Very First Wedding - Highlights Rough Cut
 

Here is a link to my very first wedding highlights video. It is a rough cut. It actually took me several hours, but I still call it a rough cut as I need to clean up the video. But I'm still looking for comments and suggestions from everyone here as this place is what inspired me to attempt this in the first place.

I usually record musicals and plays at my local high school and sell them on DVD as a fundraiser for the school. But I thought I would attempt a wedding. I offered to do this at no charge so I can get some experience. And since this forum is my inspriation, I had to share and ask for comments and suggestions.

So on with the video.

http://www.vimeo.com/1285397

Nice video. Looks like you used more than one camera or were very fast moving the setup.
Funny part where she wiped away the kiss.
Any shots of the limo pulling away heading down the highway of life?

Thank you. My wife and Daughter helped me record the ceremony. My Daughter helped during the reception. I shot everything else myself with a homemade stedicam.

No limo, it was a low budget wedding. But that didn't hamper the content. It was a quick wedding. The cermony started at 2:45pm and they left the reception around 5pm. Both the wedding and reception were at the same place, the Discovery Lodge at Burdette Park in Evansville, IN.

I do have some clips of the Groom's car decorated and pulling away. Do you think I should include it? I didn't because the song was coming to an end. But I was thinking of adding it with the vows to cover the silence.

It was a good video for your first one. I would say that if you do more talk to the bride and groom about the importance of good quality cameras and they'll usually pay more for you to be able to rent them.

I would say that you should put that shot in at the end of the grooms car driving away, and I would put the vows under the music not at the end after the song is over, that may make it feel like an after thought. If its mixed properly it actually sounds good and it would work nicely with the song they have chose.

Good job be sure to post your second wedding. You'll be surprised with how much you improve after your first one.

Thank you Louis. I do plan on renting some better cams for a paying job. But this was done for free as I was just wanting to see if I have what it takes. So I just used my home cams.

As for adding the vows at the end, I had already tried it and posted it before I read your reply. After doing it, I think I understand what you mean. But here is the link to version 2.

http://vimeo.com/1288304

I added a title to the beginning and the vows with the car leaving at the end. Other than that, it's the same.

The vows were captured with the Olympus DS-30 and a Giant Squid mic. I have to say it did a fantasic job.

Dave, hope you don't mind my honest opinion but i have a few remarks, I do weddings as well and I know how difficult it can get, especially because I work alone. Because you have to get it right from the first time without any second chances is what makes the wedding business quite stressing, there are so many things to consider under often "run and gun" situations that you are bound to make mistakes, even the pro's who do this for a livin.

First I'd like to start with your selfmade steadycam, my suggestion would be; stop using it or buy a merlin or other type of good glidecam. I don't have any experience in these type of devices but from what I have seen here what they are capable of it would be better if you use a tripod or just go handheld. The moving shots I saw were just too shaky and were too distracting. A real glidecam combined with good practice produces a much better stable image.

One important remark: framing, the way you place your subject in your image makes all the difference and there were some shots with too much headspace.

You also zoom quite a lot during recording, zoom if you have a purpose for it, f.i. the bride enters the church with her dad and you start with a close up and then slowly zoom out to reveal all the guests and finally the groom waiting for here. or it can also be for a "artistic" shot.

Also the tripodwork in the church looked not good, what type of tripod head was used? As it seemed that many shots were taken from a bigger distance it was often shaky and not framed properly.

Think a good tip would be to make much more closeups of details which you can include in your demo's or dvd, closeups from the flowers, a detail from her weddingdress, the rings and whatever they spend their money on, it will give you way more opportunities during editing.

I also find it fun to play with depth of field, putting my camera on a tripod, zoom completely in on a person and see that I have something standing inbetween so I can shift focus, this is also perfect material for the more artistic or cinematic parts of your film.

