James and Joanne By Alastair Brown On ExposureRoom (http://exposureroom.com/members/abrown.aspx/assets/3e251a0fdc3d47f18d29c891c0c7742b/)

After a long struggle, I have finally managed to shake off the curse of the cross dissolve, that has plagued my work for ever and a day.

The music for this piece totally dictated the look and feel of it. I struggled for footage around the middle, as the photographer wanted time alone with them......grrrrr!

This is quite a departure from my previous stuff i.e.

Kara & Nas By Alastair Brown On ExposureRoom (http://exposureroom.com/members/abrown.aspx/assets/8750be1df85946b88080091b3495f068/)


Would be great to hear your comments.

love the title sequence, and the general grading look etc but much more importantly:

good riddance to the dreaded cross-dissolve!!!!! keep taking the tablets and i hope the problem never comes back :)

I liked your brave aspect ratio Alastair and I presume you did this in post - shooting and edoiting in 16:9? A word of caution (and the reason I've stopped doing this on my wedding DVDs) is that a lot of people have their TVs set permanently in the 'auto adjust' mode. Fine in that 4:3 material is stretched and zoomed but not so good when the TV senses your black bars and does its best to remove them.

Of course it's ok if the TVs are set to the 16:9 mode, but of course few people know anything about aspect ratios, remote control switching and overscan.

tom.

I am not sure I understand why you consider cuts superior to dissolves - they both have a well deserved place in our tool palette. It all depends on what you want to say with your video, and there are situations where a cut or any other transition would not be able to convey your message better than a crossfade.

Where I see significant progress in your work is the color grading - in this latest video you are a lot closer to the film look you're evidently after. Let's not forget that the beautiful UK architecture in general and the churches in special, plus the old cars are heaven sent help for you in your videos - imagine what we poor Americans go through sometimes filming weddings in plain white-wall neoprotestant churches and shiny new Hondas for cars... And talk about picturesque... good grief! Groom in skirt and bride in red - way to go!

All in all very good work, I am sure your clients are pleased.

ervin,

hope alastair doesn't mind me clearing this up...it's not cross dissolves in general, as ur right, they absolutely play a major part in some places of the edit. the problem lay in the fact that alastair had a self-confessed habit he just couldn't shake off, of using cross dissolves on everything :)

I am not sure I understand why you consider cuts superior to dissolves - they both have a well deserved place in our tool palette.

As they say in film school here (not that I went!):

"If you can't solve, dissolve."

I love the look you are going for (and achieving). The titling is great. I see what you mean about struggling for material, cause the video seems a bit slow, which would be helped if you had more stuff.

Some of the shot choices were a bit off, in my view. Like twice near the end when the groom licks his lips. Not particularly attractive, and the kind of thing I usually avoid.

You seem to have a flash frame after the "The Hotel" title.

Beautiful work. Thanks for posting. What camera are you shooting with? And what program are you using for the titling?

Alastair, I am BEYOND impressed by this piece! Very cool concept!

Love the whole throwback feel!

Bold song choice and I love it. I also like the blur pan transition, care to share how you did it?

Absolutely beautiful and original. Love the music and the pacing. I particularly like the dissolve to get the groom out of the Bentley. Was that planned or a stoke of brilliance in the editing suite?

what cams if you don't mind?

I love the music. The colors were a great fit. I have a bad problem using cross dissolves. How do you guys get around it?

Shaun for variety, try using cuts when going from a wide shot to a closeup of a face. It will really improve the look of your work.

If a jump cut doesn't work it is often because the footage is substandard or the two shots shouldn't be next to each other in the first place.

Alastair, who sang the Pefect Moment song? Martine McCutcheon or Edyta Gorniak? Or was it someone else?

Shaun for variety, try using cuts when going from a wide shot to a closeup of anything. It will really improve the look of your work. Dissolves are way over used by amateurs. If a jump cut doesn't work it is often because the footage is no good or the two shots shouldn't be next to each other in the first place.

Alastair, who sang the Pefect Moment song? Martine McCutcheon or Edyta Gorniak? Or was it someone else?

Ok I'll try that.

