Pre wed video w/ a reality shot twist...

Mary and Gregg wanted a prewedding video that somewhat resembled a reality tv show. Basically they hosted a cocktail party with their friends and I was able to set up one on one interviews with them. I think it came out pretty good... I learned a little about shooting against a black background. A hair light or backlight even would have helped out... But there 800sq foot apartment was somewhat small..

Steve

The Boken on Vimeo

[Dimitris Mantalias]

Stephen, I liked that. I can't evaluate it right away because it seems different to what we usually see regarding wedding. But it's original as an idea, and that's a plus by itself. I will have to watch it once again to get into it I think.

PS You are right about the black background, maybe a backlight would've helped. -:)

[Stephen J. Williams]

Originally Posted by Dimitris Mantalias

PS You are right about the black background, maybe a backlight would've helped. -:)

Hey Dimitris....

Thanks for checking it out... I'm not the best when it comes to properly lighting a subject. I practiced with my wife the night before. I set everything up, and even had a backlight on her. She's a blonde though and was wearing bright clothing... So the backlight wasn't doing much for her. I decided to without it since their apartment was so small. Now I'm kicking my self.
live and learn...

Steve

[Matt Barwick]

That was cool Steve and a totally original concept. I felt like I knew the couple and their friends quite well by the end of it which says a lot about the piece.

Will be interested to see their wedding - sounds like you're going to get your killer best man speech too :)

Cheers,

MB.

[Noel Lising]

Nice concept Stephen. I have to agree with the lighting, again although I am no expert, I believe lighting a subject using Black as a background is difficult if you don't use the right lighting tools.I think a light hung above the subject would be the best way to light it. Or a pin light (don't know if this is the term) as back light to let the subject pop in.

Not to take anything away from the video, overall you did a great job!

[Stephen J. Williams]

Matt, thanks for checking it out. I like how it all came together.
The bride came up with the idea. I learned a lot which was the fun part. It'll still be hard to beat the speech you had to work with.

Noel. Thanks for checking it all out. I learned a lot about lighting against a black background. I had an idea for the third light but there was 0 space. I had to setup in the bedroom. No more excuses though. Next time it'll look much better :-)

Steve

[Travis Cossel]

First off, props for taking on a project that was outside the norm. Given it was your first try, I think you did a great job. You did a solid job with the shooting and editing and sound. A few suggestions ...

The lighting on the black background .. you already know. d;-) That said, it wasn't horrible, it just could have been better .. if that makes sense.

The intro went a bit long for me. I would have liked to have seen it cut in half and had some of the scenes removed, sped up a bit, or cut tighter. I do understand that you may have been hindered by the music too.

I liked how you had the groom close the door for the ending, but it would have been cool to have a quick outro with some credits onscreen .. like the end of a television show. Not a big deal, though.

Overall I enjoyed it and I think you deserve a big pat on the back for stepping into something new. For a first time, you executed admirably. Thanks for sharing.

[Stephen J. Williams]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

First off, props for taking on a project that was outside the norm. Given it was your first try, I think you did a great job. You did a solid job with the shooting and editing and sound. A few suggestions ...

The lighting on the black background .. you already know. d;-) That said, it wasn't horrible, it just could have been better .. if that makes sense.

The intro went a bit long for me. I would have liked to have seen it cut in half and had some of the scenes removed, sped up a bit, or cut tighter. I do understand that you may have been hindered by the music too.

I liked how you had the groom close the door for the ending, but it would have been cool to have a quick outro with some credits onscreen .. like the end of a television show. Not a big deal, though.

Overall I enjoyed it and I think you deserve a big pat on the back for stepping into something new. For a first time, you executed admirably. Thanks for sharing.

Travis...

Thanks for commenting man. All good points that you brought up. It's funny with the lighting issue, I didn't pull it off to the best of my ability. But I easily see my mistake and no exactly how to fix it in the future. Thats not always the case...
I agree that the intro could have been at least 10 or 15 seconds shorter. I was somewhat dictated though by the song though.
It's funny you mentioned an outro, because that was my plan in the beginning. I originally wanted the video to be around 6 to 7 minutes in length. But once I started editing it started to get a little long. My goal is to get the prewed video's finished and ready for viewing ASAP. So I just somewhat ran out of time to add that in as an extra touch.
Thanks again for the "pat on the back"... I really enjoyed this project and so did everyone involved. I also was excited that I had a good reason to use some of the aerial footage I shot of NYC a few months ago.

Steve

[Jawad Mir]

Stephen,
Well done. I really enjoyed this very much.

I enjoyed the cuts, the story. My only thing was which pretty much one everyone said...black hair..black background. Other than that Great job