Fourth wedding, first highlight.
 

So compared to the local talent here, i am very new to the wedding scene. This was my fourth wedding and the first time i've made a 'highlight video'. All critique, comments and feedback to improve is most welcome!

Filmed with a Sony V1 and Manfrotto Tripod in standard def/DV, mostly hand-held footage. This isn't really a 'highlight' in the usual sense of an overlaying narrative and such, as it wasn't part of the bride and grooms package. I put this together as more of a practice piece for myself, as well as a chance to play around with some colour correction in Vegas. I really enjoyed doing it but if i had more time i would have put more effort into the colour correction (perhaps delved into magic bullet?) and chose some better shots. Also, i still need to work on getting the clip to look better on-line (encoded with TMPGEnc). Although there's not much that can be done since i shot it in DV for DVD.

85 views and no comments? I guess I'll be the first to step up and offer constructive criticism. First of all the good:
- Considering this is only your 4th wedding you seem to have a good eye for capturing various moments on the wedding day
- You have an understanding for rhythm and editing "to" a music track
- You did a great job at capturing the fun, exciting, feel of the day

Things I would suggest for improvement:
- Exposure and/or Color Correction; I haven't seen your original footage but I believe your "color correction" degraded the image quality. Most shots looked either under-exposed or blacks over crushed. Additionally the color palette looked like it was all over the board. When you do creative color correcting (or "color grading") it's best to stick with an overall look (or two) with your colors.

- While your pacing was good- it was almost too good; in that I mean you cut to the music ON the beat which can make the edit predicable. It's better to settle into cutting to a back-beat and use cuts ON the beat for emphasis (ie really strong shots)

- Reception is extremely under-exposed. Ambient reception lighting is rarely enough to shoot with available light. Especially with a non-DSLR setup. Invest in some good off-camera lighting to help brighten the dance-floor a bit. Do that and learn how to push your camera by raising the gain to the highest level you can visually accept, and possibly half your shutter to gain a few stops.

- Some of the pacing on your shots felt a bit off. Especially ones leading up to a chorus in the song. Almost as if you let it linger longer to hit your mark as the chorus kicks in. While the music track certainly dictates the pacing/mood of an edit- don't allow it to completely dictate your timing. This ties in with the point I was making above.

Overall it's not a bad effort at all for your 4th wedding- in fact it's worlds better than my 4th wedding edit! I'd say you are on the right track and your ability to share your work and open it up to critique only shows you are seeking to learn and grow as a videographer. Thanks again for sharing Jordan and keep at it- you are off to a good start!

Thanks Glen, great that was exactly what i was looking for! I guess everyone else was afraid to critique my work! I am still new to the whole creative colour correction thing, and you've straightened it out for me nicely, so you're saying roughly 2-3 pallettes? I was under the impression there was a palette per each location/lighting of a specific/series of shots? This is one area im really lacking and would love a good guide/read about. Are there any good threads here on dvinfo or on the web you perhaps know of and could direct me to?

Your points are noted about the track/edit sync timing, to be honest i have trouble with this in all elements of life as i am generally quite a rhythmic person! I guess it does make the edit predictable, i think the song choice was a little too 'on beat'/powerful i found it hard to edit outside the beat.

About the reception lighting - there isn't a lot i can do about that besides investing in a camera top light (which i am getting in a week or so), the Sony V1 *SUCKS* in low light! :)

Oh i also turned down the gamma/gain in a few scenes to compensate for the vimeo encoding which seemed to brighten my shots and cause them to lose detail? This is another grey area for me, IE: best render/encode settings for imeo and online delivery.

Many thanks for the feedback.

No problem that's what this forum is for. Personally I'd work on achieving consistent, spot-on, exposures before you try to delve into color grading. Regardless you need the flattest, best exposed image possible to be a good candidate for grading.

Personally I'm not a big fan of heavy grading - though take it with a grain of salt as you see in my work I go for a very natural, unprocessed look.

Regarding receptions you definitely need to invest in some sort of lighting. I'm not a fan of on-camera lighting but it's better than no light at all when you are dealing with exposures that dark.

Best of luck with everything- your positive attitude will aid you as you continue to learn and grow.

Hey Jordan...

I liked the "feel" of the highlight. You did a great job capturing all the moments. Like Glen said you can tell that you have the eye for "the shot". Just need to do some fine tuning thats all. I second Glen when he mentioned not cutting to the music. Just try dragging the clips into the timeline and see how they mesh up before cutting to the tunes. Needs to be close, but not spot on (my opinion). I look forward to more videos in the future.

Steve

Hi Jordan,

Everyone has already pointed out most of the areas which need improvement and those which you have done well in. I too would like to echo that as your first highlights piece, you should be proud of it.

I would have to add that I felt you relied quite heavily on slow motion throughout. We have all done it from time to time, but IMO the couple were most the happy-go-lucky type who were up for a party atmosphere. By slowing the footage down, it makes their day appear more lumbered.

However I must stress that it is a good piece as a starter and the more experience you have the more you will see your work coming on leaps and bounds.

Awesome, thanks for the feedback guys.

Hi Jordan,

Nice clip, really like the colour. Is that done just by increasing saturation?

Which camera top light are you getting? I got a Sima SL-20LX the other day but it doesn't work!

James

Hi James.

Yep, wacked up the saturation and played with the mid/high's with the in-built color corrector on Vegas. Nothing particularly fancy.

Been a bit slack at getting a top-light, had some other expenses that have taken priority. I've had a quick look around creativevideo and noticed for a good top-light im lookin at £300+?! A lot more than i expected. So you wouldn't recommend the Sima SL20 then? ;)

Hey,

Cool, will have to give that a try. I really want to give my films a more colourful picture.

I can't really give an opinion on the SL-20LX either way as it arrived broke! In any case though I wasn't expecting, and don't think it is, a particularly good top light (don't see how it can be at such a cheap price). But would be better than no light at all.

I'm thinking of getting one of these now- Sony HVL-20DW2

Its about £80 on amazon. Don't think I'm prepared to spend much more than that atm!