Haven't posted a clip in a while....

Michael Plunkett · September 7th, 2005, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

Here's a highlight vignette I completed tonight...

http://home.comcast.net/~g.elliott3///RufusMaria.wmv

Wow !!

I got questions, lol.

How many shooters to you use to cover a wedding?
I love the slow movements. How?
What to you use for camera support? I love the detail shots and the motion you use on them.

Wow- did I say that already?

sorry if these questions were once asked. I will do a search but that may lead to more questions.

the music is Meet Joe Black- right?

thank you,
mike

Dan Tolbertson · September 7th, 2005, 12:02 PM

I also am curious about your music selection, can you expand on that?

Glen Elliott · September 7th, 2005, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Plunkett

Wow !!

I got questions, lol.

How many shooters to you use to cover a wedding?
I love the slow movements. How?
What to you use for camera support? I love the detail shots and the motion you use on them.

Wow- did I say that already?

sorry if these questions were once asked. I will do a search but that may lead to more questions.

the music is Meet Joe Black- right?

thank you,
mike

I usually only have one shooter in addition to myself. I haven't found the need for a 3rd cameraman just yet. 3-camera ceremony and 2-camera reception.

Thank you Mike. All these shots were handheld with the acception of two monopod shots (over the pond and over the cake shots). I shoot with a glidecam 4000 pro sometimes however this clip didn't have any stabilizer shots.

Yes the music is indeed Meet Joe Black.

Btw, Cherry Hill NJ? Your a stone's throw away. Welcome to the wedding/event videography board.

A.J. Briones · September 7th, 2005, 06:28 PM

hi there. great stuff! i like the multiple dissolves in the middle of the piece. i'm a bit of a minimalist when it comes to editing, but i really liked it because your dissolves were actually composed, and not just used for the sake of having a dissolve.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glen Elliott

Yes the music is indeed Meet Joe Black.

regarding the music, i just recently got warned by a fellow forum user about using copyrighted music. are you getting permission to use the music you use? if so, how? if not, why? all my competitors are using copyrighted music, and i know that the dj's i've worked with recently have not been paying for usage as well.

Dennis Wood · September 7th, 2005, 08:33 PM

Glen, thanks very much for your detailed response. Sounds like I'll be grabbing my bucket, boots and doing some cherry picking.

Matt Trubac · September 11th, 2005, 11:33 PM

Glen,

As always... looks good, but I do have some questions.

You say you use 3 cameras at the ceremony. From this clip it looks as if two cameras were in a balcony with one to the left and one to the right. The third was at the back of the center aisle on the main level?

Are your cameras stationary for the entire ceremony, with the exception of one camera being at the front of the church, center aisle for the processional then quickly moving to the balcony? Do you include a straight forward edit of the ceremony, or is it time-compressed and heavily edited?

Who do you have run your 2nd and 3rd camera? Are they trained in video/film production? What do you have to do to get them to give you such good results? It is difficult to find help that shoots the way I want them to. Just wondering if you run into this and how you deal with it...

I was also wondering how you always get your highlights to blow out so nicely. Alot of the time if I put someone in front of a window and open up the iris a bit the light bleeds onto my subject (bride usually) severely. Any tips?

I've also been meaning to pose the question... how many of us videographers have formal education in either video/film production, or photography. I have been studying motion picture production at a community college, have almost earned an associates, and am looking into where to continue my education.

After typing all this it seems like a lot. Glen, thank you for sharing your work and for any input you can provide!

Mike Cook · September 11th, 2005, 11:48 PM

I'm noticing a trend. You do an great job at catching candid shots and then picking good details for the video. I'm thinking of the clasped hands right now. IMHO that is the stuff that speaks to people.

Keep it up!

Mike

A.J. Briones · September 12th, 2005, 09:31 AM

re: my previous music question, no need to answer. i just wonder why the subject keeps popping up when we all know what's really going on. i am coming to the realization that it's a thread-killer, so let's put it to bed.

question: when the bride & groom walk out of the church and the bridal party is in a line, was that staged or part of the ceremony? i'm thinking of staging it for future weddings because i have only seen it a couple of times, and the footage that comes out of it is really good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Trubac

I've also been meaning to pose the question... how many of us videographers have formal education in either video/film production, or photography. I have been studying motion picture production at a community college, have almost earned an associates, and am looking into where to continue my education.

i went to film school, and i am currently also doing similar work (albeit with 3d cameras) for videogames. maybe this should be a poll question?

