When a Good Shot Shows Too Much

[Travis Cossel]

So I'm editing a highlights video for a wedding, and I just finished it up. I always watch the finished product a bunch of times to try and spot anything that needs tweaking or fixing. On my first run through I noticed an "issue" with a shot from the bouquet toss.

Several girls are jumping for the bouquet, and it looks great in slow motion, except that one of the girls jumps a bit too eagerly and her dress comes up for a split second and shows her underwear. I've seen this shot probably a dozen or more times over the course of editing the main part of the video and the highlights video, and just barely caught it on this viewing. The "incident" only lasts for maybe 5 or 6 frames (10-12 in slow motion), and the girl is probably a good 15 feet from the camera. Still, I feel like I need to do something to the clip but I don't know what.

Here's the other problem. Besides the "flash", the shot is really great, as are the shots from the garter removal/toss. This particular couple did not choose to have me cover the pre-ceremony prep and photoshoot, and not much happened at the ceremony/reception. So I really feel it's important to not take these shots out of the highlights video, but at the same time I'm concerned that this shot might cause a problem.

Any ideas on what to do with something like this?

[Travis Cossel]

Of course, for 15 minutes I've been trying to figure out a solution, and then as soon as I post I figure it out. I just sped up the footage during the "jumping" part to 300%, and did the same for the guys so that the shots had consistency. Now it all happens too fast to see anything.

Whew!

[Peter Szilveszter]

What you did is a good solution. Also could try if you have motion tracking available to maybe slightly darken or blur that part of the image.

[Vito DeFilippo]

Hey Travis,

If it's really only a few frames, you could export them as an image sequence, paint out the badness in Photoshop, and reimport the frames.

Still would need to see it in super slomo to know if that's the best solution, though...

[Travis Cossel]

Yeah, I figured all of you guys would be requesting a posting of the video for "review". d;-)

Thanks for the ideas. I honestly wouldn't want to darken the area because that could easily make it look like she wasn't even wearing underwear. Anyways, thanks for the ideas.

[Oleg Kalyan]

You can speed up only these frames, the rest slow down, you can also use a photo montage to add to variety, re:frame : ) the shot, brake it into two screens with detail shots, do a motion blur in slow mo.....
suggestions just to start, too many options,

Good luck!

[Travis Cossel]

Thanks. I don't know if you saw but I had already fixed the problem using the "speed up" method. Freezing to a still could have worked well too. Thanks again.

[Danny O'Neill]

I think I would have had a 'CENSORED' image over the top. As our videos are quite fun it would have added to it I think and made people laugh that we had to censor it.

I wouldnt go this far but you could use a comical picture of a beaver holding a censored sign. For 12 frames that would have flashed up like a subliminal message.

Now youve got me thinking... none of our brides have ever done a bouquet toss :S

[Steve House]

Has our society unravelled so far back into the awful 1950's style prudery that a brief flash of underwear is cause for concern? Seriously, no one will see anything that they don't see on any beach. For that matter, it's not likely more than you'd see walking down any city street in the summertime. I think you're making much ado over nothing. IMHO, ignore it unless the client complains.

[Richard Wakefield]

3 solutions that immediately sprung to mind:

1 - at that very moment of the slow-motion, just cut to a zoomed in section of the bouquet or facial expressions (and as you know, you can get away with this in HD)

2- track motion, or export the frames to photoshop to tinker with - this will be very tricky to clone her dress and get away with it flawlessly though...trust me, i've tried it!

3 - as Danny said, the ol' 'censor' trick - trouble is, it might detract from what's going on, and the couple will either find it hilarious, or tacky...bit of a gamble


good luck travis! we wanna see before and after shots!

p.s. Steve has got a point - it's not your fault her underwear is shown, will anyone actually mind?! if she was going commando, then yes, maybe :)

[Travis Cossel]

I would have used the "censored" concept for deleted scenes, but not for a highlights video. That type of humor wouldn't fit with the style of highlights edit I'm doing.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Steve House

Has our society unravelled so far back into the awful 1950's style prudery that a brief flash of underwear is cause for concern? Seriously, no one will see anything that they don't see on any beach. For that matter, it's not likely more than you'd see walking down any city street in the summertime. I think you're making much ado over nothing. IMHO, ignore it unless the client complains.

I hear what you're saying, but I have to disagree. There is a fine line between showing someone in a bathing suit and showing someone in their underwear, even if they do basically offer the same amount of coverage. This girl was NOT on the beach and had no intention of showing her underwear, and it's partly my job as an editor to deal with situations like this in the most accommodating way possible I think. I don't think this is an issue of prudery as much as it is an issue of respect for that individual.

Also, I try to very hard to deliver a product that is without flaw in the customer's eyes. I think it is better customer service to fix potential issues rather than just turn them over to the client and cross my fingers. I also don't like the idea of my client's finding the issue and then assuming that I just didn't catch it. That puts me in the position of saying that I knew of the issue and just left it in .. if they come talk to me about it .. or I end up in the situation where they say nothing to me, but tell other people about my "blunder". Neither of those is a situation I want to be in.

So these are the reasons why it is a "big deal". I hope I've made sense of things.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Richard Wakefield

3 solutions that immediately sprung to mind:

1 - at that very moment of the slow-motion, just cut to a zoomed in section of the bouquet or facial expressions (and as you know, you can get away with this in HD)

2- track motion, or export the frames to photoshop to tinker with - this will be very tricky to clone her dress and get away with it flawlessly though...trust me, i've tried it!

3 - as Danny said, the ol' 'censor' trick - trouble is, it might detract from what's going on, and the couple will either find it hilarious, or tacky...bit of a gamble


good luck travis! we wanna see before and after shots!

p.s. Steve has got a point - it's not your fault her underwear is shown, will anyone actually mind?! if she was going commando, then yes, maybe :)

#1 - this was NOT shot in HD, so I don't want to zoom at all if possible

#2 - not a bad idea, and one I would have pursued if my other fix didn't end up working

#3 - in the context of their highlights video, a "censor" graphic would definitely look tacky


I agree it's not my fault her underwear was shown, or that I caught it on tape. On the other hand, it's not totally her fault either. She was simply participating in a reception event and had an "oops" moment. While it's not my fault, I do thing the right thing for me to do as an editor is to attempt to find a solution. That's partly what I'm being paid for.

I have had girls who got drop and did stupid things on purpose, and sometimes those go in the deleted scenes for the couple to laugh about. Sometimes they just aren't appropriate (sometimes it's couple-specific too), and they just get cut completely. In this case, it didn't seem appropriate to leave the clip like it was, especially since this will be posted online eventually for the couple to share with friends and family. For all I know the bride may be very good friends with this girl, and the last thing I want is for the couple to think I somehow missed this .. or that I caught it but just didn't do anything about it.

As for posting before and after on here .. not a chance. d;-)

[Richard Wakefield]

i once put a censor bleep over a young kid saying the F word during a speech. that was the right, sensible thing to do, right?

NOPE....i got instantly ORDERED to remove the bleep 'right away!'...

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Richard Wakefield

i once put a censor bleep over a young kid saying the F word during a speech. that was the right, sensible thing to do, right?

NOPE....i got instantly ORDERED to remove the bleep 'right away!'...

Was this for a wedding?