Creating Film-Like Wedding Videos

[Chris Wright]

I'm getting into wedding videography and would like to create film-like video from what I shoot with my GL2. It seems that I should shoot in interlaced first and then process it later.

I don't really have the extra $100 at the moment for that DVFilm software, although it looks really cool. Has anyone here tried de-interlacing video in Final Cut Pro 4 to get a film effect? How well does it work?

Thanks!

[Frank Granovski]

Film-like meaning progressive or 24P?

Have you tried using a slow shutter or filters or other shooting effects?

[Ken Tanaka]

(Thread calved from a GL2 forum thread for more appropriate topical exposure.)

[Mark Jefferson]

I casn almost guarantee thst you won't use this plugin for more tan 1 or 2 videos. The reason is you will increase your rendertime x10. I do occasionall weddings, and the amount of time it takes to render just isn't worth it!

You're better off using Frame Movie mode and adjusting the Curves. You can see some examples of this at me website, www.slakrboy.com/videos.html

I offer this to people, but take my word for it, you're better off using AE or no plugins at all.

[Chris Wright]

Sorry guys, that was originally supposed to be a reply to another thread... didnt realize I accidently clicked on "new thread" :)

Anyway, I will plan on shooting in Frame Mode, but can you explain how to change the curves in Final Cut 4 to give that film-effect?

Thanks!

[Adam Burtle]

look for a plugin/effect/filter called "color curves" or similar.

it should show an X-Y plot of the color curve, being a totally linear line (straight) from one corner to the opposite. you want to tweak the anchor points on this "curve" (which isnt a curve.. yet) to represent a "lazy S"

some shots may be more receptive to this than others, depending on how neutrally lit they are, etc.

[Rob Easler]

Be careful if you decide to shoot in "progressive" to get the look. I do weddings all the time but for the highlights and things I do a lot of slow-mo on the footage. The slow motion on progressive footage is more stuttery than slow-mo on interlaced footage. That's why I decided against shooting in 24P for weddings. Just so your aware.

[Joe Lloyd]

If you do conjure up a hundred dollars check out
www.nattress.com He's a member here and his filters are excellent. IMHO

[Mark Jefferson]

MotionPerfect from Dynapel (www.dynapel.com) does an awsone jpb of slowmo.

[Frank Ladner]

Twixtor does a nice job of slowmo and 24p conversion.

From the research I've done, here's a good way to get 24p (aside from shooting 24p)

29.97i -> 60p -> 24p -> 29.97i (via 3:2 pulldown)
You can do this in separate passes if you have a lot of hard drive space, or you can use precomps in AE.

Also, keeping all the fields by shooting in normal mode gives you more info useful to frame interpolation plugins like Twixtor or Retimer.

You'll get burned out quick, I think, if you process wedding videos this way. Definately I would charge extra for this if you do it. What I usually see done is to charge half your regular rate per hour when rendering.

If you want that film look without the trouble, shoot in Frame mode. Shooting with a 1/30 sec shutter helps too, but you'll likely need some ND filters to compensate for the light that comes in.

Also, you may look into some warming filters.

,Frank

[Jolie Skidmore]

To add to what Rob was saying, slowing down footage anywhere from 80 to 90 percent can make a wedding video look more professional, and it gives it a film-like appearance. I use this simple method frequently in wedding videos, and clients seem to appreciate it. Of course, you'll have to compensate for natural sound, if you wish to keep it. This varies with software.