Continuing my discussion of booze-related videos, here’s a review of Grand Marnier’s latest monstrosity, “Navan”:
You can find a higher-resolution version of that on .mac. Marvel in the HDness of being able to count the number of hairs on my chin! Or something.
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Fun video. I wasn’t much at risk for buying Navan, but now I won’t wonder what I’m missing.
What’s the ratio of the liqueurs in the cocktail you made? I couldn’t find it on Webtender. I assume 1 to 1 but thought I’d check.
You could put your Navan in this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_13875,00.html. I usually use Amaretto instead of brandy, but Navan sounds like it would work.
Also, have I mentioned that I love how you drink on video for our edification? Because I do.
Very good lighting, backdrop, and scene balance. Finally, a video blog by someone who actually knows something about photography! Is there any artificial light at all? The partly-cloudy PA day is treating your skin and hair very well.
Whatever mic balance/eq is keeping the throatiness out of your voice is working well. The consistent outdoor noises but no wind is a good audio backdrop as well. Did you make a buzz track or is it all “live incidental”?
Adding the wipes was clearly a lot of fun, and all of the little cuts to squeeze out boringness/mistakes remind me of Robert Rodriguez’s cooking shows (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO8EiScBEjA).
Keep working on your posture (you’re doing fine at keeping your hands away from your face and looking straight into the camera, so your live presentation experience has you almost there), and watch out for your shirt rolling forward on your shoulders and creating wrinkles.
Grade: A
I like the drinking in the videos too. Except that it makes me thirsty in the middle of a work day.
jferro: Thanks for the (unwarranted) compliments. I’m satisfied with the lighting, but the sound quality is terrible. Despite my admonition to other people to use off-camera mics, I am too lazy to practice what I preach. I post-processed the sound a bit, running it through a de-noiser, a limiter, and a compressor. But it still doesn’t sound right.
The jump cuts were because the first version of this was 9 minutes, and the first people I showed it to said “You are putting us to sleep. Tighten it up.” I was hoping it would be stylistically interesting. But really, if I was being morally pure, I should have re-shot it. But again: lazy.
Julie: that chocolate pot recipe might very well work. If I try it, I’ll report back.
Cynthia: What should I drink next? PS: Stop slacking at work!
The whole time, I was thinking “Shoot this twice, same text, move the camera up closer the second time. Cut back and forth. And then you will be the Ze Frank of the booze world, and the viewers will flock in like sheep on MDMA.”
Go ahead, hate me.
Zarf,
You mean like this?
(And I swear I recorded that before you made your comment).
-Peter