Let the criticism and advice begin!
Lynette + Andrew Wedding Highlights (my first wedding!)
Let the criticism and advice begin!
I'm glad the sound recorder worked out for you. Did you have to do much in post with it?
Anyways, it's good enough at worst and at the price, good bang for the buck.
Well done, Daniel.
The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.
No post work done on any of the audio in this clip.Originally Posted by HueyNRolf
Wow Daniel, very impressive. Nice work man.
Boy I sure wish I used this song for my video, I used some lame Elvis song. They loved it but they would have liked this more.
Audio is great! They should be very happy with the product.
Suggestion: You might be doing this already, but have the intro be a nice montage of pictures of the bride and groom, picture of them growing up, graduating, etc.
Your very lucky there wasn't as many guests as I usually get, we get around 300-400 and it becomes impossible to film the dancing the way you did.
Once again, great job.
Last edited by Lawrence189; 2010 September 29th at 00:16.
Do not view me as a critic or a judge. I just tell it how I see it, valuable or not.
I actually couldn't find any pictures of the couple together (not even those every day snapshots, if you know what I mean). So the pictures montage couldn't be done
This was the song the couple requested, as it was the song they walked down the isle to (instead of that same old unimpressive groan inducing tune you always hear at weddings).
Much appreciated mate. Without your list of suggestions and guidlines, I would have buckled!
Daniel, correct me if I'm mistaken, but I recall reading somewhere on here that you had used two cameras for the wedding? Mind my asking what the second camera was, or was it just another HV30?
It was a DVD handycam only really used to trial something I had in mind. A friend offered me use of it, and I thought it might come in handy. A Sony DCR-DVD653E (PAL). None of the footage from that camera was used in the highlights clip.
Very impressive Daniel. Nice little touches with the cat and the boy taking a picture of you. Loved it.
Good job Dan......can I call you Dan? Did you find nerve racking at all? Like "I better not F this one up!". Also, do you plan on getting any extra gear for extra added cinematography? (slider, dolly, jib, glidecams, etc.) I brought All that shizz with me to the wedding I did last week, and even though it was a bitch to carry all of it, it made for spectacular shots........does anybody ever feel they look stupid when gliding around a room?
Yes but it stops as soon as I have the cheque for a few grand in my hand.
- V
Hi Daniel
Good job for your first... Cant really get to grips with the colours, was that the hv30? what settings did you use and what changes in post. Maybe it was my computor but this end the whole thing looked a little washed out and then there was a part where the colours looked great near the end. Im unsure about the film look for weddings i think just good settings with nice colours works just fine. Did your customer like it? Did you find it hard work? I do as last week there was 250 guests at a wedding i did and it was pure mayhem.. The first dance i did was a waste of time as evryone rushed forward and got in the way, let me tell ya if you can produce top work at weddings you are one top cameraman/editor/propman/producer ect ect ect... steve
Reminds of the first wedding I did, I made sure I had lots of "non-ceremony" shots to fill in the story. I also scoped out the venue beforehand, so I knew what and where I wanted to shoot. I didn't get as good audio as you did, missed most the bride's vows. What can I say? No separate audio, single camera, yet I still managed to turn it into a pretty good recollection of the couple's wedding day.
I was disappointed there was no hit man!
The horror.... the horror....
Thanks all!
Actually, the HV really didn't like the hall I was shooting in. Nor did it really like the church. I was shooting in Cinemode (simply for colour correction). I only gave it the orange grade to brighten it up, remove some grain... and get rid of the grey tone on it.
Again, thats part of my settings in camera. I shot it in Cinemode, locked exposure to -1 (for those outdoor shots) and such. Thats why it looks the best of all shots (except for the one at the start where the groom is doing up his sons tie).
Second camera, that's about it. I'm also thinking about buying a new steadycam as my one was useless at the wedding (a few of those shots ended up in the highlights. The shot where the boy takes a photo of me, and the low shot of the kid on the floor)... it was shaky and boring.
Actually, I didn't feel stupid at all. At first, I felt eyes on me during the ceremony... but I got over it because it distracted me into screwing up a perfectly good shot.
Yeah it's even worse when it's your family.I felt eyes on me during the ceremony
My first wedding shoot was for a family member and literally every single one of my family members [which is about 25 aunties and uncles, 33 cousins] where staring at me smiling and randomly yelling suggestions the whole time.
Do not view me as a critic or a judge. I just tell it how I see it, valuable or not.
Hehe yea... that would bug me!
