I would appreciate any help on this one. I got in a situation where I had a total of 5 mins (yes, 5) to rig a church with 3 cams, wireless on groom and podium, set up tripod and get ready for the bride to enter.

I think I tried the hardest I could to look very cool, but I was stressed to say the least.
Ok, sound is good, but the images are rather schaise. For the unmanned B-roll I had about 30 secconds to calibrate, so I just made a best effort, had nothing to focus on or WB on, end result was pretty bad. Not sharp, and very not vivid colours :)

Manned cam a bit better, but I took the short route of hitting one of the preset WB settings. Looked decent on the viewfinder, but was a miss as well.

Now, I don't think it is entirely my fault, as I asked for 30 mins minimum to rig (wedding pary before us used too much time before we could enter), but it is still my mess.

Its also my fault Im not that good in post, so I cannot fix it up better. I dropped off some 250$ on the price, but still I feel terrible. I try to minimize the usage of B roll, but I do need some, as I used manned cam to run around a bit and capture audience, closeups etc. The final video would be awsome if not for image quality, looks like the entire church is rigged with cams.

Anyway. I guess Im not the first (or latest), so do anyone have any good ideas how to make the images as good as they can be ? I ended up shifting the main cam a bit towards blue, and b cam a bit more 'redish' (more just messed up the images further).

Would appreciate any help, Im close to just handing them what I have for free.

What software are you using for post? I use Final Cut Pro, and there is a "3 color corrector" that will make your images match up. If you have it, try changing the 'whites'.

I use premiere.

Same colour wheels as in FCP, but Im not very good at using them. Im pretty much toying around with them if I want some 'unnatural look', but in this case, I want more pop, more natural and more similar :)

A while ago I tried to read up on waveforms and vectroscopes, but never got around to fully understand it enough so I can provide better results.

I tried just puttiting the entire thing in looks, but it ended up far worse.

(images supplied are the 'raw ones', I have made them somwhat better, but far from what I think can be done).

Anders... Take a deep breath and relax for a moment. The situation isn't as bad as you might think. Here's why I think so.

Last year I started shooting motor races with one manned and one unmanned camera. Mid way through the season I added a second unmanned cam. Try as I would to get the WB the same, the best I could do is get somewhat close. In some cases they were farther off than your examples. It took a while but I figured out how to make them look virtually seemless. Here's how.

Trial and error. It took some time and I would often make things worse before they got better. I had a little experience tweaking still images in Photoshop before I started with video so that helped a little. The main thing I brought over from the Photoshop experience is to make small, incremental moves. Change a little. Look. Another little change. Look again. Sooner or later (often later in the beginning) I got there.

As the season went on it got more intuitive. I could wrangle the footage into line with two or three adjustments. It actually got to be fun, in a way.

My point is, don't give up yet. I'm sure your clients will wait to get the quality product that you want to deliver. Take the time and figure this out. It will serve you well in the future... and trust me, this will happen again.

I agree with Tripp.

Don't stress too hard, you don't want that to come across in conversations with the b&g. If they understand the situation, as I'm sure they do, I'm sure they'll understand your desire to make their footage the best it can be. They want it to look good; they'll wait.

Just keep them updated on your progress so they know you haven't forgotten about them.

=)

I dropped off some 250$ on the price, but still I feel terrible.

Thats a tough one. I decided to refund part of a payment due to a fairly minor error ( cam #2 not recording 2-3 minutes of ceremony). It wasn't the end of the world, but I felt the video could have been better. Afterwards I wondered if they would have even noticed, and now that I have pointed it out they are left feeling like they have an inferior product.
Unless you are working in the $3K+ price range, the footage looked workable. I used to have to balance a GL1, XL1s, and a VX1000 on a regular basis and the color was worse off than yours.
Hopefully adding an A1 to the collection doesn't mess things up too much!

Honestly I don't think I'm "experiences" enough to help anyone, but I'm going to throw my 2 cents in.

