Feedback Appreciated - Highlights Video
 

http://kaimediahawaii.com/4keone/mark_kerry.wmv

Any constructive critique on this would be appreciated. This wedding was for a very cool couple a few months ago. Keep in mind i am very new to the business and I am still working on my shooting skills. Shot with the FX-1

Mahalo,

Kelii

Kelii - the video is nice, but with a few adjustments i think it could be tons better. a few spots of camera movement that distracted me from the piece, and could potentially be fixed by slowing the clip down a bit. also, the colors didn't quite match between cameras. some clips had the whites blown out and others had the black levels too low. don't go too crazy with the levels adjustment as it will drastically change the look. did you happen to record the audio of the vows? if so, i would suggest putting some audio in from the ceremony. last thing....i didn't really see the need for the "film burn" transition. if you were using a film look then maybe but it didn't seem to fit to me. just my 2 cents...

I guess you can say I was going for that look where colors didnt match and I made it look inconsistent on purpose but this was the first time I edited this way and the first time I used magic bullet so I guess I did get a little too carried away. The film transition also was just a new thing for me as I am a fan of cross dissolve and cuts but I thought it added a film look. My latest wedding I used a 35mm adapter but maybe I will shy away from the film transition on it. Thanks for the feedback by the way.

Kelii

I dug it
 

I liked it. I thought it was really good. The surroundings were really cool. What a great place to shoot a wedding.

I'm kind of weird, and I like when the colors are a bit messed up and don't match all the time, thus, I thought the way you colored everything was pretty cool. There were a couple black and white shots that I didn't like, they just looked a little too gray, and the one shot of the super bright yellow flowers in front of the bride was just a bit too much for me. Maybe a small lowering of the brightness of that clip would be nice.

All in all, I'd say your client will be extremely happy with it. Good job!

THANKS! Yeah, the black and white shots were pretty much a cover up for poor color and exposure. I totally agree with you on the bright flowers part but I had only two hours to edit this being it was an onsite video so I just chose what I thought would be good at the time. Thanks for your comment!

Kelii

I wanted to see closer shots during the ceremony. I thought the editing was good but there weren't enough really clear shots. I would put an operator on the aisle and closer to the couple, maybe halfway up the room. This would allow a better angle on the kiss and probably would allow the lens to stop down less to improve exposure.

Why was the ceremony indoors? Everything I've shot at the Royal Hawaiian has been an outdoor ceremony and mixed indoor/outdoor reception. I love outdoor weddings since there is plenty of light and I can get any angle I want. I particularly like getting a reverse angle from behind the couple so I can get them and the families in the same shot.

The nice things about weddings in Hawaii is that everyone gets a police escort and honor guard. ;)

I really enjoyed it and thought it was truly excellent. I agree there were a few spots where the colors were blown out that didn't fit with the altering color scheme you chose but overall I still thought this part was well done. Your client should be thrilled and very satisifed.

To edit that inside of 2 hours... that's really good because that simply just isn't a lot of time... great work!

The ceremony was done at the supreme court building with only natural light through stained glass on an overcast afternoon. The place was so small and we had barely enough room to fit everyone in there. That and there were three buzzing bee photographers getting in our way most of the time lol. Oh and not everyone gets a police escort. They were high ups in the force.

Great subjects
 

I noticed that the music was a fairly laid back beat & temp but the cuts, camera motions, and all around pace of the edit seemed to be targeted towards a faster song. Might just be my perception of the song. I took most of my cues on pace of the song from the singer and the background drum set.

I liked your use of crowd reaction shots.

I also really liked your use of the pillar to switch from B&W to color. That was a great idea for a color transition, and if ou had that planned out before post-production that is amazing! That is the kind of thing I only think of after I'm sitting down to edit.

Other places where you use a B/W vs Color transition were kind of "there" but only for one scene and with out much warning or preparation. Possibly use larger sections of each affect, rather than switching between them as often. Unless you have one angle that is always that affect, but for that, it needs to be a bit more carefully planned out for the shots to not jump out.

Over all I liked lots of our shots, and almost the only comments I have relate to their treatment in post. I usually have the opposite problem with my footage where I have more issues with the shots them self than my use of them in post.

EDIT: I just read that you only had 2 hours to edit this. That is amazing. Was this for a SDE?

Quote EDIT: I just read that you only had 2 hours to edit this. That is amazing. Was this for a SDE?[/QUOTE]

Yes this was SDE. I actually finished it ahead of schedule and as I was rendering the final output the computer crashed! My worst nightmare! Luckily I saved the project before rendering so I simply restarted everything and made it just in time. I knew it was too good to be true. But anyone who does SDE knows the pure satisfaction you get when all those people at the wedding just give this look on there face like "How did they do that?"

I liked the feel of the video.

You captured some nice moments.

The camera movement did not bother me.

Some of the overexposed shots bothered the videographer in me, but most viewers will not be bothered.

I hate to change the tone, but once again I am taken aback at the flaunting of copyright violation on this website.

"Under the radar" just does not apply in the wedding forum.

-I am assuming you did not purchase the rights for this song.-

Don't want to be a finger pointer because we have all done this, but just want to let it be known that it was noticed.

