Reception Grand Entrance Clip (and random gear musings)

[Jason Robinson]

For those interested in other clips from my massive wedding in April, I present this short Grand Entrance clip (re-edited specifically for stand alone viewing) to give you an idea of how big this reception was. Three GL2s could barely get you the size & scope (and if we could have placed them in different places, it would have been a bit better). Big thanks to Travis for manning two cams on the risers and keeping up with this three ring circus.

And now for the non-video specific comments & rants.....
I must say, the next time I do a three ring circus (I mean three camera shoot) for a reception, I'm going to up my fee considerably because pouring through the 11hours of footage this generated completely killed my hourly rate for this production. The footage was fantastic though so I find it hard to complain much. :-)

Also, I should note this was my second shoot with the MultiRig Pro and I was very much still getting used to what it could and could not do. It was also mys first shoot with the WD-58, with the fish eye, with radios for shot coordination, and the first shoot with a crew of more than me and my wife on backup cam.

I bought 4 GSRM radios and the easily were worth the purchase to coordinate everything that was happening. However, it was harder than heck to hear with them so I can see why people shell out for Eartec's with the headphone jack in so you can hear cam on R and radio comm on L. But the stick price is just astronomical $400 for a 1+1 pair and much more if you want some sort of base station + 3 remotes, etc.

[Jason Robinson]

Sooooo, anyone have comments about the clip? It is going to go up on my web site as a sample so I'd love to hear from ya'll. Too fast paced on the ending clips? Just right? To long on the entrance part? etc?

[Peter Szilveszter]

Wow that was pretty massive, I thought the entrance was a little long at the start but depends what style are you going for, if this was meant to be a highlight then cutting it down to the total key moments like the end of the clip flow better.

With your wide angle lens a nice and high angle shot would have really added to the grand size of the place.

Thanks for sharing

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Peter Szilveszter

Wow that was pretty massive, I thought the entrance was a little long at the start but depends what style are you going for, if this was meant to be a highlight then cutting it down to the total key moments like the end of the clip flow better.

With your wide angle lens a nice and high angle shot would have really added to the grand size of the place.

Thanks for sharing

I searched and searched and searched through the clips but apparently I only used the fish-eye on the multirig which was down on the dance floor and not up on the camera riser. :-(

I do have a clip of the boquet / garter toss using the fish eye but that is from one end and you cannot tell how big the rest of the room is.

[Artem Kudrov]

Wow! How many people were at this reception? :-)

-Arthur

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Artem Kudrov

Wow! How many people have been on this reception? :-)

-Arthur

The last count I heard from the Mother of the Bride was over 800 people at the reception.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Peter Szilveszter

Wow that was pretty massive, I thought the entrance was a little long at the start but depends what style are you going for, if this was meant to be a highlight then cutting it down to the total key moments like the end of the clip flow better.

With your wide angle lens a nice and high angle shot would have really added to the grand size of the place.

Thanks for sharing

This clip wasn't quite meant to be a stand alone highlight. I was taken almost clip for clip out of the final edit and I threw a montage of clips from later in the reception to fill time till the music ended and build interest in the party afterwords. The entire formal entrance took 7 minutes because there were 14 attendants on each side (14 groomsmen & ushers, 14 bridesmaids & attendants).

I left off the 3 cam edit of everyone else except for the B&G because the B&G had by far the most impressive entrance (obviously) with everyone standing and clapping.

[Kevin Shahinian]

Hi Jason,

That WAS massive!

Early on we made the terrible rookie mistake of allowing brides & grooms to choose their package based on the coverage they wanted in their final video. Those that focused only on price, ignored our recommendations and ultimately cared less how "well" their particular event was covered taught us a valuable lesson... Now we have a package eligibility system based on guest count (or table count) & it has worked wonders in helping them understand what goes into producing an adequately covered film for their event.

It seems like you had this reception adequately covered with three cams (one appears unmanned?). The only critique I would give is - and I have been guilty of this COUNTLESS times - is that they are all stationary/planted cams. This forces you into using your zoom, which we all know cuts the usable light getting through your lens, and doesn't quite give viewers the same feeling of actually "being there" that a moving tracking shot would.

