What a week it has been. We had three weddings from Sat-Sat, which is not typical for us. Two of them had SDEs.

The three couples were all very different, but at the same time, similar. The first couple were the typical early to mid 20s, young and in love type. Great to work with. The second couple were in their 30s, Harley-piercing-tatoo-rock&roll types. They were great to work with and the SDE was for their 10th anniversary. They were such a gracious and giving couple. The third couple, who did not have SDE, were in their early 20s, country music type, complete with horse drawn wagons bringing their guests to an old western town for the wedding and reception.

While looking at the outside, all three couples appeared to be very different, but on the inside, they had this common thread. A deep love for their other half as well as a great deal of love for their family and friends.

Okay so on to Thursdays SDE. It was for the couple celebrating their 10th anniversary. Shot with two Z1s. They also added 200 DVDs of the SDE for their guests as Thank You's.

http://tulsaweddingvideos.com/video/GSDE.wmv

While looking at the outside, all three couples appeared to be very different, but on the inside, they had this common thread. A deep love for their other half as well as a great deal of love for their family and friends.
http://tulsaweddingvideos.com/video/GSDE.wmv

Mark, shouldn't that be the norm for every couple getting married? :)

just seen the clip..good stuff, always impressed by people who do SDE's

love the decor in the main room.

that's nice too to get that intimacy of the first dance..was everyone out the room, or hiding behind you?!

Hi Richard,

Yes, it is true for most couples. My bad. I did not communicate how they were so open with their feelings and thoughts with each other and their family and friends.

Every once in a while you get a B&G that are over the top. The type that not only make the wedding day a great experience, but the edit process as well. We had three of these "over the top" couples back to back, and I guess I'm still on a high from it. We feel very blessed to get to make a living at what we love doing.

i'm jealous then, i can't recall a really OTT couple willingly expressing their deep emotions infront of an audience... i live in hope :)

keep up the good work Mark

Great work Mark. I am anxious to do my first SDE.
John

Hi Mark,

Very nice shooting and editing. One observation though, you said you shot the video with a Z1. Did you shoot it in 16x9? The wmv you posted is in 4x3 and looks squished horizonally.

Joe

Great work Mark. I am anxious to do my first SDE.
John

Hi John,

I'm glad you liked it. Do you have one booked or are you looking forward to booking one?

Hi Mark,

Very nice shooting and editing. One observation though, you said you shot the video with a Z1. Did you shoot it in 16x9? The wmv you posted is in 4x3 and looks squished horizonally.

Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks. It was shot and editing in 16x9 using Edius on a laptop. I have watched the web clip on three different computers and it looks 16x9. Do you have another system you can watch it on? If so, please let me know if it looks 4x3 on that system as well.

Mark,

As I know you just grabbed some Z1s, was this shot in HD and the SDe done in HD as well?

We just did our first HD SDE this past weekend so I am very curious to hear your experiences from that end if you did cut it in HD.

About the clip, I really liked the variety of shots you got in there and I think the straight cuts to the music really came out well. I also really like how well you told the story of their day and really got a bit of everything in there. I think several of the shots could have a had a lot more punch if you had worked with the colors and curves a bit more, but being a SDE, there isn't always time for that.

Patrick

Hi Patrick,

We down converted to DV for the SDE. At first we considered doing the SDE in HD, but the hotels projectors could not take advantage of HD, so there was no point in going through the extra work and time.

We didn't have time to do anything at all to the colors in post. We used a custom picture profile with the Sony's. There was one shot with the Canon A1 that I forgot about. My son was shooting a wide shot with the Canon. His shot was when four people were on stage lighting a candle and the colors looked really flat.

I set the Canon on a low light preset to brighten up the picture. While it may have brighten the shot, it washed out the colors.

If we would have had more time I would have added some vows over punching up the colors. The reason I say that is because everytime we add the B&G's vows or VO it really gets the crowd. You can hear a pin drop.

On a SDE back in December, the S-Video cable running to the projector went bad and the whole presentation was in B&W, but it had the wedding vows. The crowd went crazy. We apologized to the MOB that it was in B&W. She said she didn't even notice. She said it was wonderful.

That event convinced me of the power of heart felt words in a SDE.

Hi Mark,

I totally agree about dding in the VO. I would have mentioned that but I thought the song choice was not the best/easiest fit to add in audio overtop. I usually try to lay down a general story of the day, then go to the voice overs, then, if there is time, try some more color effects and what not.

I found that editing the SDE in HD was not as bad as I thought it would be and it did offer the advantage of letting me use the firestore to get some footage right away. I too didn't have access to an HD projector so I downconverted on export, but now I can at least deliver the SDE in Hd down the road and I am getting closer to the Hd workflow.

