My First Wedding Video

[Adam Barker]

Hi.

Today I've officially launched my brand new podcast, and the first episode is my first wedding video. Please have a look, and tell me what you think.

Something I gotta warn you about, though...The file is about 41 minutes long and nearly half a gigabyte in size. So download when you have some time.

Okay, here is the link:

http://silverdrumvideo.libsyn.com/
feed://silverdrumvideo.libsyn.com/rss

Enjoy!
Adam

[Robert Johnston]

Hi adam

Im sure the more experianced ones here will be critical of some of the video but here is the one that I think you need to work on. You are hand holding the camera way to much and it shows all the way through the video. When you are zoomed in you think you where in a earthquake zone. If the only place you could shoot from was the back of the church you should of used a tripod. Tripods are combersom but it is what is needed to make your shoots look professional looking and steady.

As for only having one camera I think you done pretty well although a lot more depth of feild shoots could of helped a bit to break up all those zooming ones. I also would recommend looking at www.elitevideo.com for some of there products, well worth it in my opinion.

[Adam Barker]

Originally Posted by Robert Johnston

Hi adam

Im sure the more experianced ones here will be critical of some of the video but here is the one that I think you need to work on. You are hand holding the camera way to much and it shows all the way through the video. When you are zoomed in you think you where in a earthquake zone. If the only place you could shoot from was the back of the church you should of used a tripod. Tripods are combersom but it is what is needed to make your shoots look professional looking and steady.

As for only having one camera I think you done pretty well although a lot more depth of feild shoots could of helped a bit to break up all those zooming ones. I also would recommend looking at www.elitevideo.com for some of there products, well worth it in my opinion.

Hi Robert:

The only reason why the camera is so shaky during the rehearsal scenes is because on several occasions while I was filming, the wedding photographer kept tapping me on the shoulder to ask me questions about where I was going to be during the ceremony (grrr!).

Also, I WAS using a tripod during the entire ceremony (not sure why you'd think that I wasn't...?!). I was also using the tripod during the Best Man and Maid of Honor toasts. However, a lot of other times during those two days of shooting, hand-holding the camera was my only option...and under some of the circumstances that I had to face, a lot of shots were pretty shaky. That church is pretty small, plus there were a lot of people at this wedding.

The focus on my camera was also giving me some problems during this wedding (as you might have noticed). I had auto-focus turned off, but at certain times while I was manually focusing, it was difficult for me to tell if the image was truly in focus or not.

Lighting...my camera has only one shoe on it; so if I have the wireless microphone attached, then I can't attach my camera light at the same time (and vice versa). During the reception, the bride and groom chose to have the lights in the ballroom dimmed, to set the mood. This, of course, didn't help the image quality very much.

Please remember that this is my first wedding video, and of course it's not going to be perfect. What matters to me the most is that when the B&G (and the bride's parents, one of whom I work with at my day job) saw this video, they really loved it...so much that they apparently didn't really care about any of the video's flaws.

However, feedback from people on this forum is also important to me, otherwise I wouldn't be here asking for your opinions.

Adam

[Robert Johnston]

Hi Adam, was wondering what camera you where using. I use the sony pd170 which has a mic holder and a shoe.

I would try and talk to the photogs before everything starts, they should leave you alone after this. If this fails explain to them politly that you are trying to film and if you have any questions that you will answer them after the rehearsal. I understand about having to run about handheld thats why I bought the steadycam merlin. The camera is a little heavy for it but with practice it can work. Sorry about the comment about the service and best man toasts, but I only had time to watch it once. All I really noticed was the shaky camera work through the video. You have to understand that 41 mins is a lot to take in and be awake at the end of it.

On my first wedding the photog followed me around in stead of me following him, I thought he was ment to be the pro not me. Worse he got in as close as he could and got into my cameras line of sight grrr!

[Adam Barker]

Hi Robert. I use the Sony HDR-HC1 HDV Camcorder and I edit using Final Cut Express HD 3.5.

The photographer and I discussed things beforehand, and during the entire gig he and I were very cooperative with each other. We both worked out sort of a plan with each other, so that we wouldn't get in each other's way and/or each other's shots. In fact, the other day he said to me that I'm easy to work with and that he looks forward to working with me again someday.

Does anybody else here have any other questions or comments about my wedding video?

Adam