We recently invested in a few Steadicam Pilots and it has changed our lives. Not that you couldn't free yourself without one, but for your next massive event, I would highly recommend assigning one shooter to a tracking shot behind your bride & groom to cut with your wider unmanned shot.

We tried CB radios once but they quickly became a huge distraction. Pre-planning with an on-site walk through tends to keep everyone on the same page.

Hope that helps & congrats on landing those massive gigs!

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Kevin Shahinian

The only critique I would give is - and I have been guilty of this COUNTLESS times - is that they are all stationary/planted cams.

Unfortunately, the client's request to have switched cameras broadcast on overhead projecters pretty much messed up my usual flow of events. I would have had the cameras MUCH closer, but the two cams were tied to the switcher station.

If I do this gig again (client has cousin getting married with same reception venue) I'll be sure to dedicate one or even two cameras to the switcher (and have them manned) and have my own two or three cameras for the final edit.

Since this gig I have purchased a Glidecam4000 (though with out the smooth shooter vest & arm). I think I'll still go with using the MultiRigPro I have (though this was the second wedding I shot with it, so I was still pretty new). Mainly because I cannot keep dogin jobs and spending all the income on equipment (the mortgage company will nto be amused with that excuse).

[Bill Grant]

Hey Jason,
The only comment pursuant to the previous post is that I felt like we never really saw the entrance. This was very impressive group, but I would have tried to make sure i was at least in front of them when they walked in the door. I never got a good look. Even when they got up to the podium, I never really saw their faces or wahtever. This looked like a tough room to shoot in no doubt, but man that was an impressive looking setup. 2 yrs ago, we had a party with 14 on each side, it's crazy how much longer that takes to edit... Good stuff, thanks for posting.
Bill

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Jason Robinson

I would have had the cameras MUCH closer, but the two cams were tied to the switcher station.

Good point. Having the GL2's at the end of their zoom makes it hard to keep a steady solid shot while focusing and exposing all at the same time.

That said, I'm not sure we could have been much closer given the setup they had.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

Good point. Having the GL2's at the end of their zoom makes it hard to keep a steady solid shot while focusing and exposing all at the same time.

That said, I'm not sure we could have been much closer given the setup they had.

Yeah we were pretty much relegated to either being beides the stage for the couple (in other words looking up at them from a profile shot) or being at the other end 100yrds away.

A slightly better setup would be to have our two cams on either side of the incoming door. The bridal party alternated sides. So the first best man went to the far side (back to the camera) and the second best man went towards our cameras. That meant the final couple (the B&G) went away from the cameras. doh!

But hind sight being what it is, it would have been nice to have the cams on opposite sides of the door, but that would have meant another person to op the far cam. And I was already expenses > income on this one so I couldn't just shell out for another op.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Bill Grant

Hey Jason,
The only comment pursuant to the previous post is that I felt like we never really saw the entrance. This was very impressive group, but I would have tried to make sure i was at least in front of them when they walked in the door. I never got a good look. Even when they got up to the podium, I never really saw their faces or wahtever. This looked like a tough room to shoot in no doubt, but man that was an impressive looking setup. 2 yrs ago, we had a party with 14 on each side, it's crazy how much longer that takes to edit... Good stuff, thanks for posting.
Bill

I had a much longer clip of 7 minutes, that has the entire bridal party entering the reception, and there isn't much down time. There just was a LOT of bridal party. So in that shot, every other couple goes towards the cams and travis was able to get faces as they walked by (but they walked fast so it is hard to get a smooth shot, perfectly exposed, in focus, and with out screwing with the color balance.

the edit time on this went through the roof because of the extra cameras and just trying to find all the shots. Incredibly crazy.

Oh yeah.... colors. THat is another horrible part about this venue. You notice the strings of lights hanging from the ceiling. Very yellow. But the spots on the stage & head table are much whiter. Then the dance floor over to the right had lots of bright Yellow lights and a yellow / gold dance floor. Colors over there were horrible!