Wedding Videos with Different Approaches? at DVinfo.net

Art Guglielmo · May 7th, 2005, 07:02 AM

Hello all,
Just wondering, is anyone out there have a different approach to wedding videos? We seem to all be in a rut, me included. Everybody here generally shoots nice clean 3-ccd images, edited in Slo-mo over some nice Enya music or something of the like.

My question is there someone out there that has some new ideas they would like to show off, something that takes the wedding video to a higher level?

For the most part, all these wedding samples look the same, and unfortunately, mine arn't a whole lot different. Let's hear from the movers and shakers. Even if its radically different, let us know about it, and maybe theres a way we can make the idea work.

Glen Elliott · May 7th, 2005, 08:09 AM

Unfortunately by nature the wedding videography genre is limited. It's like shooting a short film with the same script over and over again but with a different cast.

There are definitly different styles- and they aren't all the slow romantic type...I just find that is what my clients prefer. After all 99.9% of the time I'm dealing with the Bride and/or MOB. It take a certain type of client to prefer something other than slow, sweet, and romantic.

Walt C. a member here is one of the ones that I personally know that does some off the wall wild edits. Very fun, light hearted and fast paced. Maybe he'll chime in and even post an example of his more out of the "ordinary" approach.

Tommy James · May 7th, 2005, 09:55 AM

Actually with HDV there is no advantage to using 3 CCDs because the MPEG2 compression codec simply throws away all the additional color information that is gained by the use of 3 CCDs. So other than an oversampling advantage the benefits are dubious.

Don Bloom · May 7th, 2005, 01:57 PM

Art,
There are many ways to tell the story. Some do short form, others long form, some use lots of slo-mo others don't. Some use lots of effects others don't.

It depends on the style of that particular person.

Remember, the ceremony is not the time to start getting super creative. The prep or pre-ceremony, formal shoot, cocktail time, reception recap, thats the time to let juices flow.

Check out joel Peregrine (Milwaukee), Terry T (New Orleans), Dave Bonner (Canada-by BTW, Walter C works for Dave) Ken Erhardt, Robert A. Erlich (started the 30 minute edit) Art Polin in FL-just to name a few-all have differing styles that still meet the clients requirements. Steady, clean and a great rememberance of the day.

As someone said, every wedding by nature is the pretty much the same and there is only so much you can do.

Don

Jason Bowers · May 7th, 2005, 03:12 PM

Hi there, I am relatively different in my presentation style than almost every person i've met. The theory behind it is to take the couples favourite television or movie and recreate an episode of the show with their interests. I've done an intro of the Sopranos, Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, and am doing a Grease wedding in January. The Sopranos wedding had the intro which cut off to a poker table where all the groomsmen were playing, after a short skit we go to the bride and do some skits with her and go to the wedding. It's different but most people are very open to it, especially the young brides. I also do the elegant weddings as I call them, with all the slo mo's and such. Hope this helps.

Glen Elliott · May 8th, 2005, 01:50 AM

I know you guys are used to the slow romantic stuff from me but here's something a little different... Its a credits montage (minus the credits titling)

http://home.comcast.net/~g.elliott3///McCoyCredits.wmv

Patrick King · May 8th, 2005, 03:33 PM

Glen,
Magic as always! What is the name for the shot in which the camera is intentionally angled? You used this quite effectively to introduce 'the cast' and it is even more suited to the longer aspect ratio of 16:9. Are you still shooting with your PD-170s and then converting to 16:9? Well made!

Wayne Orr · May 8th, 2005, 03:46 PM

Sigh. Would love to take a look a your videos, Glenn, but unfortunately my home computer is an iMac that won't work with Windows Media 7 without an operating system upgrade, and I just don't want to go all through that to view some video from time to time. Point being, besides me, there are a lot of Mac users that can't view WM7, and I would guess that includes your potential clients.

Just thought I would pass that along for your consideration.

Patrick Moreau · May 8th, 2005, 04:54 PM

Wouldn't you have to have a pretty old mac OS that wouldn't allow you to download windows media player? The mac market is small enough, I don't think you need to worry about the small portion of that market who also has an older OS.

I really enjoyed the credits clip, very unique. It would have been nice to see it with the titles to see how you would work them in. About the footage you shot outdoors with the bridal party doing various poses, how much footage do you think you recorded to get those shorts clips you use throughout the various parts of your video?

Thanks for sharing.

Patrick

Glen Elliott · May 8th, 2005, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick King

Glen,
Magic as always! What is the name for the shot in which the camera is intentionally angled? You used this quite effectively to introduce 'the cast' and it is even more suited to the longer aspect ratio of 16:9. Are you still shooting with your PD-170s and then converting to 16:9? Well made!

