Good Natured Child

[CrazyChloe15]

This song is my absolute favourite. I really like the majority of Sam's songs, but Good Natured Child really makes me happy. I love EVERYTHING about it; Sam's voice, the lyrics, Sam's skillful instrument playing, and the music video. I LOVE THE MUSIC VIDEO. The setting of the video is perfect, and Sam looks so cool in his denim jacket :D

I really love Lie Low Lie too. It makes me shiver, and I think Sam sings it with complete emotion.

I have to add though that the drumming in No End In Sight is awesome! Sam is so talented. How I wish I could play the drums like that!

[Sara]

These two songs are my absolute favourite. I really like the majority of Sam's songs, but Good Natured Child really makes me happy. I love EVERYTHING about it; Sam's voice, the lyrics, Sam's skillful instrument playing, and the music video. I LOVE THE MUSIC VIDEO. The setting of the video is perfect, and Sam looks so cool in his denim jacket :D

I really love Lie Low Lie. It makes me shiver, and I think Sam sings it with complete emotion.

I have to add that, the drumming in No End In Sight is awesome! Sam is so talented. How I wish I could play the drums like that.

Agree about all of them, but I have to say that I also love No End In Sight. It's really different from the previous Sam songs that I had heard before, a different sound, so it really surprised me, but I love it. I love the way it builds up, and the rythm in it.

[Christine]

I love Lie Low Lie too. Really beautiful.

[Fran]

Me too. And also No End In Sight. And Rain Down on You. And Sweet Luigi. And :biggrin2:

[Mana]

The Good Natured Child video is beautiful. I have no idea what the budget was, but IMHO it's better than a lot of videos with major label backing. The top rated comment on that video says it all, really:

"This is my ideal music video - beautiful scenery, beautiful song, beautiful singer."

My first impression was that everything just flows SO well. And the timing is impeccable. Have a look at 0:46. Did anyone else notice that Sam moves his eyes to look at the camera in perfect timing with the music? :naughty: And how about at 2:04 with the camera focusing on "Dumbledore" for just a brief moment. Or the duck bobbing along at 1:55 in time with the beat. It all just WORKS.

And I totally agree Chloe, the scenery is absolutely beautiful as well. Being from western Canada I was so envious this was shot in March. In western Canada, late March looks like this (http://twitpic.com/4dujp1). :aah:

Anyway, yes I'm gushing, but I really, really, really love this video. One of my favourite videos of 2011, full stop.

Sam/Team Sam, if you're around, care to tell us a bit more about how the idea for the video came about?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoXua-QpYEo

[Fran]

My first impression was that everything just flows SO well. And the timing is impeccable. Have a look at 0:46. Did anyone else notice that Sam moves his eyes to look at the camera in perfect timing with the music? :naughty: And how about at 2:04 with the camera focusing on "Dumbledore" for just a brief moment. Or the duck bobbing along at 1:55 in time with the beat. It all just WORKS.



YES! I actually laughed now when I saw the duck! Hadn't noticed that he moves with the beat. :aah: Even the colors match each other. :wub2:

[mintygriff]

I agree this video is just amazing, whenever im 'recruiting' new people into the Beeton gang-this is the video i always show them! I dont think anyone has managed to resist it so far:wub2:
It just gives you the feeling of complete calm, and being at one with nature. It is a perfect song in my eyes, love the lyrics, harmonies, everything.
But how did they get the duck to dance ??:biggrin2:

[CrazyChloe15]

I definitely agree. As well as also promoting the song and Sam, it also promotes the area it was filmed in. I know for sure I want to visit that peaceful place, and maybe even have a boat ride along the canal :)

[Mana]

I agree this video is just amazing, whenever im 'recruiting' new people into the Beeton gang-this is the video i always show them! I dont think anyone has managed to resist it so far:wub2:
It just gives you the feeling of complete calm, and being at one with nature. It is a perfect song in my eyes, love the lyrics, harmonies, everything.
But how did they get the duck to dance ??:biggrin2:

Duck hypnosis! :mf_rosetinted: Or you could argue that the song is so good, even ducks can't help but groove along. :fisch:


I definitely agree. As well as also promoting the song and Sam, it also promotes the area it was filmed in. I know for sure I want to visit that peaceful place, and maybe even have a boat ride along the canal :)

Now THAT would be a great place for a secret gig.

