New 100B/ First Post

EWS

EWS

Active member
This is my first post, and would like to start by thanking everyone for all of the info. I have been reading this forum for several months before I made the purchase, and have gotten lots of great info. What a great place.
I have a bit of a dilemma on hand. I have been asked to shoot a wedding in about a month. This is a distant family member, and my brother who is a professional photographer has gotten involved, and would like me to participate. I am not totally new to video, as I have had a single chip dv cam for years and have shot and edited quite a bit.
My question is, Is it really possible to shoot a decent wedding video by yourself with one camera. I am not sure how to be at all of the places you need to be at the same time. I have read several things regarding weddings on the forum, but could still use some help.
I thought I could set up my sony(TRV 310) for a static shot and try to cut it in, I just don't know if the footage will even be close enough to match in post.
The other part is I really don't know the shots, and the situations that I will encounter, like steup location, and how much handheld(interviews etc),But I also feel like ... hey you have to start somewhere.
This would be a freebie and written off for experience, but I hate to half heartedly do anything.
So... in summary... One camera possible? If so brief explanation of the shots.
Thanks to all
 
First Post/wrong section..Please move.

First Post/wrong section..Please move.

Off to a good start.....Wrong section please move..... This is because of all hours I spent reading about the HVX. Oh well next year.
Thanks
 
Hi EWS,

Well, don't worry, everyone has to start somewhere, even at the beginning. I'm a wedding videographer & have done quite a few weddings already. Here are my thoughts :

Are you planning to record interlaced or progressive for the wedding? I usually record interlaced because it can handle low-light shooting conditions better & the auto focus is faster than in progressive mode. If you record in progressive mode & zoom in fast to the subject, you will find that the image is blurred. To rectify this, you have to manually turn the focus ring with your hand, on the front of the DVX to get a clear image, cause the autofocus is pretty slow for prgressive mode.

Find out who is the wedding planner or someone who is knowledgable about the wedding program, like the MC, so that you know what event is coming next & can position your tripod & camera where the action is. Anticipation is always key.

For the settings of my camera, I assign "backlight" to USER 3 of my camera, "18db gain" to USER 2 & "spotlight" to USER 1 of my camera. I find "backlight" the most useful, because when I find that the image looks a bit too dark, I just press USER 3 (backlight) & the images get correctly exposed automatically. I like to use backlight alot & it comes in handy when you want an instant auto-exposure.

I always carry a white balance card with me. Actually, it isn't a proper white balance card. I improvise with using EPSON's Premium Glossy Ptoto Paper, cause the part where you print on is really white. Place this white paper in a soft plastic CD cover & hang it around your neck with a thread so that it goes with you. I've white balanced with this & got good results in terms of color so far. On the camera, there are 3 white balance settings : A, B & ATW. Usually when I'm in the dinner ballroom, I set my settings to B as in Ballroom & white balance with my white balance card. Then if I'm outside or any other place, I use settings of A.

White balancing properly the first time is very important as the rest of your video footage captured depends on it. If you white balance improperly, then the colors will not look quite right.

I've invested in a light but somewhat solid tripod. Whenever I shoot the wedding couple walking into the ballroom accompanied by music, I ALWAYS mount my DVX on the tripod. With right hand in the camera's handstrap & my left hand grasping the legs of the closed tripod & with my camera's flip-out LCD screen out, I folllow the couple as they walk in. I find that doing moving shots by holding both camera & tripod together, I can achieve extremely steady, non-jerky shots. If I just handhold the DVX without the tripod, I've found that no matter how carefully I walk, the video will be jerky.

When hand-holding the DVX, engage the Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS). However, when shooting stationary from a tripod, it's advisible to disengage the OIS. Reason being that when you pan from the tripod, the camera will try to correct the panning, thinking that the video was jerky. That would result in some strobing.

As much as possible, try not to use any gain, whether it's 6db or 12db as even a little gain may result in grainy images. Try & invest in a portable video light that can be mounted to the shoe of your DVX. The small metal plate just behind your DVX's built-in microphones. A 50-60 watt video light would be sufficient, but I use a Viten 100wat video light. I use it very sparingly, becuase it is quite bright.

Never leave your camera on tripod unattended while shooting, I repeat, "UNATTENDED" as any child or careless individual can easily knock your camera down. The DVX is very sensitive & once it gets a hard impact, it could result in costly repairs & you can't shoot the remaining event too. When not shooting from the tripod, remove the camera & hand-carry it with you. Cause it's expensive & very tempting to be stollen :)

I've observed that miniDV & 1/3CCD has a major limitation. When shooting extremely zoomed-out shots (wide shots), the background doesn't look sharp at all. So, my advice is to get up close & mostly shoot close-up shots, becuase the video will just look that much clearer.

Every so often, when there is a short break between shooting, press the "mode check" button on your DVX to preview what you had just shot, just in case the footage wasn't captured properly. I had an occassion when my videographer friend covered a whole wedding ceremony & thought that it was captured faithfully. Later when he previewed the tapes of the earlier shooting, all he saw was a blue screen. Apparently, the recording head had been clogged up & he didn't realise it until it was too late. The mode check button can help you ensure that you captured the video fine.

I can't think of anything else to share. Please let me know what else you want to know. Hope this helps.