Eugene Bare · September 12th, 2005, 10:36 AM

I am a new community member, your work is very nice. I was just wondering if your logo apears through the whole video that the customer gets? I have only done a few weddings and did not know if this was standard practice. Again you do great work.

Glen Elliott · September 12th, 2005, 11:15 AM

Glen,

As always... looks good, but I do have some questions.

You say you use 3 cameras at the ceremony. From this clip it looks as if two cameras were in a balcony with one to the left and one to the right. The third was at the back of the center aisle on the main level?
Exactly.

Are your cameras stationary for the entire ceremony, with the exception of one camera being at the front of the church, center aisle for the processional then quickly moving to the balcony? Do you include a straight forward edit of the ceremony, or is it time-compressed and heavily edited?
My ceremony edits are indeed very straight forward. More journalistic than cinematic that is. This particular church is difficult to shoot in and I tried shooting from the side balconys beings I couldn't get an angle of the couples faces during the ceremony due to the design of the church and altar.

Who do you have run your 2nd and 3rd camera? Are they trained in video/film production? What do you have to do to get them to give you such good results? It is difficult to find help that shoots the way I want them to. Just wondering if you run into this and how you deal with it...
I train my shooter(s) personally. Currently I have one full-time shooter that attends every gig I shoot. During 3-cam ceremonies there is two videographers. Usually the rear center cam is unmanned.

I was also wondering how you always get your highlights to blow out so nicely. Alot of the time if I put someone in front of a window and open up the iris a bit the light bleeds onto my subject (bride usually) severely. Any tips?
The light bleeding onto your subject is most likely caused by the location of your lense to the light source. Possible glare. I always use manual iris using 100IRE zebras to set my exposure. I also always slightly UNDERexpose my footage a hair.

I've also been meaning to pose the question... how many of us videographers have formal education in either video/film production, or photography. I have been studying motion picture production at a community college, have almost earned an associates, and am looking into where to continue my education.
I couldn't provide any exact #'s but I'd have to say there is a good percentage of us that do NOT have any formal training in video/film production including myself. Everything I learned was self-taught through experience, and training materials (ie Wedding Resource thread).

Glen Elliott · September 12th, 2005, 11:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by A.J. Briones

question: when the bride & groom walk out of the church and the bridal party is in a line, was that staged or part of the ceremony? i'm thinking of staging it for future weddings because i have only seen it a couple of times, and the footage that comes out of it is really good.

It's customary for the couple to exit the church through a line of bridal party members and guests. Long ago they used to throw rice- but now more comonly it's bubbles or sparklers for evening weddings.

So it's not staged- at least not by me.

Glen Elliott · September 12th, 2005, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eugene Bare

I am a new community member, your work is very nice. I was just wondering if your logo apears through the whole video that the customer gets? I have only done a few weddings and did not know if this was standard practice. Again you do great work.

The logo/watermark is because it's on the web. It's not on the finished product delivered to the client.

Matt Trubac · September 15th, 2005, 04:16 PM

Glen,

I occasionlly save the videos you post to my computer so that I can go back and study them, to draw inspiration and ideas from. I hope you don't mind.

I was watching through the Cocking Highlights clip you posted a while back. By the way, I think this clip was exeptionally well done. I was trying to... block out your camera positions at the ceremony. One cam was in the back... not quite in a balcony but up high and manned?

The second was up front and on the bride and also manned?

The third camera was up front and on the groom but unmanned? The shot was tight. I'm assuming you must mark positions on the floor? 1 or 2 feet off and the angle most likely would have been unusable.

This next section of my post is going to take your thread off topic - again I hope this is ok.

I'm really thinking about trading my 2 DVX's for a Sony PD170 and VX2100. I love the DVX, and think it has a better feature set for the money. On the other hand I keep hearing how great the sonys are in low-light. The DVX simply has a noisy picture. I've never used a PD or VX sony cam. Are they equally capable in low-light?

I will miss my DVX's, but I'm not shooting shorts or music videos, I'm shooting weddings, and from what I hear the Sonys are the best tool for the job. Knowing that you have used both, do you think that my decision would be a good one. You switched from the Panny to the Sonys for weddings right?

Thank you!

Glen Elliott · September 15th, 2005, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Trubac

Glen,

I occasionlly save the videos you post to my computer so that I can go back and study them, to draw inspiration and ideas from. I hope you don't mind.

