Cinematic Wedding Intro - Grateful of Critique

[Gary Masson]

This clip is a 3min intro of a wedding I am shooting next weekend. I would be grateful of any views you may have re filters, tips & techniques you deem appropriate.
To put the clip in context; the fade to black at the end with the audio fading will then fade from black to a B & W flower which will then transit to full colour and rack focus to the venue behind; the full wedding video will then start in earnest.

http://www.albaweddings.com/images/test.mov

the file is 23mb and quicktime

[Ian Broadbent]

Gary

Its a nice sequence put together well. Although one issue I had was with the transitions, when you zoomed into the couple on the pier, the transition to the kiss was a little off putting, probably better to use a disolve/crossfade

I may be missing the point though as its a long intro to be honest. I am no expert either so take my comment with a pinch of salt, just felt long. Having said that it did give me an idea for the wedding I am in the process of editing ;)

Ian

[Victor Kellar]

First of all, very nice filming.

I hated the "canned" opening creds but that's just me; simpler the better

This is an intro? Looks more like a pre-wedding video that would shown at the hall or put at the beginning of the wed vid ... it doesn't really feel like an opening

The music certainly doesn't seem appropriate for an opening; this is where you want to create some excitement and enthusiasm .. .something more upbeat. Your video establishes a lovely mood, I just don't know if it works at the beginning of the video. Also, for an opening, I like to have a few clips from the actual wedding day

As I said, I enjoyed your filming. Like the previous poster, I have an issue with that zoom in to black trans. What you have here is lovely, but you may want to re package it for an opening

[Gary Masson]

Thanks guys. I take the point about the black transition.
Regarding the overall clip and intro comments. I think I must have led you to misunderstand what I was trying to achieve.
In the US, I see alot of guys compiling "love story" montages with interviews etc. Regrettably, this is very hard to acive in Scotland because many couples are shy about talking on camera. Instead, I opted for a short sequence introducing the couple to the viewer and wanted it to be dramatic and romantic and the same time. It would have to be viewd in the context of what follows in full colour to see if it works or not.
I did not put titles such as "groom" "bride" etc, I just don't like that. and thought it woul be a different approach to the run of the mill baby photo montage at the beginning.
Thanks very much for the comments, I appreciate that.

[Richard Wakefield]

i think that would be perfect for showing on a projector at the wedding, provided the couple don't mind and you're able to do that.

i liked the location (we're not as lucky as some of our other forum readers with their warm locations :), and i like the interaction shots you were able to achieve with the couple

my constructive criticism comment: some of the composition could do with improving. if you watch clips on TV, you v.rarely see alot of free space (sky) above head shots. always try to film the frame with as much of the relevant content (i.e. people). i can appreciate it's difficult sometimes though

nice music too :)

[Gary Masson]

Richard

I know what you mean re locations; and the light always seems so warm stateside compared to here.
I absolutely agree re composition. I noticed whilst editing that my framing was a little off on a couple of clips; too much headroom for my liking. I was trying to keep in mind that I would be using a 16:9 matte overlay to give a cinematic impression and must have lost concentration at some point (more than once actually). Its simple errors like that which indicates my rather amateurish status and needs to be worked on thoroughly.

[Richard Wakefield]

as i say, it's not always easy to do when you have to get shots first time...

actually maybe if you'd used the same shots, but cropped the tops dramatically to make them look deliberate...or use PiP

anyway, hope the wedding goes ok..good luck

[Vito DeFilippo]

Okay, I'll toss off a few comments.

Your "Alba Weddings Presents" is pretty high test stuff with the fireworks and brass band music. I would redo that to look more classy and professional. And it should go before the wedding title, not after, so that it reads "Alba Weddings Presents... the Wedding of, etc". Then you could also start the music under the wedding title.

I agree with the above comments that the canned titles look cheesy.

I also agree that it's a bit long. You could easily cut out some of the repetitive stuff and cut the shot length down.

The negatives aside, I thought you had some beautiful shots and ideas, and that it was put together well. The look was very nice, and I liked the mood it gave overall.

Originally Posted by Gary Masson

I noticed whilst editing that my framing was a little off on a couple of clips; too much headroom for my liking. I was trying to keep in mind that I would be using a 16:9 matte overlay to give a cinematic impression and must have lost concentration at some point.

Yes, you are giving too much headroom in your shots, but when you are using a 16:9 mask over 4:3 footage you have a perfect opportunity to fix it. I don't know what NLE you are using, but you should be able to shift shots upwards under the mask to fix the framing issue.

[Allister Gourlay]

Originally Posted by Gary Masson

In the US, I see alot of guys compiling "love story" montages with interviews etc. Regrettably, this is very hard to acive in Scotland because many couples are shy about talking on camera.

I agree gary we wouldnt get away with it here in scotland, but i did like the idea!

[Tim Harjo]

The Link no longer works :(