Wedding footage

[Alex Sprinkle]

Here was a little montage I put together from a friends wedding I was asked to film. I've done a few weddings now (still single digits), but I don't really know anything that makes it "pop" you know? What can I do better? What looks good? Am I way out of my league?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eSazfIpL0ew

[Mark Stavar]

Hi Alex,

I thought you've done a pretty good job here. Couple of small suggestions (and I have only watched it once so it is just based on first impressions):

* A couple of the "glidecam" (don't know if you are actually using one), may be just add a little slo-mo. This can help smooth out the shot a little.

* A couple of the fade out's came a touch early for me. You were just about to get the "money" shot of, say, the bride's face, and then i was denied the moment

* The interviews - maybe have a non-white background, esp. for the guy, who was rather pale

* In the colour shots, maybe play with the colour curves a little; bring out some richness in the colour to reinforce the richness of the day.

* Think about mixing some of your monochrome footage with colour. Mono can be effective, but it does tend to flatten out the image. Intermingled with colour footage increases the visual effect of both.

Good job though.

I think the couple would be very happy with it.

Keep shooting.

marks

[Alex Sprinkle]

Thanks! That helps a lot! Showing it to my wife doesn't help so much, as she just thinks it looks good ... nothing else. I'm not too familiar with the levels, but I'll play around with those. Again, thanks!

Anything else?

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Originally Posted by Alex Sprinkle

Am I way out of my league?

No way are you out of your league. I loved the way you used your camera.
Are you using a Glidecam set up or you doing hand held shots?

[Alex Sprinkle]

Thank you very much! Everything is hand held. I was never good enough with a GC to be able to use on a one time shot like a wedding. I would be too afriad of screwing it up royally.

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Originally Posted by Alex Sprinkle

Thank you very much! Everything is hand held. I was never good enough with a GC to be able to use on a one time shot like a wedding. I would be too afriad of screwing it up royally.

Im curious about your statement -
Have you ever used a Glidecam? Was it hard?

I was thinking about getting one...

[Sean Seah]

good effort. Yeah something like glidecam/merlin would help make those smooth movements. BTW, wats the song title?

[Alex Sprinkle]

The glidecam was tricky for me to get adjusted to, and I'm not up to the one time shots. It's not so much "hard" or "difficult" as it is "awkward". Then again, maybe I wasn't using it right. I did what the video said, but oh well.

The song is "God Gave Me You" ... the B&G are both singers, and that was the song they sang during the wedding. I try to incorporate whatever song is used in the wedding during a piece for them. That way, I can be sure they know the song, and there odds are greater that there's no weird history with it (i.e. I know it wouldn't have been the grooms song with an ex girlfriend ... wouldn't want those memories always flooding back when he watched his wedding video). Make sense?

[Noa Put]

If you use a glidecam you should work with 2 camera operators, one should capture all the important moments, preferably on a tripod, and the other one can concentrate on getting the creative "flying around" shots.

I didn't like some of the "glidecam" shots you did with the camera, it was just not smooth enough. My opinion is that it is OK to move a bit with the camera but keep it limited if you don't have the right equipment. F.i. the shot on 01:07 was too wobbly for my taste. The other shots were you went from the ground upwards or the other way around looked quite ok considering your doing it all handheld but it was a pitty you cut each time just before we saw a face. (between 00:34 and 00:45)
The cake moment at 01:40 f.i. you started of great with the upward movement but ruin it a bit at the end as it get more wobbly and out of frame.
The openingsshot on the other hand was great were you did a zoom/right movement combo. I do sometimes use some "moving" handheld shots as well but I also noticed how hard it is to keep it more or less steady and it quickly gets a "amateur" look. That's why I try to limit it though it's hard to resist. :)

You also have to watch that the framing is right, I noticed some shots were there was too much headspace (01:02 or 01:25)

The shot at 02:25 was also relay shaky with a to fast zoom resulting into a out of focus image and I also had the impression that at 01:25 it was also out of focus.

The interview were nice but could have used a nicer background, now it looked a bit like an interrogation room (not that I ever been in one but I saw it in movies ;)) Think it has a stronger impact if you use their voices as some kind of voice-over combined with your other footage.

The shot at 01:57 was nice but was one of the rare shots were you kept the camera steady.

My suggestion would be, use the tripod more and if you are doing handheld try to keep it as steady as you can and if you decide to do a moving shot, don't overdo it, unless you have (and know how to use) a glidecam.

And you are not out of your league, the way I see how you make use of your camera tells me that you have an eye for creative shots and you are not afraid to experiment with it. Always going for the safe shots can make a weddingfilm really boring. You just need to control your camera better, especially practicing in keeping it more steady, take good care of the framing and assure you use manual focus in darker area's.

[Alex Sprinkle]

Thank you so much!! I'm really eager to get home and compare your notes the video! I really appreciate everything.