I use Premiere Pro as well (CS3 if that matters). I think you can edit the first clip to match the second easy enough.

In Premiere open the "Video Effects" folder and then open the "color correction" folder. There you will find the "fast color corrector" plug-in. When you open that you will see "White Balance" with a little eye dropper. Click on the dropper to activate it and then click the eyedropper on her dress (which is meant to be white). Any color cast will be removed from the entire image and you should end up with something close to the second clip.

Sorry if I really "dummied it down" but sometimes when I ask for help here I spend and hour googling terms to uncode the answer! lol!

If all else fails convert one or both clips to B&W and pretend you were being "artsy"!!

try making it black and white in post...it may help...

That'll solve the color problem.

Thanks for replies, people.

I dont think B&W will be a very good solution. Will be a bit odd perhaps ? :D
I have tried witebalancing with eyedropper, but was not too happy with the results.

the price is around 1000$. As a matter of fact, I think I dropped off more than 200$ already. I had agreed cermony only for around 450$, then the wedding planners called me back to the reception after I had droven home. And I had another 40 min drive back, and 5-6 hours shooting speeches, dancing etc. And all the added editing.

Normaly I do interviews and training vids in light controlled situations. Only done a couple of live events, so I never realy needed too much post knowlengde.

Time to learn, I guess -)

Cermony, 'dance club mix', speeches and 'bridal main theme highlights' all edited ok. DVD left, as well as I hoped to make the images better before print.

Sounds like they got a good deal with only a minor flaw in the final product. Hopefully you are able to get the cams at least a little better than what you have originally posted.
Good luck.

Looks like it is recorded in 4:3. Correct?

Maybe you can put a 16:9 mask over it, that gives you a little bit more playroom in the vertical area. That way you are able to rescue the footage from your B-roll camera. Everything looks better in widescreen these days. :-)

Just a thought!

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/attachment.php?attachmentid=10423&stc=1&d=1231598474

Maybe try this...

Instead of trying to warm the second thumnail to match the first.

Cool the first and warm the second to meet both halfway.

Try your best with colour balance techniques and then add more filters (cooling and warming). Sometimes you wont get it all in one filter. you usually need to layer up with multiple colour effect filters. You should end up close enough.

Also dissolve from one camera to the other. Unless you get them close don't cut, colour differences are more obvious.

The average couple wouldn't notice unless you draw their attention to it, an absolute no no in this business.

Ger.

the price is around 1000$. As a matter of fact, I think I dropped off more than 200$ already. I had agreed cermony only for around 450$, then the wedding planners called me back to the reception after I had droven home. And I had another 40 min drive back, and 5-6 hours shooting speeches, dancing etc. And all the added editing.



A 3-cam wedding for $1000.00 - and all this grief!

What about some kind of slightly desaturated color-wash. It would be easier than trying to restore to the true colors.

Anders.

If in your contract (written hopefully) you specified that you needed 30 minutes, or however long, and they gave you 5 minutes then the burden is on them. I would not have offered any "refund" if that was the case. In any case, you've got good advice here. We live and learn.

Jonathan

Mark: yes, as it looks now, it is in current state somwhat better than 'raw' posted. I did somethink like Ger described, tried to make it something 'in between'. But I know it can be done better :)

Ivan: it is 16:9. B roll is even in downconverted HD :) It is pixel aspectratio from screendump making it look 4:3

Ken: ohyes. I think I planned on charging around 2000$ for the night, but I got a question of totals from the wedding planner just after I had reviewed the footage :D so I messed up more for myself than the couple this time ;) live and learn. So when I think of it, it is more a 1k reduction. lol. talk ablout ripping off myself :D

Jonathan: no contract. all communication trough the planners. Couple came in by airplane some hours before wedding, and the next day they left. They live in some other country, I have no contact but an address to send the DVD's. I have not spoken one word to the bride, and briefly to the groom as I miced him up.

Anders, that is easily fixable! realy though, and please don't take this wrong way, you need to learn about how to colour correct.

