No more wedding videos!

[Don Bloom]

I did not watch this piece but from the post here let me interject my thoughts. It seems we just had something similar with Tariq so my advice is the same.
First, take a breath and relax. After 30 years and well over 2000 weddings I've never had a season when I didn't have 1 (sometimes more) clients who weren't happy with my product and simply couldn't explain why so it became a guessing game.
Second, sit down with the bride, face to face, not emails, not over the phone or texting...face to face and simply ask here specifically what is it that you are unhappy with. Let her talk. Do not interrupt, but write everything down. Make a list. when she's done ask her this (and this is important) "Other than those things, is there anything else that you are unhappy with?" When she says "no", THEN you can proceed.
Watch the DVD with her, as you come to each item she told you about ask here if this is it then explain to her what you did and why (if you did anything) Decide whether or not you will do anything to fix it, write it down on the sheet but don't tell her anything yet. Go thru the entire DVD. A common one is " I
don't like the way I look in that shot"...My response has always been, (with a smile on my face) "OK, what would you like me to do about the way you looked in this shot?" "What would you like me to do about the expression your mother had on her face during this shot" "What would you like me to do about the way your hair looked in this shot"?,,,I've had brides come to me with 5 and 6 pages of "stuff they didn't like" and at the end of the conversation, they not only didn't get anything from me, but the hugged me and thanked me for being so nice and doing such a great job on their video.
This is the point in the process that you start earning your stripes...you've already earned the money now you have to show them you get to keep it. Listen, I'm not saying that you shouldn't do anything for her. If she's got a legit beef, fix it but in most cases it's something else that's bothering them and miscommunication before the event is the biggest culprit. Read thru the thread by Tariq

[James Manford]

Such awesome advice from Don ... I just can't see how a face to face meeting can end badly. We're all civilized human beings (some of us anyway). So if anything a meeting should rectify any problems and enable you to keep the payment too.

Messaging via text / emails will result in unnecessary edits and expectations.

[Robert Benda]

I'd say if she doesn't like how she comes across, ditch her major goofing from before the 1st sight. And *maybe* trip down how long it takes to tap him on the shoulder, though I thought it was great. Both the moment and the video overall. One or two things aren't to my taste (the 8mm style clips), but it's not my wedding video...

[Buba Kastorski]

very good video,
you just need to add some color to B cam, it's desaturated too much;
some brides like to have a bargaining point and start to complain to make you feel guilty and give them a discount, when this happens, very rare, but it does, i offer full refund, no video of course, everything becomes much better looking after that.

[Chris Hewitt]

Buba,, how do you know she wouldn't have copied the DVD before returning it to you with the complaint and then as you say, offering a full refund?

[Brandon Furst]

Wow, thanks for all the advice and posts everyone. I will take it all into account and adjust.

[Don Bloom]

The only way I would ever offer a full refund is if I didn't show up to shoot the job and that has never happened so IMO offering a full refund is ludicrous. Why offer it. The job was shot. Perhaps it's as simple as putting all color back to the way it came from the camera, without any effects. No ones knows since no one has asked the client what it is that she's upset about.
Instead of offering ways to fix the product, let's first find out what she feels is wrong THEN we'll all know what needs to be fixed. By the time she and the OP meet, she might have come back to earth and realized that 99% of the product is exactly what was represented when she signed up with the OP.
Never assume anything. It's easier to ask.

[Jeff Harper]

I agree it's good overall, but the color effects are not complimentary, in my opinion, and some shots are underexposed and that throws things off for me.

I would ask her to come and visit you and go over the video together. This will help salvage things a lot.

You need to talk with her. You must extract from her what information you need to fix things. Her personality seems to be of an airy person, the opposite of earthy. She is a feelings-oriented person, it is not her fault. She does not know how to explain things right, and she is frustrated because all she knows is she doesn't like the way things look.

I strongly suspect you can fix things as best as possible without too much work. Some tweaking can go a long way to fix this up a bit and make her happy.

Good luck.

[Rob Cantwell]

I thought it was shot pretty good, and certainly you should take a little pause but don't give up, do resolve the issues with the bride and move on.

