A Reception Party

[Gino Mancusa]

We closed a clients video with this piece. The wedding was so much fun we wanted to capture it for the couple so we came up with a fast paced video style highlight edit. At first it was going to be a backdrop for the credit roll but I'm glad we left it in the main feature. We never imagined it would get such a great response from the client.

Please give video time to load, it will have to load completely before allowing you to press play.


http://ventureclips.com/A%20Reception%20Party.html

[Chris Harris]

Well, the good news is that the relatively quick pace seemed to convey the energy of the reception.

There were a number of issues that I had with this segment. Please don't take this personally, I just thought I would give you my opinion on it.

The first thing that jumped out was the music. The song was a good choice, but the out-of-place sound effects made me quickly realize that you used a version ripped straight out of Apple's Final Cut Studio 2 trailer.

The usage of the Ken Burns Effect on the pictures wasn't smooth. The sepia-toned pictures didn't belong with the rest. Some of the photos even appeared over previous photos, making it look sloppy.

Some shots lingered for a little too long, the strange rotation and inverted fisheye filters didn't seem appropriate, and little things like blank frames in between shots every now and again bring down the quality of the piece.

This is just my opinion though, I could be completely off the mark with these observations and others might love it.

[Gino Mancusa]

Thanks for your reply and your candid remarks. Quite honestly didn't think its that bad . . just my biased opinion though. Yes I did use the FCS2 trailer specifically for the sound effects. I do have the Joey Ramone piece that I tried without the SE but I preferred this version because I felt it gave a bit of an edge and helped with the tempo, changes and highlights (and saved me a lot of time in the edit). The piece is not meant to be clean, its meant to be a little rough and grungy (its what I was trying for anyway). Some elements could have been cleaned up I suppose. I don't agree about the sepia tones, however, maybe I don't understand your perspective. It was just designed to be a bit of fun in a most sincere effort to offer our client something extra and the clients were very grateful that we included it.
Thanks again Chris

Regards,

GMan

[Randy Stewart]

GMan,
I think it's excellent. Really communicates the fun of the reception. I can see why they liked it. Nice job.
Randy

[Kelsey Emuss]

How fun!!

Thanks for sharing!

[Ethan Cooper]

I have to agree with Chris on this one. The sound effects bothered me cause, well, nothing happened in conjunction with them most of the time. I think this would have worked much better as a slightly blurred backdrop to some credits.

[Gino Mancusa]

Thanks Randy, thanks Kelsey for your comments, I appreciate them very much. I'm glad that you both could applaud the heart of the work and look past the perceived problems. Don't get me wrong, however, I also feel its important to correct obvious errors pointed out by colleagues.

[Frank Simpson]

I, too, agree with Chris' assessment. Certainly the piece is not bad, but it could be better without a whole lot more effort.

I think the thing about the sepia photos is that the effect seems to be done for its own sake, rather than to lead the viewer in a specific direction or to call attention to them for a clearly defined purpose. I think the pan-and-scan would have been a lot smoother by ramping the speed in and/or out of them. And if you stack photos leaving parts of previous ones visible it might help to put a bit of rotation on them so that they look more like a stack of still photos rather than "this is where the software wants the pictures".

A "rough and grungy" look really requires direct effort to achieve. Sloppy editing does not push things far enough to look like grunge. In my work as a graphic designer I am constantly amazed at how much effort I have to put into "degrading" an image to achieve a "grunge" look. If I were to merely let a lack of polish be the effect, it just wouldn't take the image far enough.

Again, this is not a bad piece by any means, and I'm sure the clients loved it. I bet they would love it even more if it were just a bit tighter.

[Gino Mancusa]

Frank,

Thanks for your assessment; your experience definitely shows itself in your response. I agree whole-heartedly in your assessment and on how much work it is to achieve the grunge feel (or at least in my case trying to do it well). Thank you for explaining the sepia highlight but I would like to add that one of the pictures was supposed to be set off from the rest (a grandfather that the bride was so close too that she wanted him and her father to walk her down the Isle that day, so I thought it was important), the other I agree was gratuitous and probably shouldn't have been done. The sloppy editing spots I must admit I did notice but fatigue got the best of me and I reluctantly had to move on, its no excuse, but it does occur from time to time.

There is a tremendous amount of talent here and the learning achievable through these discussions and the just being able to preview the work of others is an invaluable tool that I appreciate immensely.

Thanks again.

GMan

[Mary Angelini]

Gino,
I am also a "New Boot" but loved he energy of the reception. You captured it perfectly. The music was a great choice.
I also agree, DVinfo.net is a great resource with brilliant talent.
I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

[Gino Mancusa]

Thank you Mary for your support and kind words I appreciate it.


Regards and continued success.


GMan