Also, just to throw it out there: the aformentioned DVD camcorder discs I had, I was playing these at the reception on a laptop... the family were asking for copies of that! But, I wouldn't (couldn't). I handed them my brochure and said to contact me with details, I'll get copies of the full DVD to them for $5. Not out to make a buck (well... much of a buck), thats why I did this wedding cheap.
It was quite fun, to say the least.
not sure why you would use cinemode, it's like playing russian roulette. I always use TV mode shutter 30 on weddings on my HV20. Gives it a film-ick look in addition to letting more light in. And I don't have to color grade anytihng, all the colors come through. Cinemode is Sh*t.
Nice work.
I like working with colour correction.
Also, I used Cinemode because using the other modes had me working with grain and odd colours (I usually use TV mode 50, 25 is too choppy for me) and so I went with cinemode to cut out grain.
Thanks for your input
Thanks for reply daniel i only use cinemode for low lights and that is it.. Keep up good work though and welcome to the wedding buisness industry... steve
Completely missed your comment, hehe. I'm quite lucky I had the second camera, as I missed out on shots of the groom saying his vowels in my recording. I walked into this job knowing that I wanted to deliver something better than 'a one camera + rode VM shaky cam video'. If that was the case, they would have been better off letting a family member with their handycam film it. So thats why I got the voice recorder, and put my cam on a shoulder mount. Sure, I still had the rode VM... but I used the voice recorder for other reasons
Yes i realy liked Daniels filming but i have to agree with you about Cinemode,
Alright, just want to revive the thread to ask some questions. I really appreciate all the kind comments, those who are saying it's great and such. What I'd really like to hear, is What do I need to improve on?. Because I feel that, even though I myself like the video, I think I can improve. There are things I'd like to work on before I try another wedding.
This is my question to you. What needs improving? What shouldn't be there?
and also, here's the photo that the boy took of me... just for kicks:
don't really like this, but as long as the couple is happy, that's all that matters.
things that you should improve on :
camera movements :
much too shaky, uncontrolled moves. Get a decent monopod or a cheap stabilizer like a nanocam
framing : very uninspired and middle of the road, tilted shots (where the horizon isn't horizontal) are very outdated an make it look like an 80's video.
grading and/or encoding : the result looks like an SD/VHS video ... colours are washed out and no longer breathe or live. either you didn't manually white balance while shooting or you went completely overboard while grading. also cinemode is a bad idea : stick to the regular TV mode 50 shutter speed and learn to live with the grain, or use extra lighting.
there's more, but start with these and you'll improve noticeably.
Last edited by krewcial; 2010 October 2nd at 03:30.
I agree with krewcial especially on the shaky cam. What is that camera mount in the picture? I thought you used your shoulder shooter?
And for heaven sake, man, Look at the state of you. You can't show up at a paid-wedding-gig looking like that. Maybe if you took a bit more pride in your appearance, there'd be a bit more pride in your product shinning through.
You asked for more constructive crits on how how to improve, so presumably you want to pursue this. But I swear to god, Daniel, you wouldn't through the door looking like that at some of the weddings I've shot at.
The Korova milkbar sold milk-plus, milk plus vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom, which is what we were drinking. This would sharpen you up and make you ready for a bit of the old ultra-violence.
Repost, deleted not thinking straight [just got in fight with partner in film about being open minded, was bias to comments].
Huey, regarding the clothing.
Yes, dressing in suits is good to show your professionalism, people who are attending the wedding will take you more serious and will be interested in hiring you.
Then again, some people have there styles, or some people may not have the budget. If he didn't charge them much, anything under $800, then I believe he can wear what he wants, and the clothes he was wearing in the picture are not necessarily bad, in Michigan Free Lance wedding filmers all wear a different style of clothes, some suits, some dress shirts, some polo sweaters, hoody's, etc etc. Plus I'm sure if these guests where so concerned with his clothing then they'd be very concerned with his gear as well, some people seem to think 'the smaller the camera the worse the video guy,' or even seeing a nanocm would make them think. So you'll never get a good impression on these certain people. You just have to show them your working and your ambition.
The product shows all, people will recommend your work, people will notice your prices and not care what the hell you wear, "A wedding for $500? Deal!"
And really it's not all that bad. He has a long sleeved shirt, tucked in, a belt, black pants. It's decent, he's doing a wedding for very cheap apparently.
How can you deny his hair style reminding me of John Cazale from Dog Day Afternoon.
Last edited by Lawrence189; 2010 October 2nd at 05:29.
Do not view me as a critic or a judge. I just tell it how I see it, valuable or not.
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