Bride getting ready...

[Dan Shallenberger]

This is the second video I have shot and edited myself, and it was the bride getting ready at her house...

http://www.inspirednaturally.com/dws...prep.laura.mov

What do you think? I shot this with my PD170 and edited in FCP. Please feel free to tell me what you don't like or would do differently.

Thanks,
Dan

[Chris Thomas]

Wow, 2nd video, I thought it was a great job...

Sadly I recognized Clay Aiken, and that seems to be the only negative, however I think it works great here.

I am by no means a master yet, but I thought some of the camera moves were very smooth. There were a few I noticed with minimal shake that the slow-mo worked well to help mask, over all great camera work.

I noticed a lot of dutch angles, which I think are often over used but you had nice compositions. I liked the B/W to color fades, not too often, and well placed I thought. You also resisted overuse of the ever popular flash transition, which I also thought were well placed.

I really liked it. Very well cut. I am sure the couple will be very pleased.

[Matt Trubac]

I thought it was very well done. The camera work was good, and the edit was well paced. Watching it once, the biggest thing that jumped out at me were the shots of the bride in front of the window. I thought the bride looked a bit under exposed.

Speaking of the flash transition... what transition is that right when the music picks up, when the girl is on the floor with cards? I'm using FCP5 but I havn't found a transition like this... only "Dip to Color" which I can set to a white, but it isn't the same. I'm guessing it is a 3rd party effect.

Thanks,
Matt

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Matt Trubac

I thought it was very well done. The camera work was good, and the edit was well paced. Watching it once, the biggest thing that jumped out at me were the shots of the bride in front of the window. I thought the bride looked a bit under exposed.

Speaking of the flash transition... what transition is that right when the music picks up, when the girl is on the floor with cards? I'm using FCP5 but I havn't found a transition like this... only "Dip to Color" which I can set to a white, but it isn't the same. I'm guessing it is a 3rd party effect.

Thanks,
Matt

Dip to color is pretty close if you set the transition time to about .5 second. Just adjust the time to keep it paced with the background music.

-gb-

[Matt Trubac]

Yes, but Dip to Color doesn't have the same effect as the transition used in this piece, and the one often used by Glen. I'm looking for something where the highlights go to white first, and spread across the entire frame.

[Chris Thomas]

Originally Posted by Matt Trubac

Yes, but Dip to Color doesn't have the same effect as the transition used in this piece, and the one often used by Glen. I'm looking for something where the highlights go to white first, and spread across the entire frame.

Shows my ignorance with FCP, mistaking what could be a difficult effect to create with simplicity. Perhaps it is me that over uses the flash transition, as in vegas, all I have to do is click the 'flash' transition and it is so... And it always looks so good too, no wonder it is hard not to use...

[Dan Shallenberger]

Thanks all for you comments! I appreciate you taking the time to watch the video.

Chris - The camera moves I learned from Mark Von Lanken's training dvd The Art of Moving Camera Techniques. It was well worth the money, and my moving camera shots are getting better with more and more practice. I'm looking forward to picking up a stabilizer (Stedicam JR I think) sometime soon.

Matt - That transition is called FlashFade, and it is very hard to keep from overusing it because it's so cool. It looks really nice with a soft diffusion before and after as well. It's a free transition I got from my church. I can email it to you if you want.

Dan

[A.J. Briones]

Originally Posted by Matt Trubac

Yes, but Dip to Color doesn't have the same effect as the transition used in this piece, and the one often used by Glen. I'm looking for something where the highlights go to white first, and spread across the entire frame.

you can do this manually with fcp in the following manner (presuming you want to transition from clip 1 to clip 2 with a 5 frame in and out transition):

- duplicate clip 1 and place it right on top of itself in the timeline.
- set its composite mode to "add"
- double click the top layer of clip 1 and keyframe the opacity so it goes from 0 to 100 in the last 5 frames
- drop a gaussian blur filter on the bottom layer of clip 1
- keyframe it so that it goes from 0 to, i dunno, 50% (or whatever you prefer) in the last 5 frames
- drop a color corrector filter on the bottom layer of clip 1
- keyframe the color corrector so that it is set to default 5 frames from the end
- keyframe the color corrector on the last frame, then blow out the white, mid, and black levels.

do the reverse with clip 2.

hope this helps.

[A.J. Briones]

heh, i got sidetracked with the filter tangent that i forgot to comment on the video. great work dan! your compositions were sound, the editing was nicely paced, and i thoroughly enjoyed it. your clients will love it!

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Matt Trubac

Yes, but Dip to Color doesn't have the same effect as the transition used in this piece, and the one often used by Glen. I'm looking for something where the highlights go to white first, and spread across the entire frame.

Matt, I pulled this piece into fcp and scrubbed through some of the transitions. The one going from bride to candle close-up appears to be a dip to color. IOW, you see the entire frame begin to lighten up, then complete white out, followed by decreasing lightness back to normal levels.

I haven't looked at any of Glen's work that closely so he might indeed be using a different effect. Uhh, wait a minute. I seem to recall this being discussed as a 'glow' effect that's pushed to the extreme and then back to nothing. The glow will definitely affect the highlights in the frame first. I am going to try playing with that effect to see what I come up with.

-gb-

[Mike F Smith]

I think you have captured some very powerful images. I really don't agree however with all the camera tilts. Tilting the camera in cinematography is breaking the rules unless you are depicting a crazy person or an earthquake. It can be done successfully in wedding videos but usually isn't. Also about midway thru you have a series of several medium shots in a row. When every possible mix your shots. I would have like to see only one or two shots of the building. This isn't about the building. The bride and her family are the heros.

Mike

[Dennis Cummins]

Good work dan, cant beleive its only your 2nd video. you defo have a talent. i dont know any wedding video guys over here (ireland) that could do as good a job. keep up the good work!

Would u mind mailing me that glow filter, its cool. david@dcmedia.ie. Cheers