NEVER give a discount after the event. The couple WILL NEVER know if there has been a cockup if you don't tell them.

You know what? Once I forgot to turn on the external mic plugged into my camera, and had the bride walking up the isle to SILENCE!!!. There are always ways of sorting out things. What did I do? Spoke to the organist a few days later, slipped £20 into the donations box at the church, and she happily played the organ for me again. the couple didn't have a clue.

You two cams look non matched, but the colours are simple to fix. You have no experience on how to do it? Get learning. If you use a Mac, its extremely easy to fix this in minutes. How do you do it? get your credit card out and join Lynda.com for a month. They have tutorials by Larry Jordan, which are extremely easy to follow, which will have your worries gone in a couple of hours.

Final Cut Pro 5 Color Correction - lynda.com Online Training Library® (http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=298)

Go get a beer and chill.

OK I see you use Premier.

Premiere Pro 2 Essential Training - lynda.com Online Training Library® (http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=219)

It has a section on colour correction.

Anders,

Before sending out final DVD product, I'd be inclined to ask for balance of what they owe you on this project. Just curious if you got an advance for the project. Hopefully you did.

The more I read of your situation, make the best quality video for this client and get paid BEFORE they get the final DVD. Maybe show them a low-res version on-line, since they are (yikes!) in another country. This has all the makings of someone who might be about to get screwed.

After the dust settles, think about all the things mentioned by me and the others, giving consideration to each point, especially the business side of things. I'm just tired of hearing about creative people doing the best they can with unreasonable or unrealistic demands, and then being blamed the world has come to end.

Jonathan

A couple observations... since everything was done through "the planners", maybe you're worrying about nothing, and you probably just gave them a "free" bonus with that discount. I doubt the B&G will ever know about the goof up, and they probably are getting a "super bonus video package" from the planners at your expense. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's what it sounds like to me.

CC takes trial and error, I'm still "getting it" myself - I wish there were some sort of thing like the photo edit program I use that simply allows you to "shift" white balance - I've sort of figured out that's what those color wheels do, but as I say, it's still sort of trial and error.

When first reviewing your raw footage, don't panic. 9 times out of 10, you'll find a "save" if you take some time and think creatively. Anything short of simply not hitting the record button in a one cam shoot SHOULD be salvageable, albeit maybe not what you WISH (and should note to yourself for NEXT time) you got.

This is "life" in a live event, you get it or you don't and you make the best of what you DID get. No retakes, no net, no excuses. Not easy, and not for everyone. If your self esteem, ability to learn and grow in the fly, or adapt to new technologies is low, skip this business, otherwise it's quite a lot of fun! Making a living, well that's another topic...

I think you've gotten lots of good advice here. I just wanted to point out one more issue to consider:

If you're sending the DVD to another country I would make sure you know if you need to create NTSC or PAL DVDs. I realize this isn't related to your original question but I do think you'd want to consider this. :)


My .02...

Don: I agree. People are kind around here :) NTSC/PAL.. I don't think thats my problem. the couple themselves, as well as friends and family come from all over.
USA, Norway, Polend, Nigeria, Tchekia etc.

Dave: I don't think the planners take the discount themselves. Bleeding edge buisniss in my country doing anything wedding relatet that does not include photography, flowerist or hairstyler.
Funny you should mention the record button, about 6 month ago I did company interview and hit the record button on my variezoom. Guess what, it ceased to work that day, without me noticing. Had to call em back and schedule a retake.

Jonathan: the planners have the cash, I told them to hold off til I made the DVD, and I send the bill when completed. I like to get payed when I deliver, never had a problem so far (then again, I mostly do video for companies. And besides the fact they tend to pay last day possible, I have enver had any real hassle so far)

Steve: thanks for the link. I Think this situation is the time to both try uut lydia as well as learning some CC. As you said, something I need to focus on anyways. Live and learn. But you are right about the discount thing, I'm too fast to just drop in a discount if things are not 100% perfect.