Pamela // Malcom - A dream aloud

Well I haven't posted something for ages, but I want to share this for many reasons and the first being is that this couple simply was blown away so much that made me teary and both bride and groom cried when they watched it for the first time.

Secondly for all the firsts, its my first solo shoot for a short film (7-8min), first interstate wedding, and there is no photo session which has always been something I felt that if I didn't have could hinder the video as that is the time to get some wow shots...so there was many challenges for this to come together as it did.

Pamela // Malcolm - Short Film on Vimeo

[Gerald Webb]

hello Peter, great shooting.
What kind of steadycam do you use?
and do you use it for most of the reception "running around" in the crowd.
cheers,
Gerald

[Peter Szilveszter]

Gerald

I didn't use any Steadicam for this particular film, but I use the Steadicam Merlin when we have 2 shooters. Or do you mean like a monopod?

[Gerald Webb]

well that is amazing Peter, I just watched the vid again and realised there is no actual Steadycam shots in there, the first time I watched it more as a punter and was that impressed by the quality of your work I guess I just presumed you had some help. I thought you were using a Steady or Glide cam for sure.
Anyway, great work. Thanks for posting.
PS. Im going to start practicing more with my monopod.

[Noa Put]

Great job Peter and if you done this on your own it makes it even better. :)

If there is one thing I would complain about, and it's not something you done wrong but more as I call it a side effects of working with a dslr, is about the quite extreme very shallow dof in some scenes which often was more distracting then it added something.
Especially the scenes where you were "looking" for the right focus, eventhough you got it right each time (which stays hard to judge on a small vimeo video but should be washed on a full hd screen) the fact that you saw that focus shifting some times was distracting. Also some shot had such an extreme dof and I think that is something that should be used wisely :)
That really narrow dof is nice for uber creative shots but incase of "live action" I prefer a bit wider dof (if the lightconditions allow) and a spot on focus, I know that is difficult to get, especially if you have to turn the iris wide open.

My fist shoots with a dslr also contained some really narrow dof shots but my latest shoots I always try to make the dof wider, a dslr often leaves sufficient room to still have a nice blurred background and having at least 1 meter in focus. It makes dslr shots look much better.

But then again, doing this gig alone, working with a dslr and still being able to deliver such a product, that alone is already remarkable.

[Peter Szilveszter]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Great job Peter and if you done this on your own it makes it even better. :)

If there is one thing I would complain about, and it's not something you done wrong but more as I call it a side effects of working with a dslr, is about the quite extreme very shallow dof in some scenes which often was more distracting then it added something.
Especially the scenes where you were "looking" for the right focus, eventhough you got it right each time (which stays hard to judge on a small vimeo video but should be washed on a full hd screen) the fact that you saw that focus shifting some times was distracting. Also some shot had such an extreme dof and I think that is something that should be used wisely :)
That really narrow dof is nice for uber creative shots but incase of "live action" I prefer a bit wider dof (if the lightconditions allow) and a spot on focus, I know that is difficult to get, especially if you have to turn the iris wide open.

My fist shoots with a dslr also contained some really narrow dof shots but my latest shoots I always try to make the dof wider, a dslr often leaves sufficient room to still have a nice blurred background and having at least 1 meter in focus. It makes dslr shots look much better.

But then again, doing this gig alone, working with a dslr and still being able to deliver such a product, that alone is already remarkable.

Thanks Noa, I agree there are a couple of hunting shots that were unintended but for the purpose of the story I kept it. As far as shallow that is a personal choice for me, for this piece it was all f2-f4 so I never went to 1.4. But It really depends how I want to tell the story and try to keep things consistent so this is always based a conscious decision to shoot a certain way. So I do see your point and it does really just come down to a personal preference.

[Susanto Widjaja]

solo shoot like this, like noa said, remarkable!

only thing for me if I have to be super picky, I'd love to see her putting the dress on with a touchy song cause you built it up very nicely with her saying "its finally happening, can't believe it" (sort of) but then you changed to an upbeat song... which kinda lost the momentum of her "big dressing up" moment.

But yeah, thats about it :)

Santo

[Peter Szilveszter]

Originally Posted by Susanto Widjaja

solo shoot like this, like noa said, remarkable!

only thing for me if I have to be super picky, I'd love to see her putting the dress on with a touchy song cause you built it up very nicely with her saying "its finally happening, can't believe it" (sort of) but then you changed to an upbeat song... which kinda lost the momentum of her "big dressing up" moment.

But yeah, thats about it :)

Santo

Hehe I don't do "touchy" songs :P just kidn, but I did try it and just felt it slowed the pace down and didn't suit them or the story, but as you know if you don't happen to find the right music its very tough and just end up wasting too much time looking for it.