First Outdoor Wedding with HMC150s

[Mark Von Lanken]

We did this Same Day Edit at last weekends wedding. It was the first wedding that we got to shoot outdoors for the ceremony with our HMC150s. I absolutely love the Panny colors outdoors. I thought the colors looked great indoors, but outdoors, the colors really shine through. I used a stock scene file and left all images untouched in the NLE. I think we lost a little "color pop" in encoding it for the web.

We actually had 6 cameras for the ceremony, but only three of them were used in the SDE. I shot Glidecam, Trisha was on the back camera, Deanna Summers from Wichita shot front camera, Aggie Brooks from DFW shot with an HVX200 on a jib, and then I had two locked down HDV cameras.

Sarah + Vahid = LOVE (http://vonweddingfilms.com/preview/SVWDE.html)

[Blade Borge]

Wow, the father of the bride really knows how to throw coin around. Well done on the wedding, looked like a dream location!

[Voytech]

Very nice! Which glidecam are you using?

[Mike Harvey]

6 cameras? Holy crap, that's a lot of footage to edit.

[TigerFX]

I think we lost a little "color pop" in encoding it for the web.

Is it the Quicktime gamma issue? Really frustrating problem with H.264: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.videocopilot.net%2Fblog%2F200 8%2F06%2Ffix-quicktime-gamma-shift%2F&ei=kOZ4So_sD82ntgfz99WWCQ&usg=AFQjCNEELZr2TJJrxTk8RKUl51GOS6f-Og&sig2=csLp_B26_FRj0eupU2O0KQ

[tony240sx]

wow 6 cameras. Really great video.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Wow, the father of the bride really knows how to throw coin around. Well done on the wedding, looked like a dream location!

Hi Blade,

Yes, they had a very nice wedding. I didn't even know the facility existed until last year, so we were really excited to book the gig. Actually we shot there the last two weekends, which was an absolute joy.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Very nice! Which glidecam are you using?

Hi Voytech,

Thanks. I have the GC2000. The HMC150 is so light that it easily works with the GC2000, that is unless you add a bunch of accesories. I can add my Century Optics fisheye without a problem, but if I added a light, along with a wide or fisheye lens, it may become too heavy to balance.

You can find used GC2000 pretty cheap.

[Mark Von Lanken]

6 cameras? Holy crap, that's a lot of footage to edit.

Hi Mike,

Yes and no. Two cameras were locked down, so they are just a cover shot. One camera was a jib, and I was roaming with the Glidecam, so it's kind of like a two camera edit with two creative choices and two cover shots...at least that is what I am telling myself. :smile:

[Mark Von Lanken]

Is it the Quicktime gamma issue? Really frustrating problem with H.264: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.videocopilot.net%2Fblog%2F200 8%2F06%2Ffix-quicktime-gamma-shift%2F&ei=kOZ4So_sD82ntgfz99WWCQ&usg=AFQjCNEELZr2TJJrxTk8RKUl51GOS6f-Og&sig2=csLp_B26_FRj0eupU2O0KQ

Hi Allen,

Thanks for the link. We will check it out.

[Mark Von Lanken]

wow 6 cameras. Really great video.

Hi Tony,

We only used 3 cameras in the SDE. When we change the SDE into a Highlight we'll add a couple more cameras and VO. We will use all six cameras in the ceremony edit.

[Superfresa66]

Great work Mark!, what crane are you using? I also would like to comment on the beautiful wideangle/fisheye lens work, i think you really make it shine... one last thing, do you do free run time code on your cams and sync them up, or just by hand in post?

Sorry for the many questions!

[tony240sx]

I agree with Superfresa, the fisheye shots ,which I am usually not a fan of, looks amazing. I didn't even read to see it was a SDE, that is even more impressive. I would love to see the full highlight video.

[MadHMC150]

Very nice Mark... I shook my head when people mentioned they don't like fisheyes for weddings, you guys make it look so required.

I noted about 3 lights on the reception? what lights are you using? they look like battery led's.

[JWitsen]

I think we lost a little "color pop" in encoding it for the web.

Sarah + Vahid = LOVE (http://vonweddingfilms.com/preview/SVWDE.html)

About the "color pop" if you mean it looks washed out, i took the solution text from a link that is in the thread before my post, so you don't have to look through it.


Here it is:


After rendering into a QuickTime/h.264 file, open it up in QuickTime and select “Show Movie Properties.” Highlight the video track then click on the “Visual Settings” tab. Towards the bottom left you should see “Transparency” with a drop-down box next to it. Select “Blend” from the menu then move the “Transparency Level” slider to 100%. Choose “Straight Alpha” from the same drop-down and close the properties window and finally “Save.”

[Blade Borge]

what is the name of that song, very familiar....

[frubsen]

what is the name of that song, very familiar....

It's the Theme song from the 2005 movie The Island by Steve Jablonsky

edit: It's called "My Name is Lincoln" on the soundtrack

[DPStewart]

You Sir,
HAVE GOT GAME!

Really a cut above.

