My New Favorite Highlights Montage at DVinfo.net

My New Favorite Highlights Montage · December 16th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Sometimes you just get a wedding that is awesome! The couple, the venue, the weather and everything else is just perfect. They get the right package and you can really give it all you got! Well I had this couple back in May. I posted there Trailer a month or so ago( http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/wedding-e...g-trailer.html )

I just love the way everything came out! I really put my heart and soul into this edit, working hard on the storytelling and making sure the music really moved the piece. Let me know what you guys think.

Joe Simon Productions- Cinematic HD & Vintage Super 8 Wedding Films for the Stylish Bride.: Keely & Kyle's HD Wedding Highlights

Shot on the XH-A1, Brevis 35 adaptor,50/1.4 lens, Glidecam 2000 handheld, Kessler 8ft crane. HVX-200 for time-lapses.

Dennis Murphy · December 16th, 2008, 01:58 PM

Nice work. Hooray... no black and white shots randomly interspersed amongst the footage!
With the use of the 35mm adaptor, do you find it difficult getting long sections of useable footage with the manual focus issues?

Travis Cossel · December 16th, 2008, 04:49 PM

That was a new twist on a highlights video, considering how much audio you used. I thought you did a good job of picking clips to go with the audio. I really felt the emotion between the two. Coloring and pacing was nice and consistent.

Personally I felt like there was too much actual audio used, but that's just based on my expectations for a highlights video. From the couple's perspective, I'm sure it was awesome.

Luke Raymond · December 16th, 2008, 05:14 PM

Amazing work Joe!

Stunning location, great colour work, and excellent visual storytelling!

Great work with the Brevis as well. Do you step down the 50mm at all, or do you shoot wide open at 1.4?

Luke

Ethan Cooper · December 16th, 2008, 05:43 PM

Joe - I like the look of your stuff. Very polished, very pro. Great setting with the hills in the background, and wonderfully written vows. Can't go wrong with that... and daylight to shoot in.

Art Varga · December 16th, 2008, 06:11 PM

Joe - very nice!!! The crane shots really added something. What sort of lighting did you use for the reception scenes? Do you shoot with two A1s or do you move one on and off the adaptor?

Art

Monday Isa · December 16th, 2008, 06:12 PM

Joe,
You did a really good job with this edit. I'm very impressed. Good colors and fantastic use of the crane. You really used it effectively in this highlight. The one thing I thought you could have mixed better was when the instrumental track ended and you restarted it again. It wasn't mixed properly and that drove me nuts. Then again I was a musician for 5 years. The bride and groom won't even notice it and probably not many people at all. Again everything else was very well put together. Good use of the vows as well. Thanks for sharing.

Monday

J.J. Kim · December 16th, 2008, 09:36 PM

In my opinion...
it's perfect.
If I was a groom (or bride), I would be the happiest one in the world...

Arif Syed · December 16th, 2008, 09:46 PM

WOW, great work.

Do you use the 35mm handheld? If so, what equipment do you use to do that?

Ram Purad · December 16th, 2008, 11:17 PM

Great clip Joe. I like your shot composition and color grading. Saturated to the right amount and the skin tone is very pleasant to watch. Keep up the good work.

Jason Robinson · December 17th, 2008, 01:31 PM

Absolutely amazing piece! The jibs! Oh how I want to extend into the 4th dimension of filming (3rd being glidecam; 4th being vertical booming)

Fantastic closeups, reveals, gliding, I loved the bridal reveal where she taps him on the shoulder. Great time lapse. And he even did a dip on the kiss, classy!

Joe Simon · December 17th, 2008, 02:48 PM

Thanks everyone for the nice compliments!

This wedding was shot with 3 A1s. Two clean and one with the adaptor on(No adaptor during the ceremony though). I use the Brevis setup on both a tripod as well as a quick-release mono-pod. The mono-pod is great for getting shots on the fly. I have an assistant with me that will carry whatever camera I'm not using. He shadows me all day so I can trade out when I need. I also have a 2nd shooter that will be out getting his shots.

I use an 8" Ikan HD monitor for the Brevis camera so I can make sure I have good focus, I shoot with the lens at around 2.8..... I will bump it up if I have to but I want to keep it as sharp as possible(2.0,1.4 you can see it soften up). I've been shooting with this set up for a while so I'm pretty good at pulling focus with moving subjects.

Travis - I really wanted to use a lot of live audio, something different then I normally do. I really wanted the story to shine and to give the highlights a whole different feel.