Regarding the Canon, I have found that working with the custom presets really goes a long way in making the footage tremendously better right out of the cam. I have managed to get a pretty good looking preset for using 12 gain in low light and another with 6 gain.

Patrick

We haven't editing anything in HD yet, and didn't want our first project in HD to be a SDE. I'm glad you had success at it.

I haven't had the time to do much with the Canon. I did some initial testing with the presets I download from the A1 forum here on DVInfo. What I saw from shooting around the studio in a simulated low light setting was a lot of grain at 12 dB, so I backed the max gain to 6. I would like to know what you are doing to have a usable 12 dB of gain.

Hey Mark,

looked great! It was in 4:3 for me also. I am on a mac using the flip4mac quicktime plugin.

Have you come up with a preset on the Canon to match it with the Sony Z1? I have a Canon A1 and 2 sony FX1's. They match up ok on the default settings if I pull down the mids and boost saturation a bit on the Canon in post.

great work Mark and family :)

in regards to HD for an SDE, edius, SHOULDNT have a problem with straight cuts work, but i'd recomend running an externaul USB Bus powered HDD with at least 5400rpm
From there, use the render and replace function for transitions and crossfades etc etc

this should alleviate the buffer lag in edius when runing live

It looks nice, great camera moves. How long is your SDE normaly?

Hey Mark,

looked great! It was in 4:3 for me also. I am on a mac using the flip4mac quicktime plugin.

Have you come up with a preset on the Canon to match it with the Sony Z1? I have a Canon A1 and 2 sony FX1's. They match up ok on the default settings if I pull down the mids and boost saturation a bit on the Canon in post.


Hi Matt,

Another Mac person told me it was 4x3. I wonder if we just need to go the flash route to fix this problem.

I have been working on presets around the studio, but now that we have some real world footage to look at, I'll see how they match up.

It's funny because my son loves the Canon and my wife loves the Sony. They practically refuse to switch with each other. On last Saturdays wedding, Matt shot up front with me so we could have a good shot of the Groom's face. I told him and Trisha to consider switching cams for just the ceremony. They said sure, but when the time cam, wouldn't you know it, Matt had the Canon and Trisha the Sony.

great work Mark and family :)

in regards to HD for an SDE, edius, SHOULDNT have a problem with straight cuts work, but i'd recomend running an externaul USB Bus powered HDD with at least 5400rpm
From there, use the render and replace function for transitions and crossfades etc etc

this should alleviate the buffer lag in edius when runing live

Hi Peter,

Thanks. I captured a little HD footage to the C Drive, 7200 RPM, of the laptop to see how it would do. Real time was okay until I added slowmo and dissolves.

I wonder how an external eSATA drive would perform with HD. I am so spoiled with Real Time in SD that I don't know how to act if I have to render something.

It looks nice, great camera moves. How long is your SDE normaly?


Hi Oleg,

Thanks. Our normal SDE is the length of a song, typically 3-4 minutes. We have done a few that were multiple songs lasting 6-7 minutes, but they really take some time to edit.

If you are looking for an easier way to make a longer SDE, you could do the regular prep and post, but A/B roll the vows. Depending on how long the vows are, it could be easier than cutting that long of a portion to the flow of the music.

Mark,

what is your pixel aspect? Usually widescreen wmv's show up widescreen on my mac. I have been using 480x270pixels to create widescreen wmv's.

480/270=1.77778=16/9

Hi Matt,

I'll have to check when I get to the office tomorrow. Thanks for the numbers to look at.

Hey Mark,

looked great! It was in 4:3 for me also. I am on a mac using the flip4mac quicktime plugin.



I guess it's a Mac thing. I looked at it on my laptop using Windows Media Player and it's 4x3.

Joe

Hi John,

I'm glad you liked it. Do you have one booked or are you looking forward to booking one?

Mark:
I have many weddings booked this year but just getting the nerve up to try a SDE. Kind of like the first time I went cliff diving...the first leap is always the hardest. :)

Thanks,
John

Mark,

what is your pixel aspect? Usually widescreen wmv's show up widescreen on my mac. I have been using 480x270pixels to create widescreen wmv's.

480/270=1.77778=16/9

Hi Matt,

I just uploaded a 480x270 version. When you get a chance take a look and see if it looks better. Thanks

Mark:
I have many weddings booked this year but just getting the nerve up to try a SDE. Kind of like the first time I went cliff diving...the first leap is always the hardest. :)

Thanks,
John

Hi John,

Where are you located? If you want to keep that info private, feel free to eamil me.

