Welcome to StillMotion - Our First Ever Demo

[Patrick Moreau]

Mike and I snagged a day last week where we could finally put this together, and it is long overdue. We limited it to weddings shot in HD and 24P. As things started coming together, we knew we had something pretty wild and we literally couldn't take our eyes of the screen. We left the office that day at 6:45 am and ended up with the following clip.

Anybody who hasn't taken the time to put together a demo reel, I strongly suggest you do. This is certainly the case where the whole is much more than the sum of its parts.

http://stillmotionblog.com/?p=482

Feel free to show us some love by commenting on the blog :)

-Patrick

[Konrad Czystowski]

Huge, Huge, Huge!
This is by far the best demo/any wedding clip I have ever seen.
I like that it's not just a bunch of cool shots thrown in the timeline. On top of the awesome shots wow factor, there is a story there.

Good job once again.

[Travis Cossel]

Beautiful stuff. Loved the "shadow shot" at the beginning because of the "spin". Very good stuff. The color key shot with the balloons was pretty impressive, considering the different colors in the balloons. How do you guys plan to use the demo?

Oh, the stop motion shot with the rings was sweet too. Funny thing is I just shot a stop motion shot last weekend with a party favors decorative box of M&M's where the box moves across the screen (just like in your shot) and then spills the M&M's out and they move around and form a heart. I'll have to post it so you can check it out.

[Peter Szilveszter]

That was very enjoyable. Excellent edit and choice of shots. I have a feeling you'll be doing one of these demos every 6-12 months at the rate you keep developing. :)

I totally agree that a demo reel is very handy, I myself haven't done one yet but hanging to do one very soon.

[Art Varga]

Patrick -that was a great piece of work! How do you plan on using the demo reel? Typically when I meet with prospective clients I show them a completed DVD so they can see what they are getting. Would this go on your website for example and replace the individual samples? Just curious. I like the idea and was thinkin of doing something myself but I'm still trying to see where I would use this. Thanks for sharing!

Art

[Kelsey Emuss]

How awesome is THAT!?!?!

[Art Varga]

way awesome! - anytime I get in a rut I go look at Patrick's work. Truly inspirational....

[Vito DeFilippo]

Hey Patrick,

Loved it. Makes me proud to be Canadian! Beautifully shot, inventive, blah, blah.I know you've heard it a million times.

A few suggestions. I find the voiceover audio levels to be uneven, especially the second one, which is much lower than the rest (and the third seems louder than the rest.). Also, after the VO, the song comes back very loudly. I don't know if the song builds like that and seems loud after you've lowered it for the VO, but you might want to apply a mild compression to it, to reduce the difference between the start and finish, but still allowing it to build. Your VO could benefit from some compression as well.

The shot entering the elevator as the door rises. Great shot, but the couple's faces are dark in comparison to the rest of the shot. Can you lighten them up a bit?

I like the song a lot, but was confused about some of the lyrics, so I looked it up. Have you read them?

Lastly, how big is the file? It doesn't play smoothly for me over wireless high speed.

Thanks for posting. Always an inspiration.

[Patrick Moreau]

Thanks for the comments Vito.

The vows do seem to be the weak spot and could use some definite fine tuning. They were dropped in last (about 5:45am) and so I seem to have been slightly less critical of that part. I will probably just use this as a template for this year and just sub in shots as we get more material- which would also give me a chance to fix those vows up.

About the elevator door shot, it was a very tough factory to shoot in and we were pressed for time so we just had to use available light, which made for some unique scenarios- such as the elevator scene. I like the moody feel of the shot and exposure now, but watching again I certainly see what you mean.

About the lyrics, I certainly did read them and there was a lot of debate before using the song. The blog post itself discusses that and why we chose to stick with it.

The file itself should be about 40MB, maybe even closer to 50 as it is slightly longer, so that could be way. Most highlights/SDEs of ours are 30-35.

Patrick

[Vito DeFilippo]

Originally Posted by Patrick Moreau

I like the moody feel of the shot and exposure now, but watching again I certainly see what you mean.

Patrick, I love the shot. I just think you could apply a matte over the area and lighten their faces a bit to make them match the rest better. But keep it for sure, it's a great shot...

About the lyrics, I certainly did read them and there was a lot of debate before using the song. The blog post itself discusses that and why we chose to stick with it.

Didn't see the discussion. I'll check it out.

Great work as always. It's a treat when you post. Gives me the chance to learn something new.

[Jose Ortiz]

Well once again, thanks for sharing your awesome work.

[Ron Anderson]

There is just one word for that... BRILLIANT!

Thanks for sharing.

Ron

[Dror Levi]

Hi,

I am new to this forum, well, not really new but new to writing comments.
Patrick, I really enjoy watching each and every shot of yours in all of your videos. In general I think that your pictures are always good and the quality is pretty much good as well. I was just wondering about your use of the dynamic shot. I personally think that you over use it in most of your videos. It kind of gives me a feeling of being in a rollercoaster. But maybe it’s just the way I see it. Are there any comments on that??

[Noa Put]

Ah, great as usual, what more can I say. One question about the music, here in Belgium I"m not allowed to use commercial music on my site (without paying a lot for it)
This puts a lot of limitations on it, if I'd use U2 instead of a song produced by Sony cinescore that makes a big difference. How do you choose your songs for the demo's, do you have to pay for each song you use on the internet?

[Louis Maddalena]

What steadycam / glide cam are you using? Its very impressive!