Wedding video Montage - Russel and Cari

I didn't like it at all.

Too many lame transitions, slo-mo, fades - bleh.

The whole thing felt terribly random. There was no narrative. It was just random images and scenes jumbled up, all leading nowhere. I learned nothing about who the people were, I got no feel for the event or the participants in any way. No revealing little moments. Just deadly boring one of a 100 billion weddings blurring one into the other. On the positive side (I guess?) it was professionally shot - no outrageous lighting mistakes etc. but then again I'd expect at least that much... plus it was all w/o sound, so that lowered the tech challenge considerably. Frankly, I don't understand why you wanted to post it for comments. Yawn.

Just my opinion, but an honest reaction. YMMV.
 
OldCorpse,
I respectfully disagree with you, but I appreciate your criticism and will consider it in the future. I'd be happy to explain my choices in style, but will reserve my explanation if you would rather not hear it. Again, thank you for taking the time to watch my work and comment.
 
You are more than welcome to explain anything you wish, and you don't have to ask for my or anybody's "permission" - my desire to "hear" is irrelevant. You created your work, and you have every right to explain anything you wish - it's your show :)

Plus, isn't this the point of this website - to share the hows and whys? Go for it!
 
Excellent! Thank you!

First of all, I understand why the montage was random and didn't speak to you about the couple. It was created for the bride, groom, their family, and friends. I know the couple and shaped the piece around their personality and relationship.

In my opinion, many wedding videos are not intended for a broad audience, but instead for a specific group. They are quite different in many ways from a majority of "commercial" film/video work. Friends, family and the client will most likely be the ones viewing the final product.

This was my first attempt at a wedding video. It was done as a favor for the couple. I was originally hired to only do a single camera shoot of the ceremony, but wanted to create something special for them as well as a piece I could use as a sample for potential clients. In addition, I was only there for four hours and the couple had the location (which was ugly) for about five hours, so my time was very limited with them. I am thankful it was during the day and not at night (I have no idea what some couples are thinking getting married at night and expecting beautiful footage!)

The bride specifically asked for "At Last" and specifically by Etta James. I went online and found quite a few covers that were a bit faster and more modern, but wanted to honor the brides request. I felt the slow motion footage went in line with the romantic feel and mellow pace of the musical choice.

The only comment that irked me a bit was the use of "lame transitions". I only used cross dissolves mixed with blow-outs and blurs. No barn doors, spinning 3d balls or curtain wipes. In addition, I created the custom animation at the beginning of the piece, complete with the growing vine (which is really popular right now).

Finally, I hope to create my own style as I grow. I also hope to get more modern, young couples to create a cinematic or even music video approach to weddings. I'm sort of a reluctant wedding video guy at the moment, as my true intention is story telling through a more cinematic medium.
 
bpotter said:
Excellent! Thank you!

First of all, I understand why the montage was random and didn't speak to you about the couple. It was created for the bride, groom, their family, and friends. I know the couple and shaped the piece around their personality and relationship.
Click to expand...

Obviously. I understand perfectly well that this is not a narrative an audience of strangers is expected to understand like in a fiction movie.

Even so, it doesn't have an arc or story - which a good video, well edited ought to have, regardless of how familiar the intended audience is with who is who - that's just good story telling. You should have shown them a beginning, the key moment, the end, the implication. I repeat, it's random, no matter who is watching.

bpotter said:
In my opinion, many wedding videos are not intended for a broad audience, but instead for a specific group. They are quite different in many ways from a majority of "commercial" film/video work. Friends, family and the client will most likely be the ones viewing the final product.
Click to expand...

Obviously. I understand perfectly well that this is not a narrative an audience of strangers is expected to understand like in a fiction movie.

Still does not excuse the sloppy storytelling - or, no storytelling.

bpotter said:
The bride specifically asked for "At Last" and specifically by Etta James. I went online and found quite a few covers that were a bit faster and more modern, but wanted to honor the brides request. I felt the slow motion footage went in line with the romantic feel and mellow pace of the musical choice.
Click to expand...

I got that the first time you wrote it - and if you noticed, I didn't rag on the music. You are wrong however wrt. slo-mo being the right move here. You are going with the most obvious use of the music here - here's a concept: counterintuitive works better, and is fresher - not everything should be "on the nose" (f.ex. until it was totally overplayed and degraded into a cliche, it was counterintuitive to use majestic slow music for fast violent scenes, yet it worked very, very well). Work against the grain, not just with the grain... that shows imagination. You want to be imaginative, no?

bpotter said:
The only comment that irked me a bit was the use of "lame transitions". I only used cross dissolves mixed with blow-outs and blurs. No barn doors, spinning 3d balls or curtain wipes. In addition, I created the custom animation at the beginning of the piece, complete with the growing vine (which is really popular right now).
Click to expand...

And I stand by my comments. The blow-outs and blurs sucked. They didn't bring anything to the piece except a wagonful of cliches. No good. I didn't see one that I'd keep there. Use your imagination for scene resolutions and transitions, not a ready palette of cliche-a-second. For example, on one of those: a straight cut to a close-up of a [telling, or ironic, or beautiful, or wistful] detail/object and then pull back would have been so much better and fresher. For another one, something different - but NEVER a vicious cliche like a blow-out... FEH!!!

bpotter said:
Finally, I hope to create my own style as I grow. I also hope to get more modern, young couples to create a cinematic or even music video approach to weddings. I'm sort of a reluctant wedding video guy at the moment, as my true intention is story telling through a more cinematic medium.
Click to expand...

Then present us with that work when ready. Meanwhile I repeat: there was no point in asking for feedback on this work, since it didn't have "your personal style", and was made under "[conditions which were suboptimal]", and don't represent "your ambition".

All IMHO. YMMV.

Good luck!
 
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