Andrew
 
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Hi Andybiz,
Thanks for the quick response. I will definitely be shooting interlaced. Since I am in the process of learning this camera, I have not shot enough footage in different situations to know what it will look like just by the settings I have chosen. Hopefully that will come in time. I hopefully can get into the church prior to the wedding and maybe do some test shots. I do not have a light but can probably pick one up before then. I also do not as of yet have a shotgun mic. Have you used the onboard mic of the 100 for interviews etc? Another question is, how much handheld do you shoot... for instance ceremony: all tripod or some handheld closeups? Reception and guest interviews tripod or handheld. I have read that some guys use a monopod for some shots. I have a pretty decent bogen tripod and a 503 head. I also have a monopod and maybe I could get a quick release plate for it. This seems like you could get in a little closer with fair amount of steadiness.
Audio isn't too much of a problem. I work in AV and my background is more audio than video. I cna probably come up with a lav for the groom, and maybe even mic the lectern with a secondary mic to minidisc or dat and grab a house feed.
either way I go, I think I will come up with something I can be proud of for my first shoot and hopefully they will be happy as well.... and maybe they will have a nice DVD for free and I will have gained a great deal of experience
Thanks for taking the time to respond, and for the sharing of your experiences.
EWS
 
Yes, if possible, try to attend any wedding rehearsals, whether the church service & solemnisation, or the rehearsal for the dinner, etc. Then you already have an idea that the actual will be like what was rehearsed. You can better prepare your camera shots & angles. Also, if you have a monopod, that would be really ideal. Attach your camera to the monopod whenever you have to shoot mobile/moving shots as this would really steady the shots. Steady shots look professional. Then just plunck your goood, ol' tripod somewhere strategic so that you can load your camera there once any really long shooting occurs. Examples of when to use a tripod would be long speeches, taking settings of the church external, church inside such as flower arrangements, stage settups at the dinner ballroom. You can also hand hold for these shots, but make sure they're steady. And to be a little bit creative, you can rotate your camera using different angles to frame your shot.

Oh, another potentially important precaution to take note of. Condensation is the number 1 enemy to electronic equipment. So, if you're shooting in a cold, air-con room & straight away go out the the open, where it's warmer. Your lens will condensate. Whenever you go from cold to warm/hot, condensation will form outside the camera's housing & lens. Whenever it's from warm/hot to cold, condensation will form inside your camera housing, which is more deadly, cause the electronic components are inside the camera.

Whenever you go from a significant change in temperature/humidity, try to leave your camera where it is partially exposed mid-point between cold to hot, or hot to cold. This will give time for the camera housing to adjust to the temperature change. I would suggest between 30 to 45 minutes.

From threads I've read here, the camera's build-in microphone is quite crappy & doesn't give as good a sound quality as an external XLR mic. Moreover, the built-in mic is way too sensitive. If you use the built-in mic, it can even pick up very minute sounds behind it. So, if you wisper behind the camera while shooting, it can even pick that up quite clearly. An external mic on the other hand focusses more on picking up sounds in front of it & is not so sensitive as to pick up sound behind it. Remember to plug in a set of headphones to the camera, so you can hear the recording & adjust optimum volume on the camera when neccesary.

There was one time where I had the earphone attached to the camera. I recorded about 30 minutes of footage & was confused that I didn't hear any sound feedback. It was then that I realised that I 4got to mount & connect my external microphone to the camera's XLR jack. So, I had to put in some background music in the parts that had no sound recorded. Oh well, sometimes we do get careless.
 
Thanks, good advice. I like the monopod idea. My brother who is a photographer gave a me a nice bogen monopod yesterday. I have a 503 head with quick release plate for my tripod. It sounds like in order to use this with the monopod, I will have to get another head like 501 or similar. Is there another way to adapt this for quick change. I think monopod would be ideal with a lot of shots... especially with some practice.
Thanks again.
 
EWS:
A regular tripod can be used as a monopode as well...just pull the 3 legs to the center and you can move with it ...then when you reach the point where you want to be...kindly extend the legs again..it takes practice to do it well when you are recording..but its worthwhile...especially when you are the photographer also!!!...I've been doing video and pictures all by myself for quite a bit and honestly
It is much better...
you dont have to sync with other people so they dont get in the way of view of your camera.
At the biggening I was so afraid when my assistant did not show up for an assigment...but after all the sweating working by myself...I wont go back.. I am so happy and there's more money for me.

If you think beforehand where the action is goanna be ...just do a rehearsal in your mind what your moves have to be in order to get it all right.

Just tell to your self "I can do this if others can"
Be confident in yourself....and dont tell anybody(noy even yourself)
that its your first time...think of you as a PROFESSIONAL and reflect that in your moves an talk.

It's not that difficult....the people who see me work are impressed and I get more bussiness just because I work "so hard"

If anybody sees the photos or video after they are done...nobody thinks that one person did everything.....

Just dont forget to get your next best friend...... a good Tripod.

I am not saying that ALL the time your camera has to be in the Tripod
other times you have to carry it in your shoulder.....

When? a lot of practice will tell you....

Seems a lot of work?
It is
It is better?
It depends for who

This tecnique can help you also for shooting video with 2 cameras.
Cesar
 
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I will have to try that.. My tripod is a little bulky and I might try to get a little lighter easy to handle one for this reason.
Thanks for you words of encouragement.. much appreciated.
 
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