Jason,

I am in absolute awe of your work... LOL i am supposed to be editing my own weddings but instead I am watchign your SDE's instead.

I am curious what sort of background/training you had b4 you started shooting weddings? Film skool perhaps?

I would love to see the work you produced during your first year in the business as I'd love to know how long it to you to get to this level of production value.

Bravo!

hey Michael.

thanks for your kind words. believe me, I sucked during my first year. it was through constant practice shooting and editing that i refined my style and skill. i was a teacher in my prior life. no film school for me, just a communications degree back in college. learned with analog (hi8 and videonic) first.

watching other people's work also helped a ton. being exposed to the international forums no doubt opened my eyes to what was possible. posting my work is my small way of giving back.

Vincent.
My apologies if I came out comabtive. We are all here to learn and share. Cheers and good luck on your shoot.

Jason

It looks to me that the biggest timesaver is shooting SD widescreen and shooting to a Firestore rather than capturing tape.

I love SDEs because they give me an excuse not to tape the reception. The lighting is almost always poor, sound is a challenge, and I feel far more intrusive with my video light than by presenting the video.

People don't have to watch the SDE video, but they will. Some people may not have heard a thing at the ceremony, but can hear it crystal clear on the video. The same is true for their visual experience.

Projectors are not that expensive, and people need to see how far video has come.

Are you saying that if you do an SDE you don't do anything else? Is that the wedding? Maybe I misread, sorry if so

We do SDE's ... as well as an entire wedding. We show the SDE at the hall just before the B&G enter ... and the camerdudes go on filming and I edit the entire wedding later, as normal, with SDE inserted. SDE's are always done by request .. I think maybe I do 15 to 20 a year, they seem fairly popular.

Still, Jason, yours was definitely something special

Just want to let you know folks here that Jason is a real big time wedding videographer in the Philippines, after looking some of his works I found out that he covered the wedding ceremony of the 2 famous hot celebrity star in the Philippines "The Raymart and Claudine Santiago Wedding".

Jason, I salute your work, very impressive..did you also use the FX1 on the Raymart Claudine wedding? How many camera's did you use in there, and what type of stabilizer did you use? Goodwork kabayan!

I've been a fan of Jason's work for a long time, but I have yet to figure out how to provide an SDE service. It's not a technical challenge for me, but a time challenge. Maybe weddings are run differently in the Phillipines, but here the time between the end of the ceremony and the start of the reception is usually less than 30 minutes, and at the most maybe an hour. There just isn't enough time to edit a video.

I also have to break down and pack up equipment from the ceremony, and get to the reception, and be ready to start filming again as soon as the reception starts. For those of you doing SDE's, do your bride's just have a 3-4 hour break between the ceremony and the reception or what? And are you still covering the reception?

Yes Victor... I've only done one, which was a favor. My wife couldn't make it, so I grabbed my FX1 and shot a bunch of linear shots leading up to the wedding with the sound off. I then mic'd the officiant (only him - due to FX1 audio limitations) and manned my tripod at the end of the isle. Afterward I took a more shots, darted to the reception, set up my projector, connected my FX1 and checked sound. For the presentation the DJ played the music and layered the sound of the officiant from the FX1.

It's nowhere near the level of our three-cam, two-wireless HD service, but if a couple wants something *very* inexpensive, it's worth it to me as it captures their vows. It also gives couples a way to afford videography who wouldn't otherwise go for it, and I don't have to spend all week editing! It also gives me the ability to shoot a second (full blown) wedding in the same weekend without burying me.

The FX1 can do fade-ins, etc., and is a computer in its own rite. As a one camera solution, the presentation is more 'ambience' than 'shock and awe', yet once I get a couple Firestores I'll be able to offer a higher-level package and fire up my laptop on site.

I also have to break down and pack up equipment from the ceremony, and get to the reception, and be ready to start filming again as soon as the reception starts. For those of you doing SDE's, do your bride's just have a 3-4 hour break between the ceremony and the reception or what? And are you still covering the reception?

