I hope I can film a wedding like this one day!!
 

If you haven't seen this it's pretty funny and well thought out.

YouTube - JK Wedding Entrance Dance

steve

I saw this a couple days ago. I thought it was kinda neat but mostly I was wishing they spent more time on choreography and rehearsal. it just seemed like one of those last minute things you do to get a laugh but this one lasted for way too long. If it had been choreographed flawlessly then I would've liked it more.

it's cool that they did something totally zany so I gotta give them credit for that.

And this is why you hire a PRO to shoot the wedding video... almost made me ill with the shaky camera work, but then I realized it was probably "uncle Bob" doing the shoot...

It was cute and fun, choreography was passable considering, on par with the camera work... couldn't help thinking that a proper videographer with multicam could have made it about 100X better...

To me this raises the huge question - if this video had 1.6M hits/views and was this amateur, why is there so little perceived value in a "pro" wedding shoot???

Oh, and while I'm at it, do you think they had proper clearances on the tune <wink>?

Wow, aren't you two the typical videographers! :)

They didn't do it for the camera, they did it for the moment. It just happens that there was a guest with a camera to capture it. Just because it's available for public viewing doesn't mean they did it with the idea it would be viewed by the public.

So good!!! Bad camera, choreography and all, great!

Ehh, can't say I'm much of a fan. Do that stuff at the reception entrance, not the ceremony. I guess they didn't get the memo.

I'm surprised the church actually let them do this. Or maybe they didn't know this was going to happen. Either way, it just seems to lose the sanctity of the wedding ceremony.

I disagree. It's THEIR day, why not. It's about them. I wish I had more weddings like it to be honest. As for the church, if you watch the clip closely you'll see the minister on the altar smiling and moving around maybe wishing she was with them. It was choreographed to a degree according to the B&G who made the rounds on the A.M. talk shows today, but it was just a general type of thing more of a 'do your own thing' type of choreography.
Personally I wish I had been the one taping the job. It would really be something of a change of pace. Since last Friday, I have done 4 with 2 more coming and frankly in my mind they have all run together and looked the same. Even 2 outdoors ceremonies (btw, both got delayed almost 1 hour due to weather and were on 2 different weekends. Last Friday and yesterday Thursday, that's right, Thursday. They save lot's of bucks and had the reception with about 100-105 people on a boat that cruised around Lake Geneva Wi, which was actually pretty nice)
Anyway, IMO, KUDOS to those kids. Dance thru life and don't step on too many toes!

While the church looked like it had traditional architecture, many churches are very non-traditional.

For me, I side with the OP, I would love to shoot a wedding like this. In the end, it is not the sanctity of the wedding but the sanctity of the marriage that counts (IMHO.) And I am glad to see a couple so excited about being together for the rest of their life that they dance to the alter.

I wonder if I start referring brides to this clip for ideas if I might find one that is as excited...

I give them a lot of credits to do something totally different from your every day "so called the perfect wedding day" .
I wish more brides can watch this and change the perception of how a wedding day can be fun and not tense and uptight.

I shot a wedding where the bridal party danced down the aisle to the song "he has made me glad" while a bunch of the children in their church ran up and down the 3 aisles waving streamers and flags, there was lots of clapping and twirling and dancing and then the bride and her parents stopped at the halfway point and got played in the rest of the way by the groom who serenaded then with "the way you look tonight". It was more a celebration of the marriage through dance rather than a joke like I see this one as being. And it also included half of a traditional aisle walk.

Whether we view the rights or the wrongs of this video clip, the morality or not, the shaky video or not, the fact is, it's pulling in viewers.
It's captured the essence for a couple who wanted a wedding a bit different.
Personally not my cup of tea, however if that's what they want and the church agrees to it, then so be it.

This video, if you count all of the stolen versions now up on YouTube, has gotten over 6 million hits. Clearly, there is something compelling about it.

The song used, "Forever" is now number 7 in downloads on iTunes for all genres combined. I'm all about copyrights but what if the infringement is pulling in big bucks for the copyright holder? Chris Brown, et al, would have to be crazy to make them pull it.

Also, the video is not bad for a non pro IMO.

Absolutely SUPERB!

We need more of this kind of stuff!

Some of us might think that the choreography needs work, but being a non choreography- minded person I can't tell the difference unless it is pointed out. I just enjoyed what they did, even if the video recording was amateur.

If anything, this is another lesson in "content is king".

Andrew

As an update, this video now has a link to purchase "Forever" on iTunes. Obviously the money earning opportunity has been embraced by recording artist's company.

I read one commenter's reply that said something to the effect of, thank you for resurrecting Chris Brown's career.