The first wedding video that I did (which isn't that long ago) the brides father had hired me and after hours and hours of editing i finally came up with what i thought was a reasonable account of the day, this was using his Sony VG10 (handheld), but i was confident I'd captured and edited a presentable film in the end.
The day after I had delivered the DVD, I called to his house and got lambasted for; no continuity, poor composition, poor audio etc. he couldn't stress enough how disappointed he was yada yada, i felt about two inches tall leaving there, believing that i had turned in utter crap, my self confidence was shattered, i thought that yeah i should give up this game now before i really ran into trouble and ruined someone's day! A few weeks later I showed to an acquaintance who had a different view on it, there were some technical flaws etc. i eventually realised tho, that the father was bargaining me down and i never knew it. Its like everything, learn from the mistakes, it hurt, being criticized is tough specially if you've put a lot in, but at the end of the day - put it down to experience pick yourself up and get on with it!

apologies for the long post.

R

[Kren Barnes]

I think the biggest question is how much did she pay for the video ?

Outside of the aforementioned shakiness, different colour grading, time effects and song choices, your video shows a lot of promise although the editing could also have been tighter. With that said though, don't let one client experience ruin it for you. Like i said the shots are there, its just a matter of practice/experience on how to weave them all together to create a wonderful piece. (i.e. the photoshoot in the beginning of the video does not really belong there, you would have been better off with some getting ready footages.) One thing to keep in mind when choosing a song, adding effects or colour grading is whether they help to bring the story out of the video. If not, you don't necessarily need to use them since they just become distractions.


Cheers!

Kren

[Don Bloom]

I don't think what she paid has anything to do with her belief that she didn't get what she paid for. In fact I think it's absolutely irrelevant.
In her mind she thought she was getting one thing and she feels she got something else...and regardless of what she paid she feels like she got ripped off.
Again before we all try to decide how to fix this let's find out what she really feels is wrong and the only way to do that...is to sit down with the client and ask her.
Til then, we're all blowin' in the wind.

[D.J. Ammons]

I have only had a chance to watch the first couple of minutes but here is my two cents worth. I think the shooting looks fine so far but I have some questions about the editing.

1. If the bride says she doesn't like what she is sayinig I have a feeling it is probably during some of the photo shoot where you have audio from her where most folks would just have music playing. She is saying some pretty nonsensical stuff there.

2. The vows are the most important part of the ceremony. Rather than feature the bride and groom you have shots of cowboy boots and people being escorted to be seated for the ceremony for a lot of it. I didn't get that.

I am lucky I guess that my business partner is a young woman who is the creative director of our videography business while I handle the technical end. As a woman she seems to instinctively know what is important to most women for their wedding video. As a man you may have to work harder to place yourself in the brides shoes.

I am not saying this bride is being reasonable because it sounds like she is not but I do see some of these things that I think could have been done differently that might have made her happier.

I personally hated the old film video and sound effect you popped in and out of but that is purely subjective I think the danger of doing those type extreme effects is that they are very polarizing. The customer is probably going to either hate it or love it with little middle ground. Of course if the wedding demo's of your work featured these then she should have known what she was getting.

BTW - I lived in Austin for 16 years and have a son living there now. Great place!

[Dave Blackhurst]

OK, glad to see I wasn't the only one that was put off by the "fake 8mm" look... it is jarring. And the bride is a bit "silly", in a good way, but perhaps play that low key - some people are goofy but self conscious if they see themselves doing it!

[Brandon Furst]

I will try to address comments and questions, thanks for reading everyone. I did edit another version for her but haven't heard back yet. We shall see.

The "fake" super 8 stuff is something I have done in the past, and in this case she wanted it.

I didn't do any color correction, all from camera.

She got the full ceremony as well, that's why there is a highlight version of the vows during the ceremony area. She actually loved the ceremony portion of the video.

All the songs are based on what was "first danced to" or heard at the wedding.

Also, she paid in full and in my contract I have full control of the edit, and additional editing like this is by the hour at $85 per hour. There won't be a refund. I have fulfilled my part of the contract even if she has negative comments.

[Glen Vandermolen]

Brandon, I think you did a very good shoot. I don't understand her critiques.
But, at least you 're not the groom: he has to live with her b!tchin' for years to come.