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How to fake motion control camera movements manually

Motion control hardware and even fully articulated robotic arms have drastically come down in price the last few years. To the point where they’re very affordable indeed. I even have one of my own on its way to me as I type this post. As a result, they’ve found their way into more and more video productions. Especially music videos, like Kendrick Lamar’s Humble (lyrics probably NSFW).

But what if you don’t have the cash laying around to buy one? Or just can’t justify spending that much for something you won’t use very often? Well, Jordy at Cinecom has come up with a great technique that allows you create a very similar looking effect, but without the robot. It’s all done completely manually.

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New OK Go video features 567 perfectly synchronized printers

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American band OK Go are well known for their creative and boundary-pushing music videos. And now, they did it again. Their latest video features 567 perfectly computer printers and a whole lot of colorful paper. The wall of printers creates mesmerizing visualizations, and it’s described as “the world’s first paper mapping.”

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Band uses lag in Facebook Live broadcast to film a hypnotizing video

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When broadcasting live on Facebook, there’s a short lag between your recording and the video being broadcasted. Musicians from a band The Academic used this lag to their advantage. They played the instruments in their song “Bear Claws” to create a video loop. Because of the lag, the instruments form the song layer by layer, while the trippy visual tunnel grows in the background. It’s amazing how something so simple creates something so enjoyable to watch.

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How to fake bullet-time effect on a budget and with a single camera

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I still remember my first impression when I saw the bullet time effect in Matrix. And it’s still awesome to this day. Of course, it’s a Hollywood movie, and not all of us have the budget to create it like they do. A creative Russian director Max Ksjonda created this effect for a music video and posted the BTS video of how he did it. It doesn’t require an array of cameras and a huge budget. All you need is a single camera, a green screen, and some stands and ropes.

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This stop-motion music video was created with over 5500 hand cut stickers

What I love about music videos is that they can show so much creativity in only a couple of minutes. Directing duo Jesse Lamar High and Nik Harper (LAMAR + NIK) created one of such videos for the song Half a Million by The Shins. It involves over 5500 hand cut stickers of the band members’ pictures, animated to show them perform in a number of crazy locations. It’s not a huge investment, yet the results are fantastic.

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This music video was shot on commercial sets while the client wasn’t looking

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“How to work in a free music video on set… when the client isn’t looking.” Guys from Droptree Productions show you how they did it, and how they ended up with one of the most hilarious videos I’ve seen this year.

Droptree Productions is a commercial video production company located in Portland, Oregon. It took them 2 years to make the video for the “HD Delivery” song. They were recording it only during breaks on commercial sets, so you can imagine why it took so long.  But it was definitely worth it because both the song and the video are pretty darn awesome.

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This brilliant music video has no VFX, only a tiny camera on a huge set

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I often stumble upon the music and videos that take my breath away. This happened with Bonobo’s song “No Reason,” and the video that follows it really left me speechless.

Watching this video, you’ll be sure there were special effects involved. However, the director Oscar Hudson used no VFX whatsoever. He used a tiny camera, a huge set, and only two takes to create this fantastic work. He came up with a great solution, both technically and in terms of storytelling. And the video simply makes you watch it until the end. And then once again.

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Watch: this music video creates new contexts through unimaginable diptychs [NSFW]

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The song Go Up by Cassius begins with the words “Everybody, close your eyes.” But you should do exactly the opposite. Keep your eyes wide open and watch this creative video that follows this song.

The entire video is created from short sequences of videos displayed two by two. And every pair is connected as a diptych to form an entirely new context. It brings together the things you couldn’t imagine together. Some of them are funny, some absurd, some are even cheeky – but all of them are very clever. I have to point out that there is some nudity as well, so you probably don’t want to play it near your kids or at work.

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This fantastic music video is designed for watching both forwards and backwards [NSFW]

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Russian rock band Leningrad from Saint Petersburg has recently released a new video. It’s for their new song Кольщик (Tattoo Artist), and it features an absurd sequence of mistakes in reverse. When I first saw it, I couldn’t stop watching. The quality of the footage is brilliant, and the sequence of events is so captivating, that you’ll stick with it until the very end. And what’s best – you’ll feel exactly the same when you watch it in reverse. Keep in mind that it’s quite hardcore, so viewer discretion is advised.

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Filmmaker inserts himself into stock photos for this hilarious music video

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I’ve been a big fan of Joe Penna (aka MysteryGuitarMan) on YouTube ever since I saw his stop motion rendition of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro about 7 years ago. With over 2.8 million subscribers, he doesn’t post as often these days as he once did, but when he does, you know it’s going to be entertaining. His latest video is no exception.

In the video, Joe inserts himself into a number of stock photos while he mimes along to the song Believer by Paper Lions. We’ve seen this done before with stills, but this is the first time I’ve seen anybody do it with video. As well as being well made, it’s as entertaining as we’ve come to expect from MysteryGuitarMan.

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