Clip for critique at DVinfo.net

Chris Harvey · July 13th, 2005, 01:44 PM

Here is a highlights clip from my latest edit. Comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome.

www.digkeepsakes.com/jenson.wmv

Thanks,

Chris

Ralph Longo · July 13th, 2005, 11:48 PM

I just worked 13 hours so I may be wrong but I thought it was solid all the way around.

Glen Elliott · July 14th, 2005, 08:52 AM

Thanks for posting- I'll give it my input as I view it now:

- Great titling/background for opening scene (what font btw?)
- Very nice shots of the church
- Watch framing up your talking head interviews in the center of the frame, try to follow the rule of 1/3rds and place them off the center line. Make for a much more pleasing composition and avoids the "down-the-barrel" look when subjects are framed perfectly center
- by 1:21 the upward wide shot of the church felt a bit redundant
- I liked the first shot of the couple together in the chuch behind the photogs shoulder, nice shot of them glancing at each other following.
- At 1:51 add a bit more "spread" to the white diffusion. The white diffusion looks very saturated and not smoothed enough. If using Vegas the slider is called "Glow Amount".
- 2:00 nice dolly using foreground element!
- Liked your use of vo's over the footage. I tend to gravitate towards the use of VO's without the talking heads like this. Good job.
- 3:20 nice rack reveal of the sign! The only thing that I would change is the fact that the foreground element is blocking the text of the sign. A little overlap is ok- but it doesn't allow me to read the first word in the sign.
- Great cake shot. Love those .3x fish-eyes!
- Cake cut shot of hands is good. A hair tighter would have been preferable- but good angle and good exposure.
- Used the vow audio- nice! The couple will appreciate that.

Overall I thought you did a fantastic job. Good exposure, good moving camera shots, good use of audio over video, etc. Some really solid work, and I can see that you have an eye for composition and moving shots. The only thing I feel, as a whole, was missing were the really tight shots. A great deal of your shots seemed to be medium close-up to meduim. While some of this may be due to the zoom limitation on your cam(s)- shooting from the rear of the church for example...other times (when they are dancing for example) you can benefit from zooming in nice and tight for several seconds and capturing some extreme-close ups of expressions, hands, etc. That way you have a good mix of wide, medium, and tight shots. Vary them often as well. Don't alway go from a wide to a wide....mix it up with a wide to a close up. I really helps the piece breath this way.

Please don't take this as overly critical- keep in mind some of what I listed was technical and others subjective. I think you do great work, you have an eye for composition and movement, and good use of audio vo's as well. I look forward to seeing more work from you in the future. Good luck and keep up the fantastic work!

Brett Whited · July 15th, 2005, 01:06 PM

Very nice Chris! I liked it. Couple of newbie questions: did you put in the "fish eye" effect and the "soft glow" effects in post production? Or did you use filters for those? I liked the panning shots throughout the video.
Thanks.
-Brett

Chris Harvey · July 15th, 2005, 07:25 PM

Glen,

Thanks for taking the time to give a detailed critique of my clip. I appreciate your comments and will try to incorporate your tips, especially more close ups, into my next wedding.

The font that was used in the opening title is Futura LtCn BT.

Chris

Chris Harvey · July 15th, 2005, 07:30 PM

Brett,

Thanks for viewing my clip. The fisheye effect was done with the Raynox fisheye lens on my PD150 and VX2000. The "soft glow" effect was done in Vegas. I, like many others on this board, have purchased the training DVD produced by the Von Lankens, "Moving Camera Techniqes". I highly recommend it. It has really made an impact on my technique. It can be purchased here.

http://www.tulsaweddingvideos.com/videographers.shtml

Thanks again,

Chris

Patrick King · July 15th, 2005, 08:18 PM

I continue to be amazed at the quality and finesse of the clips posted in this forum. Well done!

Brett Whited · July 15th, 2005, 10:04 PM

Chris-
Thanks again. Would that specifically be the "Raynox MX-3000PRO 58mm 0.3x Semi Fisheye Lens"? I have a GL2, would it work on it? It's a 58mm lens.
Thanks a mill.
-Brett

Chris Harvey · July 15th, 2005, 10:12 PM

Brett,

This is the lens I use. It doesn't have any threads. It just snaps on and off quickly. It comes with a little pouch that attaches to my belt. I'm pretty sure it would work with your GL-2.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ist&sku=216181

The MX-3000Pro is the threaded model.

Chris

Young Lee · July 15th, 2005, 11:34 PM

Good job~ I could definitely see the influence from the Von Lankens.

Gary Siu · July 18th, 2005, 04:06 AM

Good job Chris. Nice composition, not too bad with the hand-held (I still prefer Steadicam work for weddings {lot's of slow mo's}- when space allows of course). The one thing I'd say in future project's "Watch the headroom and mix lighting conditions."

Dan Shallenberger · July 26th, 2005, 09:01 AM

Chris, I have to agree with others that your demo was great! The only nit I would have is, like Glenn mentioned, the head-on, centered interviews at the beginning. But everything else I thought was very elegant.

I liked the mix of bw & color, the fade-to-black transitions, the choice of shots, and particularly your moving shots. I too bought the Moving Camera Techniques DVD and it has been and *excellent* resource for my moving shots.

You said you have the snap-on Raynox .3x lens... does it snap on very securely? I wanted to get either the snap-on or the threaded version, and although the snap-on seems like it would be more convenient and quicker, the threaded seemed it would be more secure. What's your opinion? I'm using a PD170.

Thanks for sharing your clip!

