‘video’ Category

This clip is from the current wedding I am working on, Allison’s, which I just started editing yesterday.  It takes place in the bridal suite prior to the photo shoot and how the video will start.

I get bored easily of doing the same thing over and over again and really want to do something different with weddings.  Instead of starting out with the usual exteriors of the location and music to establish everything, I just decided to get right into it.  I am just going to show the location throughout the video instead so you get a sense of it as you go along rather than just getting it all in the first minute or so. Again, I just want to do something different and not just cut and paste everything.  I have an idea for how to do something different with the reception, but I have to see how it works first.  If it does then I will put it up to show, if not then it will be back to the drawing board. When someone watches something I do, I want them to like it so much that even if they’re not getting married and looking for a videographer, they are impressed by it enough to still find out who did it.

Anyway, the wedding was at Fresh Meadow Country Club in Long Island.  I do a lot of country clubs for some reason.  As usual, rather than just stand around and wait for the photo session to start, I went to the bridal suite and just started shooting what was going on there. I want the video to be as good as possible, more so then the brides who book me, and including prep stuff is going to accomplish that.

Here is the clip…

This was actually not easy to shoot or edit.  Lots of people in the room and not too many places to get a good shot from.  This was a lot like Caroline’s wedding which I just did.  Also, there is music playing in the background which you can not get rid of, so if you want to shorten what someone is saying, a lot of times you can’t because the music in back will be all cut up and sound really bad, so you have to use a lot of tricks to make stuff like that work.

People think that effects and a lot of music are impressive, but just doing straight cuts and letting the footage speak for itself is much more difficult.  I find something more impressive if it’s done like that.  

Effects just cover mistakes. Anyone who charges you more to put in extra effects is just ripping you off. If they are making it better by putting in more effects, then aren’t they saying that if you don’t have a lot of effects that they won’t do as good a job on your wedding? I mean, think about it.

I think it will probably wind up staying this way in the final cut, but whenever I go back and watch something, I always find something that can be changed, so a shot or two may be different. I really like the stuff of her dancing in the beginning and the one of her looking in the mirror, think it’s nicely framed. There is still a lot to do with this part before I move past the suite.

I also like the Bon Jovi music playing in the background when it begins for no other reason then the fact I would never include anything like that in a video voluntarily, so it’s kind of funny to me to start it off like that. I did not add it, it’s just what was playing at the moment she was speaking. The song also just cuts off in the middle at one point, that’s because someone turned the radio off. Normally I would not do something like that myself to music I added, but since it happened naturally and it’s in the moment, it’s OK.

I am currently working on the recap of Caroline and Kevin’s wedding.  I always worry about doing the recap the most.  As soon as I start working on the next wedding, I can hear the clock ticking, waiting for me to get to it.  I do not like repeating myself, so I always feel as though I need to do something new with it- different music, different style, different pace.

It’s also how the video is going to end, and I want it to end on as high a note as possible because it’s the last impression the viewer is going to get.  Almost everyone says it’s their favorite part, but I still worry about what the couple is going to think.

Anyway, with Caroline’s recap I am taking an old film approach to the look.  It just fits with the tone of the video and the music, as well as her dress.  I had no idea what I was going to do before I started working on it tonight.  I do what I always do- lay shots to the music that has been selected and keep on adding and taking away until I find a style that fits with what I want to do.  It’s a lot of “what would happen if I try this?” and “what if I do it this way instead?”.  I know I do the whole old film look a lot, but it’s always done differently.

Here is an idea of what it will look like…

It uses an effect called, conveniently enough, Aged Film.  I also keyed in an additional layer of video over it to give it an additional worn out look rather than the usual damaged one.  Just an idea of what it will be like.  I think it’s going to use a lot of going back and forth throughout the day, so there will not be a linear timeline. I think the shots where the camera does not settle down and keeps on moving adds to the old look.

These shots are also found in the clip that is in the previous post, so if you watch that clip, you can see the difference in how the video really looks versus how it was changed for the recap.

OK, this clip is the post ceremony photo shoot from Caroline’s wedding at the country club. As you can see, I am taking a documentary approach to this part, as well most of the wedding.

I actually shot a whole bunch of stuff of them taking pictures with everyone right before this, but I’m not using it, just this part of the two of them alone.  At this point it’s just too much- how much of people taking pictures do you need to see?  That’s what the whole beginning is. You are not hiring me to stick as much as possible into an hour, your hiring me to produce a well edited and presented production of your wedding.

