Favorite Highlights of '06

[Patrick Moreau]

I haven't posted anything for a while so I thought I would throw this up here. While it isn't exactly new, it was one of the last weddings we shot in '06 and we get an awful lot of comments from both brides and grooms about this clip in particular. If there are any fans of 'Six Feet Under' out there, the song is the same one they used for the ending of their series finale (which I found out later).

This is one of my personal favorites from '06 as I really like how it can pull you in but it isn't with the tradtional wedding viceo feeling.

Comments are appreciated.

http://www.smcouples.com/Samples/highlights.mov

http://www.smcouples.com/Samples/GOOLEY450.flv


Patrick

[Joe Allen Rosenberger]

Pat, Really nice work!
The only minor thing I'm not a fan of....BUT have used myself in the past is the soft black vignetting. Like I said....that is very minor, other than that...and even with it, your piece looks exceptional. Thanks for sharing!

Keep the bar high... as you are.

Cheers- Joe

[Jason Bowers]

Patrick,
I loved that piece. Well done, what is the name of that song by the way. How did you get the overhead shot of the cake. Very smooth stuff.

[Peter Jefferson]

i said this before and ill say it again..
holy crap!

dude, your stuff is inspirational to say the least..

brilliant

[Patrick Moreau]

Thanks for the comments guys.

After finishing a piece like this a while back and moving forward with other editing, it is great to consistently get calls and emails from couples commenting about this clip. A lot of our work can quickly be superceded by something newer that we create, so I really enjoy that this one is sticking around as a favorite.

Joe,
I know what your saying about the vignette Joe, and I would normally agree. To match the feeling of the music I went with a warm desaturated look and wanted the vignette to bring out a more surreal feeling in the piece. It was a little heavier than I usually use but I do think it worked here. Thanks for pointing that out though.

Jason,
Send me an email and I can send over some more info.

Peter,
I'm really glad to hear that you find it inspirational. Its one thing to impress the couple, which is often much easier than inspiring fellow videographers, so thanks again for the comments.



Patrick

[Joe Allen Rosenberger]

Hey Pat, your work is outstanding....Id say disregard my comment about the vignetting, I know you were looking for some critique...and that was the only minor thing I could seem to find, great work!

Originally Posted by Patrick Moreau

Thanks for the comments guys.

After finishing a piece like this a while back and moving forward with other editing, it is great to consistently get calls and emails from couples commenting about this clip. A lot of our work can quickly be superceded by something newer that we create, so I really enjoy that this one is sticking around as a favorite.

Joe,
I know what your saying about the vignette Joe, and I would normally agree. To match the feeling of the music I went with a warm desaturated look and wanted the vignette to bring out a more surreal feeling in the piece. It was a little heavier than I usually use but I do think it worked here. Thanks for pointing that out though.

Jason,
Send me an email and I can send over some more info.

Peter,
I'm really glad to hear that you find it inspirational. Its one thing to impress the couple, which is often much easier than inspiring fellow videographers, so thanks again for the comments.



Patrick

[Michael Nistler]

Hi Patrick,

I enjoyed your video and here's my feedback - lots to write about (hope others will forgive my verbosity):

1. Ditto others comments regarding vignetting.

2. Nice Glidecam work.

3. Reveal through tree leaves is different (we normally use a solid structure).

4. Initially quite a linear timeline (no jump cuts and even the camerawork was zoom outs) - definitely gave the photo-journalist perspective.

5. After a somewhat slow beginning (obviously deliberate), the audience will appreciate how the pacing picks up about a quarter of the way through the video (music, sound-bites, flash dissolve, father/daughter jump cut rehearsal/wedding).

6. The father/groom hug was a nice sentimental touch, would be even better with a tighter shot (and would avoid showing cameraman running in the distance).

7. The color saturation could go up a notch or two - I'm not necessarily a proponent of artificial colors yet the bride grooms red dresses were on the pale side (perhpas this is only an issue on the web and fine on DVD).

8. The crane shot (low-to-high) through the fern tree was awesome! If you could have slowed down the motion to pace the scene it would have been even more impressive.

9. I wish the blur dissolve to the next scene would have been a bit shorter, otherwise I liked all your selections of cut/transition types.

