My video is not HD, though, it's SD with letterboxing. Should I still do that?

Hi Travis - loved the clip!

Were you using a GL2? I really liked the first dance shot at 2:52. Did you use a GL2 for that? If so, do you recall the settings to get a great shot in a low light setting? Would love to know.

Thanks!

Thanks Nick. Yes, I use several GL2's at every wedding. The settings for that shot should have been probably 1/30 or 1/60 shutter, f1.6 or f1.8 and no gain. I can't be sure because my assistant was running that camera and his footage was actually too dark. I had to adjust things in post to get it to look better.

I did use a darkening trick on the right side of the frame for that shot to focus your attention to the couple and help make them appear somewhat "spotlit". It was tough because of the wide-open door in the background is just screaming bright outside light and it was competing with the couple.

I see what you are saying about the redish theme you have going on. In that case I would make all the pre-ceremony footage using that tint and when the first ceremony shot comes on, I would transition using a bright dissolve from the red tint to a actual color, and leave the actual colors all throughout the remaining clip. When you refer to pre-ceremony shots afterwards then reuse the red tint, that way it gives more meaning to the color theme and develops the story through the clip.


Did you shoot the wedding in 16:9 or was it in 4:3 and then you added the letterbox? If you did shoot in 16:9 then you should output your video at 720x480 not 1280x720 since it isn’t in HD. If you shot your footage in 4:3 and then added the letterbox, you will need to render your footage cropped but still using the 720x480 resolution.


Hope that was helpful.

Chris, thanks for the comments again. I appreciate it.

I did shoot the wedding in 4:3 and just added bars in post. So you're saying I need to crop the footage on export and use 720x480 for the export resolution?

Also, I still don't understand why the compression on Vimeo wasn't very good, whether the clip was 4:3 or 16:9 shouldn't affect that. I could see problems if I took a 4:3 clip and exported it as 16:9, but if the clip is 4:3 and is exported at 4:3, then the compression on Vimeo should be unaffected by the screen ratio, correct?

Didn't appreciate that it wasn't HD (gawd help us when you switch!).

Wow, thanks. You have no idea how badly I want to be shooting in HD. I've been wanting it for 2 years now. I think this year I might finally be able to afford the upgrade. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Just an update. I went to the trouble of masking out the offending "drool" to just avoid any potential future issue with the clip. It turns out the "drool" was not the bride's earring like I originally thought, but a whisp of her hair that caught on the flower. I won't be posting the updated clip since it already took like 2 hours to upload the video to Vimeo last night.

Thanks again for all the comments, and I'd love to hear some more (good or bad).

Hey Travis,
The drool was not offending at all. It's just I was thinking for the Brides sake when viewing it. As you stated it wasn't even drool though it looked like it. I had a job recently where the bride to be was walking down the isle and snot came running down her nose. I wanted to throw up right there. She was older being in her 40's and boy am I not going to enjoy looking through that footage. The worst part is it was recorded in HD. Besides that false alarm from me you still did one heck of a job editing the video.

Monday

No, I'm glad you mentioned it, though. I actually noticed it the other day, but then immediately just thought it was her earring. Having you and a few others also noticing it made me realize I should just go to the extra trouble of masking it out so that it wasn't an issue for the bride or anyone I might want to show it to. I appreciated the honesty. Thanks again!

Oh, and sorry for your own "snotty" troubles. That's a tough one. Did the bride not have a tissue tucked in her dress?

enjoyed the coloring of the first wide shot of them dancing. had a classic portrait look.

appreciated the non-linear-ness of it. it didn't feel random, as can be the case.

from a business perspective (being someone who doesn't offer highlights per se), i see that it was a very recent wedding, so the couple is probably loving you for that! do you do this (this soon) for every wedding, or is it an accessory?

jones

Yeah she did. Thank God cause that would have been a big mess up at the alter (^_^)

The highlights video is included in most of my packages (3 of 5), and nearly all of my couples book a package that includes a highlights video. Usually it takes 3-4 weeks to finish out the editing, and the highlights video is done pretty much last because by then I feel like I know all of the footage very well.

This particular wedding was only 2 weeks ago, and I'm definitely setting a record for myself. Partly I was pushing myself to see if I could get it done in 2 weeks and partly I was just in the zone a lot for this wedding and ended up working some really late nights (mornings I guess) to make sure I didn't lose the creative momentum. I did speak with the bride today and she was pretty shocked that her DVD was nearly ready. I shoot for 3-4 weeks but I tell my couples 8-12 weeks or longer because each project is a custom project.

I'm glad you felt it was non-linear without being random. I have a hard time breaking from chronology because I have a very strong logical side to me that constantly tries to beat down my creative side. But the short-form edit is already chronological so I'm really trying to break away from that in the highlights video so the two pieces are distinct.

Thanks for viewing and commenting!

Travis, that's killer dude! I'm going to snag that song for a Galveston wedding I'm shooting in two weeks.

Thanks for sharing.
Tom

Thanks, Tom. Funny story about the song. When I interviewed the couple a few days before the wedding for their final consult they didn't know what song they wanted for their highlights. I told them I could give them some ideas since I had been itching to do something more upbeat and edgy (like much of what I've seen on here). I confirmed with them that they were up for upbeat and edgy and fun, and then did research and email them a list of my song suggestions. They came back and changed their mind and picked this song instead, which is kind of the opposite of what I was envisioning.

So at first I wasn't fond of the song (from an editing perspective), but I forced myself to listen to it probably several dozen times in the days up to the wedding (fell asleep to it at night, etc.). I ended up developing a vision for it.