Jeff: u reminded me, when i was a bit younger i did a 'remix' of Perfect Moment by Martine McCutcheon, and it got played in all the local bars and clubs in my area... crazy days eh :)

Shaun: IMO cross-dissolves make 'visual sense' when going from one scene to another very different scene, or to represent time passing. If all my shots are from the same scene, and in the same time frame, then you won't see a cross-dissolve in sight. You've just got to try it, and although it might feel weird at first, you'll watch it back and it'll all feel right.

Richard, that is an excellent general rule for cross dissolves. Using them to transition from scene to scene.

I too was a DJ for many years. I actually had an entertainment business and had an extremely diverse mix of clientele. Those were heady times. I don't know who were crazier, my employees or clients. It was an insane time, the memories are still so vivid it can seem like yesterday that it all happened. Part of me still regrets having sold the company.

Richard gave the textbook answer on the uses of cross dissolves. That's how it's taught in editing classes boys & girls.

IMO, whilst dissloves are used to show a movement in time, I also believe they can be used to give a dreamy effect which can suit a wedding film!

Thats not to say they should be encouraged, but it's not so black & white!

Straight cuts are the way to go but can also jar depending on when the cut was made and at what time if music is present.



Just my thoughts...

whoops, i gave a sort of general opinion of how/when to use cross dissolves, but left of all those little creative uses for wedding films :P

I go by the rule of - if you notice a transition upon viewing, it's wrong.

Now we just need to work on the curse of the slow motion and the curse of the black&white....

[ :-) smiley - but not much! ]

I have to agree with Denise - do you notice the slomo and B&W? Bet you do. Oh for heaven's sake, here we go again with a "romantic" wedding video...

whoops, i gave a sort of general opinion of how/when to use cross dissolves, but left of all those little creative uses for wedding films :P

Oh dear!

Martin, you call them curses but listen here. I had a bride and groom round here 3 days ago just weak-kneed at how good they looked on their wedding film. And what did they mention? What did they drag the postman in to see? What does his mum tell everyone about?

Why, the b & w, slo-mo, cross dissolved montage.

It's all too easy for us to get blasé and sneer at these clichés. They can seem over-done and old hat to us, but to a young couple who've never been filmed (properly) before, they put them up there with the Hollywood set.

tom.

Martin, you call them curses but listen here. I had a bride and groom round here 3 days ago just weak-kneed at how good they looked on their wedding film. And what did they mention? What did they drag the postman in to see? What does his mum tell everyone about?

Why, the b & w, slo-mo, cross dissolved montage.

It's all too easy for us to get blasé and sneer at these clichés. They can seem over-done and old hat to us, but to a young couple who've never been filmed (properly) before, they put them up there with the Hollywood set.

tom.

I completely agree, Tom.

What we do is a balancing act between pushing ourselves creatively as videographers and providing a product that the client likes. My philosophy is to try and do everything with a purpose.

OK, of course I accept that many couples love such effects. My personal preferences are irrelevant.

I must just comment that you NEVER (OK: extremely rarely) see the use of such effects in professionally-made films or television programmes when they want to create a romantic atmosphere.

Any anyway, there is a market of couples who aren't - for want of a better word - "soppy" like that.

I completely agree, Tom.

What we do is a balancing act between pushing ourselves creatively as videographers and providing a product that the client likes. My philosophy is to try and do everything with a purpose.


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Totally agree with everything you say Travis.....

Martin, if what you are doing is working for you, ie,bringing in the clients, then great! continue to do what you are doing.

There is room for all types of artistic creativity in this industry, why be so hard on those that don't fit into your vision?

It's all too easy for us to get blasé and sneer at these clichés. They can seem over-done and old hat to us, but to a young couple who've never been filmed (properly) before, they put them up there with the Hollywood set.

Hey Tom,

Point taken, but maybe they would be even MORE amazed at the emotion created by a real story-driven montage supported by well thought out and executed shots. That's more Hollywood than a bunch of dissolves, which barely exist in Hollywood production.

I use dissolves as much as some, less than others, who knows. But sometimes I feel they are an easy cop out when it's too hard to push the story with actual editing craft.

This is not meant to be a criticism of anyone's style here. It's a feeling I struggle with in my own work.

My intention here (which is obviously failing!) is not be hard on anyone, rather to "up the game" of the entire wedding video industry.

