Groom prep video
 

Hey all,

It's hard to concentrate with all the NAB releases, but I haven't posted a clip in a while, so I thought I should.

This is a groom prep:

http://www.nosmallroles.com/richard.mov

Fun guy, great bunch. I had a lot of fun with them. Shot with my Z1, edited on Xpress Pro. I wasn't sure about their music choice, but I ended up liking it. Smoooooth.

Always happy to have comments.

Cheers,
Vito

I liked it overall, here are some stuff that stood out to me:

1. That first audio clip about the "crotch"...kinda inappropriate.

2. I usually don't like photogs being in the video, but I liked how you incorporated them in this vid, well done.

3. You should omit the clip where you are filming your own shadow and also the last scene with the car alarm. To me, it does not relate to the video at all.

Hey Andre,

To each his own. I wouldn't include this kind of thing for everyone, but it sure fits this guy's sense of humour. He may ask me to remove it, but I doubt it.

Thanks! 90% of the time, we are all on the same team, so I include shots pretty often of the photographers. I think in the USA this is not done much? I never see the photographers in clips that are posted here from the US.

Okay, okay, you're right...

It's out of context at the moment, because I haven't decided how to lead in to the next section.

Thanks for taking the time to check it out, and for the feedback. Much appreciated...

I loved it Vito.

We all do these things by the seat of our pants and are at the mercy of how the talent will "perform". These guys were a hoot.

And the "crotch" sound bite is just fine. It fits the tempo of the tune as does all the other horseplay in the vid. This is what groom prep is usually about and I think you nailed it.

Not sure where the shadow thing fits though. :)

Thanks, Rick!

Okay, okay, you're right!

Hehe... ;-)

That seemed like a really low-key, fun-lovin' group to work with. I think the "crotch clip" and the "peepee boy clip" were probably appropriate with that group. I wouldn't normally go for the editing style you chose, but again, it works for that group and for the music you used.

I agree with cutting the shot of your shadow, but it didn't kill the video for me or anything.

Honestly my only real gripe would be that the color and saturation from one shot to the next needs some work. Some scenes seem white balanced and other don't, and overall the contrast and saturation seems a little lacking.

But that's it really. I think you did a good job with the video.

Thanks, Travis. I'll go back and punch it up a bit. The shadow shot is already gone...

Appreciate the feedback. Just helps me make it better.

No problem. That's why we post stuff on here, right? Good luck!

Vito, I noticed you used quite a bit of Avid's "push" (L to R, and/or R to L) transitions... (I do as well for upbeat stuff, but more sparingly). I just give it something a bit different by giving it a motion blur (well faking it actually) to simulate a swish/whip pan &/or give it a bit more realism.

Ex: On V1 I apply the Push transition (left to right) 15 frames, ending at cut, with full acceleration applied in the Effect Editor. I usually always have it end at cut because I want it to end on a given beat for emphasis. Now, de-activate V1 & activate V2.

With only V2 active I apply 2 add edits to make a filler, one at the point where the edit is between the 2 clips, & one for the given push transition (in this case where the transition starts, for a 15 frame duration).

Simply add a directional blur effect to the 15 frame filler you just made & change the default to zero. Make a keyframe in the center & make it only active, then in the Effect Editor tweak it until you get the blur value you want.

For the above example I use either BCC's Directional Blur or even the old freebie DFT (Digital Film Tools) Fast Blur with only the X parameter tweaked & the Y parameter zero'd.

Sometimes it might work better if the Push is in reverse, then just activate "reverse animation" in the Effect Editor.

Once you do this a few times you can just use keystrokes. With the transition in the Quick Transitions bin (you know about that tip, right?) and other keystrokes involved, I can do this in a matter of a seconds.

Hope this makes sense :D If not, let me know

Yeah, the music really dictated the use of that this time, though I've used those pushes in other upbeat videos. It's funny, I find these generic pushes and wipes, etc look really cheesy unless they are no more than 10 or so frames long, but when they are short, I like them a lot.

I just tried your suggestion. Looks great. I'm just lazy... I've always had too little patience for adding effects. I love to cut, but despise building effects. It's a dislike I have to overcome, though.

