Wedding Videography Advice??

M

madhorizons

Active member
My best friend is getting married on 11/20 and asked me to shoot the ceremony & reception. I'm normally a post-production monkey and have never attempted shooting with anything other than my Panasonic GS250.

She's renting a DVX100B and I was wondering what "method/settings" would you folks recommend. I love the 24fps look of everything i've seen with it...i'm unsure of how steady i'll be with the cam for the slower shutter speeds of shooting like that (do you have to use 1/12 for 24ftp?). So....24/30/60? Gamma settings? Put everything on "Auto" and fix colors, etc in post?

I'm only going to have 1 evening to familiarize myself with the camera.

Thanks in advance all.
 
24p is really nice, even for weddings but if you are going to do any slo mo, you should shoot those parts in 60i. I usually don't do much tweaking in camera for weddings, maybe a +1 or -2 here and there but nothing major.
 
Having filmed several weddings....

Having filmed several weddings....

Here are a few tips...

1)What is she expecting from you. What type of shots does she want, and any examples of style, image or input from her part will help you understand her vision and expectations. (This is key)

2)Understand when to take a chance and when not to. The most important part of the wedding is the actual ceremony. You need to get good shots and talk to the photographer so that you can plan out where you are going to be shooting from. Get in close so you can have good audio coverage. If you have any back up recorder or audio equipment (or camera) get it close so you can get good audio of the vows.

3)Go early and get good footage of the place you are going to shoot. Having nice coverage shots and location shots really add a lot to the presentation.

4)Do not zoom a lot, unless it is a rack focus type added for style. I find that zooming in and out just looks bad for the most part.

5)Try to anticipate good shots and be in a good position to capture footage and let the scenes just play out in front of the camera. Have a good understanding of the event and what is planned so you can be ready for the next part of the wedding.

6)If it is only you shooting, make sure you have tapes and batteries ready to roll when you need them. Also ask someone you trust to watch your bags and gear. Make sure you have an on camera light as it will add a lot if the lights get dim or low.

Do a great job...and you will be asked to do many many more.

Good Luck,

Sin
 
smpproductions said:
24p is really nice, even for weddings but if you are going to do any slo mo, you should shoot those parts in 60i. I usually don't do much tweaking in camera for weddings, maybe a +1 or -2 here and there but nothing major.
Click to expand...

I won't be doing any slo-mo...and if i do, i'll use something in post, which i know isn't favorible to most pros, but i really need a "fire & forget" set up for this. I don't want to risk losing footage to messin' w/ the settings during the ceremony.

Do you think 24p would be good? Even at a higher shutter speed? I want something to look closer to film and less like a documentary.

sinfear11 said:
Do a great job...and you will be asked to do many many more.

Good Luck,

Sin
Click to expand...

Great advice!!!!

i'll try & answer by #
1. No expectations....i have 100% creative freedom. I'm not getting paid for it, her folks are renting the camera, and the rest is up to me. She essentially just wants a video....initially she just wanted a home camcorder "whatever" kind of video...but as her friend, i want her to have a video that will be etched into her mind forever (for good reasons). I have no doubts of the quality i can do in post....but that's always with stuff folks give me.

2. I'm going to be using a wireless lapel on groom or a hidden condensor up in the gazebo. I've done a review of the pics of this place (her & i should go out there this week to do a recon). The place's site is here, if you click on tour, you can see the gazebo where they're doing their vows. http://www.the-atrium.com/ I'm planning on being near the gazebo for the wedding parties entry, then move towards the side or back for the ceremony so i'm not blocking any views of anyone.

As for the taking chances thing....that's where i'm mostly nervous. I LOVE the look of the gamma & footage when done @ 24p, but i'm unsure of lower shutters speeds and the shake of my hand. I can convert it over to 24p afterwards, but it's a pain, and not as good lookin'

I'd love to touch base w/ the photographer....but dunno if i'll be able to.

3. I'm hoping to go do a site survey this week. I have this week off from work, so maybe I can get this knocked out. The wedding is at 1230, i have full intention on being there by 9a. I want to get footage of the grounds and also some before ceremony bride/groom getting ready stuff.