I just also looked at your second attempt were you included the car at the end, the sound quality was good of the vows but not the way you implemented it because you could clearly hear were you did cut. Also for me it didn't fit at the end and might have had a stronger impact if you used in during the church scenes.

What I also missed was live sound, you don't have to use it much in a demo but f.i. when they kissed the family and guests must have reacted or when they drove of in their car, it gives a much stronger emotional impact if used together with the music.

You also have to be careful renting camera's, if you have enough experience using semi-pro camera's then it's is OK but otherwise you might be in for a surprise when you find out later that your WB is way of or you overexposed completely or you forgot the focus was in manual and many image are not sharp.
I don't know what camera's you are used to and what level of manual control they require but you should be able to practice, practice, practice because if you sc**w up it might do your future as a wedding videographer more harm then good.

But by placing your demo out here and asking for feedback your taking this seriously and your willing to take feedback, I would just do more weddings by joining another experienced videographer and see how they do it and you could offer your footage to him, for free or at some cost but you can be sure if they have to pay they will expect good quality, I'm sure if you set your mind to it, learn from the tips you get or other demo's you see out here that you will become better and more confident.

Thank you Noa, this is the type of feedback I'm looking for. I knew this wouldn't be perfect, or professional as this was my first time doing this. I offered to do this and the BG knew I am not a pro and have never done this. It was just an attempt so I could experience the task. So the BG didn't expect much as they didn't even consider a videographer. They actually let me record it for me more then for themselves.

As for the homemage stedicam, I know there is no substutition for the real thing, but I wasn't ready to lay out the kind of money needed for a real steadicam. And actually this homeamde one helped my shots more then going totally hands free. Otherwise I used a triopod. Again, cheap ones. And I know the importance of quality tripods as well.

I've had an interest in wedding videography and have read so much here and other places, I just had to give it a try. But I was always afraid to try it. This was the perfect opportunity. Shooting a wedding where the BG didn't care and let me record it more for me then themselves. I just thought I'd give them the best I can with what I have and they knew it.

I do want to get in to this, but right now it looks like I do better at the editing then the shooting. I've never used anything more then a consumer cam. So a semi-pro cam is a bit intimiting. And I know practice makes everything. But I haven't found any videographers in my area to hook up with.

I'll just have to bite the bullet and get me a semi-pro cam and just shoot anything to learn how to use it. That's how I switched from a point and shoot camera to a digital slr.

Again, thank you Noa. All your feedback is very much appreciated and will help me as I grow.

BTW, I don't like version 2 of my highlight either. It was just something that popped in to my head and I gave it a try. I will try another edit with your suggestions and see what I can do. What you guys do is a skill and an art. I know I have the vision, now I just have to practice and see if I can apply it.

If I look back to the first time I did a wedding I also see that a lot has changed, I did follow another videographer for a few times and I used that experience to experiment safely. I was already determined to continue doing this so I bought a new Sony vx2100 and when I felt confident enough I took on my first wedding alone. Those first times I played it really safe with no creative shots and I just assured that I got the important moments right.
It took me another year before I was confident enough to take my time for the creative stuff.

There are so many way's to make a wedding video and the only way to master that is not being afraid to experiment, I also learned a lot from looking at demo's here, if I see something cool I"ll try it as well to see if it works, after a while you will develop your own style which is usually a mixture of things that you have seen from different people.

The biggest change in my way of working I saw when I was able to operate my camera without thinking to much about it, like riding a car, when you don't need to think about how to shift gears or how far to push in the gaspedal you can finally enjoy just the driving. With a camera it's the same, you need to know your camera inside out and you should be able to blindly reach all important controls, only then you can concentrate on your actual subject and do the fun stuff which will lift your production a level higher.

That is the best advice I have ever heard about wedding videos or cameras in general. I am still working on that myself. I don't know any of my cameras, or any of the cameras I rent like I know my mustang, and when I do, the quality of my work will go up because I won't think about it. I know this isn't my thread, but Noa, great advice!