Critique my work (new to this)

[Ethan Wise]

Hello all. I have been filming weddings for about a year, with only 5 or 6 videos under my belt. I would like you guy to critique my work and let me know what is good, what isnt, and what to work on etc. Thanks! Here is my latest wedding highlights film!

Ashley & Matt on Vimeo

[Robert Benda]

Are you F'in kidding me? 5 or 6 weddings? This is excellent... great lighting, color, and awesome camera movement. For a teaser/trailer, the pacing and music is great.

If you can sustain that kind of excellence for a longer form video, than kudos to you.

Care to share what your gear is? What is that song?

[David Barnett]

Yeah, really good. My one personal critique is that while the steadicam & slider was really well done, it was a bit too much for me. Seemed the entire bridal prep & reception were shot with alot of motion. I may be old school but I would prefer a bit more static & tripod shots. Tho myb that's just cause that's how I shoot with the glidecam & slider used only once in a while.

Out of curiosity what cam, glide & slider do you use? Also, was the reception in general fairly bright, or was that incredible low light perfomance by you & your cam. Seemed almost like a daytime reception.

[Clive McLaughlin]

Love the transition at 2:56, and love the jewellry fixed tripod shot idea 0:32! Well done! Do more and (probably) charge more!

My critique would be that you shot too shallow at the reception/dancing. So little was in focus, i found it annoying at times. Were you at your limit of ISO? If not go up to 1600, or 3200 and try to shoot up around f4.5!

[Ethan Wise]

Originally Posted by Robert Benda

Are you F'in kidding me? 5 or 6 weddings? This is excellent... great lighting, color, and awesome camera movement. For a teaser/trailer, the pacing and music is great.

If you can sustain that kind of excellence for a longer form video, than kudos to you.

Care to share what your gear is? What is that song?

Thanks a lot! I offer a 4 minute highlights film and a 1 hour or so long edit with all the events from start to finish.

I use a Canon 5d mkii and a T3i, a 50mm, 24-70mm, 11-16 mm, and a 70-200mm lens, Glide cam hd 2000, Konova slider, etc!

Originally Posted by David Barnett

Yeah, really good. My one personal critique is that while the steadicam & slider was really well done, it was a bit too much for me. Seemed the entire bridal prep & reception were shot with alot of motion. I may be old school but I would prefer a bit more static & tripod shots. Tho myb that's just cause that's how I shoot with the glidecam & slider used only once in a while.

Out of curiosity what cam, glide & slider do you use? Also, was the reception in general fairly bright, or was that incredible low light perfomance by you & your cam. Seemed almost like a daytime reception.

Thanks for the critique! I completely agree that there is too much movement. I stay on the Glidecam the entire wedding except for the ceremony and my second camera person operates the slider and a tripod for long takes. We definitely need some static shots to break up the constant flow.

We use a Glidecam HD 2000, and a Konova slider. The reception was typical lighting but the windows surrounding the venue helped with light. It didn't start to get dark until 8:30 and we had already finished filming everything for the highlights film by that point. I Glidecam using my 50mm and keep the aperture around 1.8 so that I can use a low iso and everything looks nice. It can be very difficult though, and I am going to upgrade to the new Sony a7s soon. The Canon 5d mkii will become B-cam and the T3i will be backup.

Originally Posted by Clive McLaughlin

Love the transition at 2:56, and love the jewellry fixed tripod shot idea 0:32! Well done! Do more and (probably) charge more!

My critique would be that you shot too shallow at the reception dancing. So little was in focus, i found it annoying at times. Were you at your limit of ISO? If not go up to 1600, or 3200 and try to shoot up around f4.5!

I am glad you liked those unique shots I strive to do! The shallow DOF at the reception was a result of trying to keep the iso down by shooting at a low aperture. I will be fixing this problem soon by getting the new Sony a7s and being able to bump the aperture up.

[Clive McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by Ethan Wise

I am glad you liked those unique shots I strive to do! The shallow DOF at the reception was a result of trying to keep the iso down by shooting at a low aperture. I will be fixing this problem soon by getting the new Sony a7s and being able to bump the aperture up.

Yea, I've had the A7S for two months now! Its low light is a real game changer!

