My First Wedding Trailer using FCP X

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Cesar & Claudia - Wedding Trailer on Vimeo

[Steve Connor]

Something wrong with your link!

[Johnnie Caraballo]

None of the codes work. Just text every time I use.

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Ok - I think I got it now

[Michael Liebergot]

Johnnie, check your audio, as it sounds stuttery. Seems to have a clicking sound consistently throughout the audio track.

What is your audio level when encoding, are you over 0 DB, as it sounds like the audio is clipping becasue it's too hot.

[Johnnie Caraballo]

I was wondering what that was. I think it is over 0db. I will check when I get home. Thanks.

[Michael Liebergot]

Try if possible to keep your audio around -6db or -12. This can prevent sudden spikes in your audio which might result in overage in signal and clipping.

[Jason Burkhimer]

Johnnie, you've got some nice shots in there. I particularly like the reverse fountain. FCX has some nice temporal features. If I may make a few suggestions. First, stabilize. This looks like what, a 7D? Handycam? You have a lot of creative shots in there that I think would be served nicely with two kinds of equipment. A stedicam, and a slider. If you are on a super-micro budget, a spiderbrace and an indislider will run you just under 300.00, and will really improve your look. You'll find yourself having fun with slider shots! Second, if your not shooting manual yet, start. Learn, practice, and get sharp. Third, and Im not saying this is the case with your video(just a heads up), be careful with grading. FCX has a lot of nice built in "looks" an with background rendering, it makes it easy to pile em on. I've shot a few things on my Sony FS100 and finished in FCX, and gotten amazing results by picking a grade look I like, and pulling about a half blend(with subtle tweaks) In my opinion, i think its nice to pick one grading style, and thats it. If there's a black in white shot in there, it usually means the entire thing is black and white(unless the shot calls for a skewed vantage point or something)

Again, just opinions and suggestions! Looks good, and keep up the good work!
-burk

[Paul Cascio]

Great suggestions, Jason. I learned from them too.

[Jason Burkhimer]

Thanks Paul, Im glad! We are all perpetually learning, and I have a lot of things I would like to tighten up in my skillset that's for sure!

-burk

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Originally Posted by Michael Liebergot

Try if possible to keep your audio around -6db or -12. This can prevent sudden spikes in your audio which might result in overage in signal and clipping.

Thanks! I will check this out. Sorry it took me so long to get back to everyone. I have been away shooting more Weddings out of town.

One question I do have is - How do I replace that video.
I uploaded right from FCP X and I think if I use the same "share" function it will just load another version of the same video right? How do I "replace" that video or do I just delete and "share" again?

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Originally Posted by Jason Burkhimer

Johnnie, you've got some nice shots in there. I particularly like the reverse fountain. FCX has some nice temporal features. If I may make a few suggestions. First, stabilize. This looks like what, a 7D? Handycam? You have a lot of creative shots in there that I think would be served nicely with two kinds of equipment. A stedicam, and a slider. If you are on a super-micro budget, a spiderbrace and an indislider will run you just under 300.00, and will really improve your look. You'll find yourself having fun with slider shots! Second, if your not shooting manual yet, start. Learn, practice, and get sharp. Third, and Im not saying this is the case with your video(just a heads up), be careful with grading. FCX has a lot of nice built in "looks" an with background rendering, it makes it easy to pile em on. I've shot a few things on my Sony FS100 and finished in FCX, and gotten amazing results by picking a grade look I like, and pulling about a half blend(with subtle tweaks) In my opinion, i think its nice to pick one grading style, and thats it. If there's a black in white shot in there, it usually means the entire thing is black and white(unless the shot calls for a skewed vantage point or something)

Again, just opinions and suggestions! Looks good, and keep up the good work!
-burk

Jason,
Thank you very much for your constructive criticism. It was very much appreciated.
This is actually my very first Wedding Trailer. I have allot to learn and a long way to go. I guess we all start some where at some point - I'm glad I'm able to share here amongst professionals to get better at the craft.

I will look up what a Spider Brace is - never heard of it. I think a Slider would be a cool piece of equipment to have but from what I was told its nearly impossible to use and set up on "run and gun" Wedding Shoots. If most of my shoots were staged that might work but I'm wondering if a slider would be practical for Weddings.

