Our first SDE of the year! Debut of the Glidetrack!!
 

Hey guys,

When you get a moment take look and C&C on our first SDE clip of the year that we put together from a wedding yesterday.

This was a real time cruncher as we only had approx. one hour and a half hours between ceremony and reception to cut this together and a little bit of time during reception to CC and fine tune it.

Also, our newly purchased GT is making its debut. I'm quite pleased and amazed by the quality of shots it can produce.

Let us know what you think. Thank you.

Cathy & Andy :: The SDE! on Vimeo

Really nice edit very powerful first half with Andy's vows - but was waiting for Cathy's - seemed like something missing without them in the secons half.

Lovely music... what was it?

David,

Thanks for taking time in watching the clip and commenting on it.

I understand what you mean about Cathy's vow. I was first considering to use her vow in the 2nd half. But the problem I faced was the poor audio of her voice. She didn't say her vow loud enough to pick up well on the wireless on Andy. Given the time limitation, I didn't have enough time to refine her voice over to use in this piece. Plus I thought with the addition of her vow, the voice overs used in this piece would have been too much. So I made the decision to leave her vows out. They could look forward to it in their highlights :)

The instrumental is from the soundtrack of the movie Road to Perdition.

Nice SDE!

I definitely liked the glidetrack shots.

How are you dealing with setting up the GT? It seems to me you got a lot of low slider shots. Was that all on purpose or was it a decision base on it being easier to just put it on the ground?

How did you carry the GT around? Did you put them on a tripod? I've used sliders at weddings, and they are a pain.

Anthony

Anthony,

Glad you liked the clip.

Yes, as I mentioned in my original post, I'm quite thrilled with the quality of shots GT can produce. It is definitely worth the investment.

Although it is easier and convenient to setup the GT on the ground and do the sliding shot, I tried not to do those shots for those reasons. I do it because I feel that low angle is the right perspective for the shot I'm composing. Two examples from my clip; 1. Girls doing the make-up siting on the floor (at 1:03). Because of the fact they are sitting on the floor, it made sense to me do my sliding from the ground instead of in a high angle on a tripod. If they were sitting on chairs instead, I might have done that differently from a tripod. 2. The revealing shot of the couple standing on the chapel windows (at 1:14). Since it is a revealing shot out of the benches, It made sense to have the GT on the floor. Both of these decisions are made based out of shot perspective and output not based on convenience.

I did do a few gliding shots from tripod. But they didn't make it to the SDE.

As for your comment on GT being a pain to carry around, we carry around our tripods (even though it can be inconvenience at times) due to the reason the stability it can offer over handheld shots. Think of GT as the same way. In my opinion, it is well worth the effort to carry it to the locations, given the quality of shots it can produce.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the insight Ram. I love dolly shot as much as the next guy for these wedding/events, but you're right about being worth the investment for the shots you get. I've done enough slider shots to not like having to move around a lot. You're pretty much stuck in one position. I definitely wouldn't consider any slider out in the market today "portable."

Anthony Vu

Nice slider shots :)

I sort of figured that it works best with foreground in frame... which is what you're having in your shots.

Did you use the SD version or HD version of GT?

Santo

That was great. I loved the locations you had. Would have loved to have seen some more of them.

As far as lugging the Glidetrack around goes, if that is a concern, maybe consider the Compact version?

Thanks for the tip Alastair, but the Compact just doesn't far enough for me to make a difference. I think it would work for close ups, but not wide shots.

Anthony

Susanto,

I have the SD version. At this time, I'm only putting bare XH-A1 (without any dress-ups such as DOF adapters). Therefore, SD version is ideal for me.

Pretty good stuff. Loved the track shot with the couple in the windows .. stunning. Great use of the groom's vows, very emotional.

I was a bit let down that you hear the groom's vows but never end up actually seeing him say any of them. That part is just so emotional that it's begging for it. Also, I have to agree that it would have been great to have the bride's vows at the end maybe. The video felt a bit out of balance because it was VO heavy in the beginning and then audio heavy at the end. Might also want to watch the steadicam shots for wobble.

Still, SDE's are a challenge, so you should definitely still be proud of this one.

Travis,

Thanks for your feedback.

There is actually a small back story to the wobbly steadicam shots. After shooting bride's prep at her house I forgot to take my merlin with me to the ceremony location (SDE tense). Fortunately, my 2nd shooter had his Glidecam 4000 in his trunk. So I used that to get the gliding shots at the ceremony. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't perfectly balanced and I'm not too familiar with glidecam system. That is the reason for the wobbly steadicam shots.

i cannot view the video,
maybe vimeo is down?

Prech,

The clip is playing OK for me. May be check back with vimeo little later.

You can also view the clip in our facebook group, if you are on facebook. Here is the link:

Videos from Butterfly Creative Media Solutions: Cathy & Andy :: The Same Day Edit! | Facebook

Awesome Clip
 

Hey Ram,

Great Work and Congrats on the GT. I really enjoyed the beginning shots with the GT and they look really great. Its nice to see that you are shooting such great work and I wish if I had an opportunity to shoot with you more. Give Shawn my regards and hopefully he is still working with you. By the way, I am not sure exactly when your wife's due date was but was it a boy or girl?

Take care,

Karim.