My first highlight...
 

Here goes the neighborhood. This was my first stab at a wedding. I did this free for the B&G (friends), using a Pana GS320 DV camera, with some Sony camera I borrowed (can't remember what that was) for a second cam. I edited in Sony Vegas Movie Studio last summer. This is why this is up on vimeo as HD because VMS8 had no good SD (no H.264) encoder for the web.

I'd change a number of things, especially leaving the zooms out. Most of this was shot in auto as the GS320 is a pain in manual.

Comments are welcome. I got bit by the bug doing this, so am planning a start this year in doing this on the side with plans for going full-time if I can in the next few years. I am now on a mac with FCS, and will be re-editing for practice soon.

I wish I knew about this forum before I taped that wedding.

Heidi & Brad Steiner on Vimeo

Welcome to the carnival / circus of wedding videography. I use a GS320 as my tape deck / stash it someone for neat angles / emergency cut away camera.

The camera does get some pretty surprisingly good footage as long as it is in good light and on a tripod. For everything else.... not so much.

For Vegas, that is what i edit using (well, Vegas 8 Pro that is). It can do almost everything a wedding videographer needs except fancy text effects or very details audio. I purchased Soundforge almost exclusively for using it for noise reduction. Very handy suite of apps Sony has.

If honest feedback is what you are looking for then have no fear at what will be said (by me and others). We all learned the hard way at first too.

The GS320 isn't a HD cam so did you upscale it? You should be able to follow the Vimeo tutorial on how to render in Vegas for upload to their service.

Having said that, I'll go check your clip.

(returning)

The transition from movie aspect ratio to 16x9 is a little awkward, but I don't know of a better way to do it. Was that for effect purposes, because I know the GS320 shoots in 16x9 (or can).

You are right that the GS320 is a pain for manual controls.... BUT using the manual controlls you can still get some pretty good shots. It just takes a bit longer to go back through the menu and change the focus (for example). You can also use the auto focus trick where you point at what you want to be in focus, then switch to manual mode, then reframe the shot to get a faked DOF. And since the GS320 is almost ALWAYS in full open f-stop (because it has weenie little 1/6" CCDS and needs all the light it can get) the DOF is usually shallow enough to try some fancy things.

A lot of your shots would be improved in presentation a lot by just re-editing the cut to exclude the zoom (like you mentioned).

At 1:35 the bride waves to the camera right as a cross fade happens. If at all possible include more of that clip! That was pretty cute and after all.... it is the bride! The star of the show for the day. Run that clip a little longer if the footage is usable.

For me (personal preference of course) presenting the day out of order was a bit jarring, and I had to figure out what the bridesmaid was doing walking after the ceremony, but that is because I like the traditional way of showcasing a wedding day in chronological order.

You got some good footage there at the end (liked the flower petal shots). I would watch lots of samples here to see how others do it, and then incorporate a bit of everything you like into your productions.

One major piece of advice is to use a tripod much more frequently. Even for all the prep shots. If not a tripod, then a mono-pod or a MultiRig or a Fir Rig. Something to give that camera the stability needed to shoot smoother footage. Also, I rarely ever zoom in when no on a tripod. I compensate by getting closer. That helps in two ways 1) gives the camera more light to get a better picture, and 2) eliminates some of the shake that is magnified by being at the taller end of the zoom.

Good first run at things. Make sure you make a list of "do's and don'ts" for next time so you approach the next shoot armed for improvement. Keep it up!

Almost all of this was shot at 16:9, so where it appears to be a different ratio, I used masks. At the time, I liked the "effect". I'm not liking it all that much now.

Tis true.

That was all I had of that moment. That clip came off of her mother's old analog-8 handicam, and had some distracting stuff in the left of the frame, which is why I cropped it like that. It was too cute to leave out altogehter, so I used what I could.

Yeah. The mash-up of chronology was intentional, and I liked the pacing of it. But, it is a little odd I guess. I may play with that and do it over in chronological order to see how I like it.

I wanted to, but because I was not a hired pro, and so felt I should keep as low-key as possible. In retrospect, that was a bad decision.

Thanks. I am planning my entry into this, which includes better cameras, tripods, a monopod, a wireless lav (I already have some good condensor mics), a light, etc. Along with all that is a plan for practice time, and a list like you mention.