Wedding Videography - Beginner's Questions

[Travis Cossel]

I checked out your site. I have a brand new question for you now. When you film weddings, are you using normal or frame mode?

[Bill Hardy]

When filming anything I use frame mode. I hear normal may have better resolution. Not sure how true that is, but I have not been able detect any considerable difference in sharpness, especially when transferred to DVD. I stick with frame mode because it looks more movie like in my opinion. There is also less aliasing, definitely, in my opinion, during movement, on my LCD display.

[Travis Cossel]

Okay. Just curious. I'm switching to frame mode this year probably. I honestly don't see much difference, but I'm hoping that frame mode might compress for DVD better.

[Bob Harotunian]

Bill,

I think I understand your situation better. We're in the Boston area where clientele and customs are perhaps more traditional. If your brides and their families don't mind the lights then it's their nickel.

Bob

[Miguel Lombana]

<<<-- Originally posted by Travis Cossel : Wow, it's really amazing how different our situations are. Where are you located? -->>>

Wow it's funny how this thread has changed in the last 2 weeks, I was one of the first members to post into it and now we're talking about GL2 Church Lighting.

Let me give my 2 cents worth cause I have an interesting point of view on this. I shoot video and would never hesitate to light up a room, including a wedding.

Last year I got married and hired a very good friend to shoot it for me with the understanding that I would do all the edit work. He used a GL2 and and XL1s and the lighting conditions were good for an indoor cathedral in the afternoon.

He shot in auto mode on both cameras and rode the exposure lock on the XL when needed. I reviewed the tapes in my GL2 and watched the settings that the camera recorded very carefully. Gain in particular was never higher than 12db, however it did seem to hover there.

Now, if the question of lighting would have come up, which it did not, I would have very quickly stated YES DO WHAT YOU NEED.

There was an interesting comment here that said, "Ambience lasts 1 hour and a DVD lasts forever!" That is something that I'll borrow with permission for all my future customers.

About 3 weeks ago I turned down a gig to shoot a wedding cause the customer wanted "ambience" to the level of candle light in a dimly lit room. That's great for her but don't hold my hand to the fire when it looks like crap. I warned her against it, told her I'm sorry but I can't do the gig and someone in her family shot it with a consumer single chip. I'm sure that now she's saying to herself, WOW I MADE A MISTAKE!

The bottom line, my wife would not have minded, I would not have minded, when I shot a wedding last year, they didn't mind, just keep it within reason. If you start to break out a lighting tree of Par 64's, I think that it may be a little unreasonable.

I would prefer to light up a room with uniform lighting, make it even and make it nice, not just hit it with my 100watt NRG Varalux and hope that I can throw some light on the back wall of the church when the bride comes out, oh some 100' away!

One last comment, do you think that the couples on "Wedding Story" and the other shows that do similar complain about the amount of lighting that they request to use for their productions? I hardly think so. (Might be wrong, but I hardly think so.)

Miguel
Orlando- Florida

[Michael Connor]

Re the wedding. I read all the advice given, and am a little perplexed. sure, im sure its all good professional advice, but as you said you dont have a lot of cash. Besides, im wondering, have i ever seen a wedding where the video photographer had lighting and mics everywhere??! Unless your filming a wedding to be broadcast on TV i dare say you want to be as low profile and out of the way as possible. You have 2 cracking cameras. Be sure to wite ballance them both at beginning of service. Good tripods as previously suggested. Lighting... i filmed a wedding at a church, and it was a cloudy day, but the standard interior lights were fine after i white ballanced.
Audi0... why worry. If you have a bit cash, then by yourself a stenheiser, yes, fab, wish i had one.
Alternatively, or aswell as, get a stereo mic and minidisc recorder. Position it on a mic stand somewhere near the bride and groom, and record. The mini disk will give superior sound quality, and a cheapish stereo mic i have produces good results.
Have your front camera film some shots of the bride and grooms parents at emotional times of the wedding. Get a close up shot of the ring going on the finger. And as the bloke said before, try ad get on the side of the brides face as opposed to grooms. Make sure the fella on the other camera, positioned at the back, gets all the safe shots. So whilst youre getting all the fancy stuff on the front camera you always have a simple wide shot to fall back on. Although get him to zoom in slowly and closely at key times, like vows, where you might want to be moving your camera about. Yea, as someone said before too, go to the rehersal, and make sure you know whats happening. You maybee want the rear camera man to wait at the backwhen the bride comes down the isle, or be waiting outside to get a shot of the confetti being thrown. Same as you might want him to catch her turning up in the car, as you awate at the front, capturing all the expectant faces of the audience, the nervous groom and them all turning round to look for her.
Finally, at the end, get loads of cutaways. That is, nice long shots, of say, a candle. Or a stained class window. Or the organist playing the keyboard. These can be blended in during the editing process, and look great.

[Travis Cossel]

Yeah, cutaways are great. I generally try to pick up cutaways at the rehearsal, and on the day of (before the ceremony). After the ceremony I'm usually too busy following the action, as are my other cameramen.

[Charles Bittner]

mig can i see a pic of your rig

gl2?

thank, this post rocks

[Chris Wright]

hey everyone...
I have another wedding coming up this saturday, so I figured I'd revive this thread :)

I have, for the most part, the same equipment that I had at the last wedding. This time I have managed to borrow two wired lav mics, though since they are not wireless I'm not sure how much good they'll do. Anyway, I'm sure I will have more specific questions as the wedding day approaches, but first I wanted to ask for some tips on shooting a bride/groom interview, which I will be doing tomorrow.

I will be shooting with both GL2s, and have both the bride and groom miked, with each mic running to its own camera, so that I will have total control over the audio in post. Since it will be extremely hot tomorrow, we will probably be forced to shoot inside, but I've come up with a decent backdrop.

The main problem I'm having is coming up with interview questions. I want to ask as many questions as possible so that I have plenty of options to edit with later. Here are the questions I've come up with so far:

1. Describe, in detail, the day you met. When, where, and how did you meet?
2. Describe your first date. where did you go? What did you do?
3. When you first introduced each other to your parents, what did they think?
4. What are your favorite and least favorite attributes of each other?
5. Over the years that you have been dating, what has been your most memorable experience together?
6. When did you know that you were in love?
7. Describe how he proposed
8. What do you think your future holds?

of note, some of these were taken from or inspired by Rob Wilson's reply to my other post at:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29989&highlight=wedding+interview+questions

If anyone could throw out any more suggestions for good bride/groom interview questions, I'd greatly appreciate it!

Thanks,
Chris