First Clip review

[Ben Mahoney]

Well, here it is my first post, I finally got up the courage to post a couple of clips. This is my second wedding. It is a prep clip of the bride and a mini sort of highlight clip. The prep clip is combined with photos I took. I thought it turned out quite well. Please feel free to critique, I already know one big thing I need to work on is hand held work. You might have to refresh the pages to play the video through. I really, hope you guys enjoy my work as I look up to many of you. Thanks alot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMzTgxDZq10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyPl1roxsVk

[Monday Isa]

Hey Ben,
I checked out the first clip, and have to say that you did ok. It was an okay job. Your opening shots of the dresses or whatever the fabrics were, was just to long. It was also pretty much the entire intro to your clip. Also towards the end you have a clip of her getting make up on and that clip was out of focus and you left it on there for like 7 secs. It was totally out of place and really didn't needed to be included, but you do have your reasons for including it. Over all it was a ok job with lots of room for improvement. Take Care thanks for sharing

Monday

[Eric Gan]

Hi Ben, thanks for posting. I found the 2nd clip quite interesting. Did your client select the music? It's just something that is a little bit unexpected - seeing those images of what looked like a fairly traditional ceremony played to Coldplay. I think you a good job in tackling on such a challenge. Expanding outside of "traditional" weddings is something I'm looking forward to next year.

Cheers,

[Michael Nistler]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for sharing the video clip. Generally, I felt mixed emotions on the edits - some of it worked well while other segments were amiss. Try to use consistent timing with smooth disolves to avoid a jarring effect from the viewer's perspective. I'll second the motion on the out of focus problem - perhaps once might work but not several times. Also, the pans should be fluid and always in one direction, never a zig-zag. I'd say a black-white here and there are okay but try not to overdue that or any "artsy" effects too much (except maybe slow motion). Toward the end, I enjoyed the stills - consider using zoom and pans on the stills, too. The last scene on the first segment should make a powerful statement - be careful not have distracting backgrounds on an important crescendo (i.e., the bathroom shower curtain and rod). Oh yeah, be advised that the music you used in copyrighted - I would discourage usage on a private basis and you're certainly exposing yourself to litigation risk posting it on uTube.

On the Indian wedding, again the zoom and transitions were way too quick, ala "M-TV" generation. One way to better accomplish a fast paced transition would be to use a left-right split screen, each video up for two seconds, interleaved by one second overlap (L-R-L-R...) The framing was amiss on the extreme closeups and the music transitions were surprising. The lighting was fine on some subjects while washed out (overexposed) on others. The camera seemed to loose focus from time to time. About one-quarter through the second roll, three seated women in the foreground were entirely green - I couldn't figure out what happened on that quickie clip. The second half of the video seemed to be zooms on clothing fabric; perhaps there's some symbology we're missing about Indian weddings on why the faces were omitted. If each of these segments were 5 seconds, I felt you'd have some nice material for your B roll cuts. Again, be aware of the music copyright violations.

Thank you for sharing the videos, Ben. You had a lot of interesting footage to work with and judging by your video, I'd say you have an eye for action.

Warm Regards, Michael