4. I hate zooms 90% of the time....i really, really hate them when they're fast.

5. That's what i'm hoping. I'm pretty sure i can be mostly stationary for it. If gazebo = 12 o'clock. I'm going to be @ 1 o'clock getting the party coming up the eisle. Then slowly move towards the back while focusing on bride & groom. There's always at least a 15 second break (at all the ceremonies i've been to so folks can turn around and re-situation) between the end of the march & "Dearly beloved"

6. It is me only shooting. Luckily we're outside at 1230pm....tons of light, even if it was near-storm. Since this is a rental, i'm not sure what it will come with. I'll probably need one for the reception...i'll check when we pick it up if they have one available.

Thanks for the input, and keep it comin....help this n00b out :P
 
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You might want to use a tripod and take your hand off the camera as much as possible - you shouldn't need to do any hand held shots at all and unless you can do it well, you will just add a lot of bad shaky footage everyone will want to kill you for. Do you want to risk an angry mother-in-law hunting you down?

This is their wedding - play it safe for their sake - particularly with the ceremony. Leave your creative urges for the reception after you have all the speeches, waltz, cake cutting etc.

You can always see if the couple can give you some of the more creative photos shot by the photographer and add these to your edit - works very well.

Prepare everything well, and keep an extra unwrapped blank tape and a spare battery in your pocket at all times.

Good luck

Phil Brown
 
good info here. I too am getting ready to shoot a wedding on 11/10 at 1pm, but i'm shooting indoors so i don't know what kind of lighting is available. Any advice? I do own an arri softbank kit but don't know if it considered acceptable to set up something like that there.
 
Best advice anyone can give you is to get down there and scope it out.

Failing that:

If it's in a church, call the Minister and ask what you might be able to do.

If you get in early and explain that you just want to create some soft light that will make the whole ceremony far more beautiful for everyone - he/she might just let you set up some softboxes. It is also possible to disguise lights from the guest view by clever positioning of flowers in tall vases or tied/taped to any pillars or woodwork available. Make sure the Minster understands the lights are soft and will not be in his/the couple's eyes.

Light and shoot for the bride - nobody gives a stuff about the groom :-)

The other side of these gigs is that a lot of churches have great natural light, use it as much as possible.

A few wedding tips that might save you from a life of humiliation...

Get lots of cutaways early - exterior, stained glass windows, religious icons, flowers, and a few minutes of the guests including closeups of people in the first 2 rows - the family.

When you change shots from master to mid to closeup - zoom quickly while the minister is talking. Use your cutaways to cover up the zooms.

During poems, speeches etc - film as much as you can of the guests - including wide shots and closeups - these will also make great cutaways.

Now an important techique - when editing the video. You only need a few seconds at the start and end of each speech/poem. Catch each guest speaker as they come to the podium and then go to the guests. In your edit run the guest footage at a slower speed - say 80% of normal speed. Nobody will notice the speed diffeence on playback, and the 20% footage left over can again, be used as cutaways to cover your camera shakes and zooms.

You should be able to sprint from your fliming position near the front of the church, to the main doors to capture the B&G walking back up the aisle to exit. ***Change your white balance for exterior - then capture the B&G outside (where you should have some light) being congratulated by all of the family & friends (keep the lav mike on the groom).

If your interior shots are a little weak because of poor lighting, the exterior will save you because you can capture every person there in closeup with the B&G and hear every word.

And finally, say a little prayer on the morning of the shoot - can't hurt...

Phil Brown
 
Always be conservative with your settings. Manual white balance perfectly. The rehearsal is usually worth the trip. Don't ever work a Catholic wedding. Clients think widescreen makes it look expensive. That's about all I ever learned. :)
 
Thanks for all the great input everyone!! Much appreciated!

I have another question....they're not going to be able to get a wireless lapel due to budget being short...how sensitive is the on-board mic on the DVX100B? I'm probably going to be no more than 15' away.

I know it's a stereo condenser.

Should i cover it, or leave it as-is (it's outside)? I don't know if it's uni or omni directional. I'm **presuming** it's omni directional, but all the condensers I've used in the past are unidirectional.

As always, thanks in advance.
 