[Justyn]

That is some nice glidecam work for sure. Are you just using the 2000? Any arm support or the vest too? I heard people complaining and saying that you need the GC4000. IF the 2000 works then I might have to pick it up.

Aside from the cheap price, do you like the glidecam? Easy to set-up and do you have any shortcomings that you have to work around? I think this might be one of my next purchases.


Cheers and nice to see some quality work done in this area.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Great work Mark!, what crane are you using? I also would like to comment on the beautiful wideangle/fisheye lens work, i think you really make it shine... one last thing, do you do free run time code on your cams and sync them up, or just by hand in post?

Sorry for the many questions!

We used a crane on camera 4, but we did not have time to work that footage into the SDE since it was shown that night at the reception. I don't know what brand of crane it was. It belonged to the groom, who owns a production company.

Thanks for your comments. The biggest danger in using wide angle/fisheye lenses is not over using them.

On the free run time code question, I have not used that feature. I use Edius, and I believe I can use time code sync when using multi cam, but I never use multi cam. We condense our ceremonies and I have not found multi cam to be beneficial. Now if we did an ABCDEF roll of the ceremony, uncut, then multi cam would be a great solution.

I manually sync the footage in post. Syncing with audio can be tricky because of the delay in audio from the front camera to the rear camera, so I use a camera flash. Light travels much faster than sound, so there is not a delay with a camera flash.

[Mark Von Lanken]

I agree with Superfresa, the fisheye shots ,which I am usually not a fan of, looks amazing. I didn't even read to see it was a SDE, that is even more impressive. I would love to see the full highlight video.

Hi Tony,

Thanks. I am really looking forward to this edit.

[Mark Von Lanken]

Very nice Mark... I shook my head when people mentioned they don't like fisheyes for weddings, you guys make it look so required.

I noted about 3 lights on the reception? what lights are you using? they look like battery led's.

Thanks. Good eye on the light thing. We recently started using "The Reception Light" (http://receptionlight.com/) and really love them. We have two of those and set them up by the DJs speakers. I can't say enough good about them. I am going to do our next Von Real on reception lighting.

In addition to the Reception Lights, my second shooter was using the new Comer Light (http://lacolorshop.com/products/item.asp?id=cm1800). It's the best LED light I have found. It throws so much farther than the Sony LED light. In addition to those two lights, the photographer had a light girl. With all of that lighting, I did not need an on camera with my Glidecam rig, which is good because I do not use the vest system. Just a GC2000.

[Mark Von Lanken]

It's the Theme song from the 2005 movie The Island by Steve Jablonsky

edit: It's called "My Name is Lincoln" on the soundtrack

Thanks for answering Blades question for me. We have been swamped and am just now getting around to replying.

[Mark Von Lanken]

You Sir,
HAVE GOT GAME!

Really a cut above.

Thanks for your kind words.

[Mark Von Lanken]

That is some nice glidecam work for sure. Are you just using the 2000? Any arm support or the vest too? I heard people complaining and saying that you need the GC4000. IF the 2000 works then I might have to pick it up.

Aside from the cheap price, do you like the glidecam? Easy to set-up and do you have any shortcomings that you have to work around? I think this might be one of my next purchases.


Cheers and nice to see some quality work done in this area.

Hi Justyn,

Yes, the GC2000 alone. That's just one of the great things about the HMC150. It is so light weight and has such a wide lens, that it makes shooting with the GC2000 so much easier than any other camera in it's class. The other cameras weigh more and really need a wide angle lens to get cool GC shots.

If you do not weigh down the HMC150 with additional accesories like a wide angle/fisheye lens, video light, receiver, etc, the GC2000 works great with the HMC150.

I like the Glidecam better than the other stedicam type of devices, but it really comes down to personal preference. With the Glidecam I can use it up on my shoulder for high shots, or brace it against my body for non moving shots. You can find used GC2000s pretty cheap, but if you are going to buy new, the new GC2000 HD is pretty sweet. They have refined the weights to look better and the way you make adjustments is better than the brass screws on the older models.

Keep in mind...the GC is not a magic wand. It takes practice...practice...practice.

[MadHMC150]

Thanks. Good eye on the light thing. We recently started using "The Reception Light" (http://receptionlight.com/) and really love them. We have two of those and set them up by the DJs speakers. I can't say enough good about them. I am going to do our next Von Real on reception lighting.

In addition to the Reception Lights, my second shooter was using the new Comer Light (http://lacolorshop.com/products/item.asp?id=cm1800). It's the best LED light I have found. It throws so much farther than the Sony LED light. In addition to those two lights, the photographer had a light girl. With all of that lighting, I did not need an on camera with my Glidecam rig, which is good because I do not use the vest system. Just a GC2000.

Mark,

Thanks for the answer, I noticed wedding receptions are the most difficult when it comes to lighting and can't wait to see your input in your Von Real.

I also found the Comer's to be one of the best lights out there. Went with the 900 planning on the 1800's soon. The Reception Light looks like an answer to many problems us videographers were facing with reception lighting, nice share.