Cleansing my palette - A Columbus, OH Trailer

[Patrick Moreau]

We got to shoot our first Indian Ceremony this past weekend in Columbus, OH. It was quite the treat to have so much energy and so many different events to cover in one day. As I was putting together the trailer I found myself falling into the same pattern of color grading that I normally use and I really thought this piece deserved something distinct, something as original as the footage. I kept working in FCP and stacking things in different orders until I came up with the look I was after. It seems as though some of our best work can be born out of pure frustration from that which was.

Here it is:

http://www.vimeo.com/1307068

A big thanks to Ryan Koral (Epic Motion) who came out last minute to help out with the shoot and really saved the day.

For those of you who are interested, I will be sharing some color secrets and talking about Steadicam and 35mm adapters at ReFrame Austin, all of which played heavily into this piece.

Patrick

[Chris Soucy]

In fact, bloody stunning piece.

Think I'll pack in video and try my hand at painting................. (sob!).


CS

[Peter Szilveszter]

Wow this is amazing. In my books this is the best one you've done, everything works together so well and the movement around the ceremony tent and changing to a second move just marvelous. The wedding looked like it was full of energy and excitement :)

Originally Posted by Patrick Moreau

For those of you who are interested, I will be sharing some color secrets and talking about Steadicam and 35mm adapters at ReFrame Austin, all of which played heavily into this piece.

Are you going to record it because I'll buy the dvd of you if you willing to offer it? since I can't make it :(

[Monday Isa]

Patrick that was one heck of a job. I really enjoyed that. The color grading took a few seconds to get use to, but once the shot at the street came up I was drawn into the clip and it all made sense at that point. The glide shot around the tent was executed nicely as you stitched the two scenes together. Did you try a .2 to .4 sec dissolve on it before just going to a straight cut? The last slow motion shot was just performed very nice as well. I see your loving that EX1 in the arsenal. Thanks for sharing Patrick and inspiring me to keep at it. Don't forget if you get a job out in Maryland give me a holler. I'd love just to meet the team.

Monday

[Jason Robinson]

The first thing I thought was "curry tint!" because the color reminded me of yellow curry, a favorite spice for Indian cuisine.

As always, fantastic staging and smooth flying. I loved the pacing and swells of the music (something I am struggling to establish judging from responses to my first wedding trailer).

Great work interacting with the couple. Always a pleasure to shoot an involved and genuinely happy couple (some brides / grooms are just so nervous).

[David Schuurman]

that was breathtaking. I truly loved it.

...

I'm curious as to what the couple/family thinks of it.

it gave me the slight impression that it was a stereotypical indian look, and it seems as though it's a traditional wedding, but if the couple was otherwise very hip and modern would they want the traditional look or would they have wanted more of a look that's consistent with what you've offered before. And I'm also curious about the music...Since I know nothing about that type of music I would be scared of using a song that was last years "it" song and has now become hugely overplayed and is now annoying to listen to, or something like that.

did you consult with the couple on this?

(btw I'm not insinuating that anything negative is the case with your couple, I'm just hypothesizing based on what struck me as I watched it)

[Patrick Moreau]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Peter- I will see what I can do about recording reframe for you. I somehow think it will lack the same energy and intensity as being there- though I could see if I could get a couple of our guys to steadicam the talk :)

Monday- the transition went through many different trials with the in and out clip being moved around and varying the transition length. In the end there was a 15 frame cross dissolve.

Jason- does the couple ever make a difference! It is always a little nerve racking when we go to shoot remote weddings and we meet them a day or two before but so far we have been extremely lucky in working with couples who really enjoy their day and are completely in love.

David- thanks for the comments and feedback. From what I have heard from the couple, the family is absolutely thrilled with what they have seen so far. We are extremely lucky in that we get an enormous amount of creative freedom and with that we are always trying new things and trying to push the limits. By not promising anything in particular, we really open the door to just about anything. While we often get requests to shoot a certain way or replicate a certain shot, we always advise them against 'requiring' something in the final edit as it severely restricts our process, and almost every couple is totally cool with that. When it comes to music and color grading, I try to be influenced as little as possible by what is popular and what the trends are (which can be tough) and instead try to let the couple and what I know of them guide their clip. So far it has worked very well, but there are times when not everybody is happy with something so stylized in both the soundtrack and shooting/coloring process. We have a form for couples to fill out before the wedding and we try to get to know them as much as possible but that is the extent to the consultation with them on the final product.

Thanks again.

Patrick

[John Moon]

Nice work Patrick...love the color grade. It's so hard to break into a different color grade for fear that it will be too much but really liked this. I know Koral had fun. See you at ReFrame Austin...you not going to New Orleans?

[Kiflom Bahta]

I love your work, It seems every time you pull it up a notch. The only thing i don't like is the color grading. Indian weddings are rich in vibrant colors. It would have been nice if you left it alone, other than that you are in a different planet.

[Patrick Moreau]

Thanks for the comments John. No we aren't in New Orleans, just Austin.

Kiflom- the color palette was entirely intentional, hence the thread title, the the mix of the subdues whites with the yellow tint was to invoke a certain kind of mood and era which both play into the wedding day and couple, along with the soundtrack. To me, and to many I have shared this with, the color is one of the best parts of the piece both in it aesthetics alone and in how it fits together with the story. It certainly is the knee-jerk reaction to leave events like thee as vibrant as possible- which is where I started- but it just didn't feel right this time.

Patrick

[Mathew Williams]

Hi Patrick, absolutely blown away by your work! Only came across these forums yesterday, and after seeing some of your stuff felt compelled to join to commend you!

I have so many questions, I just wish I could come to see you at ReFrame in Austin. Unfortunately that really is a fair old distance from London, UK! If you were able to film it, I for one would be very interested in purchasing a copy!

I especially liked the colour grade you did for this wedding, very bold and effective. What is your workflow? I think I read in another post you’re shooting on a Sony EX1 with 35mm lens adaptor. So presumably you’re shooting directly in 24p as opposed to converting in magic bullet? I was never to impressed by the quality of the conversion. But then I also tried the progressive mode out on the V1 and wasn’t too impressed with that either!

Colour correction is the biggest mystery to me at the moment. Is all your work just through three-way colour correction, or is there more to it than that (secondary colour correction etc). It just has such a larger than life look, and I’d love to know how this is achieved!! So far my experiments with post filters just tends to look a bit of a mess! Are there any you particularly love and recommend!? I notice you lose quite a lot of vignetting which is very effective!

So many questions, but you’re obviously very busy, so I’ll leave it there. Again, great work, can’t wait to hear a little about what goes into achieving it!

Best Wishes, Matt.

PS – I think the music for this wedding was very appropriate. If it has been overused and overplayed then I obviously don’t get out enough cause I haven’t heard it! What is it called? Lovely piece of music.

[Patrick Moreau]

Hi Matt,

Glad you enojoyed the clip as well as the music selection and colors within it.

We shot mainly with Canon A1s. We have about 5 of them throughout our team. We do use those with brevis adapters for a good portion of the day. All coloring is done in FCP with many filters. The key as your learning this stuff is to find what the different filters do and to not try and overdo it with one filter. It took me years of just playing around here and there to start developing the looks we use now, but I am sure there are also training resources out there that could speed up the process.

Patrick