Besides a longer break between events, there are a couple other big things that can make an SDE much better; having staff there with you, firestores to get at the footage right away, and practice. From Jason's website it looks like he includes an Onsite video or SDE in his standard packages, so he would do an awful lot of them compared to many of us who may do 3-4 a year. Not only does your speed editing get better with practice, but the whole process gets much more effecient. There are certain highlights clips that I deliver after the wedding that only took 4 or so hours to do- which is the amount of time you can get for an SDE at the right wedding. Getting used to the pressure can be one of the biggest issues, and thats where hte practice comes in.

Patrick

Well, like I said in my post, it's the time that prevents me from offering an SDE, not pressure or technical limitations. I've done one SDE for a wedding, but I had 3-4 hours between the end of the photoshoot (happened after the ceremony) and the reception (and the reception was an hour away). My assistant covered the luncheon that happened during that time.

However, like I said, 99% of receptions in my area start within 30 minutes of the end of the ceremony, and even if you're fast at editing I don't see how you could edit together something nice in 30 minutes.

That's why I was asking if those of you doing SDE's have 3-4 hours to edit and if you cover the reception.

Hi Travis,

In my earlier post I mentioned having extra staff- that way if the reception starts within 30 min, you can keep editing. The first dance is usually the only thing I want to be a part of filming and otherwise I can let them cover the events. If you can edit through dinner, there is a good two hours you should get in total- which is plenty of time. So yes, we do offer SDE with time constraints like the ones your mentioning, we just don't film everything together at the reception and the other points I mention also make a big difference.

If you have a timeline ready with a song laid down and markers for where you want you clips to go, you can throw a song together in 15-20 minutes if you have a firestore and that will be as good as your shooting is in general. You can then nest the sequence and adjust the colors curves of the whole thing if you want to give it more of a stylized look like Jason's.

Patrick

Hi Travis,

In my earlier post I mentioned having extra staff- that way if the reception starts within 30 min, you can keep editing. The first dance is usually the only thing I want to be a part of filming and otherwise I can let them cover the events. If you can edit through dinner, there is a good two hours you should get in total- which is plenty of time. So yes, we do offer SDE with time constraints like the ones your mentioning, we just don't film everything together at the reception and the other points I mention also make a big difference.

If you have a timeline ready with a song laid down and markers for where you want you clips to go, you can throw a song together in 15-20 minutes if you have a firestore and that will be as good as your shooting is in general. You can then nest the sequence and adjust the colors curves of the whole thing if you want to give it more of a stylized look like Jason's.

Patrick

Interesting. Thanks for the insight.

Ricky.
Thanks for the props. We shot with 5 FX1s that day on top of the full network coverage the couple got :~. I had a GC4000 with one FX1.

Travis.
We have a lot more leeway in terms of time here. Ceremonies ususally start at 3 or 4 then dinner at 6 or 7. Receptions last for a minimum of 2 and a half hours. Chinese weddings are usually at 1 or 2pm, the dinner lauriat starts at 8p.

Time is definitely a major factor in the production of an SDE. But there are other variables involved - song choice, shot quality, pressure involved. I just surmised this now because I realized our best work wasn't when we had 5 hour gaps.

Travis.
We have a lot more leeway in terms of time here. Ceremonies ususally start at 3 or 4 then dinner at 6 or 7. Receptions last for a minimum of 2 and a half hours. Chinese weddings are usually at 1 or 2pm, the dinner lauriat starts at 8p.

Time is definitely a major factor in the production of an SDE. But there are other variables involved - song choice, shot quality, pressure involved. I just surmised this now because I realized our best work wasn't when we had 5 hour gaps.

That's kind of what I thought. 3-4 hours is quite a bit different from 30 minutes. That got me to wondering, though, what is the shortest amount of time you've had to put an SDE together?

Jason, I did a google on GC4000 but it comes out to be an ice gream maker, you mean your videographers are eating ice cream while shooting, just kidding! Maybe that's the stabilizer your refering, Im looking one for my FX1 and the Merlin is in top of my list, but I hav'nt decided yet until now....Oh! I remember now, GC stands for Glidecam..silly me!

Jason, I did a google on GC4000 but it comes out to be an ice gream maker, you mean your videographers are eating ice cream while shooting, just kidding! Maybe that's the stabilizer your refering, Im looking one for my FX1 and the Merlin is in top of my list, but I hav'nt decided yet until now....Oh! I remember now, GC stands for Glidecam..silly me!

lol, ice cream isn't a bad idea on the wedding day . . I might have to add that to my packages . . .