You are right, the first one is the hardest, so there is no point in puttin it off. Start preparing and pick a reception that is already showing a presentation. The screen and projector will already be there, so just add a SDE to it.

Nice work. I love cutting to music and you did it very well

One question: When was your SDE shown? I noticed you had them dancing, and then the interview ... when during the event was the video shown? And how long did it take for you to cut it .. was it shown right off the laptop?

Our SDEs are generally shown at the hall just before the B&G entrance so we don't get to cut any dancing into it

Again, very nice work

Hi John,

Where are you located? If you want to keep that info private, feel free to eamil me.

You are right, the first one is the hardest, so there is no point in puttin it off. Start preparing and pick a reception that is already showing a presentation. The screen and projector will already be there, so just add a SDE to it.


Mark:

We are located in Indianapolis, IN. I need to get another nNovia drive also. I was kind of waiting to see the feedback on the Sony DSR80. Not very good reviews from what I saw. You are correct, we just need to pick a wedding and do a SDE.

Thanks,
John

Mark,

WOW! all I can say is that I now have even more respect for you folks after watching that. The art of a SDE is incredible! Major props!

<<I just uploaded a 480x270 version. When you get a chance take a look and see if it looks better.>>

Mark,

I just watched it again on my Mac and this version looks great...not squished any more. I'd like to echo many of the other comments...great work! Love your website too. You give me ideas...and inspiration.

Enjoyed your reflections on the thrill you still get doing this work. Glad to hear it's not all about busines, the latest gear, or technical troubleshooting...as this forum tends to sound at times. As someone who is exploring event videography as a new career direction, I found your comments refreshing.

Sincerely,

Bill

Nice edit and camera move. However, the clip seem a little bit too dark for me. I wasn't able to see some shots clearly. Is it because of the low light capability is not good of the Z1? Do you find shooting HDV difficult in low light situation in general?

I just shot a wedding last weekend with Canon A1s... I had difficulty to get proper exposure during the banquet. I used an on-camera light (Canon VL-10LI) but it wasn't enough. I had to get close to the subject. Even though I can get proper exposure by walking closer to the subjects, the background becomes dark (anything that are 2 feet away from me). I didn't want to use the lowlight preset because I do not want to get washout pictures. I ended up had to jack up the gain btw +3 and +6 to get a little better exposure of the background (not sure how it will look regarding noise level). I really missed my PD170.

Nice work. I love cutting to music and you did it very well

One question: When was your SDE shown? I noticed you had them dancing, and then the interview ... when during the event was the video shown? And how long did it take for you to cut it .. was it shown right off the laptop?

Our SDEs are generally shown at the hall just before the B&G entrance so we don't get to cut any dancing into it

Again, very nice work

Hi Victor,

The interview was shot before the ceremony. The wedding and reception were at a hotel, so we just went up to their room to shoot the thank you.

The ceremony was at 7:00. First Dance around 8:15. The shot of the guy blowing out candles, it was his birthday, was about 9:15 and we showed the SDE at 10:30. Trisha got locked out of the edit room after the First Dance. That cost her about 15 minutes, which seemed like forever.

We use Edius with our laptop, and everything is real time, except of course the encode for DVD. When the edit was finished, we just played the timeline out firewire to the Z1 and plugged the Z1 into the projectors.

Two or three times we have played the SDE straight from the laptop. I don't like to do it. It just makes me too nervous.

If you can arrange for the couple to do their First Dance once they arrive, you should consider adding that footage to the SDE and show it after dinner. It really does add to the Wow Factor.

Mark:

We are located in Indianapolis, IN. I need to get another nNovia drive also. I was kind of waiting to see the feedback on the Sony DSR80. Not very good reviews from what I saw. You are correct, we just need to pick a wedding and do a SDE.

Thanks,
John

Off the top of my head, I don't know of anyone doing SDEs within driving distance of you. The Iowa video assocation is doing a live SDE demonstration and I think it's this coming weekend, but that would be a long drive.

We do our SDEs with just one nNovia, but two would certainly make it easier. When you are ready to pick up a second nNovia let me know. I know where you can get a good deal on them.

By the way, I grew up about 150 miles from you, in central IL.

Mark,

WOW! all I can say is that I now have even more respect for you folks after watching that. The art of a SDE is incredible! Major props!

Hi Timothy,

Thanks for the kind words. One of the great side benefits to a SDE is that the client is paying you to market to their friends. It's a win-win.

<<I just uploaded a 480x270 version. When you get a chance take a look and see if it looks better.>>

Mark,

I just watched it again on my Mac and this version looks great...not squished any more. I'd like to echo many of the other comments...great work! Love your website too. You give me ideas...and inspiration.

