Why are I worrying?

[Steve Burkett]

Just seen snippets of the Royal Wedding as I work filming one of my own. Slight shake to the footage of one of the readings, blown highlights on a shot down the aisle and some focus issues I thought I saw as they exited. Plus some awkward angles imposed no doubt by church restrictions.

And to think I worry about these issues myself when filming a Wedding. :)

[James Manford]

Yep ... I was critiquing the shots as well. But I have to say ... what a magnificent venue Windsor castle is. Does any one know if they allow regular plebs to use it for wedding photos ?

[Roger Gunkel]

Nice to see that with all the money and expertise plus goodness knows how many cameras, major broadcasters still make the same mistakes and have the same problems we do. The ones that Steve mentioned, then there was also the classic of a beautiful closeup of the Brides's mother, just as Harry's out of focus head blocked the view. After a few seconds of hoping he would move the other way, the director had to switch to another camera.

Some of the burnt out, under exposed and poor white balance shots were all things we experience regularly and learn to correct quickly. Perhaps they could have got some experienced wedding videographers involved. :-)

Overall though a pretty good job given the difficulties involved.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

You have to remember that with content as good as that it really doesn't matter if a few errors creep in!! Content is King!

I remember many years ago someone wanted to know the value of a photo of the Queen's Corgi falling into the Thames with Her Majesty looking on in horror ... the answer was "a fortune" ... second question was what if it was badly composed and out of focus ... answer ?? still worth a fortune!!

[Peter Riding]

I've only seen a few bits as I was working Saturday and yesterday and its the outdoor clips I'm referring to - yes the blown highlights were noticeable to me as well - but it was an exceptionally bright day and I wonder if any cam could have coped with such a wide dynamic range. You see that plenty of times in professional travel shows. Plus the fabric in many white wedding dresses have brighteners incorporated and this may blow what might otherwise be an acceptable dynamic range. Other sore points for me with regard to photography when I need to use fill-flash (not H&M's wedding obviously) are when brides do their own makeup or inexperienced makup artists do it and reflections / specular highlights on the face can look terrible; plus the groomsmen who wear waistcoats with reflective fabric thereby losing the detail.

Pete

[Paul R Johnson]

The pro camera folk who work on jobs like this have been looking at the issues people who know, noticed - and much comes down to some very odd direction. Lots of cuts on moving cameras that are already near the end of their travel, which last a second or two then have to stop. Crane shots that are a bit incongruous - and worst of all, camera positions that mean crossing the line - always a BBC no-no in OBs for years happened so often, in one shot the car is going left to right, then right to left, the reversed again. It is jarring and confusing. The consensus was ITV managed the day better than the BBC for once. Mind you, the camera work itself was pretty decent from every source - it seemed to be what they did with it that was a bit strange.

[Tony Neal]

I watched in UHD on Sky and noticed all of the above problems, which are magnified on a big screen. But when it worked it was magnificent - the jib shots of the cars passing with the castle in the background were just perfect.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Sorry, this is off-topic but brings up something I've wondered about for a long time. Here in the US we would say "why am I worrying", or alternately "why are we worrying". I notice this sort of thing frequently; for example someone from the UK might say "Sony are introducing a new camera" where in the US we would say "Sony is introducing a new camera".

It's been a long time since I've studied grammar, but I believe this reflects the difference between the plural and singular. Is this correct usage in the UK, or just some sort of tradition? Or maybe in this case, it's just a typo?

Not trying to be critical here... just trying to understand the difference between American English and "real" English. :)

[Andrew Smith]

In the UK they speak the Queen's English whereas in the USA you have the President's English.

(Okay, that was funnier when George Bush was in.)

Andrew

[Roger Gunkel]

I think Steve simply made a typo when putting in the title and didn't realise until he posted when of course you can't correct it. I'm sure Steve will comment.

The grammar in this instance Boyd would be the same both sides of the pond :-)

Roger

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks Roger, that makes sense. But what about my other example? I see this frequently on various sites - using plural with a company, such as "Sony are entering a new market" where in the US we would say "Sony is entering a new market".

Perhaps this is the different between considering a company as a single entity vs. a group of people (in other words, "he" vs. "they")?

[Noa Put]

Perhaps this is the different

You can also say; "Perhaps this is different" or "Perhaps this is the difference" but I could be mistaken as American English is not my first language. :)

[Boyd Ostroff]

Haha Noa... sorry, that was a typo! Should have been "this is the difference". :)

[Dave Baker]

Perhaps this is the different between considering a company as a single entity vs. a group of people (in other words, "he" vs. "they")?

That's exactly it Boyd.

The old saying that we are two countries separated by a common language isn't far off. I know if I read a book by an American author, quite often I have to stop and think "what the hell does that mean?" :-)

[Steve Burkett]

Okay, I wrote the message on my phone at a Wedding and my phone has these really small keys, so sometimes I don't always key in the correct thing. However in this case, I may well have been undecided with either the title 'Why am I worrying' or 'Why are we Worrying' and ended up using a combination of the two. Be fair, I was on day 3 of 4 days of Weddings. I can't be accurate all the time. :)

As for Sony 'is' and Sony 'are'. We tend to view Companies in the plural, other Countries can view them as the singular. That said, I've used both tenses I dare say when describing Companies. But then I've watched too much American TV.....