25,000$ vs 2,500$ Video - lets get a critique going so I can improve

So I got into a little debate today about whether a supposed 25,000 dollar wedding video was worth that much money. (to me, in my opinion) Said fellow decided to find a video of mine and publicly link it saying "here is a 2k video vs a 25k, see the difference?" Super professional, I know.

Anyway, this got under my skin in that I want to improve and its not always possible by just looking at your own work.
So in the spirit of improving, I'm going to link one of my best "only 2k budget" videos. Feel free to point me in the direction of some things I could improve on - whether its technique, direction, etc.

Oh and 30p I guess is for novices, as I'm told as well.
I surely don't want to " Keep being average and. striving for mediocrity. " as I was told to do so.

Kelsey & Jonathan on Vimeo

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

If "elopement destination" means having your wedding video completely scripted and acting the entire time when someone calls "action!" then I wouldn't call this a weddingvideo anymore. Everything in the video that was shown was fake, there is no real emotion at all, except for that 2 seconds which didn't fit in. But it seems some people are willing to pay a lot of money for it. It actually compared more to the photoshoot part of a wedding day, the part where the photog stages all poses to make the couple look at their best.

OK, but what I was responding to was your criticism of the 'expensive' wedding for
'not showing friends and family'. And from my experience shooting these types of weddings,
there often ARE no friends and family to shoot video of! Last one of these I did was
for a bride who owned a beauty salon, and a groom who was a software developer.
They flew all the way to Alaska and were married on the Herbert Glacier. Trust me,
a big part of the reason they hired me, was to get landscape beauty shots and timelapses
and to show off the location they were being married in. Strange? While, these types of
weddings sure don't fit the 'nomal' mold either. There were exactly 4 people at
the wedding. The photographer, the officiant, the helicopter pilot and me. So yeah,
everything was staged. Getting into the helo, getting out of the helo, stepping over the
glacier river, walking away, glancing back at camera. It wasn't like there was a lot
of other material to draw on, thats for sure! No crowd of friends and family. No DJ.
No big party with drinking and dancing. Different than a 'docu' edit of the day, that's
for sure. Not so sure that is anything to 'look down on' because it was all staged though.
It's just different.

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by James Manford

Lol if some one paid me 25k i'd produce a master piece no problem.

Yeah, in all seriousness, I think probably quite a few people on this forum could
produce something amazing with that kind of budget. When I have clients ask me
about what we can do in their video, I always tell them

'We can do anything you want. The only limit is your budget!'

Because quite honestly that is true. If they want something done that I can't do,
but they have money to throw at it, I'll hire an expert in the particular area of need
to come in and work with me. I've done this before several times on videos that have
a big budget. Not on a wedding video, but a person certainly could if a couple wanted
to pay enough.

[Gabe Strong]

Originally Posted by James Palanza

Well, I definitely got more insight here than I did elsewhere. Yeah I was pretty heated that my work was being looked down on due to what I charge. I think its pretty offensive and unprofessional to do to anyone.

In regards to the videos - I agree they have their own style and with a wedding in such a paradise I can see why they would want such a focus on the setting.

I think people need to realize just because a wedding video had a high price tag attached doesn't mean its beyond the scope of something they can do. If you really look at the video, most people here could get a lot of those shots. When you have a huge budget and lots of TIME and PLANNING these videos become much more possible to do. No offense to Kevin Shinhenian, the videos an amazing wedding video but I mean these aren't some high end movie setups where it costs 50k and a week to prep for. Of course the grade is well done and its edited well but.. If you want to drool over some crazy movie shots and sequences, go watch the Dark Knight and post some screen caps.

I think the real skill here is the foresight and experience to plan to get some of these and to put it all together. The entire package comes together well. Like I said though, people are not getting the opportunity to produce work like this because their business model doesn't support it. Trust me, if we all had two days instead of 10 hours with our bride and grooms on a tight by the minute schedule, toss in a tropical paradise and drone and a fking sailboat, I'm sure our videos would look a lot more "high end" too.

****I do think certain people's heads are getting a little big in this market and I'm not afraid to point it out. Dear lord, I wish I had saved the argument and what some of these people were saying. Seems like if you get more than 6k for a wedding video you start to think your Christopher Nolan LMFAO***

I think a good dose of humility is in order for some people. It really blew me away. I would like to point out that Kevin Shinhenian actually isn't the one who called me out. It was some other guy linking his work. I'm sure Kevin Shinhenian is too busy prepping and planning for his next mega wedding to really give a crap what some random people on the internet are saying.

Anyway, I dont think anyone can put a price on something, it really depends your market and a certain minimum amount of skill. I'm sure there are handful of people out there who the same cirumstances could come up with something similar. I'd like to hand Taky Cheung the same budget and equipment and I bet he would make something similar.

And if its a million dollar wedding +, 25k isn't all that much to those rich people... so a major win for that business marketing, thats for sure.

Thanks again for all the thoughtful posts. If anything, all the drama just made me even more motivated to continue producing work and upping the production. Sooner or later I'll be posting from a tropical island myself!!!
I think what is really impressive is when someone is able to make such a beautiful video out of a not so picturesque wedding. Thats when your skill really shines.

Keep hustling guys and don't be afraid to work for a living regardless of what the guys say who rode the video market monopoly for the last 5-10 years.
We all have to start somewhere :)

Wait, let me get this straight. Some third party (not the guy who produced the expensive
wedding video) called you out? Maybe he should post a link to some of his OWN work and
compare it to your's instead of comparing your work to some 'third party's' work? I mean
it's pretty easy to sit back and criticize someone by pointing out that they can't do work '
that's as good as what George Lucas does too......SMH!

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Gabe Strong

Not so sure that is anything to 'look down on' because it was all staged though.
It's just different.

I"m not looking down on those kind of weddings, I actually would like to shoot such a wedding, I only don't understand why a couple wants to fake an entire wedding video that has no real emotion at all. But when they would pay me 25K for it I honestly wouldn't care :)

[Gabe Strong]

I don't understand a lot of things people do. I just chalk it down to 'everyone is different. Some people
are even kind of crazy.' :)

[Gary Huff]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I only don't understand why a couple wants to fake a wedding video that has no real emotion at all. But when they would pay me 25K for it I honestly wouldn't care :)

Because what else would appeal to someone who is vain and has money than their very own "wedding movie" starring themselves!

[Daniel Latimer]

There is a lot of hate towards the expensive one. Wow.

[Noa Put]

I don't think it's hate, I was confused by believing it was the maker of that video that had belittled James and later on in this thread James said it was someone else that just used pacific pictures film as an example. I have the impression that some others where of this impression as well which led to more personal attacks towards the wrong address.

[Steven Shea]

The 25,000$ is average at best. Honestly, the shots are nice but it's just a bunch of sterile stock shots. The emotion, flow, story etc... is severely lacking.

I think people forget that good =/= pretty shots.

I've seen plenty of samples from folks on this forum who capture the emotion and present a more engaging video than this.

[Andrew Maclaurin]

Interesting to compare the 2 videos but in reality it's the old apples and oranges comparison.
The 2 weddings are completely distinct and the couples are clearly looking for different types of video and live in different worlds or realities.
I really liked James' video. I'd imagine he has very satisfied clients. The makers of the other video probably had happy clients too. At the end of the day what matters is that the couple are happy with the final product and you are happy with the money you receive for your efforts. Although we'd all like to earn more!

On another note, both films got me thinking about the shots I get. I thought both made great use of wide shots which is something I need to explore more. So thanks for posting. It got me thinking!