It's called a dutch angle- and yes, it's very easy to over do them. I think I might have in this piece.

I shoot in 4:3 and crop down to 1:85:1.

Glen Elliott · May 8th, 2005, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne Orr

Sigh. Would love to take a look a your videos, Glenn, but unfortunately my home computer is an iMac that won't work with Windows Media 7 without an operating system upgrade, and I just don't want to go all through that to view some video from time to time. Point being, besides me, there are a lot of Mac users that can't view WM7, and I would guess that includes your potential clients.

Just thought I would pass that along for your consideration.

Wayne, preferably I'd like to render out to MPG1 but right now I have limited webspace. I'm actually in the process of buying/choosing a domain. I'd like to get my site up by this summer.

Wayne Orr · May 8th, 2005, 05:46 PM

Thanks for your help, Patrick. As a matter of fact however, I do have WindowsMediaPlayer 7 installed on the iMac, and indeed I should have been refering to WMP9, which will only run on Mac OS X and higher.
"The mac market is small enough, I don't think you need to worry about the small portion of that market who also has an older OS."
Woe is me. I am so ashamed.

As I said, Glenn, it's just for your consideration.

Wayne

"God is a comedian playing to an audience that doesn't have a sense of humor.

Glen Elliott · May 8th, 2005, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick Moreau

Wouldn't you have to have a pretty old mac OS that wouldn't allow you to download windows media player? The mac market is small enough, I don't think you need to worry about the small portion of that market who also has an older OS.

I really enjoyed the credits clip, very unique. It would have been nice to see it with the titles to see how you would work them in. About the footage you shot outdoors with the bridal party doing various poses, how much footage do you think you recorded to get those shorts clips you use throughout the various parts of your video?

Thanks for sharing.

Patrick

Yeah the titling pulls it all together. In this instance I shot only 30-60 seconds of each person. We were in a rush to finish without disturbing the photographers workflow during the session and it was blisteringly cold outside. More time is preferable but I can make it work with less if need be.

Wayne Orr · May 8th, 2005, 07:02 PM

OK, Glen, rather than encounter the wrath of anymore Mac bashers, I was able to download your clip, and I will take it to my lair where I will feed it to the fire-breathing G5 and watch it in all its glory on the Cinema Display. I see from your earlier postings that you have limited space, so it's probably not in your interest to post another format for us poor Mac lost souls. Do you have any other clilps posted somewhere I can download? This must have been some wedding; isn't this about your third clip from it? Were all these clips included in their package, or is this something for your own amusement?

Wayne

Chris Hurd · May 8th, 2005, 08:11 PM

Hey Glen,

I have some server space available here at DV Info Net. As one of our dearly beloved forum wranglers, you're certainly entitled to a slice of it. Let me know if I can host a clip or two for you.

May 7th, 2005, 07:02 AM	#1
Art Guglielmo Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 35	Wedding Videos with Different Approaches? Hello all, Just wondering, is anyone out there have a different approach to wedding videos? We seem to all be in a rut, me included. Everybody here generally shoots nice clean 3-ccd images, edited in Slo-mo over some nice Enya music or something of the like. My question is there someone out there that has some new ideas they would like to show off, something that takes the wedding video to a higher level? For the most part, all these wedding samples look the same, and unfortunately, mine arn't a whole lot different. Let's hear from the movers and shakers. Even if its radically different, let us know about it, and maybe theres a way we can make the idea work.

May 8th, 2005, 03:33 PM	#7
Patrick King Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Enterprise, AL Posts: 857	Glen, Magic as always! What is the name for the shot in which the camera is intentionally angled? You used this quite effectively to introduce 'the cast' and it is even more suited to the longer aspect ratio of 16:9. Are you still shooting with your PD-170s and then converting to 16:9? Well made! __________________ Fear No Weevil!

May 8th, 2005, 03:46 PM	#8
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	Sigh. Would love to take a look a your videos, Glenn, but unfortunately my home computer is an iMac that won't work with Windows Media 7 without an operating system upgrade, and I just don't want to go all through that to view some video from time to time. Point being, besides me, there are a lot of Mac users that can't view WM7, and I would guess that includes your potential clients. Just thought I would pass that along for your consideration. __________________ Wayne If it was easy, they'd get a relative to do it.