Actually a good Idea. unless you have time to spend getting to know your DVX. If you have not delt with 24p you could have post production nightmares. plus if you use your GS250 as a backup or second camera, you can edit the two together. I did a couple of weddings, and used a minimum of 2 cameras. One wedding, I had nobody there to run a second camera, so I asked a random guy if he would keep an eye on one camera, and make sure its centered on them after they met the pastor in front. People are willing to help a guy in need usually.

Read a few things about the DVX like shutterspeed for different framerates. Always best to use a shutterspeed divisible by frame rate. 24P use 24-48ss
30P use 60-120ss Find the white balance button front left side, and switch from indoor to outdoor by pressing that button. Get to know the camera well before so when things get crazy, you dont have to start cursing at the wedding.
 
I have always used 30p for weddings, with a custom scene file. Since you're indoors your mic will be o.k. but not great. I always set the white balance to the brides dress to get good natural looking contrast between the brides skin and her surroundings.
 
I've worked w/ 24pA in post a couple of times. I'm more worried about during capture...even though on a weighted tripod, I don't trust my hands.

Lemme ask you folks this....

Shooting in 60i, what have you guys & gals done to give it the "film look" w/out it looking crappy? The one thing the bride doesn't want is for it to look like a documentary, which is why I was thinking shooting in 24pA in the first place. Here's what I have available:

Final Cut Pro 5
Adobe Premiere Pro
Adobe After Effects with Magic Bullett Looks suite (grading)
Photoshop (i run lots of post-prod film batch files through this)

I've never tried to convert 60i footage to "film look" or even over to 24p before. I know Andrew Kramer has a tutorial and AE7 plug in using time remapping, etc. How would you approach this. If I hand them documentary looking footage, i'll be pounced and not in a good way.

As for the mic/indoor thing....the ceremony is outside @ 1230p...only indoor parts are reception & parents house/dinner.

I like the idea of being able to have the GS250 as a 2d camera....bah...decisions, decisions.

Thanks for all the input....and hopefully these last cpl of questions will solidify my approach.

EDIT: I will be recording and "playing" with 24p/pA for the good part of Friday night (at least 6hrs) b/c of a film I'm personally working on

EDIT2: for post-production, i have unlimited time to give finished product....her words as of 10mins ago from the typing of this
 
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ever since i got my dvx years ago i never ever shot in reg video (60i) everyrhign 24p... not sure wht the big deal is.

Premiere and final cut are all set up for 24p-just pull it down from the menu and you are golden.. why convert the footage when u can shoot 24??????

If u are worried about lack of light... bring some lighs or just shoot 60i, if there is lot of light shoot 24.

hope that helps... dont shoot 24PA just shoot 24p
 
i'm not overly concerned with lighting...it's going to be outside at noon-30 ....it's everything else that i worry about (mostly steadiness of hand...even tho @ ceremony i'll have a tripod and won't touch it).
 
shoot 30P and slomo will be a lot easier in post
don't be afraid to go down to 1/30 shutter if you need to

get yourself an external audio recorder like the Zoom H2 to record the vows because your onboard mic is going to be almost useless for an outdoor wedding
 
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If they really don't want a "documentary" look, they should probably be spending more money.
Vows are a sonic nightmare. I'd try to borrow lavs, or you can usually rent cheapies from a music store for $25 a day. They are the only way you're certain to get most of it.
 
ProfessorU said:
If they really don't want a "documentary" look, they should probably be spending more money.
Vows are a sonic nightmare. I'd try to borrow lavs, or you can usually rent cheapies from a music store for $25 a day. They are the only way you're certain to get most of it.
Click to expand...

Our music stores locally don't (that I can find). The cheapest I've found is $50/day or $80/weekend. They're going to be in a gazebo. In looking at the pictures (going on-site today), i think my best bet is going to hide a condenser in the gazebo structure given the lack of wireless options unless i can get them to fork out the extra $$$.

While on this topic, how do you folks normally tackle the wireless set up? I know that there still has to be a receiver, which normally requires a plug-in power source (i'm used to instrument rigs being a guitar player).

Also, what about the "interviews" (wishes from guests, saying hi, good luck, etc)? I have a wired SM57 instrument mic and access to a SM58 wireless (still requires receiver power). Do you think the onboard stereo condenser will be good enough for that (will be inside)?
 
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