Robert & Kattie's Wedding Highlight

Robert & Kattie's Wedding Hightlight Video on Vimeo

This was probably one of the most fun weddings we've shot and also included a crazy lighting setup from the DJ. It made a HUGE difference during the reception.

Wish we got better audio but our mics interfered with the DJ's whose feed wasn't the great and our back up wired mics picked up some room noise unfortunately.

[Adrian Tan]

Hey Edward,

Some random comments...

Loved the grading and the crisp look to the images. In awe of your slider stuff. Main critical comments are two sound issues -- the music overpowering the groomsman's speech from 0:53 onwards, and the sound dip at 4:08.

Some stuff I learned from the video: loved the angle on the cake cut at 4:20 (never captured that before); thought the use of multiple angles on the speakers at the reception was really interesting; and thought you got some great preparing-to-catch-bouquet shots.

[Edward Calabig]

Cool thanks! Yeah I admit I'm a bit lazy when it comes to audio transitions. Anyone know of a quick one in Premiere Pro? I've been using fade but it's obviously not smooth. I'd imagine there is something quicker than doing key frames by hand.

[Craig McKenna]

I teared up! That was an amazing wedding and story, brilliantly retold. I have longed to exit a highlight film at one minute before, yet I was in awe throughout and surprised by the length of the film after watching it - it felt like half that time.

Brilliant work!

Opening shot: Slider shot???

Which camera / lens did you use for your close up macro shots of the jewellery? @ 20 seconds?

@2:37 onwards, of the church, are they all slider shots???

Love the shots of the parents during the ceremony - especially your use of the foreground to reveal mum/mom.

Loved the cake shots too...

@5:35 great ring shots...

Loved the dancing shots... the storytelling of Dad as he speaks about pool - brilliant speech.

@6:19 I really liked the signing of the register shot...

Loved the upstairs shot of the dancing - so lucky to be a two-man team!!!

What stabiliser do you use?

Overall, great work!!!

#PandaCrush

[Edward Calabig]

Thanks!

Cameras used were 2 C100s.

Opening Shot- Slider (PB Pocket Dolly Mini Specifically)

All macro shots were shot with a Canon 100mm 2.8 L

The first shot at 2:37 is with a monopod and warp stabilization in post. Rest of the shots were with the slider.

Stabilizers used were a Glidecam HD 4000 and Steadicam Pilot. I prefer the Glidecam and my partner prefers the Steadicam for longer takes.

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Edward Calabig

Thanks!

Cameras used were 2 C100s.

Opening Shot- Slider (PB Pocket Dolly Mini Specifically)

All macro shots were shot with a Canon 100mm 2.8 L

The first shot at 2:37 is with a monopod and warp stabilization in post. Rest of the shots were with the slider.

Stabilizers used were a Glidecam HD 4000 and Steadicam Pilot. I prefer the Glidecam and my partner prefers the Steadicam for longer takes.

Thanks Edward! I really wish I had C100s!

The opening shot with the slider is a shot that I'm going to try to replicate... I always consider horizontals, verticals and pushing in or away from, but never to push into whilst shooting above... great shot.

The macro shots are really, really nice... I'm considering buying the Olympus 60mm macro for those types of shots eventually... even if I won't be able to get the same shallow depth of field... they add so much to the film.

Seriously love your slider shots... nice work.

OK... I need a stabiliser, but I'm tempted to go with a Movi next year... still considering everything... I just think it seems to be less work, steadier footage and a brilliant tool... whereas I'd need to learn a lot with a Steadicam... and I'd prefer to skip that learning curve when there are already so many other things to focus on.

Either way, thank you for sharing your film!

[Edward Calabig]

Here are some of my thoughts on stabilizers. I've used all 3 stabilizers (Movi m10 that is) and feel the Glidecam is the best for weddings. It's the most cost effective, mobile (you can literally leave your camera on it in the corner), and is in the middle in terms of a learning curve.

The Steadicam is great for longer takes but the setup/take down can be very cumbersome. It can also be another cause for concern when you need to put it down and store it.

The Movi is great but is really a pain to use by yourself. You really need someone to act as a second to adjust the pan/tilt speed or your range of pan/tilt is set to whatever you set it in the software. Also balancing the Movi is worse than the other two options since it requires a flat surface and tinkering with the software simultaneously.

Test all 3 out and go with the one that fits your preference. I was really underwhelmed with the Movi for wedding films. I feel it's a really great narrative tool but lacks the fine control in weddings.

[Craig McKenna]

Originally Posted by Edward Calabig

Here are some of my thoughts on stabilizers. I've used all 3 stabilizers (Movi m10 that is) and feel the Glidecam is the best for weddings. It's the most cost effective, mobile (you can literally leave your camera on it in the corner), and is in the middle in terms of a learning curve.

The Steadicam is great for longer takes but the setup/take down can be very cumbersome. It can also be another cause for concern when you need to put it down and store it.

The Movi is great but is really a pain to use by yourself. You really need someone to act as a second to adjust the pan/tilt speed or your range of pan/tilt is set to whatever you set it in the software. Also balancing the Movi is worse than the other two options since it requires a flat surface and tinkering with the software simultaneously.

Test all 3 out and go with the one that fits your preference. I was really underwhelmed with the Movi for wedding films. I feel it's a really great narrative tool but lacks the fine control in weddings.

Thanks a lot for this brilliant summary - I had no idea that the Movi required so much work... I thought that it bypassed all of these problems and was literally like the Holy Grail of stabilisers... I love the smoothness of the footage, but realistically, I'm a one man team and a noob... the reason for the M5 would have been to improve the ease of shooting on a wedding...

If I were to set up the Movi before the start of the wedding, would I need to do this again later in the day? Sounds a complicated piece of kit that requires more experienced users than it suggests (one day and you'll be a pro!).

Anyways... I know that Noa uses the Blackbird to good effect too (shooting with the GH cameras from Panasonic)... I guess I'll do more research between the Blackbird, HD2000 and Movi M5... I was never really bothered about the price (as I live at home and feel a stabiliser is an amazing investment - worth months of savings).

Thanks again Edward!

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Edward Calabig

The Steadicam is great for longer takes but the setup/take down can be very cumbersome. It can also be another cause for concern when you need to put it down and store it.

Not if you use a blackbird :) I place that thing down wherever I want at the venue, I only need to assure people won't step on it, setup time is also very quickly, I take it with me now preassembled and do the finetuning at the venue, takes a few minutes to balance it once my gh3 is attached to it.

I would like to play around with a movi type of stabilizer but that would be something you need to place in it's own stand if you are not using it I guess? It also looks quite fragile to me, not something I would see myself using at a wedding.

[Edward Calabig]

I never tried the Blackbird as the cams I've used have typically been too heavy for it. One thing I always suggest is the heavier the rig the better as the footage will be much smoother, especially if you want to use longer focal lengths like 35 or 50mm. I used to use a Glidecam hd2000 with canon dslrs and the rig required much finer handling due to it being so light.

The movi needs to be stabilized through software and I'm not sure how much you'd have to rebalance during the day. At the seminar I was at, they made sure to rebalance it consistently since they treated it like a narrative shoot. The biggest problem I see with the movi is its difficult to tell as a camera op if there is any visible shake or the rig is unbalanced when operating.

[Robert Benda]

Aww, hell, it's awesome work and great editing. I'm literally going to go back and rework the edit I'm working on now because of you. Thank you for sharing.