots you'd like to get before you even start filming. Don't just assume everything will look good on camera, really try to steer your stars in the direction that your theme is going. You don't have to have the whole thing scripted out in your head, but if you want something like someone's cool new trick, or a certain fire toy, be sure to prepare for it.

3 - CREATIVE ANGLES
A lot of films just have a spinner centered in the frame, doing their thing, but getting monotonous (from a cinematic perspective) very quickly. Vary your angles on the person - lower the camera and look upward at them to make them seem more important, look down on them to diminish them, move them off to a side to capture a background item along with them, etc. Try to visualize everything around and behind the subject you're filming because they, like the icing on a cake, enhance the quality of the film.

4 - MULTIPLE SHOTS and EDITING
I find that filming the same actions from two or more angles and using those to change the shot angle in mid-video can really enhance things. My example here is my "Pois Gone Wild" video where I had a ground-view of our ppl spinning around electroglo staffs and then I cut to an overhead, downward-pointing shot to capture the circular motion and make it seem more interesting. You can also edit the clips such that certain actions occur in time with the music beats or lyrics, or carry the same pulse as the music itself (fast, slow, etc).

5 - MUSIC
I find a good song can enhance a video way beyond what the normal footage could attain. Try to find something that fits the theme of the video and captures the mood.

6 - HAVE FUN
Your attitude and those of your stars will certainly come through in the finished product. Enjoy yourself, and remember you can always make another video if it doesn't turn out as good as you hoped. Be daring, experiment with all of the other 5 elements I've mentioned, and don't hesitate to try new ideas.

Hope some of this helps, I'm also in the process of trying to develop my moviemaking skills. It's great to know someone else is in the same boat! I'm sure your video will turn out great and I can't wait to see the finished product.

I have a basic grounding in normal movie making (did my degree in film making) but there is a different element to making a juggling video, it's not really a documentary nor is it a narrative. I'm focusing on the main hangouts for spiny juggly people, the workshops and clapham common.
and just so everyone knows WE'RE FILMIN ON SUNDAY 13th JULY IN CLAPHAMN COMMON FROM 1 O'CLOCK. I hope you guys are there because it's supposed to be a beautiful day anyway.

good juggling videos:
I like to watch videos of women with balls

jugglers porn

yea. and for editing you have to use the "iris star"
and "3d motion tumble away"
lots.

phat fitting music, not so loud that it takes over the scene, but a weel chosen sound track and some stunning visual trades, can make a vid, look at stuff like skate vids, alt sport vids, they have fitting music and a fish eye lens (skate vids i used to do i always did with a fish eye, cos tthey make evry thing look cool), just get good footage, andworry about the editing later, i shoot 5x what i knwo ill need, cos i cut so much up, and i know i can make it better!

later days

what about the star wipe drew

ROFL .... me a heckler ? i am the sweetest non heckling frog in the whole wide world i dunno watcha talking about Glass

cannot wait to see the video anyway

good luck guys

shine on
cass

star wipe used exclusively when cutting to a glass clip and 3d tumbles out every time...? it could give drew's sections that extra little je ne ses qoui (cass - spelling?) he's been looking for.

sorry i didn't make it to clapham steve - hope you got lots of stuff cos as you predicted, the weather was absoutely stunning.
i won't make wednesday either but am aiming to get to acton on thursday evening...
hopefully see ya there

do you have the scooby doo 'dream' effect at all where the screen goes all wavy? i'd use that all the time if i were you - coupled with many lines of dialogue complaining about meddling kids...

"Hey, it's old Mr Coleman from the funfair!"

"and i'd have untangled that airwrap it wasn't for you meddling kids"

je ne sais quoi

when will the video be available and how ? download ? sold ?

shine on
cass