Last minute wedding shoot, need some help!

E

El Producto

Active member
So a friend of mine called me and said her videographer bailed out on her at the last minute and she asked if I could shoot her wedding for her. I told her yes of course cuz a friend in need is a friend indeed! I have some questions though...

I haven't had time to get the DVX book so I'm not 100% on all the camera functions yet. Here's a list of some questions:

1.What's the F1-whatever dial for on the back of the camera next to the battery?

2.Is there a way to hook up a wireless mic system to the DVX100 that uses an 1/8th inch male conncector? If not, I have a second crappy camera that does have it so i can use that to capture the priest's audio. I also have a shotgun mic I bought seperate. Or should I use an SM-58 vocal mic for people talking at the reception?

3.Should I use the eye piece to make sure all lighting is correct or can I use the side viewfinder? I've had experiences in the past where the side view finder didn't really show what I shot, it was usually a lot darker on other cheaper cameras.

4.Is there a better setting for shooting in lower light? I will be filming the reception also and I'm worried that there isn't going to be enough light.

5. She wants all the people to leave those lame drunk "We wish you the best messages." When I have the people talk into the shotgun mic, it's one channel. To make it stereo do I have add 2 audio channels and pan one to the left and one to the right in Premiere?

Disclaimer: This is not a fancy wedding video. She just wants the service shot nice and the rest she said she wants to look like a music video of people gettin crazy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
 
I'll try my best here -

F1 dial thing - scene file selector. more info in the manual and a whole lot more on scene files and what all the settings do here on this site.

1/8" audio input - cant hook directly to the dvx. What wireless kit are you using? g2 comes with hookups for both xlr and 1/8. I suppose you could use an adapter if need be, but I'd avoid it. Just who are you micing with a lav? I'd avoid it for the best wishes (too much hassle) stuff but would use one on the groom during the ceremony. The shotgun mounted on camera wont sound great but if you get in close and keep the shot wide it will work for best wishes stuff. Just did this over the weekend actually for nephews 1st birthday. Giving drunk people a mic to hold just incites singing and other nonsense. Putting them on camera is bad enough.

Calibrate the evf and the lcd so they both display what is actually being recorded. do a search on how to setup for smpte bars and set them up as best you can.

If the shotgun is the only mic you have going, plug it into input 2 and then set channels 1 and 2 both to input 2. Set the record levels staggered so one is a bit hotter than the other. Now when someone yells you can use the audio from the low channel and when someone is quiet you have audio from the hotter channel. I'm guessing they'll import into premiere as a stereo pair. Before you put them on the timeline go to clip, audio options, and change the interpretation to two mono tracks. Now you can just mix between the two depending on what you picked up.

Have fun!
 
Just to add a few things to what Jeff said, I would recommend shooting the video in 60i, particularly if this is your first wedding shoot. It will give you a little more latitude as far as low light and also can make for smoother slow motion footage which can help to cover up slip-ups (and they will happen). Also, the DVX does better with autofocus in 60i if you not comfortable with controlling focus yet. I've done a few weddings for friends and shot them in 60i for this reason. Next time I do one I'll probably shoot progressive just to gain some more experience.

One tip: attend the wedding rehearsal. This can be very valuable to see where you can best set up your camera and know how the ceremony will unfold (the procession, location of readers, singers, etc). Remember it's most important that you have a nice shot of the bride, so keep that in mind when you choose your position (the right side in most cases, camera facing towards her). If you have access to another camcorder, even if it is a cheapie, set it up on a tripod for a nice wide shot of the ceremony. That can really help when it comes to editing. One other thing to think about is recording the vows. I've never used wireless mics so I can't help you there, but they used to make iRivers that had a line-in feature that can accept mics. I put one on the groom and one on the minister/officiant. Do a search here for more info on them and then look for them on eBay. If there's no time to do that, ask if the church has a soundboard you can record from onto a minidisc or something similar. One wedding I did the minister was wearing a mic that went to their soundboard and I got excellent audio, picked up the vow pretty well, even though I had the iRiver on the groom. That's another reason to go to the rehearsal.

Get to the wedding early and shoot a lot of B-roll of the location, flowers, etc. Pick up a copy of the program in case you want to include it in the DVD or you need the names of the wedding party for a "credits" section. It would also be helpful to learn about the zebra function. Set it to 100% and whenever you see the lines, you'll know to dial down the iris. Do the best you can and then try to improve in post. I always shoot with the LCD screen out. It might not have as good resolution, but it helps me to be able to stand back and see what's actually going on and glance back and forth to the LCD.

Depending on how much lighting there is at the reception, you might be able to get away without using an external light. I have a Bescor and even though I put a softbox on it and dial it down, I still feel like I'm blinding people. But that's just the nature of having an on-camera light. Do a search on here for the LED panels for more info about a newer innovation that might not be so harsh.

After they've gotten back from the honeymoon, ask for copies of any digital pictures they have. It's easy to create a nice photo slideshow set to music in any NLE.

Most of all, try to have fun. I always work harder than I normally would b/c they are friends and I want to do a good job, but I'm sure they'll be blown away by what you can do!
 
OGShooter,

It's people like you that make the world a better place. Thanks for being so kind to take the time to elaborate. I love this damn website!
 
I'll echo most of what OG said, but the rehearsal really doesn't help much. There aren't as many people as there will be at the wedding, and no matter where you plan to set up, somebody will stand in front of you, walk in front of you and look stupidly at the camera, or you will be in somebody's way. I would also try and mic the groom, couples are never more quiet than when they are repeating their vows.
 
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