My first wedding highlights video...

[Dan Shallenberger]

Actually, it wasn't a wedding, but a rededication ceremony.

Here's the story in a nutshell... It was their 20th wedding anniversary and the husband surprised his wife with a vow-renewal/rededication party. They own a catering business, and they were going to stop by this wedding before going on a date so she could check out the cakes that her bakers made, but the cakes were actually for them, and they gave away the surprise to her that the party was for their anniversary.

http://www.inspirednaturally.com/rileyrededication.mov

Please be honest about what you like and think could be better. I really want to improve, both shooting and editing, and I value your opinions.

This is my first video/editing of anything more than a minute or two with family footage. I shot with a Panasonic GS-120 handheld and on a tripod with a ball-head (bad choice for video!) and a single-chipper consumer cam on sticks off to the side.

Since this shoot, I've been doing a lot of camera 2 shooting with another wedding videographer renting an old vx-2000, but I'm ordering my own pd-170 next week. I'm looking forward to the video quality improving over using this GS-120! I'm also looking forward to working regularly for this established videographer for basically paid-training.

Thanks for your time and input!
Dan

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Dan Shallenberger

Actually, it wasn't a wedding, but a rededication ceremony.

Here's the story in a nutshell... It was their 20th wedding anniversary and the husband surprised his wife with a vow-renewal/rededication party. They own a catering business, and they were going to stop by this wedding before going on a date so she could check out the cakes that her bakers made, but the cakes were actually for them, and they gave away the surprise to her that the party was for their anniversary.

http://www.inspirednaturally.com/rileyrededication.mov

Please be honest about what you like and think could be better. I really want to improve, both shooting and editing, and I value your opinions.

This is my first video/editing of anything more than a minute or two with family footage. I shot with a Panasonic GS-120 handheld and on a tripod with a ball-head (bad choice for video!) and a single-chipper consumer cam on sticks off to the side.

Since this shoot, I've been doing a lot of camera 2 shooting with another wedding videographer renting an old vx-2000, but I'm ordering my own pd-170 next week. I'm looking forward to the video quality improving over using this GS-120! I'm also looking forward to working regularly for this established videographer for basically paid-training.

Thanks for your time and input!
Dan

Dan I thought you did a commendable job- very tastefull, and great choice of music. That Josh Groban song is powerful! Lots of rising and falling and big crecendos. And editors dream.

The biggest thing that stood out to me that could be improved is the handheld technique. Particularly during the establishing shots of the church. Use the eyecup against your eye rather than flip out LCD screen when hand-holding. It'll give you an extra point of contact with your body and steady the camera much better.

I thought some of the sweeping shots of the decorations and cake turned out great. I saw one of them stop midway and start to almost move in another direction. Try to edit around that- try to have the shot moving as it dissolves in and continue moving all the way up until the next dissolve. When it stops and moves in a different direction it's disturbs the "flow".

Good use of audio- my favorite single part was when the wife arrives and enters through the doors and the people applaud. I got the chills during that sceen. Very nice. The shot leading up to it was very long though- watch your pacing of shots. Try to use your own attention span to judge the length of clips. You'll find that rather simple compositions with little movment don't need to be on the screen longer than a few seconds.

Work with the music. Find the crecendos and mark them- even before you lay down footage over it. That way you'll have a foundation to build your edits around and the timing will be there for the most powerfull shots. For example during one crecendo you cut to a shot of the cake. It was indeed a good shot but I would have "felt" it more if I saw a shot of the couple hugging and kissing right as the crecendo hits. Just ideas and concepts to think about.

Thanks again for posting. Keep up the great work- I look forward to seeing more from you in the future. If this is your first edit outside of home videos you have a bright future ahead of you. God Bless.

[Michael McGruder]

I have to agree -- awesome job!

I got the same chills Glen did as they pulled up and she went (almost) running straight for the table to see what was going on. Very impactful moment when she opened the door and (yes!) the applause really sent the goosepimples going!

I realize it may have been impossible to capture any additional audio aside from the beginning part -- but to hear some of the oration and subsequent comments either of them had would've been really cool. (imho)

Wonderful job and good luck!
-Michael

[Bob Costa]

Nice Job Dan !!!

[Dan Shallenberger]

Thanks for the comments and compliments! I appreciate you taking the time to view the video.

Glen, you made some good observations. I agree about the leading shot of the bride walking to the cakes being too long, but I hadn't noticed that at all until you mentioned it and I re-watched the video. I've watched that scene probably 100 times and never thought about that until now. I can definately shorten that. Also, thanks for the suggestions with the pans. I can see that, even with IS, smooth panning is an art (sometimes IS even makes it more difficult!).

It's funny... you made the comment about matching the crecendos with the more emotional parts of the video. I tried to do that, but I just didn't have enough footage to fill in gaps when organizing it that way. That's my fault for not getting enough (useable) footage, but I know that will improve over time with practice. I did start the video though with the music marked with markers before even laying down the footage. Also took me forever to figure out the "better" way of editing two cameras :-\

Thanks again for the tips and compliments!

Dan

[Glen Elliott]

Originally Posted by Dan Shallenberger

It's funny... you made the comment about matching the crecendos with the more emotional parts of the video. I tried to do that, but I just didn't have enough footage to fill in gaps when organizing it that way.

What you can do in that instance is shorten the song. Cut out the middle. That track is 4:50...very long- so I'd probably try to shave 1:00 off of it, and still keep the big pause into the crecendo.

[John Cloy]

Dan,

Very, *very* nice work. I've used that same song for a couple of pieces. I love the opportunities it presents to emphasize the points I'm working towards in the video.

I did a piece where I ran short of video and reached back to some 8-10 year old pictures of my subjects and then faded to the current celebration - it made for a very effective end to the piece and filled the gap nicely. It might have worked for you here or in a future project.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

jc