New kids on the block

[Peter Szilveszter]

Hi Everyone!

I have been visiting this forum for a while and really appreciate the sense of community and sharing that goes on here. There are so many talented videographers out there and it’s so encouraging for a new starter like me to see all the fantastic work being done. My wife and I have already done a few wedding videos but have decided this year we are going to really get going in making it a full time business for us.

I have just finished building a new flash website and have three examples of my wedding music clips online. I would really appreciate your honest feedback on how I can improve the website and on my wedding videos. Please take a look!!

http://www.185films.com.au

Thanks everyone!

Pete

[Art Varga]

Hey Peter - I took a look a the third clip, very nice! Your sample size is pretty small so I had to get close to look at the details. My only gripe is showing close-ups of people talking when its primarily a music-only audio track. Colors looked good too but again hard to tell because of the preview size. I liked your transitions and overall everything felt smooth and easy to watch. You might want to consider bumping up your frame size. Your work is great and may be appreciated more with a bigger view. I'll take a look at the others later. Thanks for sharin!

Art

[Vito DeFilippo]

Hi Peter,

I like your wesite. Loads quickly for me, has a friendly feel.

You have some typos on you FAQ page:

A lapel microphone is attached to the groom to ensure the highest quality sounds is captured.

Sould be "sound" not "sounds"

"The editing is done on up to date computer system"

Should be "an up to date computer system", and perhaps "up-to-date". Or do you mean "systems"?

"There are examples on our showreel which highlight the different themes in which your wedding
video can be edited"

I don't know if you can edit in a theme. Perhaps in a style?

And FAQ is usually all capital letters. Looks weird as Faq.

On your showreel page, the first of the three photos is stretched horizontally. Makes them look fat - no good.

The video doesn't stream quick enough to play smoothly for me, but maybe that's just cause you're in Australia and I'm in Canada. I watched the first one. Nicely done. Shooting and editing is certainly competent.

Your base package price seems awfully low to me, but perhaps that's your market there.

[Art Varga]

Peter- I experienced the same issue as Vito with stuttering the first time I loaded the clip.

[Bill Busby]

I'm only going to comment on the actual quality of the three samples since nothing has been mentioned from the other posters.

At first I thought it might be a Firefox issue, but I get the same results with IE. All three clips have a pixelized look... as if there's a fine mosaic mask applied (for lack of a better description). I know your whole page is Flash based, but there ARE other options for getting much better quality encodes for trying to show demo pieces. I've seen them :)

Also, on my system anyway, the clips aren't small as Art said. They're sized well... just the quality is suspect.

*edit* I used a currency converter to see how $900 converts to US & I agree... you're priced way way too low

[Peter Szilveszter]

thanks guys for all the feedback. As far as the flash videos playing back I've tested it only on IE, had no issues with pixelation until I changed the site so it resizes to what ever the user has, if I play the flv file at its original resolution its perfect. Not sure how to make it work so when resizing the flash page/player it doesn't do it? Might just for the time being set it at a resolution so atleast it doesn't look dodgy.

Pricing is a bit tricky as everyone knows. Its a starting price to get customers in the door but we do plan to go up fairly quickly especialy once going full time. The full package is $1500 (around US$1200) for the full day coverage which is reasonable compared to other videographers here in Melbourne.

Vito thanks for all the typo pickups will fix it as soon as I get home.

[Konrad Czystowski]

Hi
I will just comment the clips. Overall I iike them. What bugs me only, is the bumpy shots, usually at the preps, end of ceremony and photo session (all handheld staff). I don't mean you should be glued to the tripod, but these shots would benefit from use of any kind of stabilizer. Even $80 monopod would make those shots smoother and steadier.

My two cents.

PS. Clips loaded quickly for me.

[Peter Szilveszter]

Konrad totaly agree and since doing those weddings I've been shooting more tripod and also ordering a merlin soon too :)

[Konrad Czystowski]

way to go :)