Oh and just so everyone's noticed - the Good Natured Child video has passed 10,000 views on YouTube. :biggrin2:

[Christine]

The Good Natured Child video is beautiful. I have no idea what the budget was, but IMHO it's better than a lot of videos with major label backing.

Totally agree!! I really love the colours and the mood. It's stunning and suits the song perfectly.

[BenMilner]

Hello everyone,

My name is Ben Milner, I was the director of Sam's video. I thought I'd come on here and tell some of the story of its making..

First of all, thanks for all the comments. I'm really proud of the video and it's great to hear people like it. I've been making various music related video content for years but this one really came together like nothing had before.

Technical details first, it was shot on a Canon 7D with a handheld steadicam. The lens that captured the great face shot of Sam was a 50mm 1.8.
I edited it and colour graded it in Adobe Premiere.
A video like this 10 years ago would have cost £10000, thanks to the introduction of DSLR's like the 7D it now costs a fraction of that.

The location was Godalming, Surrey in the UK. The Sweet Luigi offices are just up the road. We had initially planned to have some other scenes where Sam was strolling down a lane or sitting in a field. But when it came to the day, those locations were all inaccessible.

I'd had a good feeling about the Farncombe boat house for a few days, but when we arrived it was out of season for hiring rowing boats. At this point we nearly had no video, but luckily the producer Kyd talked them into lending us a newly painted boat from their workshop. We were the only people on the river!
Big thanks to the boat house for that one, the new boat was so colourful!

So Kyd sat in the back rowing, me in the middle with the camera and Sam on the end. Patrick walked on the bank with the equipment looking out for us. We just drifted down stream doing take after take. The steadicam swayed gently with the boat, which I really like, particularly in the last out of focus shot.

After a while we stuck Sam in the boat on his own, and I chased him from the bank picking up all the in between shots.

Apart from nearly dropping the camera in the river a couple of times, it was a pretty smooth running day. Sam was amazing, he knows exactly how to play to the camera, which makes my job so much easier.

Looking forward to doing another with Sam, so watch this space..

I'll answer any questions anyone's got, but I may be a bit slow to reply.


Until next time Beeton fans!!:happy:

[BenMilner]

I forgot to mention, when I saw that duck coming down the river, I knew he'd be a star. I set up on the bank and let him cruise through the frame.
Maybe he was nodding in time cos he'd heard us playing the song from the boat..

[mintygriff]

Hello everyone,
We had initially planned to have some other scenes where Sam was strolling down a lane or sitting in a field. But when it came to the day, those locations were all inaccessible.
We were the only people on the river!
Big thanks to the boat house for that one, the new boat was so colourful!

After a while we stuck Sam in the boat on his own, and I chased him from the bank picking up all the in between shots.

Apart from nearly dropping the camera in the river a couple of times, it was a pretty smooth running day. Sam was amazing, he knows exactly how to play to the camera, which makes my job so much easier.
Until next time Beeton fans!!:happy:

Thank you for for posting about the video, yes from our posts you can tell we all love it! How did you come up with the concept, guessing alot of listening to the song??
I like that its just on river, 'flows' nicely.
Very happy at thought of another video :biggrin2: Maybe a cameo from Mr Duck (unless he's following a Holywood career now?:rofl:)

[Mana]

Welcome Ben!

Thank you so much for all your great insight into the behind-the-scenes of this video. I found it interesting that you wrote "I've been making various music related video content for years but this one really came together like nothing had before." There really does seem to be something a little bit magic about the way this video came out.

I had no idea that the original concept was meant to be a little different, and that it was just a turn of events that resulted in the video we now have. Funny how that happens. Same with the story about getting the newly-painted boat last minute. :wub2:

Thanks for sharing the tech details as well. I'm a Canon fan myself (at least for SLRs), so it's cool to know what you used to shoot this video. I really appreciate that the finished product was uploaded to YouTube in 1080p - not all artists have caught up to that yet, so that was really cool.

And another project with Sam, you say? Exciting! :fisch:

PS: I totally accept the notion that the duck heard the music from the boat and couldn't resist rocking out. Sam's music knows no species boundaries. :naughty:

[Karen]

:surfing:Thanks for that Ben a great insight...fabulous video, just ebbs and flows, you have done a cracking job...a total pleasure to watch and keeps you interested all the way through..Just love it.

Would love you to do another one for Sam :wub2::omg_fans::omg_fans:

ps...good job Sam's got ferrying in his genes..... oooo arghhh Capitan...