Part of being a good editor is not just putting shots together but knowing what to cut out and I have come to a point where I can be brutal about what I decide to exclude.  Doesn’t work, gone.  I won’t even think twice about it.  But I am including this because I just think the footage looks great.

You don’t really realize it here, but this part comes in after about 25 minutes into the video, and when you watch it the slow pace and shot selection really becomes a refreshing change of pace after the ceremony.

I love how she plays with the veil and the close up shots of her.  Tight close-ups are another one of my things.  I always try to get a few of them while I am shooting. The ones here are awesome.

I also really love shots of jewelry and what people are wearing.  Fashion stuff like that is my strength.  You would never guess even after meeting me, but that’s what I do best.  That’s why I love doing bridal peps so much, because I always know how to make stuff like that sing.  No one does bridal preps like I do.

I have another clip from Caroline’s wedding. It’s of the bridal party walking down the aisle. It’s from the second camera positioned in the back of the room that I used to get a wide shot of everyone walking in.

When I shoot everyone walking down the aisle, I always have one camera in back getting everything while I hang out in front off to the side getting a shot from there.  I guess it’s pretty popular for people to stand in front in the same spot you see the photographer in this clip, but I do not like being there at all.  

First, if I stand there then I am in the shot as well.  If I am in the shot then it’s unusable. Second, everyone has a digital camera now, so people always stick their cameras out into the aisle for shots and block the view.  Third, I can follow each person walking down without having the next person in the shot at the same time.  Fourth, I think it just looks better from the side. 

Anyway, here is the shot.  Just showing it to give an idea of what goes into putting the ceremony together.

This is a great shot to work with when editing and has saved me a lot of times, but then when the bride walks in most of the time everyone stands up and blocks the camera’s view, at which point the shot becomes virtually unusable and you have to rely on the camera that you are shooting with in front.

It’s the first day of September, which is a big month for me.  The new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm begins in a couple of weeks and Guitar Hero 5 comes out.  So it’s a very big month indeed.

But everyone is here for weddings, so here we go…  

This is the opening to Caroline and Kevin’s wedding.  I arrived early and rather than waiting for the photo session to begin, I just started shooting the bridal suite (which is what always winds up happening) and this is what I put together from it.  Heavy documentary approach to this one.  I like this one because there is no need for music, which is always best.  This part of the wedding might wind up going on longer than usual because I actually managed to get a lot of good stuff in the room.

There were a lot of people in the room, so it was hard to find a spot to get a good shot from, but I think I did pretty well regardless. Had to change shots quickly as a result.

Here is the clip…
 

A few points…

-I wish I had more shots of them putting together the room the reception was going to be in.  I didn’t think I was going to use any of it, so I just stopped shooting after a few shots.  It works but I would of liked one or two more shots to work with.

-There were a lot of people talking in the room at once, so I had to do a lot of cheating with the audio.  Over 1/2 of the shots use audio taken from another part of the tape. 

-Under the part where the date shows up, the photographer talks about “loving it up” and someone else asks if he is going to be saying that all day.  I really wanted to stick that audio in because that became the catch phrase of the day, but I was shooting something else when he said it, so I put it under the graphic because I couldn’t use the video.  If you were there then it’s something that’s really going to stick out.

-There are the shots of all the flowers followed by the shot of the beer.  I’m not sure if the contrast I was trying to go for really works or comes off properly.  Also not sure I can explain what I am talking about.

-The dress arriving late was sort of a big issue at the time, so her dad arriving with it was a major moment.  Someone is blocking him when he walks in, but I’m still using it anyway because it’s too big a moment not to put in.  The last shot I am not sure if I will wind up keeping in.  I like how it shows how busy everything was, but not too crazy about how it came out, so it may wind up getting cut out.

Yes, I have returned with the next wedding.  Been busy with the main site overhaul and saw some rough drafts today.  Everything is on schedule I am told for a relaunch in about 2 weeks, at which point, don’t forget, the blog will move over to the main site and no longer be found on Wordpress.

Anyway, here is the opening to Laura and Ro’s wedding.  Kind of taking a heavy documentary approach here in the beginning.  I like it because it does not need music.

The less music, the lest effects, the simpler the cuts, the better.  Like I said before, I think music and effects are just people’s way of covering up the fact that they do not know how to edit.  You’re forcing people what to think and feel.

