As promised, another Save the Date Video
 

Thanks to feedback from the first Save the Date video that I posted a little while ago, I've hopefully improved in this new rendition of the Save the Date video.

I added short interview snippets and used more real-time footage (as opposed to mostly slow motion).

I can't embed the video so here's a link to the Save the Date Video.

Enjoy!

Hey Peter, how is your blog working out, does it help you?

Second question, is this 'save the date' video something that the bridge and groom email out, or do they email a link out?

Peter:
I liked it. We are doing these as well. We provide the link and the B&G e-mail it to family and friends. Its been a hit so far.

Love the concept. I might have to "borrow" this good idea.
What did you shoot that with?

Not a bad video, but i feel like you got a little carried away with the steadicam shots. It was almost hard for me to focus in on what the subject matter was in the frame because of all the movement. This might be a personal thing, but I really try to refrain from having the couples muggin down on camera. Just a simple kiss is enough to relate that they love each other, and I feel like others watching might be a bit thrown off by the lip smacking action. I've seen videos where the groom will grab the brides a** and is thats cool and all, but is it really what you want everyone seeing (especially grandma).

I really liked the coldplay song. I have yet to hear it with the acoustic guitar at the beginning...where did you find that? All in all i liked the video and felt it did a good job as a Save the Date video. I didn't mean to trash the video at all.

I've only watched it once so I could be wrong here, but I tend to like the heavy stedicam style. I tend to be be very stedicamish myself but that's a personal style thing. Maybe I need to watch it again with a slightly more critical eye.

Maybe this is just how that particular couple is. I highly doubt that he was yelling at them to give a little more tongue. If that's how they kiss, that's how they kiss. Whatcha gonna do about it? I much prefer a couple be comfortable enough to kiss all out then be so reserved that they come off as less than loving.
Having said that, I will agree that often while editing a heavy kiss in slowmo I tend to shorten it up a good bit more than a more moderate kiss.

I'd like to see some of your stuff to get an idea of your style. It's always good to see what someone else is doing who has a style different from your own.


The only criticism I have from my one viewing is that the audio sounded a bit hollow. Did you use the on-board mic?
Ok, I lied. Now that I think about it my second criticism would be that it may have been a little long... again, I only saw it once. I'm going to go back and take a second look.

Zach,
Found your website through your profile. I like your stuff. True, it's a different style than mine, but it's clean and has a nice feel.

Great idea and nicely done! I like to use alot of steadicam shots in my stuff but I do agree that it got to be a bit much. I was getting a little dizzy for a minute there. Alot of the shots seemed a bit jerky too.

Thanks Ethan! I agree about the kissing and how you typically don't direct it, but when i ask them to kiss i usually say something like "give her a peck on the lips" and when you slow it down it is a nice kiss and doesn't show any open mouth about to swallow your precious little daughter lol. But, i think its more of just a personal thing i hate seeing people give big kiss' in public i think it should be kept for private surroundings.

Ethan - nice work as well. I am comfortable and jealous of your steadicam shots. they are nice paced and framed well....i can't wait to get a merlin for myself soon. as of now everything i do is either tripod/handheld and i've gotten pretty good of slowly walking or moving the camera to give it that steadicam feel but its definitely not the same. What part of LA you in? I'm in Dallas and will be in New Orleans next week for my day job.

The blog is working pretty good for me. I spent a lot of time tweaking my site and now my whole website is based off the blog so it's super easy to update my website and it keeps a consistent look between my website and blog.

As for quantifiable proof of the effectiveness of the blog... do a google search for 'videography'. I was shocked when I found that my site was currently in the 5th position for such a broad term! I registered my website in January of 2006 so I was pretty impressed, if I don't say so myself ;)

The Save the Date video (or STD for short) is hosted on my blog so the couple emails their guests a link to my blog. The idea is that this way, their guests can also leave comments for the couple.

I am also hoping to impress upon clients the idea of sending Save the Date DVDs with all the pertinent information printed on the DVD/sleeve as well as in a menu on the DVD itself. This would be a potentially lucrative add-on!


It really is something that helps the couple differentiate their wedding. Even better is that it can open up avenues where a couple that wasn't considering videography now wants a videographer for their wedding because of the Save the Date video. Which was the case with the first STD video I posted.