I was watching through the Cocking Highlights clip you posted a while back. By the way, I think this clip was exeptionally well done. I was trying to... block out your camera positions at the ceremony. One cam was in the back... not quite in a balcony but up high and manned?

The second was up front and on the bride and also manned?

The third camera was up front and on the groom but unmanned? The shot was tight. I'm assuming you must mark positions on the floor? 1 or 2 feet off and the angle most likely would have been unusable.

This next section of my post is going to take your thread off topic - again I hope this is ok.

I'm really thinking about trading my 2 DVX's for a Sony PD170 and VX2100. I love the DVX, and think it has a better feature set for the money. On the other hand I keep hearing how great the sonys are in low-light. The DVX simply has a noisy picture. I've never used a PD or VX sony cam. Are they equally capable in low-light?

I will miss my DVX's, but I'm not shooting shorts or music videos, I'm shooting weddings, and from what I hear the Sonys are the best tool for the job. Knowing that you have used both, do you think that my decision would be a good one. You switched from the Panny to the Sonys for weddings right?

Thank you!

Regarding the camera positions and the deligation of which are manned and unmanned were close but not exact. In fact the front two 3/4 angle cams were manned. The rear camera (high on the tripod, chruch had no balcony) was unmanned. You may have thought it was manned due to the camera movement from this angle. I sometimes add a small pan/crop in Sony Vegas to animate an otherwise static camera angle.

The DVX is a fine camera- I used to own and shoot with one. I heard the same things you did about the Sony's and took a gamble and sold my DVX and GL-1 (the other cam I was using at the time) and picked up a PD and VX. Man...what a fantastic decision that was- I couldn't be happier. Both the PD and VX perform the same exact way in low light (they both are essentially the same camera- same optics, same chips, and so on). Sure I don't have a black pedestool adjustment, or 24p/30p choices but I prefer to do all my color correcting and crushing of blacks in post. Plus I always shoot 60i which yields the silkiest slow motion you can achieve with DV.

I highly encourage you to make the switch- especially if weddings are the primary event you'll be shooting. I firmly believe the Sony PD-170 and VX2100 are "THE" wedding cameras to have.

http://www.msprotege.com/members/Laz...onyVSPanny.jpg

Laurence Kingston · September 15th, 2005, 09:08 PM

I love the camera movement throughout the piece. How much of it is done by moving the camera and how much of it is done in editing? It looks like you move the letterbox window up and down quite a bit which I really like. I just got done experimenting a bit with that and I'm surprised at how well it works. Do you zoom in to the footage and move side to side as well?

Also, do you give clients letterboxed 4:3 DVDs or do you do a 16:9 anamorphic render?

Your work looks absolutely fabulous by the way.

September 7th, 2005, 12:02 PM	#17
Dan Tolbertson Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Menifee, CA Posts: 126	I also am curious about your music selection, can you expand on that? __________________ Sony Fan Boy! Sony AX100, VG20, RX10, A6000, CX760 and a GoPro 4

September 11th, 2005, 11:33 PM	#21
Matt Trubac Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 286	Nice Work Glen, As always... looks good, but I do have some questions. You say you use 3 cameras at the ceremony. From this clip it looks as if two cameras were in a balcony with one to the left and one to the right. The third was at the back of the center aisle on the main level? Are your cameras stationary for the entire ceremony, with the exception of one camera being at the front of the church, center aisle for the processional then quickly moving to the balcony? Do you include a straight forward edit of the ceremony, or is it time-compressed and heavily edited? Who do you have run your 2nd and 3rd camera? Are they trained in video/film production? What do you have to do to get them to give you such good results? It is difficult to find help that shoots the way I want them to. Just wondering if you run into this and how you deal with it... I was also wondering how you always get your highlights to blow out so nicely. Alot of the time if I put someone in front of a window and open up the iris a bit the light bleeds onto my subject (bride usually) severely. Any tips? I've also been meaning to pose the question... how many of us videographers have formal education in either video/film production, or photography. I have been studying motion picture production at a community college, have almost earned an associates, and am looking into where to continue my education. After typing all this it seems like a lot. Glen, thank you for sharing your work and for any input you can provide! __________________ Matt Trubac

September 12th, 2005, 10:36 AM	#24
Eugene Bare Regular Crew Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Shenandoah Valley, Virginia Posts: 53	Logo Question I am a new community member, your work is very nice. I was just wondering if your logo apears through the whole video that the customer gets? I have only done a few weddings and did not know if this was standard practice. Again you do great work.

