Constructive Criticism Wanted

I just shot my first wedding and I'd love some feed back. I consider myself a total newbie so don't worry about hurting my feelings.

YouTube - dustinandbrooke's Channel

I'd like to pick up more video jobs, so any tips or advice would help. My biggest complaint is with the reception: I got the Cromer LED lights and the charger broke right before the wedding so I had to just make due with the ambient lighting.

I'm still trying to get my head around stuff like "gain" and "white balance", etc. I have downloaded the presets from this forum and they seem to help.

I'm thinking my next piece of equipment will be some kind of better mic or sound equipment...not sure where to start.

[Chris Hurd]

Moved from Canon XH Technical to Wedding Sample Clips.

Please consider using Vimeo instead of YouTube for clop hosting.

Vimeo clips will embed directly within the forum post here and you'll get more views that way.

[Dan Choi]

What equipment are you currently using? And what sorts of weddings are you doing (family/friends?)

[Burk Webb]

Hey Don - gave it a quick look but to me it looks like I'm watching raw footage of the reception. Am I seeing the right thing?

[Luke Oliver]

How much did you charge for this? Just out of interest. Looks like raw footage to me, is this right


Luke

[Kren Barnes]

What is this????? raw footage ? Where's the story?


Kren
Vertical Video Works | www.verticalvideoworks.com

[Dan Lambert]

Originally Posted by Dan Choi

What equipment are you currently using? And what sorts of weddings are you doing (family/friends?)

Canon XH A1. It was just more a favor for a friend. I've never shot a wedding before.

[Dan Lambert]

Originally Posted by Kren Barnes

What is this????? raw footage ? Where's the story?


Kren
Vertical Video Works | www.verticalvideoworks.com

Yeah, at the beginning it's raw footage of the bride getting ready and of the groom getting ready and then it goes into the ceremony. Reception follows. Maybe I should cut out a lot of the footage?

[Burk Webb]

"Maybe I should cut out a lot of the footage?"

I think this could use some editing :)

Take a whack at it and post the video on Vimeo. If you want some comments maybe cut together a highlight reel of the video, just a couple of minutes. I think It's going to be hard to get people to comment if your posting a bunch of 15 minute clips of what looks like raw footage.

[Dan Lambert]

Originally Posted by Burk Webb

"Maybe I should cut out a lot of the footage?"

I think this could use some editing :)

Take a whack at it and post the video on Vimeo. If you want some comments maybe cut together a highlight reel of the video, just a couple of minutes. I think It's going to be hard to get people to comment if your posting a bunch of 15 minute clips of what looks like raw footage.

I'll make a highlight short and put it on Vimeo. Question, about how much footage do you deliver to the client normally, not counting love stories or extra stuff?

Basically, I bought the cam as a hobby and one of my friends asked me to shoot his wedding for cheap. I said sure. After looking at some of the more pro clips on her I feel like he got what he paid for...cheap. I'd like to pick up some more video jobs wedding or otherwise, but I feel I have A LOT to learn.

I got footage of the bride and groom getting ready. Found the best place for the wedding.. it was held at Bush Statium (Where the St. Cardinals Play) so I basically parked near home plate on the 3rd base side. They didn't want me running around the field. The bride and groom were both facing away from the family and visitors and the minister was facing the crowd. So it was hard to get their face much at all. I got them leaving the in the limo and arriving in the limo at the reception.

I added a touch of creative commons audio at the very beginning, and a little for the limo scenes. The rest is just ambient sound. Maybe I should add more?

[Jeff Brewer]

Editing is a quite a beast to learn. What I might suggest is to watch lots of videos and films. Whether they be wedding or hollywood films. Take note of editing techniques that you like. Maybe its fast cutting, cutting on motion, or several other techniques. Then just take some footage and practice with it. Editing can be extremely effective in enhancing your videos. It can make the emotional moments pop and dancing montages are a blast.

Either way, you have to find the editing style that best fits you and go for it. I personally enjoy editing to music or cutting on beat. So grab some paper and start enjoying your favorite films and taking note of the pace they edit, how it may be faster during action and slower during romance. Also, write down what you think made a particular scene effective. Did they juxtapose meaningful images together? Hopefully this makes sense and is helpful for you.

