Short story about a boat wedding. at DVinfo.net

Marty Welk · December 20th, 2009, 10:02 PM

You might find this story interesting.
The First Wedding I ever did on a ship. A Two camera wedding on one of those mid/small size cruise ships, that does short local runs in the bay.

We arrived early, and scoped out the location for the cerimony. The cerimony would be held in the dark lower deck, with windows enveloping the cerimony area for 180*.
Ran back to the truck and pulled out the window film, and we put 2 layers of that reflective window film over the entire set of huge windows. The film was just enough light blockage that it wouldn't be such a harsh backlight.

We barely completed the filtering when the bride shows up,and we did the usual of videotaping all the guests arriving, etc etc.
There wasnt a lot of space available, the smaller camera was usefull to jump around and through the crowds to get the action.
While the small cam ran around,
I set up the larger cameras tripod postion, Rock Solid it would be with a wide leg spread, and a perfect location for the wide (type) view, 20Lb pod legs battery that almost sandbags it down, it wouldnt budge.

The smaller camera would be handheld and be up on the side doing the usual closeups, collecting backup audio. Both cams (of course) forced to shoot right into the windows (we fixed) to get any subjects of the event.

Everything was going great from my rock solid camera that i was running, eventually i had time to get distracted and see what was up with the other camera person.
I look up there and OMG he is moving back and forth with the rolling waves that rocked the boat, we had no headsets at the time so all i could do is watch my closeup get destroyed , i couldnt say "dam! brace yourself your moving to much" . Sweat starts dripping down my forehead as the pain of seeing everything be destroyed racked my brain.

My view is still rock solid, and i have this wonderfull view of the bride and groom lite perfectally while the huge windows formed a Moving Panaramic scene behind them. the ship turns in large circles the whole time . The huge window has this beautifull cityscape passing by in the most beautifull pan. While i Squirm in my shoes and wipe the sweat off my forehead. the boat turns more and shows the beautifull natural landscape on the other side. Perfection in every way, but that other camera is still up there rocking back and forth. like an amature.

The cerimony wasn't long, and my pain finnaly ended as they walked down the row of people forming an Aisle right straight into my camera.
I quickly popped the cam off the tripod and tried to get as many closeups as i could, beings the close-up cam was most certannly ruined.

As soon as i got a break from the action, i rushed to check the close up small cams picture, rewinding it back to the cerimony and sure enough there it was. on the LCD screen it didnt look to bad, but to really see it i put my eye right up to the viewfinder. Watching the rocking back and forth with the viewfinder , gave me slight vertigo, assisted by the boat itself also rocking, I almost fell over, I was doomed.

Well there was nothing we could do, I had one rock solid shot, and asking for them to re-do it would make us look like idiots. we just kept doing our job as best as possible , and the day finnaly ended.

Got home and fed both of the cameras into the editor, and there was my perfectally rock solid shot. I played back my wide perfect moving panaramic background shot and IT was All wrong! We were on a boat, the whole time everyone there felt the boat rock, all the people rocked. My perfectally solid shot looked like it was done on dry land, with the people swaying like drunks , it looked totally wrong.

Looked at the close view and there it was, we were back on the boat again, because it was a much closer position, and the waves were rolling, the thing i feared the most looked great.
I mixed in both carefully and got the best of both worlds. Without the terrible cameraman who cant hold still, it just wouldnt have looked right :-)

and now you know the rest of the story

Andrew Smith · December 30th, 2009, 07:46 PM

Please DO post some sample footage. I've really got to see this!

Andrew

December 20th, 2009, 10:02 PM	#1
Marty Welk Major Player Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: East Bay Cali Posts: 563	Short story about a boat wedding. You might find this story interesting. The First Wedding I ever did on a ship. A Two camera wedding on one of those mid/small size cruise ships, that does short local runs in the bay. We arrived early, and scoped out the location for the cerimony. The cerimony would be held in the dark lower deck, with windows enveloping the cerimony area for 180. Ran back to the truck and pulled out the window film, and we put 2 layers of that reflective window film over the entire set of huge windows. The film was just enough light blockage that it wouldn't be such a harsh backlight. We barely completed the filtering when the bride shows up,and we did the usual of videotaping all the guests arriving, etc etc. There wasnt a lot of space available, the smaller camera was usefull to jump around and through the crowds to get the action. While the small cam ran around, I set up the larger cameras tripod postion, Rock Solid it would be with a wide leg spread, and a perfect location for the wide (type) view, 20Lb pod legs battery that almost sandbags it down, it wouldnt budge. The smaller camera would be handheld and be up on the side doing the usual closeups, collecting backup audio. Both cams (of course) forced to shoot right into the windows (we fixed) to get any subjects of the event. Everything was going great from my rock solid camera that i was running, eventually i had time to get distracted and see what was up with the other camera person. I look up there and OMG he is moving back and forth with the rolling waves that rocked the boat, we had no headsets at the time so all i could do is watch my closeup get destroyed , i couldnt say "dam! brace yourself your moving to much" . Sweat starts dripping down my forehead as the pain of seeing everything be destroyed racked my brain. My view is still rock solid, and i have this wonderfull view of the bride and groom lite perfectally while the huge windows formed a Moving Panaramic scene behind them. the ship turns in large circles the whole time . The huge window has this beautifull cityscape passing by in the most beautifull pan. While i Squirm in my shoes and wipe the sweat off my forehead. the boat turns more and shows the beautifull natural landscape on the other side. Perfection in every way, but that other camera is still up there rocking back and forth. like an amature. The cerimony wasn't long, and my pain finnaly ended as they walked down the row of people forming an Aisle right straight into my camera. I quickly popped the cam off the tripod and tried to get as many closeups as i could, beings the close-up cam was most certannly ruined. As soon as i got a break from the action, i rushed to check the close up small cams picture, rewinding it back to the cerimony and sure enough there it was. on the LCD screen it didnt look to bad, but to really see it i put my eye right up to the viewfinder. Watching the rocking back and forth with the viewfinder , gave me slight vertigo, assisted by the boat itself also rocking, I almost fell over, I was doomed. Well there was nothing we could do, I had one rock solid shot, and asking for them to re-do it would make us look like idiots. we just kept doing our job as best as possible , and the day finnaly ended. Got home and fed both of the cameras into the editor, and there was my perfectally rock solid shot. I played back my wide perfect moving panaramic background shot and IT was All wrong! We were on a boat, the whole time everyone there felt the boat rock, all the people rocked. My perfectally solid shot looked like it was done on dry land, with the people swaying like drunks , it looked totally wrong. Looked at the close view and there it was, we were back on the boat again, because it was a much closer position, and the waves were rolling, the thing i feared the most looked great. I mixed in both carefully and got the best of both worlds. Without the terrible cameraman who cant hold still, it just wouldnt have looked right :-) and now you know the rest of the story __________________ ----------------sig----------------- Re-learning everything all over again, one more time. Last edited by Marty Welk; December 20th, 2009 at 10:36 PM.*

December 30th, 2009, 07:46 PM	#2
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,068	Please DO post some sample footage. I've really got to see this! Andrew