[Adrian Tan]

Hi Ethan, just wanted to comment that one thing that's interesting about your camera movement is the use of multiple axes. I found that a little inspiring. What I mean is: the steadicam move up to the "A" and "M" on the doorway: it's not just dollying in and panning, but you're also booming up; or the slider move on the dress later isn't a straight horizontal reveal, but also dollies in towards the dress.

[Clive McLaughlin]

Also, love the splitscreen for the reception entries! It helps when the bridal party all actually look like a PARTAY!

[Noa Put]

For a highlights film the way you shot and edited it it works really well, your film has a lot of "schwung" (That's a German expression :)) but I would not see this working well for a longer version, especially as there is a move in every single shot which works well for very short form edit but gets tiring quickly if you do 15-20 minute edits. I also did miss live sound and by that some form of depth in the film, it was too videoclip like and too shallow to me and the viewer is less likely to connect with the couple, now it just looks very cool but I have to admit it's fun to watch.

The very shallow was at times distracting, especially on the shots where focus was a bit all over the place, I think a 50mm on a steadicam does require a certain amount of experience to pull of stable shots while maintaining focus, you might use a wider lens (I use a 12mm on my gh3 or 24mm full frame equivalent on my blackbird.)

You say you only have shot weddings for one year, do you have any prior filming experience? From the looks of your film I"d be surprised if that was not the case.

[Brendan McElwaine]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

You say you only have shot weddings for one year, do you have any prior filming experience? From the looks of your film I"d be surprised if that was not the case.

I'd be surprised and also a little depressed (about the level of my own work) if he is producing work of this quality with no experience other than 5 or 6 weddings. Really great stuff and the only thing I would change is to include some audio from the day.

[Ethan Wise]

Originally Posted by Adrian Tan

Hi Ethan, just wanted to comment that one thing that's interesting about your camera movement is the use of multiple axes. I found that a little inspiring. What I mean is: the steadicam move up to the "A" and "M" on the doorway: it's not just dollying in and panning, but you're also booming up; or the slider move on the dress later isn't a straight horizontal reveal, but also dollies in towards the dress.

Thank you for noticing those small details in my shots. I actually watch a ton of wedding films to get inspiration for my films.

Originally Posted by Clive McLaughlin

Also, love the splitscreen for the reception entries! It helps when the bridal party all actually look like a PARTAY!

Thanks! I rarely do split screen stuff but it just seemed to work for this film.

Originally Posted by Noa Put

For a highlights film the way you shot and edited it it works really well, your film has a lot of "schwung" (That's a German expression :)) but I would not see this working well for a longer version, especially as there is a move in every single shot which works well for very short form edit but gets tiring quickly if you do 15-20 minute edits. I also did miss live sound and by that some form of depth in the film, it was too videoclip like and too shallow to me and the viewer is less likely to connect with the couple, now it just looks very cool but I have to admit it's fun to watch.

The very shallow was at times distracting, especially on the shots where focus was a bit all over the place, I think a 50mm on a steadicam does require a certain amount of experience to pull of stable shots while maintaining focus, you might use a wider lens (I use a 12mm on my gh3 or 24mm full frame equivalent on my blackbird.)

You say you only have shot weddings for one year, do you have any prior filming experience? From the looks of your film I"d be surprised if that was not the case.

Haha, I had to look up what "schwung" meant. Thanks for the compliment! I agree that doing my style of filming for a longer version would not work. I only offer my clients a 4 min highlights film and a DVD with the ceremony from start to finish and all the important events at the reception. The DVD is nothing like the highlights film that I make!

I used to use my Tokina 11-16mm lens on my Glidecam but I just like the 50mm look so much better that I can't go back to wide. I might look into a Sigma 30mm, though. Regarding my prior filming experience, I majored in Film and Media at Towson University and graduated last year. I really did not learn much at all in school but I have been making other types of films like music videos, documentaries, and small corporate stuff for the past year alongside my wedding gigs. You can check out my work at Wise Films - Homepage

Originally Posted by Brendan McElwaine

I'd be surprised and also a little depressed (about the level of my own work) if he is producing work of this quality with no experience other than 5 or 6 weddings. Really great stuff and the only thing I would change is to include some audio from the day.

I have been filming for almost 2 years, my first wedding film that I made last year was garbage. I am just very critical on myself and I strive to make each wedding video better than the last. I spend way too much time watching other peoples wedding films for ideas!