Absolutely, the Quick Transitions tip is great. I have all kinds of favourites in there. I can see how you would use just keystrokes for selecting the track and placing the add edits and transition, but I guess you have to drag the blur on each time? I mean, I've saved the tweaked blur effect to a bin, but have to drag it on each transition. Or am I missing a trick?

I wish more effects would act as transitions as well, like PIP does.

Makes great sense, very clear. Thanks for letting me know about it!

Color & punch
 

Travis already beat me to it, but I was wondering about the color & black levels (is there a broadcast filter on there?). A broadcast filtered clip played back on a computer will seem to not be as dark as it could be because of NTSC color space limitations so may be that was it. The only reason I noticed this is because I just spent two weeks working on a wedding with absolutely horrible lighting problems (imagine shooting in a yellow colored wood lined room with lots of yellow bulbs in the fixtures, but with open windows for direct & harsh sun streaming in). That room was the bridal prep and gave me absolute fits trying to CC. The XL1 was completely confused (as was I shooting with it).

No broadcast filter on it per se, but the colour corrector in Avid limits to legal values if you click on auto colour correct - and this is usually where I start. I click auto to get somewhere in the neighbourhood, then tweak.

I have a mild bleach bypass filter over the whole thing, which is more likely the culprit...

It depends... most times I just use the segment mode "lift/overwrite" on the filler then double click the filter in the bin, or simply drag it. I think I save 117 milliseconds with the former :)

Hey Bill,

I was messing around with your blur transition and came up with a nice way to add the blur over the transition.

If you add the blur on V2 as you describe, then solo that track, you can copy it and load it into the Clipboard Monitor. Then move along your timeline pasting the blur over all your transitions where desired.

This way you don't have to do the add edits.

Cheers and thanks again,
Vito

Oh yea, I'd forgotten about that possibility. Thanks

It's one of the many things I've always liked about Avid... there's usually several ways to do the same thing.

But I have always wished there was a way to save, for example, nested filters as a "custom effect" to a bin.

You can do that. Add edits to empty timeline. Alt-drag your desired effects to the filler clip to nest. Alt-drag a submaster effect on that as the last effect of the nest. Click on the submaster effect, and alt-drag the effect icon from the effect editor to a bin. This saves the nest with source (which is blank, cause it's filler).

This submaster acts as a clip, you have to cut it in above what you want to effect.

You can do the same thing to an actual clip and it will save it with the clip, too.

Well I always thought that should work... afterall, it's called "sub-master effect", but maybe it's one of the few things in my ancient (heck, I'm even ashamed to admit it) version of Xpress DV 3.0 that didn't work like it should.

Someday & hopefully soon, I'll do a major upgrade... get a beefy box & Media Composer software. The recent reduced price is certainly more attractive. Are you going to upgrade from Xpress Pro?

Absolutely. But I'm waiting until the new version comes out that's Vista and Leopard compatible. Apparently the upgrade price will still be good then.

Hi Vito,

I thought that was a blast, great moments captured.

I couldn't see/hear anything that was inappropriate but I'm extremely liberal when it comes to that sort of humour.

Really funny and well edited to the music & I really liked the use of sound bytes scattered everywhere also.

Michael

Maybe it's a Canadian thing. If we can produce "Kids in the Hall" and "Trailer Park Boys", what's a little crotch comment?

Thanks for the great feedback, Michael. A pleasure to hear from you.

Great clip Vito. Nice and Smooth.

Candy Dulfer never gets old.

Question, did you shoot that before or after bridal prep or was there someone else at the bride?

Cheers!

Hey Jason,

Oh, boy. You got me Googling on that one....

That was before the bridal prep. Most of what we do is with one camera, believe it it not. So I went from the groom to the bride, then church, then photo shoot, and finally the reception. All by myself. It's a grueling day, often 16 hours, but fun. I sure would like a second guy sometimes to help me carry stuff and run a second camera at the ceremony, but that's life.

By the way, I'm a big fan of your work. Always impressive. Thanks for the nice feedback.

glutton for punishment! =)

now that's even ore awesome considering all the work is done by yourself.

I loved it! The transitions work well with the rhythm of the music. While it's not very "romantic", it seems real and will provide a nice contrast to other scenes (I imagine).

I'd love to see more from the day...

Hi Bill,

Thanks for checking it out. It was a lot of fun to do, and I'm glad it worked for you.

This clip that I posted is from the reception of the same wedding:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=119653

Hope you like it!