I got there early and just starting shooting what was going on before the photo session, which took place before the ceremony.  I had what I thought were some nice shots, but not much to work with overall- just not much time between when the bride was done getting ready to when the photos started.  So I had to keep the part before the photos start kind of short.

I am almost finished with Kelsa’s wedding, just some smoothing over left to do pretty much. But I still have something I want to post from it.  It’s just some raw footage of a shot I took during the photo session in the park across from the church.  There was a wooden swing that you could sit on, and this shot is taken looking through the back of it.

Even though it moves a bit, I think it’s nicely framed and has an interesting composition. I specifically waited for them to walk out of frame so that I can possibly use it as a transition shot to the next part of the photo session when they take pictures in front of the church.

Anyway, that’s all.

I know the title doesn’t make much sense here, but I couldn’t really think of anything else.  Plus like I said before, only communists don’t like Kelly Clarkson.

OK, so I have another part of Kelsa’s wedding I want to post.  It’s from the recap, meaning I’m pretty close to the end of the actual editing phase of her wedding (at least for now).

This just shows the basic look and feel I developed for the recap.  I kind of use this style a lot, so I think it has sort of become my thing with the short shots and camera movements.  It uses an effect called “old 85″ which I like a lot, but don’t really get a chance much to use.  It kind of gives a darker brown tone I guess you can say, which is why I don’t use it much.  It really works well with outdoor stuff, at least in my opinion.  I also added a film grain to it, which makes it look kind of like old film stock, but without the film damage look.

Editing in this style is actually kind of hard to do.  You need a lot of shots of a particular type, and each one has to work seamlessly with the one before and after it.  In about 3:50 there are 167 different shots.  It’s physically draining editing like this and going through 5 or 6 hours of footage that is going to be compressed into less than 5 minutes.

I really love the shot of her posing with the bridge in the background.  Perhaps the best shot I have every taken, so I tried to cheat a bit and let it run a bit longer than the rest of the shots.  It probably doesn’t look like it, but that’s what I tried to do.  The shot is more settled than the rest of the shots.

I spent like 3 days or so looking for a song that would work.  I went back and forth a few times between the bride trying to nail something down before the right choice was found. I gave her a list of what I thought would work, she gave me a list of her choices. Eventually something she liked was settled upon.

As the mighty phoenix rises from the ashes, I have returned to posting.  I have not been posting lately, but that does not mean I have not been busy.  Like I mentioned in the earlier post, the site is going to be going through some major changes, so I have been busy doing that, as well as a lot of prep work for the current project I am working on.  

As people who have worked with me before know, I do EVERYTHING by myself, so at times it can get daunting with a lot of late nights.  I also demand perfection from myself and can spend half a night trying to find a way to push a shot for just a single frame more.

Also, Kelsa, the bride who’s wedding I am currently working on, said she does not want a traditional/regular wedding video, so I have been spending the past few days just going through tons of music trying to find the right song(s) to make her video really work and give her what she wants. (By the way, is there anyone who does not like Kelly Clarkson?)

Anyway, here is a clip from the beginning of Kelsa’s wedding when she arrives and walks does the aisle.  

I decided to take a different approach with this part.  The ceremony is always the most boring part to edit because you’re just letting the scene play out and other than audio or video fixes, you’re just basically changing shots between cameras when necessary.   So I’m always trying to find a way to do something different with it while still being respectful to the fact that it’s the most important part of the day.  I think I may of found something here.

When I was outside waiting for her to come out of the limo, I was able to get a shot of one of the bridesmaids entering the church, and then a shot of the bride entering as well.  Instead of just having everyone walk does the aisle in order as usual, I crosscut the two shots of them entering with them walking does the aisle, which I think makes it a bit more interesting than usual.  It’s not that big a deal, but I think it’s a nice change of pace. Not to make myself sound like I think I’m Steven Spielberg, but it also make it a bit more cinematic.

The two bridesmaids are shown mostly from the back because when they walked down, they weren’t very far apart, so it was hard to get a good shot of them and the camera in back just gives a better angle and adds a bit of separation to them both.

So I have a quick preview from the wedding I did this weekend at the Westchester Country Club. It was fun because I have never been on a golf course before and at one point specifically during the photo session walked onto one of the holes to get a really wide shot because I know I wasn’t allowed to.  Anytime I see a sign that says “do not go on whatever”, you’re just asking me to do it.  

It’s rare for me to ask the couple to do something just for the camera, which is good because if I did then I would of had them run on the course while everyone was playing golf, which would of resulted in them getting kicked out and there wouldn’t be much of a wedding after that.