I am doing these first few as a way of networking with other photographers, building my portfolio, and increasing exposure and awareness to "financially-abled" couples who haven't really considered videography or see the need for one.


I only had three pieces of equipment: Sony HC1, Indicam PILOT, and an onboard shotgun mic.

I definitely aim for a more elegant and tasteful look to my edits and I'm sorry if it has offended you. The couple actually were quite comfortable around each other and there were many clips I had to edit out ;) They couldn't stop smiling and I think it's a part of their personality how affectionate they were.

I did try to mix it up between steadicam shots and non-steadicam shots, although, technically, they were all shot on a steadicam. Towards the end, I can see that it may have gotten a bit out of hand as the last two clips were longer and back-to-back steadicam.

It's the Kairos Moment remix version, bro! ;) I found an acoustic version of Clocks and mixed it into the radio version. Glad you liked it!


I also agree that it's good to see what others are doing. There is no best style, just what is the best style for you. You can always find clients that like what you do and I appreciate being able to come here and learn from others.

The audio probably sounds hollow because of the camera-mounted shotgun mic. As I was tagging along with the photographer, I didn't really get much of a chance to change around equipment and I really hate to hold things up because I'm not ready.

The only adjustment I make is when I add on my semi-fisheye or go into low-mode but the adjustment is really quick. (I also realized that I lied about my equipment list above... I also had a semi-fisheye lens... )

I'm in Houma, La. It's about 45mins south west of New Orleans. What's your day job if I may ask? I've recently decided to try and make shooting weddings (and hopefully other things as I make a name for myself in this region) into a full-time job. It's scary not having a "real" job.


Wow, that was an HC1? It's scary how good these little cams are getting now-a-days. I'm not seeing a huge difference in image quality between that and my FX7 in good light (good light being the key here).

During the day I edit for a Chiropractic College in Dallas. They travel around and do the "Parker Seminars" which keeps my boss and myself busy with editing corporate videos / training dvds. We also do all the A/V on campus for the student assemblies and what not. I hope to make the jump to freelance in the next couple of years, but yes...it is very scarey thinking about not having a steady income. How has it worked out so far for yourself, and about how many weddings a year do you do?

Very true...these little cams are great for the price. I have a FX1 and a HC1 and they mix very well in good lighting (once again key word "lighting"). I'm about to get a HC7 to use for an alternate angle during the ceremony.

I think I can better answer your question via email with some details that I wouldn't be comfortable sharing in a free and open forum.

Hi Peter,

Great stuff. I like the use of the zoom to get the DOF. You had sme great movement and some really nice sequences there. I thought all the content was very appropriate for emailing or a reception.

Couple things I noticed when checking it out for the first time. The audio seemed to be very processed, probably to remove noise, but it certainly distracted me from the story. That is the biggest reason I avoid out of studio interviews as it can be tougher to get great audio and I hate asking somebody to repeat something when a car drives by or the wind picks up. It also looked like you held some scenes through 2 or more shots. I would try and use one indicam shot at a time and cut in between rather than showing the pause and then the movement into another shot. A couple quick cuts to remove the in-between stuff can really tighten up an edit I think.

One question- why is th photographer credited on both your website and the video when you don't see any photos in the video?

Patrick

Peter, what settings did you use to convert to FLV? It looks a lot better compared to my exports to FLV.

Thanks, Patrick!

I credit the photographers because the couples I shot are their clients and I was tagging along during their e-session.

The Save the Date video was a concept that I wanted to try out so I teamed up with local photographers (that I want to be associated with) and asked for photogenic clients who booked a higher package with them and didn't have a videographer (yet ;)

So I figured I might as well credit them for helping with the production :)

Being as I don't have a studio (though it would be nice) and didn't want to hold up the session, I used an on-camera shotgun mic for the audio. I actually didn't do any processing on the audio but I should have tweaked the spectrum a bit to add more lows.

I promise it'll be better next time :)

Cheers,
Peter

Ryan,

It took a lot of experimentation to find a good mix between file size and video quality.

Here are settings I use to encode:
400x224, 500kbps, 15fps

I know, I know... some people may hate and protest that video is no good below 30fps. It works for me, keeps my file sizes down (which makes downloading faster), and it allows me more bandwidth to put towards the picture quality instead of an extra frame.

Hope that helps,
Peter