Best of luck

Who hasn't done this before? What If the couple owns the cd and gives the song to me? Does that make it legal you think?

I don't know if this is a new topic for you or not, but any use without the publisher's permission, especially in a paid situation is not "legal".

This is a question every professional videographer has to ask oneself.

Am I going to work within the copyright guidelines or outside of them?

It is not pretty when dealing with weddings, but that does not make it go away.

I missed the transition from one location to the other. I would think the big statue would have clued me in. At least I was joking about the police escort and not completely brain dead.

Don't let photographers get in your way. Politely introduce yourself and let them know where your cameras will be so they can work around you. It is no problem at all for them to shoot over your shoulder or past your elbow. If I am shooting in the aisle, I try to get off to one side so the photographer has a clear view if they want to go back and get a long lens shot. I know it gets crowded, but if you wear deodorant you can all cram in to get the shots.

You know its funny, the photographers were so cool and always asked If they were in the way and I would let them know that yeah they were in the way but they would still get in front of my shot. No matter though because the way my company works is that we try to be as unobtrusive as possible, almost like ghosts. I like it when people comment saying that they didn't know we were even there. After all, this isnt a movie set.

I liked the film burn transitions. I also liked the different use of colors. There was of course some areas of the video that were either blown out or too dark, but that just is corrected with time and a lot of practice.

I know that some videographers will say don't use slow motion, don't use black and white... don't don't don't.... Well, my opinion is that if you make a great presentation then people will like it and you will be able to sell your style with your presentation to further couples.

I believe that's what you have done here. You have made a beautiful presentation and I believe you will be able to use it sell more like it.

Then why did you? I'm so sick of hearing about this. Not only is it debatable whether the use copyright of music in a wedding video is copyright infringement, it is Kelii's job to be informed and make that decision on his own. Let's not go there.

About the topic at hand, I agree with Tim. I thought it was great. Of course there are things I would have done differently but we all would have. I like the shot moving around the pillar to reveal color. You have a talent. Keep with it and every project you do will only get better.

Adam,

There is no debate, it is wrong.

And are you confident to say your opinion in a deposition in front of a bunch of lawyers?

Like I said, I am not finger pointing, just amazed at the advertisement of a copyright infringement.

I made a decision to purchase and exclusively use royalty free music in every project I do.

To me, that is the professional choice.

Afterall, money is changing hands for your services.

You might be sick of hearing about it, but again, that does not make it go away.

I'm pretty sure the original poster posted the video for insight on the shooting and editing technique, not on your take of whether the use of the song was legal or not. Next time I would suggest making your opinion known to the original poster via PM, so as not to take the thread off-topic.

Well,

I notice that both you and Adam use copyrighted material in your wedding productions as well.

Music is a large part of the editing process as well as the appeal of the final product.

Did the artist or publishers give you permission to use their work in your productions?

You can not know because you did not ask them.

It is about doing the right thing and paying your own way.

That is how I see it.

This is a public forum and the original poster asked for feedback, which was given.

Tim, please try and follow this very simple concept. There are a number of other threads discussing the legality of using various music in wedding videos. This is NOT one of those threads. Simple. See?

Thank you Adam and Travis for backing me up. Great peoples!

Kelii

Just trying to help keep your thread on topic.

As for the video, btw, it looked great. At first the different "looks" of the shots threw me off, but that may have been because I read some of the posts here before watching it (that's always a no-no!). Anyways, after a minute or so it didn't bother me and I enjoyed the rest. You had one shot with the bride in front of some flowers that was blown out, and you probably meant to do that, but I didn't really like it. Adding a glow to the whites probably would have looked better (if you have that type of filter).

As for the column shot ... brilliant! I'm going to look for opportunities to try this shot out now! Were you using a stabilizer (which one if so)?

HI Kelli,

i thought the video good, well edited with solid pacing in addition to good storytelling. i am a huge magic bullet user myself; but am starting to tend away from it but it's funny how i can recognize all your filters by name (hehe).

constructive criticisms:
- watch out for the framing in some of your shots (too much headroom)
- when cutting from 2 angles (bride vs groom during the wedding ceremony) as it the framing was different enough to be distracting (for me).
- great song choice btw... really catchy and suited the mood
- loved the b&w->colour behind the banister technque

btw what program did you use to edit this? I would to experiment and play with this film burn transition myself.

For the b&w to color shot I used a glidecam 4000 with an fx-1 with a wide angle lens. It was my first time using the rig at an actual wedding so I wasn't the greatest at it but Ive been practicing and I am getting better at it. If I was to give some advice on the glidecam it would be to make sure you got a strong wrist and forearm. That thing is heavy! I am currently using Adobe Premiere CS3 as my NLE and have been using Adobe products for some time now. I actually saw that b&w to color shot on someone else's site but it was a little different than mine but same concept. Its funny though because I think only people that edit and know the business can really point out that shot.

Kelii

Wow, good glidecam work for your first time. You will get used to carrying it around after a few shoots. I use one at every wedding, ceremony and reception and I'm starting to get used to it.