None of the above took much time to be staged. I was lucky enough to have the Bride and Groom give me about 30 mins for all those "staged" shots. Its 95 degrees here in Miami and they were drenched and soaked with sweat. I was luck to get the shot I did - It was obvious they were very uncomfortable. I pushed a bit but not too much - they now tell me it was worth it because they love the trailer.

I used the Sony AX2000 to film the Wedding.
In your opinion did I use too much Color Grading?
I used Black & White on those parts to "hide" the bad white balance during that scene. The lighting made my image look yellowish. Only B&W removed that and most people watching it just assumed it was an "artistic" thing for me to do - mentioning that they liked the little B&W I threw in the trailer.

I need to work on my White Balance and what to do under certain types of lighting.

Thanks again for all your tips!

I hope to get the BlackBird Stabilizer from CMR soon - just dont have $1,000 right now.
Handheld Camera Stabilizer - Blackbird, GS2 - Camera Motion Research

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Originally Posted by Michael Liebergot

Try if possible to keep your audio around -6db or -12. This can prevent sudden spikes in your audio which might result in overage in signal and clipping.

Well I fixed it inside FCP X.

I lowered the volume bar from 0 to -5.
On the Sound Meter on the right hand side it hovers around -12 and spikes around -6

I re-uploaded to Vimeo....

[Jason Burkhimer]

Originally Posted by Johnnie Caraballo

Jason,
Thank you very much for your constructive criticism. It was very much appreciated.
This is actually my very first Wedding Trailer. I have allot to learn and a long way to go. I guess we all start some where at some point - I'm glad I'm able to share here amongst professionals to get better at the craft.

I will look up what a Spider Brace is - never heard of it. I think a Slider would be a cool piece of equipment to have but from what I was told its nearly impossible to use and set up on "run and gun" Wedding Shoots. If most of my shoots were staged that might work but I'm wondering if a slider would be practical for Weddings.

None of the above took much time to be staged. I was lucky enough to have the Bride and Groom give me about 30 mins for all those "staged" shots. Its 95 degrees here in Miami and they were drenched and soaked with sweat. I was luck to get the shot I did - It was obvious they were very uncomfortable. I pushed a bit but not too much - they now tell me it was worth it because they love the trailer.

I used the Sony AX2000 to film the Wedding.
In your opinion did I use too much Color Grading?
I used Black & White on those parts to "hide" the bad white balance during that scene. The lighting made my image look yellowish. Only B&W removed that and most people watching it just assumed it was an "artistic" thing for me to do - mentioning that they liked the little B&W I threw in the trailer.

I need to work on my White Balance and what to do under certain types of lighting.

Thanks again for all your tips!

I hope to get the BlackBird Stabilizer from CMR soon - just dont have $1,000 right now.
Handheld Camera Stabilizer - Blackbird, GS2 - Camera Motion Research

I dont think you did TOO MUCH color grading by any means, in fact I think a couple of your shots have a really nice organic rendition to them! And all of my thoughts were just that...thoughts. No criticism here. I just personally like to match color throughout an entire production as close as possible unless the color change is signifying a specific vantage or perspective variation. Again, just my style. I actually think you have a quite a knack for pacing, and I think thats one of the most important characteristics of a good storyteller.

Also, I am a firm believer in audio is 60 percent of a production. When you have solid audio recording, and proper soundtrack manipulation combined with spot on pacing, people become too engrossed in your film to pixel peep, notice soft shots or the occasional exposure misfire.

We're working on a project right now that I am really excited about, and I'll drop a link on here when we have a trailer cut. I assure you one thing, it won't be perfect! haha, cheers!

-burk

[Johnnie Caraballo]

Originally Posted by Michael Liebergot

Try if possible to keep your audio around -6db or -12. This can prevent sudden spikes in your audio which might result in overage in signal and clipping.

I found out that the clipping wasn't from the volume being too loud but a bug with FCP X & Lion.
If you use any music that is not in the AIFF format it will have clipping through out the video.

Changing MP3/AAC/MPEG to AIFF solves the clipping issue.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/15978736#15978736