[Dan Lambert]

Originally Posted by Jeff Brewer

Editing is a quite a beast to learn. What I might suggest is to watch lots of videos and films. Whether they be wedding or hollywood films. Take note of editing techniques that you like. Maybe its fast cutting, cutting on motion, or several other techniques. Then just take some footage and practice with it. Editing can be extremely effective in enhancing your videos. It can make the emotional moments pop and dancing montages are a blast.

Either way, you have to find the editing style that best fits you and go for it. I personally enjoy editing to music or cutting on beat. So grab some paper and start enjoying your favorite films and taking note of the pace they edit, how it may be faster during action and slower during romance. Also, write down what you think made a particular scene effective. Did they juxtapose meaningful images together? Hopefully this makes sense and is helpful for you.

Thanks Jeff. My question is this. Most of the clips I see posted here and on various websites promoting wedding services have like 3-5 min highlights that are closer to a music video. Is this just for sales and posting in forums? What do you actually deliver to the the B&G? I shot a total of over 3hrs of video for my first wedding. I cut that down to about 1/2 to give to the B&G assuming they would want to see what many here are calling raw footage. Or are the B&G expecting a 3min music video? I could easily take all my footage and sync it to a song, which I will to show here on DVinfo.net

[Jeff Brewer]

Hey Dan,

I produce 3-5 minute videos for several reasons. The first is because I can have it ready and posted on facebook, blogs, etc. while the B&G are on their honeymoon. This gives all the facebook lurkers a chance to see their wedding right after it has occured. This is great publicity and is instant gratification for the couple.

The second reason is because most people will only watch their full video on anniversaries or set aside times because of the length of the video. With the highlight, they can watch it anywhere, anytime and get a refresher and it is usually a bit more entertaining than a full length video.

When it comes to the full video, there are mainly two categories. The first is a documentary style. This is basically a recap of the day as it happened and includes all the big, key moments, such as toasts, vows, etc. The second is what I call storytelling style. This is where the toasts, vows, and other key moments get mixed together to create a short film of the wedding, while telling a story.

I think most documentaries are about 1-1.5 hours long and most stories aim for 30-45 minutes. Our full videos focus more at the 30 minute range. I really like to trim down the 4-5 hours of footage to the best 30 minutes and create an interesting story.

Go out and explore these different wedding styles and determine which best suits you. Brides enjoy both styles and neither is better than the other.

[Jordan Brindle]

Originally Posted by Jeff Brewer

Hey Dan,

I produce 3-5 minute videos for several reasons. The first is because I can have it ready and posted on facebook, blogs, etc. while the B&G are on their honeymoon. This gives all the facebook lurkers a chance to see their wedding right after it has occured. This is great publicity and is instant gratification for the couple.

The second reason is because most people will only watch their full video on anniversaries or set aside times because of the length of the video. With the highlight, they can watch it anywhere, anytime and get a refresher and it is usually a bit more entertaining than a full length video.

When it comes to the full video, there are mainly two categories. The first is a documentary style. This is basically a recap of the day as it happened and includes all the big, key moments, such as toasts, vows, etc. The second is what I call storytelling style. This is where the toasts, vows, and other key moments get mixed together to create a short film of the wedding, while telling a story.

I think most documentaries are about 1-1.5 hours long and most stories aim for 30-45 minutes. Our full videos focus more at the 30 minute range. I really like to trim down the 4-5 hours of footage to the best 30 minutes and create an interesting story.

Go out and explore these different wedding styles and determine which best suits you. Brides enjoy both styles and neither is better than the other.

Pretty much this. Well said Jeff. You can also deliver a mix of both. What i like to do is cut the day up using music video / storytelling / flashy sequences to lead up to the ceremony/speeches/first dance etc, which should be relatively untouched in terms of editing.

Well done for giving it a shot Dan, but you have a lot to learn! I'm still pretty 'new' to weddings myself, i've shot about 5 to date, but i did all my research beforehand. It looks as though you barely edited any of the footage. Shooting the day is the easiest part, editing is where the hard(er) work comes in.

[Asvaldur Kristjansson]

You need to edit out all unnessesary camera movements. Looks like you need a better tripod. You have many segments that are too long and uninteresting. Use more closeups and think about how you will edit later while shooting. Noticed a audio break between clips, an indication of unedited material straight from the camera. Interviewing people: Better to include only the comments and leve out like, ok, are you ready, need to trim head and tail, so to speak.