2 Indian wedding short movies. Review please! at DVinfo.net

2 Indian wedding short movies. Review please! · November 3rd, 2013, 03:43 AM

Here are two of our latest ones,

Noa Put · November 3rd, 2013, 04:18 PM

Ok, I"ll give it a try, I have to say in advance it's always difficult to "review" a wedding from another culture as expectations can be totally different, I have shot for brides that wanted a short 10 minute highlight video and I shot for brides that wanted at least 3 hours of coverage with mostly dancing, in both cases they came from 2 totally different countries, but my opinion might be interesting to you as well so you know how an "outsider" views your video.

I think the editing was very sloppy and looked like being put together with too less time available, what killed it for me was in the wedding story video around the 1 minute mark I saw during a split second an image what appears to be a totally out of focus shot of a guy carrying something, because it flashed by I"m sure it's not intended to be in there. There was a lot of the same thing shown and for me it got quite repetitive after a while, At 07:17 I also see a big camerashake as well that could be easily edited out. I also found the color looked washed out, what happened with all that bright color? With such a wedding I would expect color to be jumping out of my screen.

We often see the camera holding a certain frame and then it slowly tilts downward and during that tilt there was each time a cut in the edit, it often looked like the cameraman was not certain what to show and the editor was not certain where exactly to cut. The camerawork at the end of the weddingstory got worse with many camerashakes.

Then the music, I thought it didn't fit at all, I"d expect lot's of bollywood music but the second song in the wedding story again sounded like music my dad, God rest his soul, used a lot in his weddingvideos back in the 90"s and early 2000. I don't mean this as a joke, he really used his this kind of music but he didn't shoot these type of weddings.

What about ambient sound? I didn't get any feeling how it was like at that event, it was as if a camera was pointed at some things that happened and then just some random music was added, I didn't feel any emotion, excitement, happiness, whatever, it often felt like looking at a cctv recording.

Then I see the words "cinematography" but I have to be honest here Soumendra but this is not what I perceive as cinematography at all, then I expect a story, I expect live sound, I expect fitting music, I also would expect to show me just what I need to see and not repeating shots of the same thing, I expect emotion and I like to be able to feel what they experience and I certainly expect a clean edit and no lost fragments that flash by.

I"m sorry that I sound so negative but I didn't like it.

James Manford · November 4th, 2013, 04:15 AM

Just had a look at the website and read your 'about me' page.

So your self-taught and a CEO of a software firm.

To be fair, the fact this isn't your day job probably explains a lot ... I think many couples would still be happy with what you produce! I've seen appalling work and yours definitely isn't it. But it's not the best either, so I would may be price my services a little lower than a better competitor, or obviously up my production value to match theirs. What I would do is definitely colour grade every individual scene. I'm a fan of bright colours that pop out of the screen, especially in indian/asian weddings etc.

I noticed on your equipment page, you own a Sony NEX EA50 as well ... was this filmed using that?

James Stevens · January 14th, 2014, 04:01 PM

I'm really new to all this so dont assume I know anything...

I preferred the first one, but agree about the colours. Some of the stuff with the bride looks fantastic, really nice colours, but the rest seems rather muted (unless you are going for a 70s Bollywood style, which I gather you may have been from the way you did your titles - which I thought were most effective, btw) but got bored of both to be honest, even though there was a lot of stuff that should have been visually interesting.

I thought your choice of music didnt match the editing style or content of the 2nd one very well (although I do love that song, Ronan Hardiman is my favourite composer and I use that song and some of his others in a lot of my wedding videos too, but it would suit a more bride/groom centric video I think). Muted colours seemed to be an issue here, and the length of it meant I didnt want to sit through it all. I also thought there was some particularly bad camerawork from about the 6 minute mark that really shouldnt have made it into the final cut.

But on the positive note, I kind of liked the first one and what you were trying to do with it.

