Wedding "Preparations" clip
 

I just got up the guts to post this, a clip of the bridal preparations and figured I can look at this a zillion times and not see what I need to do to make it better.

...so I figured I would post to get a general idea of its quality. How does it compare to most?

I am new to all of this. My son got married in May and I had three cameras film the wedding. I did the editing. From that I booked my first wedding and this is from that wedding so this is my second time editing.

http://virtualcharley.com/preparations.wmv

I think you did a great job. Considering this is your second wedding EVER....you did a FANTASTIC job! Thanks for sharing- I'm looking forward to future pieces from you.

Very nice job. My style is more of a documentary style, but I really liked what you did. Just a suggestion. I tended to lean my head a lot watching the video. You might want to think about switching it up a little between standard straight on shots and the "dutch" tilt that you used. The idea around tilts, pans, zooms are to use them for a reason to help tell the story. An example would be to maybe use the tilts for inanimate objects; the flowers, dress, etc. and then straight on shots for people or things in motion. Just an idea. I really liked the way you went from the inside of the church and wiped into the bride getting ready. That was nice.

I also thought you did an excellent job. I do agree with the TILT of the camera. But That is minimal. Great Work!!

Charley, I may be the only person on this board with less experience than you....so for whatever my opinion is worth I thought you did a great job. After reading the comments on the dutch tilts, I would agree with them but it didn't strike me that way initially. It was very tastefully done. Can you tell me the music you used? It worked well. - Jeff

Jeff, that tune was called "Farewell" and its from the movie "Children of the Dune". Its certainly used a lot, usually there is a vocal part in it. I chose not to use that only because its so familiar. I like when the beat picks up.

Charley,

Hi, nice edit and shoot. Just a quick question...what equipment did you use to shoot?

Thanks,
Scott

dude, this is ur second official job??
Awesome!
its amazing how some time and effort can make so much of a difference..

good work! Keep it up!

That clip was shot with a Panasonic DVC80. No lights but in the room we did bring Glen's reflector, a large two sided disk that we bounced some sunlight off of. It made for some changes in brightness on the gown. I don't remember using it on the bride.

I believe only the shot inside the church used a different camera, a PD170.

Thanks everyone for the kind remarks.

Correction, this isn't my second time editing, its my second wedding. I shot a funeral prior to this. That was the most intensive editing I had ever done. In order to make that situation palatable to people watching I ended up doing it like a short form wedding. People viewing the casket were shown to music as a series of dissolves. I tried to capture the event but present more like a snapshot of the day. The purpose was to provide closure to the sister of the deceased who could not attend the funeral.

I had people send their regards and wishes to the sister that was to receive the video the way people talk to the b/g in wedding videos.

So it turned out very well though it was frought with mistakes in filming.

Here's why I think that clip turned out so well though I have little experience doing this:

In editing my son's wedding I found myself looking at the work of Christopher McGinnis, Joel Perrigrine, David Matthew Bonner and Glen Elliott. I found that when I heard music that called for a particular type clip that the best clip I had was too dark. I used it because the emotion of the b/g was clearly there. Then another clip would be perfect if it wasn't so shakey. No amount of slow motion aside from turning it into a still photograph would take out the slight shakiness. I couldn't use this as a demo though my son and his wife would still love it. I used that clip but began cursing all the shortcomings of the filming. Aside from Glen one cameraman was a friend with as little experience as I had, the other a film school student must have been failing in school. His footage was useless. During this editing process I am wanting to make the best video I can so I can present it to prospective brides and I have no idea where the next job will come from.


Bottom line is that I vowed to get closeups of the bride and groom/father and bride etc when I got to film a wedding. I wanted it to have more light. I had terrible audio at my son's wedding. (Person in charge forgot to turn on the grooms mic) Glen had taken a great crane shot moving from below the chairs to above the crowd during the ceremony. It "wow'ed" me. Totally. He had done the bridal prep. Got some incredible shots that blew me away. I had no idea he had this talent. I really hired him because he had experience to make sure that my partner with the funeral would not make the same mistakes at my sons wedding, like push the record button when it was already recording, missing the singer at the funeral.

Well I had all this wonderful footage of Glens that I could do something with and this terrible footage that had to be used. Some was very emotional but was shot poorly. Glen already was giving me the dutch angles etc.

I saw the importance of catching the tears and the laughter because, for the b/g, it worked despite the quality of the picture! Yet a prospective bride that was scoping out other videographters would likely not see it that way and would opt for a "better videographer".

My son's wedding turned out great for a first wedding and I got to shoot two wedding with Glen since then. Each time we tried something new, like getting the groom to talk about the bride and adding a voiceover....interviewing the parents to add a new level to the video.

In my second video I have father talking about his daughter that I use for v/o during their dance and I dissolve to two photos. Second wedding but I have learned that stuff from the VonLanken "Beyong the Box" DVD.

Another big reason for this clips "success??" is certainly Glen. Glen would show me his work as he worked on it. I could ask him questions. My wife saw the clip and commented, "It's very Glen-like". I took that to be the highest compliment!

I fought the dramatic style I presented in the clip but it seemed like a moneymaker. I am more carefree. My son and his wife didn't want their preparations clip to use this music. My son preferred "Brown Eyed Girl" which better fit their personality. One was not much harder than the other but Brown Eyed Girl, because of the happy nature of the clip, is not about to "wow" anybody.

I sprang for the dramatic with this clip and that has more of an effect on anyone that watches it. I do like putting a flash transition to the sound of the cymbols with an orchestra though. Its more powerful than three quick reversed clips of the photographer to the photographer's "shutter" sound I used in Brown Eyed Girl. That part is probably more clever but the MUSIC in this clip is what seems to make the clip. The music and the slo mo.

Sorry for this diatribe. I hope this was helpful to someone. I am on a high since posting the clip. It was like getting validation from my peers when I didn't feel I was yet a peer. Thanks again folks.

Excellent Job Charley... that video look amazing. I'm also a newbee to wedding/ event videography just done about 3 weddings and have three in this summer. I loved ur video.... especially the last shot where the bride is looking through the window... would u be kind enough to tell ur secret on that shot... how did u make the glare from outside come like that around bride.... did u do some post editing trick or it was all done in the camera with different shutter and apreature settings?

I thought twice before I added to that shot because the bride was already in front of the window. My question would be how does Glen manage to get these great shots. The last three shots were his.

The effect I used was called "light rays". It comes with Vegas and I am sure every editing system has something similar. All I did was turn it up just a little.

Great work Charley! Thank you for posting and for all the info about the clip. You brought up some great pointers.