May 8th, 2005, 08:11 PM	#15
Chris Hurd Obstreperous Rex Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: San Marcos, TX Posts: 27,366 Images: 513	Hey Glen, I have some server space available here at DV Info Net. As one of our dearly beloved forum wranglers, you're certainly entitled to a slice of it. Let me know if I can host a clip or two for you. __________________ CH Search DV Info Net \| 20 years of DVi \| ...Tuesday is Soylent Green Day!

May 7th, 2005, 08:09 AM	#2
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Unfortunately by nature the wedding videography genre is limited. It's like shooting a short film with the same script over and over again but with a different cast. There are definitly different styles- and they aren't all the slow romantic type...I just find that is what my clients prefer. After all 99.9% of the time I'm dealing with the Bride and/or MOB. It take a certain type of client to prefer something other than slow, sweet, and romantic. Walt C. a member here is one of the ones that I personally know that does some off the wall wild edits. Very fun, light hearted and fast paced. Maybe he'll chime in and even post an example of his more out of the "ordinary" approach.

May 7th, 2005, 09:55 AM	#3
Tommy James suspended -- contact admin Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 214	Actually with HDV there is no advantage to using 3 CCDs because the MPEG2 compression codec simply throws away all the additional color information that is gained by the use of 3 CCDs. So other than an oversampling advantage the benefits are dubious.

May 7th, 2005, 01:57 PM	#4
Don Bloom Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 6,609	Art, There are many ways to tell the story. Some do short form, others long form, some use lots of slo-mo others don't. Some use lots of effects others don't. It depends on the style of that particular person. Remember, the ceremony is not the time to start getting super creative. The prep or pre-ceremony, formal shoot, cocktail time, reception recap, thats the time to let juices flow. Check out joel Peregrine (Milwaukee), Terry T (New Orleans), Dave Bonner (Canada-by BTW, Walter C works for Dave) Ken Erhardt, Robert A. Erlich (started the 30 minute edit) Art Polin in FL-just to name a few-all have differing styles that still meet the clients requirements. Steady, clean and a great rememberance of the day. As someone said, every wedding by nature is the pretty much the same and there is only so much you can do. Don

May 7th, 2005, 03:12 PM	#5
Jason Bowers Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Thunder Bay, ON. Canada Posts: 374	Hi there, I am relatively different in my presentation style than almost every person i've met. The theory behind it is to take the couples favourite television or movie and recreate an episode of the show with their interests. I've done an intro of the Sopranos, Friends, Beverly Hills 90210, and am doing a Grease wedding in January. The Sopranos wedding had the intro which cut off to a poker table where all the groomsmen were playing, after a short skit we go to the bride and do some skits with her and go to the wedding. It's different but most people are very open to it, especially the young brides. I also do the elegant weddings as I call them, with all the slo mo's and such. Hope this helps.

May 8th, 2005, 01:50 AM	#6
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	I know you guys are used to the slow romantic stuff from me but here's something a little different... Its a credits montage (minus the credits titling) http://home.comcast.net/~g.elliott3///McCoyCredits.wmv

May 8th, 2005, 04:54 PM	#9
Patrick Moreau Still Motion Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,186	Wouldn't you have to have a pretty old mac OS that wouldn't allow you to download windows media player? The mac market is small enough, I don't think you need to worry about the small portion of that market who also has an older OS. I really enjoyed the credits clip, very unique. It would have been nice to see it with the titles to see how you would work them in. About the footage you shot outdoors with the bridal party doing various poses, how much footage do you think you recorded to get those shorts clips you use throughout the various parts of your video? Thanks for sharing. Patrick

May 8th, 2005, 05:46 PM	#12
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	Thanks for your help, Patrick. As a matter of fact however, I do have WindowsMediaPlayer 7 installed on the iMac, and indeed I should have been refering to WMP9, which will only run on Mac OS X and higher. "The mac market is small enough, I don't think you need to worry about the small portion of that market who also has an older OS." Woe is me. I am so ashamed. As I said, Glenn, it's just for your consideration. Wayne "God is a comedian playing to an audience that doesn't have a sense of humor.

May 8th, 2005, 07:02 PM	#14
Wayne Orr Major Player Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Northridge Ca Posts: 734	OK, Glen, rather than encounter the wrath of anymore Mac bashers, I was able to download your clip, and I will take it to my lair where I will feed it to the fire-breathing G5 and watch it in all its glory on the Cinema Display. I see from your earlier postings that you have limited space, so it's probably not in your interest to post another format for us poor Mac lost souls. Do you have any other clilps posted somewhere I can download? This must have been some wedding; isn't this about your third clip from it? Were all these clips included in their package, or is this something for your own amusement? Wayne