Hello folks,

This is my first experemental short information video from the Scottish highlands. I plan to do a few of these for our upcoming website. This isnt the finish thing, just a test film to see what potential there is in our idea.

Comments and criticism welcome of course. Great forum by the way

Just changed it to an attachment. Im hitting more on 'concept' rather than filming quality, etc.

My download crapped out on me near the end, but I got the first 4min 36.

Generally good, but

I'd lose the countdown at the start, personally, I think it adds nothing and looks a bit cheesy,

the titles were good, clear and simple.

Music was good too, fitted the piece well I thought.

I guess that the audience of the clips will be interested in the fort and stuff, but for me it seemed to drag a bit.

I thought it could have done with a voice-over, as well as the captions, just to add a bit more of a professional feel.

The captions were good I think, clear and concise, a few slightly odd wordings, but this is only a test.

Some of the shots of the surroundings were a bit shaky, you could try to remove this in your software, it might look a bit nicer.

I thought it was really good, made the Highlands seem like a really nice place to visit.

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I really liked the atmosphere around this. Very good. The music fits nicely.

One suggestion I would make is to do a timelapse shot of the hill with clouds skating across the hill, in 'Top Gear' style. The shot at 3mins made me think of this, as the cloud shadow came across the grass.

On the downside the way the titles swizled off the screen was a distraction for me. Simple fades in and out would be better I think.

Also, a tripod is a must for shots like those. The shake is small but very noticeable. If it isn't miles to carry it, it would be worth reshooting.

I have to agree that a voice over would be a good move. A good thick (not stupid thick) Scottish male accent would give this production loads more feel. You could even ditch the titles altogether if it was voiced.

Overall though I still really like it. I'm just nit-picking.

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It's nice. yeah. you'll need a tripod or someone with a steady hand, as mentioned above.

Get Tom Weir to voice it. That guy's a hero of mine. Failing that, there are plenty of people will do it for nothing. Fancy someone with a messed up ayrshire accent doing it?

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I totally agree with everythig so far. There is an element of shake, although the camera was on a light tripod. It was actually extremely windy that day and I couldnt keep the camera still when using zoom.

The titles were faded nicely and it was the encoding to wmv format by widows media encoder that dropped it to 12fps from 25fps and had a detremental effect on the titling.

The music I wrote and recorded on my digital studio with my mate dougie, I tried to make soomething that would fit that wasn't obviously "Scottishy" in a cheesy way.

Also, this item wasnt properly scriped or blocked out, its just the hill fort happens to be 1mile from my house. The short movies on the site will be for people interested in the scottish highlands, mainly from a historica perspective.

Thanks to all who are viewing it.

Do we see your house on the shot from the summit? :lol:

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lol, i looked but you cant quite see it i'm afraid

I like it - it's good and I agree with everything thats been said so far... Good luck with the final version

For what it's worth

Titles: They jump out at you, which is completely at odds with the pace of music and transitions. Either key frame some fades or add a trade transition to smooth out the video. I also noticed you hit the tittles on the strong bit. Personally I'd fade out on on this in time with the music. The music is such that you don't want to emphasise the punch, but the soft fade of the punch.

Length: Too long in my opinion. You've got to consider keeping interest, download times and quality. Make a longer series at higher quality and shorter vids. Keep people interested and coming back for more.

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All the preceding comments are pretty accurate, I think.

Really nice to watch - and a refreshingly pleasant change from disintegrating cats.

Spoken commentary definitely would add that perfect touch - and condense it at the same time, I reckon.