Wedding Highlights

Des anyone see any problems with this piece? I have been working at it and I wanna double check that I didn't miss anything:

Private Video on Vimeo

password: test

[Sean Nelson]

Every shot is out of focus if you nit pick. The question is hats acceptable and the out of focus in the bride prep that he wants fixed is the same focus of most the shots of the wedding. Yes you do what your told for a job, but that is where I have trouble deciphering.

[Adrian Tan]

I think the camera work is the main problem. The overexposure in many of the shots bothers me a lot more than the out of focus. Could be a picture profile issue -- too much contrast.

[Clive McLaughlin]

This is what I dont like about these forums and talking to others in the business in general. Nit Picking is easy when you are in the trade. But some of you guys and this company owner need to accept that clients don't see things the same as we do. Hand that over to any client and I guarantee 99 brides out of a 100 will say 'Amazing'.

Sometimes you have to wonder if critique is just a way of massaging your own ego...

Well done I say.

[Noa Put]

Well done I say.

Yeah, but in this case the bride is not his client but another videographer is so a well done from us doesn't help him at all. :)

It's true what you say that we pixel peep much more then our clients do but this kind of comments you can expect from wedding company owner if he has high standards, if he doesn't want out of focus shots in his video then it's up to the editor to take that into account or he probably will not get paid if he doesn't. This has nothing to do about people nitpicking at forums, Sean asked our opinion and if I read what the wedding company owner says that's the only opinion that really matters here, not what you or I think and I see the guy was pretty clear about what he wants changed.

Honestly I was a bit surprised Sean posted the owners conversation on this forum, there is a large possibility he is a registered member as well and he has access to this part of the site.

[Rob Cantwell]

Ok i'm not an expert, however, as far as i can see you missed some OOF bits. Having read the rest of the thread i think what you might try is to follow the clients requests and put up the result for comparison purposes and see how it turns out.

Overall it's quite good, my personal preferences would be - I'd prefer transitions to be slower or smoother, but that might be just me tho!

[Sean Nelson]

Ended up making the corrections and met up. It turns out whatever version he downloaded from vimeo, was a bad quality and out of focus because when he watched the dvd with the same out of focus shots he described, he was like wow, im sorry it didnt look like this when I watched.

Its the miscommunication, and I suggested less fb messaging and more skype or phone convos. I also demanded he trust me more to make right decisions and assume something was wrong next time he sees so many focus issues.

[Stelios Christofides]

That's why I avoid using DSLR cameras for the time being, Such a hassle to keep in focus. maybe when they make DSLR cameras to focus like camcorders then I might use them. So for the time being I will stick with my NX5.

stelios

[Chris Harding]

Hi Stelios

I tried with a Panasonic GH1 and it's tough to focus and hold a tiny camera...The new Sony EA-50 has bridged most of that gap by making a big sensor camera in a shoulder mount format with full auto and servo zoom. I'm seriously looking at one....out of focus shots might look creative to us but the bride might have other ideas completely and expect shots to be sharp and well composed too. It's really all about keeping her happy and not inflating your own ego with cool shots that impress only you!

Chris

[Stelios Christofides]

Chris
You are absolutely right!!! Weddings= Bride. Make her happy and you are a star.

"-----and not inflating your own ego with cool shots that impress only you!" I couldn't agree with you more.

The new Sony EA-50 looks interesting. Is it available in Australia?

stelios

[Noa Put]

Ofcourse you can deliver with a regular videocamera with just one tripod, have clear sound, nicely stable framed shots and the bride will be happy, but there is a reason why the best in our business work with large sensor camera's and use sliders, steadicam, cranes.. they do make cool shots and they know how to deal with shallow dof the right way and their work is exceptional, those are the persons everybody is talking about, not the guy with his one videocamera.

It's not about inflating your own ego, its about thinking and working outside the box. You always have clients that settle for plain and simple but a lot of clients want more then that and it's up to each videographer to choose who he is going to deliver to.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Stelios

Not yet but soon ...Global Media have it on their preliminary products list already.

Noa, absolutely yes I agree 100% as long as the creativeness is of benefit to the bride and not just the videographer saying "Look what I can do with my stedicam...aren't I clever"

If the footage enhances the wedding then I'm all for it and your footage certainly does do just that and more importantly you never try to draw attention to yourself which one sees so much nowdays which really adds nothing to the wedding video.

Chris

[Noel Lising]

Originally Posted by Stelios Christofides

That's why I avoid using DSLR cameras for the time being, Such a hassle to keep in focus. maybe when they make DSLR cameras to focus like camcorders then I might use them. So for the time being I will stick with my NX5.

stelios

I am a single shooter & use a T2i for the prep, park and B-Rolls at the ceremony, reception. I agree about the focusing , I was editing a wedding I did recently and thought that I nailed the focusing, lo and behold some are soft focuses. It's good that they are mostly for cut-aways but same concern here about going all DSLR.

[Noa Put]

There are wedding videographers that are über creative to maybe show off but that is what their clients are choosing them for, my style is a mixture of straightforward documentary and eye candy shots while a colleague/competitor of mine does short videoclip (mtv) style weddings and he is full booked every year. So I think it's not a matter to show off but to find a style that sells, my clients like the fact that they can view the church part from beginning to end from different angles if they wish while the clients that my competitor has find that probably incredible boring.

[Bill Grant]

Sean I didn't notice any focus issues. My issue was the was pacing. 5:37 is a looong time and it really needs a structure and story to carry that long. And also after a year of using only licensed music. Using the beatles, not to mention using the whole song seems cliche. It certainly was edited well seemed to to be smooth and slick but dragged after about a minute because of repetitiveness. This is MY opinion and has no base in reality...
Bill