Anyway, I said I was thinking of not showing preview clips recently, but I knew what I wanted to show and exactly where it was on the tape, so here we go…

This is from the photo session after the ceremony.  I’m choosing this because I really like how the bride, Caroline, plays with the veil and thought it looked really good as I was shooting it. I did a bunch of tight close ups when I shot this part because I just really love shots like that and her eyes really stand out well. 

I have stuff I have to get done this week, so it’s pretty quick.  Very simply edited.  I really am liking the whole documentary approach to things recently, so I kind of did it like that to see how it would look, so this clip is also a test of how it would come out.

The photographer was great because he was very vocal and had a lot of personality, so you can hear him giving a lot of direction when he’s taking photos, which is awesome because you can really use something like that to your advantage (if you know what you’re doing).  Most people would probably put music underneath everything to drown him out, but that would be really stupid.  A guy like him is the opposite of how I do things, which is just stay in the background and not get in the way, just try to observe.  

It’s like I always tell the groom when I put the mic on him, as soon as the ceremony is over I’ll take it off and you will probably never notice me for the rest of the day.

This is a really late post, but I have a wedding tomorrow and don’t like going too many days without putting something up, so I’m going to post a clip.  Plus I’m just so happy because I got a lot done tonight.  The other day I actually fell asleep in front of the computer while working, which I did not think was possible, but I guess you learn something new everyday.

This is the part of Nicola and John’s wedding when they exit the church.  I edit in order of the day (at least until the entrances during the reception), so I am well past this part and now going back to show this clip.

It’s actually a few seconds of raw footage and not edited or anything.  I just really like this shot. It’s my favorite one from their wedding.  The flower peddles and rice that everyone threw really shows up well.

You can see the people who were standing in front of me popping their heads in and out and they actually cover the groom as he’s walking down the steps, but it’s not too bad and the focus is always on the bride, so most people wouldn’t even notice I think.

This is also a good example of how no matter how well you try to set things up, you’re recording on the fly, so you can’t control what’s going to happen.  When I set up the shot, I got in position and no one was in front of me really, but then right when I turned on the camera and they started to come out, people started to get in front of me and it was too late to readjust or move in front again for a clearer shot.  You can kind of see me moving the camera to adjust at one point.

A also only had 1 minute of tape left in the camera when this was happening because it was a long ceremony, then the receiving line afterwards, so there was no time to grab a new tape and pop it in before they exited the church and I’m not going to ask someone as soon as they get married to hold up so I can change a tape.  I was actually worried I may not get the shot as a result, so instead of running the camera the entire time like I normally do, I actually had it off while waiting to make sure I got the shot.

OK, so I finally have something to show from Laura and Ro’s wedding which I did this past weekend in Wading River and not as far up Long Island as I thought it was.

Everything came out well and it was a really fun wedding.  A day one at that, which you never really see anyone have anymore.  Friday is the new Saturday afternoon.  I want to say a day wedding is a very british thing to do, but I know I am wrong because I’m pretty sure I just made that up in my head.

Anyway, here is the clip…

Just based on how things went during the day, I have a feeling I’m going to wind up taking more of a documentary approach and once I started to realize it during the day I started to shoot things more like that.  The clip here kind of reflects that.  I did it pretty quickly because I know I was behind on posting it, but it kind of shows what I am thinking.  I already know how I am going to start it, which is always a time saver.

I am seriously starting to think that I may no longer put previews up after I shoot a wedding.  It takes time going through the footage and compressing it and uploading it, and now that I am starting to hit my really busy stretch of bookings, takes away a lot of time from what I am currently working on.

I know I said I was going to post something from the wedding this past weekend and have yet to, but I haven’t forgotten about it.  Have just been so tied down trying to get stuff done that I have not really had much of chance to get to it.  Unless I can think of something off the top of my head what to put up, then it takes a while to figure out what to show because there is a lot of footage to go through, and since it’s all still on tape and not digitized onto the computer, it’s an entire process.

Tomorrow one way or the other.

Anyway, I do have another clip to show from Nicola and John’s wedding.  It’s from the photo shoot outside at the hall.  They said that they wanted a more observational approach to their wedding, so I cam leaning more to the documentary style throughout the entire video, as shown here.