Art - For the Reception I use the Sony 10/20w lights with a diffuser on the cameras, I also have an Arri 650w on a 13' stand. I really close down the barns on the Arri and black wrap it to create a thin strip of light to throw down highlights and contrast on the dance floor. I also have a dimmer on the Arri which I use to slowly bring up the light throughout the evening.

Monday - I'm going to have to go back through and watch it for that audio slip. I'm really strict with my audio mixing so I'm not sure how something like that would get by. Thanks for your comments.

Thanks again for checking it out. I appreciate all the feed back, it helps us to see what's good and bad with the work we are doing here!

Joe

Patrick Moreau · December 17th, 2008, 10:45 PM

Awesome work Joe. I have really enjoyed seeing the progression of your work. This clip has a very sincere feeling to it that I really enjoyed. I loved your use of audio and I thought the pacing was rock solid.

The only thing I would point out would be that the blue grad filter on the sky stood out a bit to me as being overly processed, which didn't seem to match the clip as much.

Awesome, awesome work.

P.

Richard Wakefield · December 18th, 2008, 03:48 AM

I'd like to echo all comments....absolutely superb and mesmerising to watch...and u're clearly a pro with the dof adaptor!

I was surprised no-one had picked up on the blue gradient prior to Patrick - it was the only thing that looked out of place and perhaps a different shade of blue could have been used.
But of course this was incredibly minor, and the rest of it was just brilliant.

Karim Amanali · December 18th, 2008, 08:01 AM

Great Work Joe, really enjoyed it very much. I especially really liked the colour work and myself being very new to this videography business and still at a very long learning curve, I for one cannot critique it to pin point the things that may not be correct, but I can guarantee that the bride and groom would never notice the blue grad filter, although I did notice it and went back to check it again but for some reason I thought it looked nice so I am sure it wont be a big deal the the B&G maybe to the more experienced videographers here on the forums such as Patrick and Richard who pointed it out. Anyways, let me end this long run on sentence and once again great work.

One question please if you dont mind, regarding the shot where the B&G kissed and you used the circling shot to go in circles few times while they were kissing, how was that done? Sorry I dont know the term that is used for that particular shot but I have been trying to do the same only handheld with the A1 and it doesnt come close to anything like your shot. If you dont mind sharing and helping me out, how exactly was that done?

Thank you.

December 16th, 2008, 01:58 PM	#2
Dennis Murphy Major Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Whangarei, New Zealand Posts: 396	Nice work. Hooray... no black and white shots randomly interspersed amongst the footage! With the use of the 35mm adaptor, do you find it difficult getting long sections of useable footage with the manual focus issues? __________________ http://www.dmvideostuff.co.nz

December 16th, 2008, 04:49 PM	#3
Travis Cossel Inner Circle Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 2,933	That was a new twist on a highlights video, considering how much audio you used. I thought you did a good job of picking clips to go with the audio. I really felt the emotion between the two. Coloring and pacing was nice and consistent. Personally I felt like there was too much actual audio used, but that's just based on my expectations for a highlights video. From the couple's perspective, I'm sure it was awesome. __________________ Black Label Films www.blacklabelweddingfilms.com

December 16th, 2008, 05:14 PM	#4
Luke Raymond Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Edmonton, Canada Posts: 33	Amazing work Joe! Stunning location, great colour work, and excellent visual storytelling! Great work with the Brevis as well. Do you step down the 50mm at all, or do you shoot wide open at 1.4? Luke __________________ http://blog.imagoweddings.com/ www.imagoweddings.com

December 16th, 2008, 05:43 PM	#5
Ethan Cooper Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Houma, La. Posts: 1,400 Images: 5	Joe - I like the look of your stuff. Very polished, very pro. Great setting with the hills in the background, and wonderfully written vows. Can't go wrong with that... and daylight to shoot in. __________________ ∅ -Ethan Cooper

December 16th, 2008, 11:17 PM	#10
Ram Purad Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 171	Great clip Joe. I like your shot composition and color grading. Saturated to the right amount and the skin tone is very pleasant to watch. Keep up the good work. __________________ Ram Purad :: Aspiring Event Filmmaker http://www.butterflysquad.com

December 16th, 2008, 06:11 PM	#6
Art Varga Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Belle Mead, NJ Posts: 552	Joe - very nice!!! The crane shots really added something. What sort of lighting did you use for the reception scenes? Do you shoot with two A1s or do you move one on and off the adaptor? Art

December 16th, 2008, 06:12 PM	#7
Monday Isa Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: College Park, Maryland Posts: 913	Joe, You did a really good job with this edit. I'm very impressed. Good colors and fantastic use of the crane. You really used it effectively in this highlight. The one thing I thought you could have mixed better was when the instrumental track ended and you restarted it again. It wasn't mixed properly and that drove me nuts. Then again I was a musician for 5 years. The bride and groom won't even notice it and probably not many people at all. Again everything else was very well put together. Good use of the vows as well. Thanks for sharing. Monday

December 16th, 2008, 09:36 PM	#8
J.J. Kim Major Player Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Wheeling, IL Posts: 270	In my opinion... it's perfect. If I was a groom (or bride), I would be the happiest one in the world...