10. The sequenced zoom outs, first with grooms and best man, followed by the bride's veil was an excellent bit of choreography, especially the overlaped dissolve between the two scenes! Cudos on a great effect without going over the top, even with the dutch twist on the pullout - and a nice tie-in with the dutch zoom-in on the next scene (great symmetry)

11. Following shots offered variety and interest, keeping good pace with the music. I especially enjoyed the lens flare with the reverse pan around the golf cart.

12. On the following scenes, you pick up the pace (accelerated motion) - a good choice offering a quickie glimse of photos and guest cards; transitioning using a slow dip to black was also worked well here.

13. Moving into the vows, the words seemed to come and go surprisingly quickly for my taste but I can see it was a deliberate choice - ducking the music helped, also introducing strong music sequence with a fast-paced kiss (although I'd personally slow the motion down a bit on the kiss).

14. The dutch angle on the first dance was unusual for a wide shot - some might find it particularly odd with the recessed geometric patterns on the ballroom ceiling.

15. I'd suggest leaving out the lead singer head-on video from the footage; the over the shoulder shot was great but the frontal shot of him apparently singing at the top of his lungs didn't match well with the mellow instrumental music.

16. The MOB shot needed to be cut a bit earlier so the viewer doesn't see her changing expression from joy to a somber look (as though not particularly happy with the cameraman). If you were concerned about scene pacing, again you could slow down the motion a bit, but since the following father-daughter sequence is only 2 seconds, that's not an issue and you'd have better balance trimming the MOB shot.

17. Congratulations on the dance floor lighting (never easy) and you had a good balance between nice video and avoiding distracting the wedding party.

18. The overhead cake fly-by was too fast (less than 3 second) followed by another 3 seconds on a pan-up side profile. If time is a constraint, just use one or the other but try to keep the drama by showing its ritual importance. The fast fly-by seems to deposition its importance and seems to be a bit blury.

19. My, how the theme changes after the cake cutting! There's some powerful subliminal sexy messages going on when the bride lifts her leg with her knee adjacent to her husband's ... (well, you know)! And then in the next scene shows them posing on their tummy's on the pool table... whew, now THAT'S provocative! I'd even vote for something special with the music, if possible.

20. Speaking of music editing, nice job transitioning to the slow music pace with a slow tight shot of the singer (excellent composition, too, with the shadow casting the Hollywood "golden V" on his right cheek) and a finale with the slo-mo of the B&Gs final dance. A great conclusion.

Thanks for sharing Patrick - very well done!

Warm Regards, Michael

[Bill Anciaux]

This is a beautiful piece. I thought all of the elements complemented each other very well. For example, the music worked with the less saturated colors and the vignette effect. And these fit with the unique setting, lighting, and weather. (I love the shot of the dress hanging in the trees) I guess I'm trying to say that the mood is unlike so many of the samples I've seen. Yet it works. Very original. Thanks for sharing.

[Gary Mckinstry]

Hi Patrick very nice work indeed. Thanks for sharing.

Gary

[Patrick Moreau]

Thanks for the comments Bill and Gary.

Michael, thanks for taking the time to post so thoroughly. You analyzed some arts of it more than I did, which is cool to see. BTW, I sent an email back to you the other day.

[Glen Elliott]

Great work Patrick. Thanks for sharing! Btw, what's the name of the track you used.

[Mark Morikawa]

amazing camera work with the editing to match

[Chris Harris]

I really enjoyed it! I've watched it many times over to try and examine why it works so well. Great job filming and editing!

[Darrell Aubert]

Patrick, you have a good eye and you get solid shots. One thing I feel about your clip, however, is that I am disconnected from what is going on. As a videographer I recognize the well composed shots but as someone with no connection to the wedding, I feel like I'm watching a slideshow of really good pictures. There is no natural audio. To quote my good friend Glen Elliott, by not using natural audio you're not using all the tools available to you to tell the story. I have no idea what the people there sounded like, what their vows were, etc. etc.
Do you get what I'm saying?

[Patrick Moreau]

Thanks for the comments Glen, Mark and Chris.

Darrell,

I know what you mean about natural audio and actually use it quite abit in my work, but I also don't try and force it into a piece. I really try to not put any natural audio over music that has lyrics, which this one does. I think this has what fits, and I say that as I tried to squeeze more in and it ended up taking away from the final clip.

I do find it odd that you 'feel disconnected' when watching it. I find it tells quite a bit of the story of their day and as I mentioned in the original post, I get a lot of comments from brides along the same lines. I do appreciate the feedback though, I'll have to keep that in mind for the next edit.

Thanks for posting.