"Shane & Stacy Trailer" | Serendipity Studios

The inspiration for this preview trailer came at the very end of the wedding night. We had already packed up and I had just started the engine when I noticed the clouds gliding past the brilliant full moon. It was breathtaking, and I knew I had to capture it. We spent 30 additional minutes filming to get the perfect shot.

A few days later, when I started editing the preview trailer, I knew I wanted to incorporate that shot because it was such a fitting symbolic end to the couple's wonderful day. I hope you enjoy it as much as they did.

Preview Trailer for Shane & Stacy on Vimeo

[John J. Arnold]

Some really nice shots there Travis; good edit too. Not sure I'm into the color grading though - a little flat for my taste, but that's subjective, and it was consistent. Are you shooting 24p? For the slo-mo stuff, how much are you slowing it down?

[Travis Cossel]

Thanks for the comments, John. For some reason my uploads to Vimeo aren't pleasing me that much. The original trailer does have higher contrast .. something is going on in the Vimeo conversion. I'm also getting a lot more pixelation in the conversion than everyone else seems to get on Vimeo, and I haven't figured out why yet.

I am shooting in 24p .. with Canon XHA1's. I almost always use 50% slo-mo as this percentage works best with the Canon 24p progressive format. I've been on the fence with picking up Twixtor for a while, but it seems people either love it or hate it.

Thanks again for watching.

[Glen Elliott]

Cool trailer- I loved the opening scene. It's sooo worth it sometimes to shoot those time-lapses. Color grading is so subjective so I'm apprehensive to discuss it. I myself am known for NOT grading footage as I prefer natural color most of the time. That...in addition to my lack of grading ability/knowledge. I usually use Magic Bullet and experiment with various settings and opacity levels.

Regarding slow motion with the A1's 24p. Yeah it's a tough one- I find that 50% isn't too bad. Keep in mind it's a nice number mathematically- it only has to halve the frames. I've always wondered myself about Twixtor, but never end up pulling the trigger on it. Between the price and the lack of slow motion I do I never end up plunking down the cash. Travis, if you do please let me know how it works out.

PS What NLE are you cutting on?

[Travis Cossel]

The math is specifically the reason I go with 50% when I do slo-mo. d;-)

I'm editing in FCP. I swear that every time I'm about to purchase Twixtor someone comes along and says it's horrible .. so I don't buy it. It's become a comedy of sorts for me.

[Ken Diewert]

Great work as usual Travis.

When you're selecting music to set the highlights to, do you use a song from the wedding? or do you select it. I happened to think that the song rhythm in this piece worked quite well - for the flying sections especially- though I find the song to be a somewhat mainstream - and I seem to try to find something suitable yet further from the mainstream. This is as much for fear of violating copyrights as it is to find something different. It is a tough thing to do, and as we all know, the music really sets the mood.

[Travis Cossel]

Excellent question, Ken.

The first thing to note is that this is not one of our 'highlights' videos. This is a trailer .. something we create for the couple within 2 weeks of their wedding with the intent of giving them a sneak peak. We've always used instrumental tracks for our trailers .. so this was something new. We've also always kept our trailers to 90 seconds or less, but we made another exception on this one.

The song choice for this trailer actually happened ON the wedding day. Shortly before the ceremony I was with the groom and this song came on a nearby radio. The groom made a remark about how much he loves the song, and given the backstory on this couple it just felt right to break our instrumental tradition and use this song.

As for highlights, song choice is generally ours .. but we make sure we get to know the couple well so that we choose something that fits. Sometimes we'll use their first dance song, since couples often spend a great deal of time selecting that and it also often has significant meaning. Sometimes, though, we select a song on our own that we feel fits the mood of the couple and their wedding better. Every now and then we have a couple request a song, and if it's a good choice (considering the content) we'll just go with it. If it's not, we'll try and talk with the couple and see if a more appropriate song can be used.

Hope that info helps!

[Dimitris Mantalias]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

The math is specifically the reason I go with 50% when I do slo-mo. d;-)

I'm editing in FCP. I swear that every time I'm about to purchase Twixtor someone comes along and says it's horrible .. so I don't buy it. It's become a comedy of sorts for me.

Very good trailer Travis, short and complete with what a trailer should contain. Do you use something like Flowpod for the "steady" shots in small areas like the bride's room?

By the way, the moon shot is superb!

Also just two things to add. Vimeo offers better encoding quality if you are a Plus member (that is one of the advantages). Also, regarding slow motion in Final Cut, I don't know a thing about Final Cut (it's shame but I work with Windows only), but I read that the Time Remapping options are not that good, at least not as good as "Time Warp" effect offered by Premiere and Avid. Regarding Twixtor, I'd go for it. You may need to experiment with options in some difficult shots and it also render intensive, but it works miracles with slow-motions, like, making incredibly smooth movement even in 5% speed!! You've got to see it to believe it! I recommend it.

[Travis Cossel]

Hey, Dimitris, thanks for watching and for the comments. I think I will go ahead and work Twixtor into the budget. I've also been toying for a few months with the Vimeo Plus upgrade .. so maybe I'll include that as well. d;-)

For motion shots I use the Steadicam Merlin. It's trickier to get good with than the Glidecam and doesn't do as well with wind, but I think it has better overall versatility (can take the camera off and put it back on and have it rebalanced very quickly) and also looks much nicer at a wedding.

Glad you liked the moon shot. Guess it was worth the extra effort. d;-)

[Rochelle Morris]

Hi Travis,

Lovely clip and I also love the time lapse. When I edit and slow things down, I try and avoid going below 70% and only occassionally go below this.

Interesting point about the aesthetic look of the merlin over the glidecam - I've wondered about this before.

Rochelle

[Travis Cossel]

Rochelle, thanks for watching. Regarding slo-mo, at least in our experience with 24p, 50% seems to work best for the smoothest playback. The NLE you use also has a lot to do with that. Some are better at clip speed adjustments than others. Which NLE are you using and what frame-rate is the footage you generally work with?

[Rochelle Morris]

We edit in Vegas. With the GH footage is 50p in 720 & Z7 is 50fps in 1080i

[Stelios Christofides]

As always an enjoyment to watch!

Stelios

[Vito DeFilippo]

That was great stuff, Travis. I've always liked the way you shoot. You've got a good eye (and apparently most of the toys now, too!)

I wasn't sure about starting with the moon shot, since it didn't really seem to fit with the next shot, but tying it in at the end made it work.

What was the significance of the shot that starts on the wall and reveals a car across the street? I see some kind of colour shift there, but don't understand the shot. Is it supposed to be showing us the hair salon?

Anyway, thought it was great, and I'm sure your clients did, too.

[Eugene Brown]

quick question! How are you posting your vimeo video right in the forum thread? Could you message me with the how to?