December 16th, 2008, 09:46 PM	#9
Arif Syed Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Elmont, New York Posts: 143	WOW, great work. Do you use the 35mm handheld? If so, what equipment do you use to do that?

December 17th, 2008, 01:31 PM	#11
Jason Robinson Trustee Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Boise, Idaho Posts: 1,997	Absolutely amazing piece! The jibs! Oh how I want to extend into the 4th dimension of filming (3rd being glidecam; 4th being vertical booming) Fantastic closeups, reveals, gliding, I loved the bridal reveal where she taps him on the shoulder. Great time lapse. And he even did a dip on the kiss, classy!

December 17th, 2008, 02:48 PM	#12
Joe Simon Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 86	Thanks everyone for the nice compliments! This wedding was shot with 3 A1s. Two clean and one with the adaptor on(No adaptor during the ceremony though). I use the Brevis setup on both a tripod as well as a quick-release mono-pod. The mono-pod is great for getting shots on the fly. I have an assistant with me that will carry whatever camera I'm not using. He shadows me all day so I can trade out when I need. I also have a 2nd shooter that will be out getting his shots. I use an 8" Ikan HD monitor for the Brevis camera so I can make sure I have good focus, I shoot with the lens at around 2.8..... I will bump it up if I have to but I want to keep it as sharp as possible(2.0,1.4 you can see it soften up). I've been shooting with this set up for a while so I'm pretty good at pulling focus with moving subjects. Travis - I really wanted to use a lot of live audio, something different then I normally do. I really wanted the story to shine and to give the highlights a whole different feel. Art - For the Reception I use the Sony 10/20w lights with a diffuser on the cameras, I also have an Arri 650w on a 13' stand. I really close down the barns on the Arri and black wrap it to create a thin strip of light to throw down highlights and contrast on the dance floor. I also have a dimmer on the Arri which I use to slowly bring up the light throughout the evening. Monday - I'm going to have to go back through and watch it for that audio slip. I'm really strict with my audio mixing so I'm not sure how something like that would get by. Thanks for your comments. Thanks again for checking it out. I appreciate all the feed back, it helps us to see what's good and bad with the work we are doing here! Joe

December 17th, 2008, 10:45 PM	#13
Patrick Moreau Still Motion Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 1,186	Awesome work Joe. I have really enjoyed seeing the progression of your work. This clip has a very sincere feeling to it that I really enjoyed. I loved your use of audio and I thought the pacing was rock solid. The only thing I would point out would be that the blue grad filter on the sky stood out a bit to me as being overly processed, which didn't seem to match the clip as much. Awesome, awesome work. P. __________________ site // www.stillmotion.ca blog // www.stillmotionblog.com edu // www.stillmotionexperience.com

December 18th, 2008, 03:48 AM	#14
Richard Wakefield Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Surrey, UK Posts: 680	I'd like to echo all comments....absolutely superb and mesmerising to watch...and u're clearly a pro with the dof adaptor! I was surprised no-one had picked up on the blue gradient prior to Patrick - it was the only thing that looked out of place and perhaps a different shade of blue could have been used. But of course this was incredibly minor, and the rest of it was just brilliant.

December 18th, 2008, 08:01 AM	#15
Karim Amanali Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Toronto, Ontario Posts: 69	Great Work! Great Work Joe, really enjoyed it very much. I especially really liked the colour work and myself being very new to this videography business and still at a very long learning curve, I for one cannot critique it to pin point the things that may not be correct, but I can guarantee that the bride and groom would never notice the blue grad filter, although I did notice it and went back to check it again but for some reason I thought it looked nice so I am sure it wont be a big deal the the B&G maybe to the more experienced videographers here on the forums such as Patrick and Richard who pointed it out. Anyways, let me end this long run on sentence and once again great work. One question please if you dont mind, regarding the shot where the B&G kissed and you used the circling shot to go in circles few times while they were kissing, how was that done? Sorry I dont know the term that is used for that particular shot but I have been trying to do the same only handheld with the A1 and it doesnt come close to anything like your shot. If you dont mind sharing and helping me out, how exactly was that done? Thank you.