Dan

July 13th, 2005, 01:44 PM	#1
Chris Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: North Dakota Posts: 72	Clip for critique Here is a highlights clip from my latest edit. Comments and suggestions for improvement are welcome. www.digkeepsakes.com/jenson.wmv Thanks, Chris

July 15th, 2005, 08:18 PM	#7
Patrick King Major Player Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Enterprise, AL Posts: 857	I continue to be amazed at the quality and finesse of the clips posted in this forum. Well done! __________________ Fear No Weevil!

July 18th, 2005, 04:06 AM	#11
Gary Siu Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Richmond, BC Posts: 90	Good job Chris! Good job Chris. Nice composition, not too bad with the hand-held (I still prefer Steadicam work for weddings {lot's of slow mo's}- when space allows of course). The one thing I'd say in future project's "Watch the headroom and mix lighting conditions."

July 13th, 2005, 11:48 PM	#2
Ralph Longo Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: St. Louis MO Posts: 44	I just worked 13 hours so I may be wrong but I thought it was solid all the way around.

July 14th, 2005, 08:52 AM	#3
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Thanks for posting- I'll give it my input as I view it now: - Great titling/background for opening scene (what font btw?) - Very nice shots of the church - Watch framing up your talking head interviews in the center of the frame, try to follow the rule of 1/3rds and place them off the center line. Make for a much more pleasing composition and avoids the "down-the-barrel" look when subjects are framed perfectly center - by 1:21 the upward wide shot of the church felt a bit redundant - I liked the first shot of the couple together in the chuch behind the photogs shoulder, nice shot of them glancing at each other following. - At 1:51 add a bit more "spread" to the white diffusion. The white diffusion looks very saturated and not smoothed enough. If using Vegas the slider is called "Glow Amount". - 2:00 nice dolly using foreground element! - Liked your use of vo's over the footage. I tend to gravitate towards the use of VO's without the talking heads like this. Good job. - 3:20 nice rack reveal of the sign! The only thing that I would change is the fact that the foreground element is blocking the text of the sign. A little overlap is ok- but it doesn't allow me to read the first word in the sign. - Great cake shot. Love those .3x fish-eyes! - Cake cut shot of hands is good. A hair tighter would have been preferable- but good angle and good exposure. - Used the vow audio- nice! The couple will appreciate that. Overall I thought you did a fantastic job. Good exposure, good moving camera shots, good use of audio over video, etc. Some really solid work, and I can see that you have an eye for composition and moving shots. The only thing I feel, as a whole, was missing were the really tight shots. A great deal of your shots seemed to be medium close-up to meduim. While some of this may be due to the zoom limitation on your cam(s)- shooting from the rear of the church for example...other times (when they are dancing for example) you can benefit from zooming in nice and tight for several seconds and capturing some extreme-close ups of expressions, hands, etc. That way you have a good mix of wide, medium, and tight shots. Vary them often as well. Don't alway go from a wide to a wide....mix it up with a wide to a close up. I really helps the piece breath this way. Please don't take this as overly critical- keep in mind some of what I listed was technical and others subjective. I think you do great work, you have an eye for composition and movement, and good use of audio vo's as well. I look forward to seeing more work from you in the future. Good luck and keep up the fantastic work!

July 15th, 2005, 01:06 PM	#4
Brett Whited Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 91	Very nice Chris! I liked it. Couple of newbie questions: did you put in the "fish eye" effect and the "soft glow" effects in post production? Or did you use filters for those? I liked the panning shots throughout the video. Thanks. -Brett

July 15th, 2005, 07:25 PM	#5
Chris Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: North Dakota Posts: 72	Glen, Thanks for taking the time to give a detailed critique of my clip. I appreciate your comments and will try to incorporate your tips, especially more close ups, into my next wedding. The font that was used in the opening title is Futura LtCn BT. Chris

July 15th, 2005, 07:30 PM	#6
Chris Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: North Dakota Posts: 72	Brett, Thanks for viewing my clip. The fisheye effect was done with the Raynox fisheye lens on my PD150 and VX2000. The "soft glow" effect was done in Vegas. I, like many others on this board, have purchased the training DVD produced by the Von Lankens, "Moving Camera Techniqes". I highly recommend it. It has really made an impact on my technique. It can be purchased here. http://www.tulsaweddingvideos.com/videographers.shtml Thanks again, Chris

July 15th, 2005, 10:04 PM	#8
Brett Whited Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 91	Chris- Thanks again. Would that specifically be the "Raynox MX-3000PRO 58mm 0.3x Semi Fisheye Lens"? I have a GL2, would it work on it? It's a 58mm lens. Thanks a mill. -Brett

July 15th, 2005, 10:12 PM	#9
Chris Harvey Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: North Dakota Posts: 72	Brett, This is the lens I use. It doesn't have any threads. It just snaps on and off quickly. It comes with a little pouch that attaches to my belt. I'm pretty sure it would work with your GL-2. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...ist&sku=216181 The MX-3000Pro is the threaded model. Chris

July 15th, 2005, 11:34 PM	#10
Young Lee Major Player Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Orange County, CA Posts: 268	Good job~ I could definitely see the influence from the Von Lankens.

July 26th, 2005, 09:01 AM	#12
Dan Shallenberger Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 253	Chris, I have to agree with others that your demo was great! The only nit I would have is, like Glenn mentioned, the head-on, centered interviews at the beginning. But everything else I thought was very elegant. I liked the mix of bw & color, the fade-to-black transitions, the choice of shots, and particularly your moving shots. I too bought the Moving Camera Techniques DVD and it has been and excellent resource for my moving shots. You said you have the snap-on Raynox .3x lens... does it snap on very securely? I wanted to get either the snap-on or the threaded version, and although the snap-on seems like it would be more convenient and quicker, the threaded seemed it would be more secure. What's your opinion? I'm using a PD170. Thanks for sharing your clip! Dan