I have nothing at all to do with this - I'm just a casual observer and think it's interesting from the standpoint of when copyright infringement becomes a bonus for the infringed upon. How many times does this happen? And did the endorsement of this video by Chris Brown's people come before or after it was shown on CNN and the Today Show?

Should I start a new thread somewhere to generate any discussion? If so, where?

this is priceless!
but if that would be my job, I'd arrange 3 cams and steadicam.

awesome point....

You're only young and stupid once, why not go for it? I loved the obvious non-dancers attempting it for their friends.

Is it just me or did the "video guy" screw up the aspect ratio on this?

yup, not someone familiar with proper rendering either, but who's counting, he got more views than most of us combined <wink>!

It definitely helps when you have content, this was a lot easier to make interesting than the "average" wedding!

Awesome Video!

And no, I'm not talking in terms of videography of course. For those that are wondering why this has so many hits from such an amateur-ish video prospective, remember, that's what youtube is. Honestly, if it was shot from a pro, it may or may not have gotten all the hits and publicity. It just might have looked too staged and got passed over. But honestly, who knows. The 'Uncle Bob' cam really gives it that spur of the moment feel.

As for the copyright, record companies use 3rd party software to detect use of their music on youtube. Through youtube, the record companies inform the poster. One of two things happen. Either it gets yanked (and that's the end of it), or the poster is informed that the record label now has the right to advertise on their video. The latter is what has happened in this case. It looks to be working out great. No one needs to go to court and the record labels get another place to advertise.

Shees you are a bunch of sour pusses. I loved this video! Absolutely brilliant!!!

I just saw the video and I cannot believe they did not hire a videographer. Unbelievable.

It is a great idea for a video. But it is not a great video, it is absolutely horrible in every sense of the word.

you said it the way I wanted to.


When I got married 4 years ago (today) there was no way on earth we could have afforded even a crappy videographer so maybe these happy people were in the same boat. Not everyone needs or wants a videographer.


There is just a tiny outside chance they didn't do it for the video but for the guests, the memories, and for the fun of it.

Put another way:

The subject matter was entertaining.

The video sucked eggs. It was a home movie that made people smile.

That was cool. In fact, I found it more moving and enjoyable than many multi-camera wedding videos that I've seen with slick boom/steadi-cam/glide track camera moves, shallow DOF and a sh*tload of CC on top.

Take aways, for pro or amateur alike -
1. Good content beats bad camera work... sigh.
2. It's always more fun when shooting good content/fun people!
3. Always be prepared for ANYTHING if you're shooting a wedding... they aren't all the same, 'cause people are different!

Personally I'd rather work with a couple with some imagination and "pizzaz" - I want to end up capturing something that still has validity on the 25th (and the 50th!) wedding aniversary if at all possible - it might not be perfect or artsy, but if you push to get good clean shots and a clean edit, it's always nice to have good "talent" to shoot too!

That sums it up nicely.

I firmly believe if this group had a pro videographer with three cameras and choreography, this would be just another of millions of average videos on YouTube with a couple hundred views. Why? Because it would have lacked the spontaneous energy and realism.

Also, I don't think it falls into the "Uncle Bob" category. "Uncle Bob" is usually asked to shoot and thinks he knows what he's doing. This was obviously shot by a guest in his seat who happened to bring his handicam.

The story as I heard it (no confirmed sources that I could give you though)...

The bride runs a small dance studio and has dedicated her life to sharing dance.

The church initially said no, she quoted psalms 149:3 "Let them praise his name in the dance" and they gave their permission.

They don't live that far from here, about a 2 hour drive... I could go ask.

People get so hung up on the technical on this forum (me included). The difficult part that eludes me constantly is getting the content absolutely spot on... this did that and made the technical problems irrelevant! This was probably shot on a cellphone or a handycam and has hit more eyes than all of my work combined from the last 7 years of pursuing video as a hobby/ career. I want this kind of exposure for my next project!

You mean the church originally said no? WTF, why would a church say no, why does no one else do this? (with sourpuss sarcasm)
If this becomes the new style of church ceremony procession, then I probably wont be so sour anymore. :-)

I dunno, I think you must have gotten a spam memo... did it also invlove an inheritance from a nigerian prince? ;P

..from the book I read, "no dancing in my house" isn't one of gods rules...

Because it's always easier to say no. It doesn't matter if it's a church, a coven, a school, a business, a government office, or whatever - "no" is always easier than "yes".

There are some who think "decorum" or "tradition" trumps having a bit of fun and joy... sadly, I find I offend most who think that way, but I do try to respect it as much as I can and have some fun anyway...