Our First SDE

(unless Travis snuck one in this year, or someone came in from out of state).

Lots of little things wrong today but it was an experiment to push myself artistically, advance my business, and most of all just a test to see if I could do it. Also, it would let me brag about doing the first SDE in Idaho here on DVInfo and at the wedding shows this winter (ugh . . . I need to set aside a few $K for that don't I..). The projection system (5'x7' rear projection screen with a 2k lumen projector) + the added assistant ran this experiment up to $300, but I think it was a very valuable experience and a smashing success. So any sales for this in the future will need to probably hit at least $500 to make business sense.

I passed the idea by the B&G after their rehearsal, and they were game. I was their number one vendor so they were up for virtually anything I suggested (especially since I also ran DJ services through my comany via a sub-contractor ... aka my audio technician for commercial shoots). All told, we cleared the most of any of my previous clients, even if you exclude the $700 for the DJ portion, so not bad. Although it would be super cool if the 3rd cam footage turned out because there was a LOT of people standing in the way.....

I spent the prep & ceremony splitting my head thinking of both SDE specific shots, and still trying to cover the day as I usually would. Packup to head out was at 10am, my projection system rental run was at 11am, my shooting started at 1:30pm, re-setup of the reception was 3pm (they put the 3 x 8' head tables on the stage where the DJs are always for this venue! crazy -venue was the Rose Room for the curious locals) ceremony was at 6pm, and reception started at 7:30. My hired assistant helped log footage at the reception while I shot the first dances. I started cutting once the reception was in full "dance party" mode. My assistant got his first try using the MultiRigPro in full on videOgrapher mode with LED light, shotgun, UHF receiver, and LANC controller. He mentions that it hurts his back a lot, and I can verify those feelings, but I'm a bit more used to it.

We switched out several times when the bride's sister would run over pointing out great uncles, nephews dancing, etc. All told, I think I put the 2min edit together in about 30 minutes. I obviously wimped out towards the end of it and opted for a longer nearly full presentation of one of the vows with a J-cut.

Rendered to uncompressed AVI, and thanks to very sparse CC work, some of the clips got to skip a render stage and did just straight file copies (thanks to a new feature in Vegas 8). We ended up fighting with the projector for 15 minutes trying to get the dual displays from my lappy to work AND so that windows media player would shot in full screen mode (stupid nvidia drivers had issues with video overlays on external monitors, even if cloning the displays).

But eventually I introduced the video and got to film one of the happiest 2 minutes of a bride I have ever seen. Talk about a rush. The guests were going crazy (well pretty crazy.... ok, they seemed to like it), and our crew got a ton of compliments from guests, bridal party members, and from Krystal & Jon (the B&G) for both our SDE work, for our video crew work, and for our all around kickassness of running of the party, (since like I said above, it was an ALL Idaho Digital Productions crew - minus catering & bar staff who were a royal PITA for the B&G unfortunately). I actually did some of the MC'ing since my DJ is pretty new, but I've seen dozens of the pros doing their job. So that was kind of funny to be introducing events while wearing my MultiRigPro.

Note to self..... you do NOT have an MC's voice; a bit to high pitched and not enough resonance in the lower end.

So there were high fives all around for my crew (well, at least behind the 5'x7' screen which served as a nice wall to help hide us and all our stuff). Big shout outs to Zach Galyen my DJ, Zach Donavan the hired gun, and most of all to my lovely wife Laurissa for putting up with a very tense and snippy husband for the first 1/2 of the reception.

I'll be cleaning up just a few things before I put this on the couple's DVD (the titles need fixing, a few scenes need stretching, the audio needs tweaking, and one or two other minor changes. I'll post a followup in this thread with detailed tech & logistic details of the SDE after I get some sleep (like . . . all of Sunday) and have a chance to recover from this 12hr shoot and 20hr day. Shot on GL2 cams with a WD58 for almost all the shots. Cut together with Vegas 8 on my trusty Alienware MJ12-m7700 P4HT3GHz system with a Shuttle Pro and a generic replacement mouse (my beloved Razor died this week).

The background info I will give about the clip is that both sides of the families are from Nevada, the grooms deceased father was a huge Elvis fan (and a vocal dead ringer for him), and the groom always has a different Elvis ring tone. Also, this has to be the hottest group of gals & guys I've ever had the privilege of shooting.

Thanks to Mark & Trish for planting the idea in my head and for Stillmotion & Jmag for providing unbelievably cool examples to further convince me that I need to see what all the fuss was about.

And if you made it this far, then you get to watch my first ever SDE!

[Travis Cossel]

Yours was better because theirs was just way too long and the pacing was way too slow. I mean, I was bored within 60 seconds or less. They did things like show the entire walk of someone going down the aisle and stuff like that. The MoB loved it, though, but I was horrified and really didn't want the guests thinking it was our work.

Funny thing, and true story, I don't even know how long their SDE was because eventually the FoB went over and pulled the plug on it. It was at nearly 10 minutes long at that point. The guests weren't even paying attention anymore.

They didn't want to pay my price for an SDE so they hired an el cheapo company in Twin, and got an el cheapo result. That was the only time (and the last time) I allowed an exception to my contract clause about being the sole videography company hired for the event.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

That was the only time (and the last time) I allowed an exception to my contract clause about being the sole videography company hired for the event.

Must be my price point, because I haven't ever had anyone else shooting video with me. Must be the bottom feeding nature of my price point. :-)

[Travis Cossel]

Well, this was the ONLY time this has even been an issue for me in 7 years of filming weddings. Not sure if pricing has much to do with it, but if you ever find yourself in that position I definitely recommend insisting you be the sole videographer.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

Well, this was the ONLY time this has even been an issue for me in 7 years of filming weddings. Not sure if pricing has much to do with it, but if you ever find yourself in that position I definitely recommend insisting you be the sole videographer.

Good point, I will add that to the list of changes to make to my contract for next time.