It’s more slow paced than I would normally do when editing something like this, but I think this is what they are looking for.  Not really sure if I will put music underneath it.  I always think it’s better not to put any when trying to go documentary, but will try something later to see how it works.  Plus music a lot times is just an easy way out when editing something because it tells people what they should be feeling or thinking instead of letting them decide on their own when watching.  ”I don’t know what to do, just stick some Celine Dion and just get it over with already.”

But that’s just me…

So now I have a clip from Nicola and John’s ceremony, and as the title of the post indicates, it’s the first kiss during the ceremony.  Normally I guess people would go pretty tight on the couple for the first kiss, but after the kiss the couple usually steps away from each other and turns to the audience, and when that happens most of them are no longer in frame, so I like to keep it safe and go a bit wider to make sure if that happens the shot is still usable.

You can see a pair of hands clapping on the left side of the frame, but when it plays on a regular TV like it’s meant to and not a computer, you won’t be able to because the hands are out of the TV safe area.

From a technical standpoint, there were a lot of issues involved in shooting the ceremony that needed to be addressed when editing it.  

In terms of audio, the church was very large, so it created an echo.  Also, the only place I could really set up the camera for a good shot was all the way in back, which was pretty far away, so the audio had to be really cranked up a lot in post.  Still need to do some tweaking to try to “flatten” the sound.

In terms of the church itself, the sun was hitting the alter really brightly, but when the bride and groom stood for the vows, they were in the shadow, meaning the alter was really bright, but they were a bit toned down I guess you could say.  I could of opened up the lens to let more light in, but then the alter in back would be way overexposed and not look good at all.  You can sort of see it in the clip how much brighter the alter is behind them.

Also the floors in the church in back where not even with the floors in front, because I centered the tripods so the shots would be straight according to the bubble guide on them which is always accurate, but then when I went back and looked at the footage, everything was at an angle.  Had to to fix that as well.  It’s not really a problem, but it just takes a long time to render it all.  I want it to look as good as it can, so I set it to render at the high quality setting, so it took 11 hours for the computer to render the entire ceremony so that the shots were straight.  And I know the issue was with the floor because both cameras were off by the same exact amount. 

I have another clip from Nicola and John’s wedding.  This is more from the hotel.  As mentioned in the previous post, the makeup was done in the lobby of the hotel, but then the hair was done in the room.  I wasn’t too sure how to approach it at first, because normally I will consolidate hair and makeup together continuously, but I couldn’t do that here because it would look odd if the location just changed between shots.

I wound up doing what I had to do, which is divide it into two separate mini parts.  The makeup part is edited with a more quick pace, but this part I decided to slow down more to give it two distinct feels to each part.

Here is a more documentary approach that lets thing play out more.  Like I said, it’s more slow paced, but it works here.  It shows the dress, but like I have stated before, I don’t think the dress should be the focus of the preps, thus no angels singing when it is shown.  It’s more about getting glamourous than putting on a dress.  You have an entire video to show off the dress, you’re probably not going to get another chance to show off any glamour.  

You can’t always hear or understand everything that is being said, but that’s not really important as long as it gives you the feeling that something is going on.

I am going to try to start getting things done quicker now because summer is coming and so the bookings are starting to pick up.  That doesn’t mean I am going to spend less time working on each wedding though, just less time on other stuff, like eating and sleeping. 

Now moving onto the next project and Nicola and John’s wedding.  They are both performers- she’s a dancer and he’s a singer.  The “Proud Mary” and tap dance clips are both from their wedding.

I always work in order from start to finish, so this is from the hotel when Nicola was getting ready before the ceremony.  She actually got her makeup done in the lobby rather than her room because the lobby had more light for the person doing her makeup.

Shooting it there actually presented a problem because the light was not even and coming at different intensities where ever I shot from.  From a technical standpoint the reception is the easiest thing to shoot, because it’s probably going to be at night and indoors, so once I put on my light I am able to control things more.

Anyway, as a result of the different light intensities and because it’s so uneven, what was shot there required a lot of color correction to balance things out, which is not always easy.  I used to work somewhere that was pretty high end in terms of production that employed a lot of really skilled editors, and even this place would have to send stuff out from time to time to get stuff color corrected properly. 

This is not 100% final.  I am probably going to put some music underneath it really low and add a d-verb to it to make it sound like it was playing there at the time in the background.  I’m still going to keep the background noise there though because it’s important to keep it there to give a realistic feeling. 

This is also a lot of quick shots and jerky camera moves, which as I have stated I really like using and now starting to incorporate more into weddings rather than just the reception.