Motion Video Critique #4

Hospital from Matt Dempsey on Vimeo.


This time I decided to critique something that is, unfortunately, not really successful. Or, to be honest unsuccessful. This is a video that visualizes a not very well recorded song called "Take Me to the Hospital"
On the 5th second when letters start to appear, their alignment seems awkward and disproportional. Hierarchy is not very clear. For example placement of the word "hand" does not seem to be correct for the hierarchy purpose. The word "its" is placed into a frame, which doesn't seem to be supported by the song. So it is not clear why the author did it. The word "shaking" along with an arrow and a literally shaking "its" creates a strange and too literal combination. There is not forced connection, no mystery, no interest.

On the 10th second when "To The" appears, it looks like letters were stretched manually. It is not visually pleasing, and looks plain odd. On the second 11 the frames are rotated and the previous frame is squished on top of the screen. Doctor is manually squished than followed by a consequent frames of pictorial images that symbolize doctors and fixing the patient. They are plain and not entertaining in any way.

On the second 21 there are two pictorial images that talk about ambulance costing too much. Again, it is too literal, boring and the placement is very awkward. The black screen slides down and it splits the screen in the middle.

On the 27th second there is a landscape image, and an ambulance car that is going through. The color scheme is not working and it stays on the screen or too long. Typographic treatment is awkward again and poorly placed.

So, this is a poorly done video. Clearly the author did not place too much efforts into his typographic placements, alignments, color scheme, and most importantly, the concept.

Motion Video Critique #3

Crazy Enough - Vancouver Film School (VFS) from Vancouver Film School on Vimeo.


This is a video produced by JR Estrada in Vancouver Film School.
I can't help it, I want to find a not so good video for a critique but when I am looking through the videos, I only like the good ones. :)
The motion video is a title sequence for Jeorge's movie about his life if I am not mistaken. It is called Crazy Enough.
I must say in advance that the technical side is impeccable and there is nothing to critique on that end. What is really great about this video, is that it is not see and say.  For about one minute all we see are geometric figures and some type. But through manipulating color, position and movement the author was able to create a metaphorical representation of people's relationships. So we get the idea about George Estrada's busy life, friendship and relationships.
Stylistically, it is interesting and attractive. The little geometric figures, even though they are only circles and squares have character. Color scheme is sophisticated. The use of texture gives the video a human, warm and handmade feel.
Now, there are not that many scale shifts in this video. There are only little things moving in the screen. There are no large camera turns, or ugly drop shadows, or rapid zooms in and out. Not that they are needed, but it is interesting how the author created a very informative video using relatively limited set of effects.
The movie starts with a square and ends with a square. And while these thoughts may be a subjective reflection, it seems like the author is reinforcing some message. Because the movie is not see and say, we have a freedom of subjective interpretation of what we are shown.

The very last Adidas

Adidas Final-Final video:) from Natalia Zinser on Vimeo.


Music by Peter Bjorn and John - "Amsterdam"

Adidas. The final video.

Adidas, Final Video from Natalia Zinser on Vimeo.


Music by Peter Bjorn and John "Amsterdam"

Motion Video Critique #2

The Hush Sound — Lions Roar from Mig Reyes on Vimeo.


I chose this video because students who produced it claim that it was their first motion video ever and it is very inspiring that one can achieve such quality on their very first project. It is an animated song Lions Roar by Hush Sound.

First of all this is a very fun video to watch. Even though it is very much see and say, they treat everything that they say in a slightly different but consistent matter. They use type as well as some imagery and create a fun, quirky circus world. It doesn't just say the words of the song, but transgresses them into special meaning.

The color scheme is appropriate and sophisticated. There are multiple hierarchy level applied throughout the song in different manner. It is very easy and fun to read. Like on the 7th second there is an upside down typography, that the viewer can't really see, but it says, "the hush sound burns sweet music into your ears until they bleed money!"

See and say. The video seems pretty simple, but at the same time they say things slightly differently every time. And behind that surface simpleness lies a very complex work, because of the way type treatments work and flow from one another and an overall technical quality of this video.

Craft is great. This is a very well finished and successful video. Technical part is amazing, especially if it is really the author's first project. This is a very well paced motion piece. The only thing that I found, was on the 9th second, where the song says, "puppets on strings, all dance and sing", they just hang letters on the strings. And tops of those strings just appear in the middle of the screen. But it still works very well. People who did it, really put a lot of work into this video. They also treat their graphic details with humor. Where the song sings about delicate dame (27th second), delicate dame is shown in some cartoony bubble like character. Then on the second 106 the girl is shown with a pictogram from women's toilet. And there are a lot more small but fun details like this.

Adidas. Revision #2

Untitled from Natalia Zinser on Vimeo.


Music by Peter Bjorn and John - "Amsterdam"

First Adidas Video

Here is my first Adidas video. I know it is pretty crooked in many places, but I am going to improve it within the next couple of days.

Untitled from Natalia Zinser on Vimeo.

Motion Video Critique #1

All is well from Chris De la Rocha on Vimeo.


Here is my critique.
I have decided to choose this video, because, even though it is a little bit short, it caught my attention and it seems to be pretty interestingly made. It is also quite different from many other motion videos that I looked through.

Author's intent was to play with Rockwell typeface. He connects Rockwell font and hypnotizing notion.
Aesthetically, it is fun and consistent. I think the author is referring to vintage movies, because the video has such qualities as desaturation, appropriate color scheme and noise. When you look at this movie several times, it gives you a headache. So I guess it is really hypnotizing.

Hierarchy. There are several levels of hierarchy. He goes from type's name and the date of its creation to the description of the type and size and other data. It is a little hard to read, because the circles are rotating, but since it was author's intent, it works well.

The video seems to be paced pretty well. On the second 16, Rockwell panel goes left and right and then forward it seems to be a little bit too fast and inconsistent with the rest of the video.

There is really not much reconstruction and deconstruction. Thing are not really transforming into one another. But there is a lot of motion. We see the rotating circles with Rockwell typeface, and it repeats several times. But the overall plot is interesting and catchy.

See and Say. That part was quite hard to get at first, but then I noticed that the author placed two sound tracks over the video. One is saying "All is Well." and another one reads what written in the circle.

I think the stylistics and craft of this video are pretty successful. It seems like the author payed attention to the details. I did not notice any major craft issues. The letters flying over the screen sometimes felt to move too quickly and not smooth enough.