Enjoyed your reflections on the thrill you still get doing this work. Glad to hear it's not all about busines, the latest gear, or technical troubleshooting...as this forum tends to sound at times. As someone who is exploring event videography as a new career direction, I found your comments refreshing.

Sincerely,

Bill


Hi Bill,

Thanks for all of the kind words. For me, this really is a dream job. One of my worst nightmares would be to wake up and realize that the past 7 years was just a dream and I had to go back to work in my previous career.

Nice edit and camera move. However, the clip seem a little bit too dark for me. I wasn't able to see some shots clearly. Is it because of the low light capability is not good of the Z1? Do you find shooting HDV difficult in low light situation in general?

I just shot a wedding last weekend with Canon A1s... I had difficulty to get proper exposure during the banquet. I used an on-camera light (Canon VL-10LI) but it wasn't enough. I had to get close to the subject. Even though I can get proper exposure by walking closer to the subjects, the background becomes dark (anything that are 2 feet away from me). I didn't want to use the lowlight preset because I do not want to get washout pictures. I ended up had to jack up the gain btw +3 and +6 to get a little better exposure of the background (not sure how it will look regarding noise level). I really missed my PD170.

Hi Eric,

I agree. There were some shots that were dark. This was only the third full wedding I had shot with the HD cams and the first one that was entirely inside.

It has been said that the Z1's gain at 15dB is very usable. I was doing some shooting at 9 dB to see what I could get away with before the ceremony started. You will see an example of that during the two crowd shots around the 1:13 mark. I didn't know Trisha was going to use those shots. Oh well.

The couple wanted the ceremony to be very dark. So dark that even the PD170 couldn't handle it. We compromised with the couple. We settled on what was brighter than they thought was ideal, and we settled on darker than we thought was ideal.

Trisha shot from the back at 15dB and it looked fine. I shot from the front, but all of the lighting was coming from the back of the room, so the one shot of the Bride's face during the ceremony is dark.

Additionally, my son shot a third wide angle with the Canaon A1. We did a low light preset with 6 dB. You can see the shot where the four people are lighting a candle. The shot is not that dark, but the colors are washed out. We will fix the colors for the full wedding, but there's only so much you can do on a SDE.

Another dark shot that really stood out to me was during the reception when the Groom is leaning over and kissing his mom. He was a good distance from me and there was not time to get the shot and turn the light on, so the shot is dark.

In my testing with the A1 around the studio, I found that 3 and 6 dB were pretty clean, but 12 dB was really noisy, so I set my gain presets to 0-3-6.

Mark,

I checked the new version on both a mac and pc, and saw 16:9 on both.

Looks good!

Off the top of my head, I don't know of anyone doing SDEs within driving distance of you. The Iowa video assocation is doing a live SDE demonstration and I think it's this coming weekend, but that would be a long drive.

We do our SDEs with just one nNovia, but two would certainly make it easier. When you are ready to pick up a second nNovia let me know. I know where you can get a good deal on them.

By the way, I grew up about 150 miles from you, in central IL.

Thanks Mark. That is one reason why I want to be one of the first because I don't know of anyone offering that currently. We have a wedding we are filming on June 3 at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado and will be spending the rest of the week around Colorado. Anyone you know there doing it? It would be good to get a hands on walk through. Maybe I just need to come to Tulsa sometime.
Thanks,
John

Mark,

I checked the new version on both a mac and pc, and saw 16:9 on both.

Looks good!

Hi Matt,

Okay good. Thanks for giving me the correct size.

Thanks Mark. That is one reason why I want to be one of the first because I don't know of anyone offering that currently. We have a wedding we are filming on June 3 at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado and will be spending the rest of the week around Colorado. Anyone you know there doing it? It would be good to get a hands on walk through. Maybe I just need to come to Tulsa sometime.
Thanks,
John

Hi John,

It sounds like the market is open for you.

I was in the Pikes Peak area about 6 years ago. It is so pretty up there. Make sure you go see the Royal Gorge. I'm jelous.

I don't know of anyone in the area doing SDEs. I know there is a video association and I beleive it's in the Denver area, but I can't find their website.

I agree, make a trip down to Tulsa. We are doing a workshop right after your week in Colorado, so come on down.

Nice stuff! Could u tell me the title of the song? Do u guys try to use a new song everytime? its tough!

Hi Sean,

The song is Stickwitu by the Pussycat Dolls. The couple provided the song.

We pretty much use a new song each time. We may have repeated a couple of songs a few times, but really, it's up to the B&G. I know a videographer that uses the same song for all of his SDEs. It certainly does make it easier.