wedding video screw up

smithgallTV

smithgallTV

Active member
This may be a better discussion for the FCP editing so I will post it there as well but someone of you may have an idea or suggestion.

I did my first wedding video yesterday. I thoroughly planned. i had everything. the bride and groom were very receptive (well the bride was, groom was drunk before i even met him) i showed up early to film the bride and her maids gettings ready. got tons of coverage including all sorts of inserts of the beach and birds and sand and waves etc.. then literally as i was getting a few shots after the ceremony i realized i had the time date stamp on.......AGHHHHHHHH!!! i shoot legal depositions by day so having that on did not strike me as unusual. I even thought about this all week "make sure you turn off the time/date stamp" So now i have 2/3 of the days video with a time stamp in the bottom right corner.

My two thougts are to letter box the entire thing, which will cut that peice out and probably add some pizaz for the clients or make a "bug" the will cover the stamp. I know my local tv station covers CNN;s logo with their logo al the time so maybe i can cover the time stamp with a nice little text of the bride and groom names and a heart.

any other suggestions? also I am not sure how to do the bug. Im sure there must be a relatively simple way to accomplish this. Im using FCexpress. thanks for any help you can give me.
 
Letterboxing certainly never hurts wedding videos. It gives it a "cinematic" flavor, and it always scores.

I think you'll find you'll have some opporunity for reframing some shots, too.
 
What camera did you use? I take it you weren't using a DVX, right? The DVX doesn't burn the time/date stamp into the footage...
 
corect it was a JVC gy-dv300U. It was a stupid mistake. I know better than that. Of course this weekends' footage would seem to prove otherwise.
 
No contest--letterbox the footage. I hate "bugs" and there's a good chance the bride or groom would too. What would you do when they asked you to remove the bug? You can deliver both a letterboxed and anamorphic widescreen version--that might be a nice touch.
 
Why both? The anamorphic version will act the same as a letterbox version if they're watching it on a 4:3 set.
 
I agree. Go ahead and letterbox it. I once shot a wedding video and had it in Letterbox mode. I wanted to shoot it in 4:3. I didn't realize I had it in letterbox til 1/2 way through the wedding. I crossed my fingers and shipped it that way and they never questioned it.
 
Are you sure about that? Because in an anamorphic version, the 16:9 image is stretched to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio. So an older 4:3 set wouldn't have any ability to unstretch an anamorphic image. Newer 4:3 sets can unstretch anamorphic material and add letterboxing, but there are still a lot of older 4:3 sets out there. Am I missing something?

Jubal28 said:
Why both? The anamorphic version will act the same as a letterbox version if they're watching it on a 4:3 set.
Click to expand...
 
The best thing to do is make an anamorphic copy and make sure it is flagged on the DVD as being anamorphic. That way their DVD player should do the letterboxing for you and when they upgrade to a 16:9 TV, the DVD player will then stretch it to fit the screen.

Of course, this relies on them having their DVD player set up properly - but if they haven't, it means that they are too "video illiterate" to notice these things anyway!
 
Barry_S said:
Are you sure about that? Because in an anamorphic version, the 16:9 image is stretched to fit the 4:3 aspect ratio. So an older 4:3 set wouldn't have any ability to unstretch an anamorphic image. Newer 4:3 sets can unstretch anamorphic material and add letterboxing, but there are still a lot of older 4:3 sets out there. Am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Your DVD player will unsqueeze it for you.

Most Hollywood DVDs on the shelves today are anamorphic; there's no choice for letterbox. They play fine on 4:3 TVs, assuming the DVD player is set up correctly (which it usually is out of the box).

EDIT: Yeah, umm, just like mmm said . . . :lipsrseal
 
Ok, some of my neurons are clearly not firing today. :lipsrseal

Jubal28 said:
Your DVD player will unsqueeze it for you.

Most Hollywood DVDs on the shelves today are anamorphic; there's no choice for letterbox. They play fine on 4:3 TVs, assuming the DVD player is set up correctly (which it usually is out of the box).

EDIT: Yeah, umm, just like mmm said . . . :lipsrseal
Click to expand...
 
Yeah, whatever you do, don't do the bug idea. That will certainly get questioned, even by people who don't know any better. The letterbox idea is the way to go for sure. If they don't like it and want full screen 4x3, then you'll have to be upfront with them about the mistake and then they may elect to follow your advice on the letterbox. Hey #$%# happens, so if they are understanding you'll make out just fine in the end. Could be worse. You could have forgot to hit record.

Steve
 
And people wonder why I will never do a wedding...

Imagine calling the couple back from their honeymoon to do some ADR work. :grin:
 
Well, you could do a bug if you put "Bill and Jane TV" or something cute related to the couple... But advertising or your company name? NO !!!
 
The more i think about it and read your comments I agree that a letterbox is the way to go. I wasnt going to put my company logo on the bug but i dont bugs either it was just a way to cover my screw up. If i do everything else correctly with regards to editing then the letterbox will fit and help seperate my product from what their Uncle Murray would have given them. thanks for the suggestions.

by the way here is another issue that i never expected to deal with. The groom was drinking all day and was pretty well lit by the time he arrived. i had never met him so my first intro was "hi im your videopgrapher i need to mic you" As soon as he was mic'd he started telling people he was a "secret agent" then his best man (also drunk) got into it. so for the next 1/2 hour they took tunrs grabbing the LAV and talking into it which of course pulled it off the lapel and made me have to readjust it. I was ready to break both their hands. I didnt plan for that.
 
smithgallTV said:
As soon as he was mic'd he started telling people he was a "secret agent" then his best man (also drunk) got into it. so for the next 1/2 hour they took tunrs grabbing the LAV and talking into it which of course pulled it off the lapel and made me have to readjust it. I was ready to break both their hands. I didnt plan for that.
Click to expand...

HA!HA!HA! Now that is some funny s*it!
 
Actually it is really funny. Really. If he said the "secret agent" line a bunch of times, it might be hilarious to piece them all together into a quick AudioVideo Montage. Pick some appropriate background music to the way he delivers the line. Then fill in some of the weak shots of him with b-roll to match the music. If you find the right music and rhythm, it could be fun.

Or send me the clips. I will do it on spec. :)
 
I dont think i recorded any of the secret agent stuff. My daughter was monitioring the conversation and talking to me on the headset "daddy he is playing secret agent again!!. Daddy he pulled the mic off and needs you to come fix it" We didnt think about recording that part since it was still half hour out from the ceremony.. now I wish i woudl have.. could have cut a bunch of quick head turns and shifty eye shots to either the old secret agent man song or maybe the mission impossible tune.. that woudl have been a lot of fun..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top