I hear repeatedly from potential customers: "Oh, I don't want a video - all that black and white soppy mush and slush" and yet all I hear on these boards from we suppliers is that "B&W and slomo are great" and everybody here, whilst continually breathing each other's air, is telling everybody else how wonderful their approach is.

The next thread then bemoans the fact that 99% of brides have a photographer and only 10% (whatever) have a videographer, and wonders why.

I'm not claiming to have the answer to that, but I'm simply saying maybe an alternative to this very, VERY common dissolved/slomo/B&W approach might help us collectively appeal to a wider audience, which is what we all need.

I see so many photographers who clearly earn more than I do, from less work, and I wonder why their market allows them to do this.

Hi Martin,

I can see where you are coming from, and if the WHOLE wedding dvd was indeed slo mo, black and white, then yes this is not good.

If however throughout the whole length of the DVD their are a few clips of this nature, then I personally don't have a problem.

I tend to mix my footage, making it extremely upbeat in places, and slower in others, using live sound etc. I personally believe variety is good.

Now if it was all live sound, with no backing musical tracks, completely fixed on tripods throughout the whole production I would imagine brides being slightly unimpressed by this!

This is to me the OTHER extreme.

But we are all different, and we will all earn a living or not dependant on what we can provide.

Cheers.

Blimey....this thread got moving!

We have a VAST pallette of tools and techniques at our disposal.

I was just VERY aware that I kept going back to the same tried and trusted cross dissolve.

A little bit of everything in moderation is good for you.

Just to answer a few of the questions.

I use Canon XH-A1's with the Vivid preset and a low light one from some german guy.

Titling was just a home brew done with Vegas and keyframes.

Blur pan transition is from New Blue.

The groom out of the Bentley dissolve shot was indeed a stroke of sheer brilliance (not really...just a lucky edit).

Cheers

Alastair

I try to avoid the dissolve if at all possible but I always let the music dictate the transition that will work with it...

snip

...and a low light one from some german guy.


Alastair

that wouldn't happen to be Wolfgang's preset would it? If so, which one? Mind emailing it to me please?

Thanks :)

It is Wolfgangs one. I think the 6db version

We have taken the journalistic approach to our videos. I am a storyteller, and as such rely heavily on natural audio first and foremost to tell my story. Then edit in the clips accordingly to enhance it.

Most of the edit is done by using straight cuts, and yes even for slow paced romantic songs.

While cuts are harder to work with for slow romantic pieces, they do work if you have the right shots and composition, mixed with your audio. This means proper pacing of your cuts to the downbeat, and mixing of live audio to go along with a score.

While we still use a cross dissolves, and maybe B&W a few tomes in the video, it is only used for impact of some sort. Slow motion especially is used sparingly in order to produce impact in the video. Now while some clips mihgt be slowed down, they might not be dramatically, but rather 75-80% only, in order to work with the downbeat or music score.

It's funny, in that my wife's boss sent her a wedding video that she thought was fantastic and might give me some creative inspiration for my videos, which she had never seen.

All it was was a music video with a lot of slow motion and pretty shots in it.
In essence a long music video, with little or no live audio. Which I actually felt was boring and unemotional.

I then gave my wife a DVD to show her boss, and she was in tears, saying how beautiful and touching the video was.
She got to know the couple well enough by watching the video that she actually cried. This was due to the use of audio creatively first and then the clips to support it.

Slow motion, dissolves and effects can work in this manner when mixed properly with audio. But, we all should be aware that these are just effects, and should be used to enhance the story, not ell the story.

It is Wolfgangs one. I think the 6db version

I would like that one as well.

be warned though that those particular presets, although good in some way, produce a horrible ghosting effect when there is movement!

be warned though that those particular presets, although good in some way, produce a horrible ghosting effect when there is movement!

Movement of the camera or just movement period?

Footage looks great! What kind of camera?

Anything added to the lens, or did you shoot this on the stock lens? Basically, what I am asking is, all you did to the camera was add presets and personalized settings (gain level, shutter, etc..) and left the rest for post?

Footage looks great! What kind of camera?

Canon XH-A1's

Anything added to the lens, or did you shoot this on the stock lens? Basically, what I am asking is, all you did to the camera was add presets and personalized settings (gain level, shutter, etc..) and left the rest for post?

Spot On! Grading all done using New Blue Effects and Magic Bullet Looks.