Hey guys, I just completed (actually I might do a few things differently a little later) my first ever "Love Story" video and thought I would post it for a critique. It didn't quite turn out how I wanted it to, but I guess it was a good first attempt. I had to use some of the couple's old video camera footage with my footage and mix it all together to add to the story. You'll see some shots that look kind of crappy, that's their crappy consumer camcorder blown up to fit my 16 x 9 footage. Also, the beginning is a little slow, but keep watching it gets better. The couple wanted to make sure I put the first segment in. Welp here's the link, let me know what you think.

http://web.mac.com/greenheads/iWeb/Anika%20London%20Media%20Blog/Home/9C90AFE3-4BDC-4CD4-B1EB-500A64F075A1.html

Not bad at all. Cool you are here in San Diego. Not too many San Diego county guys on here. I thought you did a really good job on this.

Only critique might be a few too many "cuts" in the interview stage. But that's certainly a subjective opinion. Great music you put in there (particularly Rocco).

Very nicely done, I really enjoyed it and got a great feel for the couple.

I do agree that there were too many cuts during the interview of the two of them (was kind of jarring).

But, I really liked how smooth and natural the editing was after the interview portion was over (towards the end) (most colorful thing I have seen chorus).

Overall I think it will be a hit.

Hi Josh,

Awesome for your first. Its great for a love story in general, but really awesome for your first.

I think the interviews came through well. I love it when you can cut to them saying the same thing at the same time, especially for a pivotal point in the story. Wait until you see the reaction that gets at the reception. I liked the on location interview shoots. The downside of the on location interviews is the loss in audio quality. It sounded pretty good in general hear but played at a high volume at a reception, I think some of that noise may be a little distracting. I would have had them looking off camera a little more (or right into the camera) as some of your angles seemed to have the camera right beside where they were looking. I also noticed that some of your camera work looked hand held for the tight angle of the interviews. I liked the feel of the motion in the camera angle, but I think a little more subtle would have really added to the effect.

I really liked the motion in some of your love story footage. You had some really wild shots and some nice post work on them too.Did you do engagement phtos too, or just the LS shoot? I would have had a very hard time trying to shoot that without a phtoographer to help me out.

Great stuff.

I sent you an email as well.

Patrick

I thought that was great. I did a "no no" and read through the comments before I watched the video (I don't usually do that). However, I have to say that the cutting in the interview worked really well I thought, especially for the edgy character that the couple seems to have.

There was a shot near the end that had a black circular mask on it, and that felt pretty out of place. The only other comment I have is that it felt a bit strange to have the video end on a shot that wasn't of the couple together (might just be me, though).

Seriously good work, though. Nice job!

Hi Josh,

Agree with Travis' comment on the circular mask effect as it didn't fit. Only other comment is CC didn't match on some of the guy's shots between the handheld and fixed cams. There was more natural color in the fixed shots whereas the handheld seemed a touch undersaturated. Otherwise, a great piece and the couple and friends will really like it. Nice job of story telling and editing.

Hey Josh...great job. Really got the story and kept me tuned in. One thing I personally thought was a bit distracting early on was the cuts on the interviews where you went from wide to close up too many times. But overall the sum of the parts was excellent.
John

I was just thinking the same thing. It's good that you don't keep the same shot for a long time but the cuts were too many IMO. Maybe a few transitions might have alleviated some of that. But all in all, this was great.

you should be really proud of that Josh...it's refreshing, got style and plenty of character...and it comes across that they really enjoyed being filmed

esp. loved the following-skateboard shots

well done!

Hey Josh that was really good stuffs!!, some pretty smooth steadicam (merlin?) work as well. Really good idea to have the couple doing the real stuffs that they normally do imo!

My only suggestion would be to be careful on how you shoot the closeups of the couple while they do the interview. the closeup of the bride was great, but of the groom I thought it was a little too tight, and the camera shake was also distracting. Just my 2cents.

Also, to answer a previous ancient question you had for me b4, I do all of my slo-mo right from my nle, straight in premier. It works great *sometimes*.

Awesome, thanks everyone for all your comments. I know I got totally carried away with the cuts in the interviews, I'm going to calm those down a lot before I give the vid to the couple. Cool, though, thanks again everyone. When I do my next one I'll put it up and you'll definetely see some improvements. I'm off to their wedding now, it starts in an hour!

loved it. well done

Awesome, thanks everyone for all your comments. I know I got totally carried away with the cuts in the interviews, I'm going to calm those down a lot before I give the vid to the couple. Cool, though, thanks again everyone. When I do my next one I'll put it up and you'll definetely see some improvements. I'm off to their wedding now, it starts in an hour!

Hope you didn't change too much! Remember, it was really good and you got the best compliment I think of all from Patrick. Go look at HIS stuff that he does! He's simply the best of the best and he really liked what you had done.

Jon

Really great, but ;-)
IMHO, too many cuts, no cutaways, and I would set fixed A cam , but move around B cam, to get 3 camera shot look and avoid repetitive shots,
Very nice,
thanks for sharing