November 3rd, 2013, 04:18 PM	#2
Noa Put Inner Circle Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Belgium Posts: 9,509	Re: 2 Indian wedding short movies. Review please! Ok, I"ll give it a try, I have to say in advance it's always difficult to "review" a wedding from another culture as expectations can be totally different, I have shot for brides that wanted a short 10 minute highlight video and I shot for brides that wanted at least 3 hours of coverage with mostly dancing, in both cases they came from 2 totally different countries, but my opinion might be interesting to you as well so you know how an "outsider" views your video. I think the editing was very sloppy and looked like being put together with too less time available, what killed it for me was in the wedding story video around the 1 minute mark I saw during a split second an image what appears to be a totally out of focus shot of a guy carrying something, because it flashed by I"m sure it's not intended to be in there. There was a lot of the same thing shown and for me it got quite repetitive after a while, At 07:17 I also see a big camerashake as well that could be easily edited out. I also found the color looked washed out, what happened with all that bright color? With such a wedding I would expect color to be jumping out of my screen. We often see the camera holding a certain frame and then it slowly tilts downward and during that tilt there was each time a cut in the edit, it often looked like the cameraman was not certain what to show and the editor was not certain where exactly to cut. The camerawork at the end of the weddingstory got worse with many camerashakes. Then the music, I thought it didn't fit at all, I"d expect lot's of bollywood music but the second song in the wedding story again sounded like music my dad, God rest his soul, used a lot in his weddingvideos back in the 90"s and early 2000. I don't mean this as a joke, he really used his this kind of music but he didn't shoot these type of weddings. What about ambient sound? I didn't get any feeling how it was like at that event, it was as if a camera was pointed at some things that happened and then just some random music was added, I didn't feel any emotion, excitement, happiness, whatever, it often felt like looking at a cctv recording. Then I see the words "cinematography" but I have to be honest here Soumendra but this is not what I perceive as cinematography at all, then I expect a story, I expect live sound, I expect fitting music, I also would expect to show me just what I need to see and not repeating shots of the same thing, I expect emotion and I like to be able to feel what they experience and I certainly expect a clean edit and no lost fragments that flash by. I"m sorry that I sound so negative but I didn't like it.

November 4th, 2013, 04:15 AM	#3
James Manford Trustee Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: London, UK Posts: 1,393	Re: 2 Indian wedding short movies. Review please! Just had a look at the website and read your 'about me' page. So your self-taught and a CEO of a software firm. To be fair, the fact this isn't your day job probably explains a lot ... I think many couples would still be happy with what you produce! I've seen appalling work and yours definitely isn't it. But it's not the best either, so I would may be price my services a little lower than a better competitor, or obviously up my production value to match theirs. What I would do is definitely colour grade every individual scene. I'm a fan of bright colours that pop out of the screen, especially in indian/asian weddings etc. I noticed on your equipment page, you own a Sony NEX EA50 as well ... was this filmed using that?

January 14th, 2014, 04:01 PM	#4
James Stevens Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Dudley, West Midlands Posts: 25	Re: 2 Indian wedding short movies. Review please! I'm really new to all this so dont assume I know anything... I preferred the first one, but agree about the colours. Some of the stuff with the bride looks fantastic, really nice colours, but the rest seems rather muted (unless you are going for a 70s Bollywood style, which I gather you may have been from the way you did your titles - which I thought were most effective, btw) but got bored of both to be honest, even though there was a lot of stuff that should have been visually interesting. I thought your choice of music didnt match the editing style or content of the 2nd one very well (although I do love that song, Ronan Hardiman is my favourite composer and I use that song and some of his others in a lot of my wedding videos too, but it would suit a more bride/groom centric video I think). Muted colours seemed to be an issue here, and the length of it meant I didnt want to sit through it all. I also thought there was some particularly bad camerawork from about the 6 minute mark that really shouldnt have made it into the final cut. But on the positive note, I kind of liked the first one and what you were trying to do with it.