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View Full Version : Shooting and Editing Wedding Videos 101 - from a not so newbie



borgkingkong
08-04-2006, 07:44 AM
I've recently been asked by a friend to edit his wedding video (all 6 hour of raw footage) as his wedding video guy screwed it up BIG time.. after looking at the tapes and editing his footage, I've ;earnt a few things about shooting and editing wedding videos I would like to share with you all , especially any Newbies like myself- some of these tips are down right basic, like:

1) make sure your camcorder lens is goddamn clean. This guy had smudges on his lens and all his footage had smudges on them... FOOL.

2) make sure you don't shoot when you come out of an airconditioned room and condensation forms on the lens (especially in humid countries like South East Asia) cos the resulting footage comes out soft and crappy.. not to mention potentially destroying your precious DVX or HVX ..FOOL.

3) make sure your shots are in focus! the FOOL.

4) make sure your camcorder strap is properly stowed away in your bag or if attached, make sure it is not dangling in front of the lens when shooting.. FOOL.

5)make sure you white balance everytime you change lighting so your shots don't come out all funky colour looking, and expose your shots properly so the couple's not all in shadows while the background is beautifully exposed.

6) during a wedding dance sequence, do not be smart and zoom in and out trying to mimic some funky 60s disco music video.. its a wedding video, not a 60s disco music video.. FOOL.

7) when editing, make sure you shoot progressive, but if not available, make sure you de-interlace your edits before burning on DVD cos if you don't the footage will look CRAP.. FOOL.

8) Get some decent tapes! and not have drop outs right in the middle of the bride singing a beautiful song with her exquisitie voice. Crackles pops and dropouts also makes capturing a bloody hassle since it'll stop FCP all the time.. the FOOL!

9) put some effort into making sure the DVD output is of good quality and not so interlaced that it looks like a knitted quilt flapping in the wind and the groom's face is a smear of lines.... FOOL..

10) If you're going to be serious about earning money from your DVX or camcorder, please learn some skills, visit forums such as DVXUser and learn all the technical and artistic ways of shooting.. your client's paying you good money FOOL, so give good service and quality output. I'm a NEWBIE in every sense of the word, but buying book,s reading forums and asking questions will help you immensely to learn the art of shooting vids and films.

There you go, my 2 cents worth of rants.. hope it helps..

ryan brown
08-04-2006, 11:42 AM
I made something similar a couple weeks back. Since we're talking about weddings, I'll add my info.


http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=64115&highlight=wedding

Alexa
08-04-2006, 12:06 PM
Editing someone else's wedding video footage is the fast track to seeing another human being as a very fu#ked up person. Extremely generous of you to do so, even with pay.

Thanks for sharing, good reminders!

Noel Evans
08-04-2006, 10:08 PM
Agreed Alexa. Someone got hold of me and asked if I could re edit their wedding - not happy campers. But I gracefully declined. I would hate to edit something poorly shot and then others think the final product - poor shots are mine.

Instead though I gave them some options: i.e a student I know who is trying to get any editing experience.

borgkingkong
08-05-2006, 04:20 AM
Agreed Alexa. Someone got hold of me and asked if I could re edit their wedding - not happy campers. But I gracefully declined. I would hate to edit something poorly shot and then others think the final product - poor shots are mine.

Instead though I gave them some options: i.e a student I know who is trying to get any editing experience.

It was something I'd thought about, but I'm a newbie in need of editing experience and to see my very good riends end up with a DVD of such poor quality, I really thought this should be recitified. if it were anyone else, maybe i might not have...

vocare
08-06-2006, 04:29 PM
It was something I'd thought about, but I'm a newbie in need of editing experience and to see my very good riends end up with a DVD of such poor quality, I really thought this should be recitified. if it were anyone else, maybe i might not have...


Honestly shooting a wedding require experience and good equipment.
The tool and man behind a the tool play a part.
The dvx itself, is a very good camera to shoot almost every event.
everyever i shoot a Wedding in Singapore,
i prefer to shoot it with a shotgun mic, and with a mono pod.

The shotgun prove to be a good mic for interview, mc 66
and the mono pod help to aid me when it come to speech or long ceremony.
imagine shooting for more than 10 hours a day. Wow that tough
and aching on the hand.

The dvx prove to be the best camera that i try for
SD recording, progressive mode, handheld, color.
Light is another factor..dreaming of buying a LED light.
Does not perform as good as the Sony under low light,
but if you are smart ...shoot in low shutter speed.
Focusing-manual focus beat the rest of the camera anytime.
Honestly its the best handheld sd camera that you can get.

For wedding in different country vary i guess.
which are the best production house in your country that you will recommend.

www.vocaremedia.com
call to inspire

SilverWolf
08-06-2006, 05:32 PM
This is a great thread. I read your thread also Rcbrown and it's official a word document now