September 12th, 2005, 11:15 AM	#25
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	Glen, As always... looks good, but I do have some questions. You say you use 3 cameras at the ceremony. From this clip it looks as if two cameras were in a balcony with one to the left and one to the right. The third was at the back of the center aisle on the main level? Exactly. Are your cameras stationary for the entire ceremony, with the exception of one camera being at the front of the church, center aisle for the processional then quickly moving to the balcony? Do you include a straight forward edit of the ceremony, or is it time-compressed and heavily edited? My ceremony edits are indeed very straight forward. More journalistic than cinematic that is. This particular church is difficult to shoot in and I tried shooting from the side balconys beings I couldn't get an angle of the couples faces during the ceremony due to the design of the church and altar. Who do you have run your 2nd and 3rd camera? Are they trained in video/film production? What do you have to do to get them to give you such good results? It is difficult to find help that shoots the way I want them to. Just wondering if you run into this and how you deal with it... I train my shooter(s) personally. Currently I have one full-time shooter that attends every gig I shoot. During 3-cam ceremonies there is two videographers. Usually the rear center cam is unmanned. I was also wondering how you always get your highlights to blow out so nicely. Alot of the time if I put someone in front of a window and open up the iris a bit the light bleeds onto my subject (bride usually) severely. Any tips? The light bleeding onto your subject is most likely caused by the location of your lense to the light source. Possible glare. I always use manual iris using 100IRE zebras to set my exposure. I also always slightly UNDERexpose my footage a hair. I've also been meaning to pose the question... how many of us videographers have formal education in either video/film production, or photography. I have been studying motion picture production at a community college, have almost earned an associates, and am looking into where to continue my education. I couldn't provide any exact #'s but I'd have to say there is a good percentage of us that do NOT have any formal training in video/film production including myself. Everything I learned was self-taught through experience, and training materials (ie Wedding Resource thread). __________________ Glen Elliott Cord 3 Films

September 15th, 2005, 04:16 PM	#28
Matt Trubac Major Player Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Grand Rapids, MI Posts: 286	Question Glen, I occasionlly save the videos you post to my computer so that I can go back and study them, to draw inspiration and ideas from. I hope you don't mind. I was watching through the Cocking Highlights clip you posted a while back. By the way, I think this clip was exeptionally well done. I was trying to... block out your camera positions at the ceremony. One cam was in the back... not quite in a balcony but up high and manned? The second was up front and on the bride and also manned? The third camera was up front and on the groom but unmanned? The shot was tight. I'm assuming you must mark positions on the floor? 1 or 2 feet off and the angle most likely would have been unusable. This next section of my post is going to take your thread off topic - again I hope this is ok. I'm really thinking about trading my 2 DVX's for a Sony PD170 and VX2100. I love the DVX, and think it has a better feature set for the money. On the other hand I keep hearing how great the sonys are in low-light. The DVX simply has a noisy picture. I've never used a PD or VX sony cam. Are they equally capable in low-light? I will miss my DVX's, but I'm not shooting shorts or music videos, I'm shooting weddings, and from what I hear the Sonys are the best tool for the job. Knowing that you have used both, do you think that my decision would be a good one. You switched from the Panny to the Sonys for weddings right? Thank you! __________________ Matt Trubac

September 7th, 2005, 08:33 PM	#20
Dennis Wood Major Player Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 916	Glen, thanks very much for your detailed response. Sounds like I'll be grabbing my bucket, boots and doing some cherry picking.

September 11th, 2005, 11:48 PM	#22
Mike Cook Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Portland OR Posts: 190	I'm noticing a trend. You do an great job at catching candid shots and then picking good details for the video. I'm thinking of the clasped hands right now. IMHO that is the stuff that speaks to people. Keep it up! Mike

September 15th, 2005, 09:08 PM	#30
Laurence Kingston Major Player Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Clermont, FL. Posts: 941	I love the camera movement throughout the piece. How much of it is done by moving the camera and how much of it is done in editing? It looks like you move the letterbox window up and down quite a bit which I really like. I just got done experimenting a bit with that and I'm surprised at how well it works. Do you zoom in to the footage and move side to side as well? Also, do you give clients letterboxed 4:3 DVDs or do you do a 16:9 anamorphic render? Your work looks absolutely fabulous by the way.