Do you ask brides whether they want progressive or interlaced?
 

One thing I'm not sure of is whether to ask brides if they prefer the "film look" or the "video look", or whether I should decide myself whether to use progressive or interlaced video for their wedding. If you have the capability to do both, how do you handle this?

tooooooo many choices and people can not make up their mind. Most will not know the diference and you might have to do both just to show them the difference. tooo much time and trouble. do what you do best and they will love it. just make it happen.

ken

I'm not in the wedding video business, but in any case where I'm proposing an idea to a client, I like to show them what I mean. If I were you, I'd have her watch some clips detailing the choice you're proposing to her that way she'll have a better idea of what to expect the final result to be.

When brides hire professionals, they trust that professional to do what they do best. IMO, asking about interlacing is one step shy of having the bride sit in on the edit session and decide how to edit. Do what you think is best and brides will hire you based on your talent and expect you to make those decisions.

The thing is, my demo stuff is all interlaced -- I just got the ability to shoot progressive video... so my worry is they may be expecting the "video look" (or, rather, don't realize it now but may later???)

Sheesh, I have couples that dont even know what HD is, I would never ask them a question like that.

Remember, we are in the business to know this stuff, assume they know nothing, give them the absolute best you can, regardless, and that way you can use them as a reference.

Hi Bill

I approach it the same way I do everything in regards to what I provide - I do what I prefer. Its really the only way to not keep second guessing yourself. Create what you enjoy creating and watching and you'll attract people that think the same way. That applies to large scale decisions about style as well as small decisions like interlaced vs. blended fields.

I'll throw in with the many other voices that have already said that most couples won't know or won't really care. Those that do will certainly make a point to let you know what they want. Or, if they know that much about it already they'll have selected you because they can tell from your demo's how it will look. The longer I am in this business the more I realize that the emotional impact of the video far outweighs any of the technical aspects that were necessary to get it there. You need to know what those technical things do to the video, but in the end the couple really doesn't care HOW you make it look great, just that you do.

Client Choice = client confusion
 

I decided that the best thing to do is just say you control the artistic and technical aspects. I'll put in my contract that the have seen examples of my work and accept my control & direction of the product.

I'll be using that pine in my next client (3 weeks to go!) but I have not used it before.

Whatever you prefer simple as that.

I cant wait to stop shooting interlaced but that wont happen until i buy a new camera

I would never ask my clients because they won't understand, most of them never heared of HD, some of them don't even know the difference between widescreen or regular 4:3. That's why I won't bother explaining them the difference between interlaced and progressive.
Just do whatever you think is best

As someone already pointed out - thats too technical a question for your average bride or groom for that matter.

Personally I shoot Progressive - its all I can on the HD110, except for b-roll which happens to be interlaced, but then I de-interlace in post to match the main stuff,

Progressive looks so much more pleasant than interlaced, almost film like. Do you ask if they want 4:3 or 16:9?

I dont offer choices like that because:

a) I have no choice in shooting its progressive with 16:9
b) Its much more work to convert for me
c) its one less choice for the bride/groom to make.
d) its up to me.
e) if I forget what they want i have to re-work....

Hehe as DP/Lighting/sound/camerman/chief grip/secretary/editor/graphic designer/audio engineer/pakaging I have enough to do :)

Ian

Go progressive. They want professional, ie movie look. If they WANTED video look, then they'd just shoot with their camcorder.

Can you explain what makes progressive more professional then interlaced? If the weddingcouple had a progressive cam, would it make them professionals?

They do? ALL of them? You know this for a fact or have you polled 400k brides this year?

Ok, just so I get this right and we don't miss anything here...

Interlaced = Amateur
Progressive = Professional

That's how it goes? No middle ground, huh?

Does that mean the thousands of talented people who shoot interlaced video really suck?

[sarcasm]I can't wait to run back to the tv station tomorrow and tell everybody how amateurish we look because our video is interlaced...[/sarcasm]