check out my first film: Hotel California: the music video

[canada_habs2004]

i would love to hear comments / what you liked and didn't like on my first real film. it's a music video to the song Hotel California.

www.geocities.com/hotel_california_movie


direct link
http://www.archive.org/download/AffinityLoxHotelCaliforniaAStudentMadeMusicVideo/hotel...california.wmv

[Tonny]

Sound good but pic. too dark, some time hard to see.

[Ryd4Life]

Excellent song choice but I agree the video is way to dark

[GilbyGood]

When this song first came out I was going to make a film based on it, but didn't. The direction I was going to take was very diferent from that which you choose. The darkness of the film adds to the feel of the piece, I wanted to see more close-ups as the film progressed but on the whole you almost caught the full flavor of the song.

Keep up the good work and make more.

Kudos

[canada_habs2004]

thanks for your comments and suggestions.

you are all rite when you say that the video is too dark. When i was getting close to finishing the editing, a knew that this would be the case

however when you watch it full screen full quality or on a television, it becomes more of a little thing that you don't notice as much.

One day the internet will offer compression that allows full-screen DVD quality video to be streamed, and then you can really see what it looks like

[ranchhand]

For your first full-blown try this is excellent. You used some serious camera techniques to good effect. I have often wondered why there hasn't been a video of such a famous song. I like the idea of a kid "trapped" in school at night. Well done.

[Noahtuck]

I thought it was damn good!!!
Even with the couple of really dark spots, i could still see what was going on and still liked it, gave that dark errie feel, along with it being in B&W.

I'd even add it to a dvd of other music vid's if i could get it in dvd format/res.

I have often wondered why there hasn't been a video of such a famous song.

I know there is at least one.
I don't remember if they ever did a themed one but there is one that used to pay all the time on MTV way back in the day.

[daamon]

As with others, picture is too dark. I agree that darkness can add mood and atmosphere, and that it probably won't be too bad on a bigger screen (TV etc.), but still a little too dark anyway.

I liked the interpretation of the lyrics, and what footage you translated that into - there were some very effective points: "there she stood in the doorway", "stab it with their steely knives", "get back to the place I was before" are some that spring to mind...

I felt that the following were used effectively, and not overdone:

* Slow motion
* Fast motion
* Transitions between still shots and pans
* The blue tint to some shots, if that was intentional
* Scene setting leading into the whole story, or building up to a particular clip

I thought that the camera (movement) and positioning were good.

And, last but not least, well acted, planned, and produced. You should be proud of yourselves!

Oh, and the girl at the dinner table... She was classy and easy on the eye... An attractive young lady always helps!

[FulciLives]

I liked it ... thought the camera work was very good although it is much too dark but it is true that NTSC video always looks a bit darker on a computer monitor than a regular TV.

I like the song and some other songs by THE EAGLES but I've never really been "into" them ... never really read any magazine articles or books etc. about them so maybe this is "bung" but I was told by someone that the song HOTEL CALIFORNIA is based on Anton LaVey ... the author of the SATANIC BIBLE and leader of the "church of Satan".

In fact I was told that one or maybe it was all of the members (from THE EAGLES) visited Anton LaVey and his "church" and that the song came about based on that experience.

Anyone have any comments about that?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman