Very beautiful . . . very human . . . and very moving. You are, as always, an inspiration to me.

Graham

Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions for me re: your pre-ceromny video, i.e. techniques?

How did you create the extended black and/or fade look at the beginning of your vid?

In your opening of the house…did you shoot or tilt your camera to get that look?

How did you get the wide screen look, is that the 16:9 setup or was it shot on your camera’s wide screen mode? Alas, did and can an individual crop video?

How did you get your video to look as if it is in slow motion?

As your video is playing and you go to another scene, I notice a sec. or two of solid black, how did you achieve that?

I also notice where as in your video it looks as if the camera or your subjects are moving, did you achieve this by tilting the camera yourself, pan-N-zoom, tracking or what?

Finally, is that or this the complete pre-ceremony video you would and/or will supply to your client?

Mind you, I know some of the answers but wanted to hear your take on it, i.e. re-assurance.

In closing, I know a lot if not all comes from experience! So, explain away.

P.S., I loved the video-footage.


Kindly thanks,

Not to take away from GM's editing skills, but I feel the reason these pieces work so well is that he does such a good job shooting for the edit. I used to post weddings for a local videographer and I would have killed to have been handed some creative shots with smooth motion, crane shots, dutch angles, and staged moments (i.e. groom looking out the window etc).

Nice work. I did see one flash effect of the bride early into her section... I can't tell if it was a flash frame or a wanted effect.

Cool.

And how did you get those smooth Pan/Dolly shots? Did slowing the video down remove the "jittlers", or did you use another method?

Also, have you considered teaching these skills?

MAGNIFICENT video!

TD

Very moving, captivating, and well shot as always, Glen!

Thank you ever so kindly Spot. I'm hoping they can work out your schedule to come see us at the GPVA. I'd love to meet you.

Your the one that originally tought me Vegas (via the old ClassOnDemand Vegas 4 set).

Very beautiful . . . very human . . . and very moving. You are, as always, an inspiration to me.


Hey- thanks Graham.

Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions for me re: your pre-ceromny video, i.e. techniques?
I'll give it a shot.

How did you create the extended black and/or fade look at the beginning of your vid?
I'm not quite sure what you mean. Could you clarify?

In your opening of the house…did you shoot or tilt your camera to get that look?
Shot it with the camrea dutched (angled).

How did you get the wide screen look, is that the 16:9 setup or was it shot on your camera’s wide screen mode? Alas, did and can an individual crop video?
I shoot in full 4:3 then crop down to 1:85:1 via the Pan/Crop in post. Starting with a 4:3 aspect allows me some flexability in regards to animating pan/crops and or adjusting the composition (headroom etc).

How did you get your video to look as if it is in slow motion?
Can be done many ways in Vegas. The one I use the most is the simple Ctrl+Drag method. Nothing precise or scientific about it- I go by the way it looks rather than slow motion percentage "numbers".

As your video is playing and you go to another scene, I notice a sec. or two of solid black, how did you achieve that?
Just allow a gap in the timeline. If your background is set to default (black) where ever you "don't" have an event it'll be black.

I also notice where as in your video it looks as if the camera or your subjects are moving, did you achieve this by tilting the camera yourself, pan-N-zoom, tracking or what?
Depends on which shots your talking about. Some of it was camera moves- some of it was motion induced in post via pan/crop.

Finally, is that or this the complete pre-ceremony video you would and/or will supply to your client?
This is only a small section that begins the video. A typical video will run around 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Mind you, I know some of the answers but wanted to hear your take on it, i.e. re-assurance.

In closing, I know a lot if not all comes from experience! So, explain away.

P.S., I loved the video-footage.
Thank you kindly.


Kindly thanks,

Very emotional - I almost cried when the woman started talking.

Good stuff....looking forward to seeing more of your skills.

-dean

I also notice where as in your video it looks as if the camera or your subjects are moving, did you achieve this by tilting the camera yourself, pan-N-zoom, tracking or what?
Depends on which shots your talking about. Some of it was camera moves- some of it was motion induced in post via pan/crop.

( ) Actually throughout the video it looks as if the subjects are camera is moving or gliding ever so slightly…particularly at the 1:38 – 1:43 and so on mark.

( ) How did you achieve the soft or fluffed look on the video? Whereas the footage is clear but not overbearing clear giving it a fake or live coverage look?

Well done, Mr. Elliott.

I've been putting off "redoing" the much-too-long edit of my stepdaughter's wedding in San Francisco several years ago (when I was a newcomer to editing). Watching your piece, the inertia fell away and my imagination is stirred again. Thanks for the inspiration.

GM,

What camera did you use and how did you achieve that CU of bridge's face?.
Very nice.

And how did you get those smooth Pan/Dolly shots? Did slowing the video down remove the "jittlers", or did you use another method?

Slowing down the footage definitly makes it more percievably smoother. However a bump is a bump regarless of playing it back in a slower speed. So it definitly has to start out fairly smooth- but by no means has to be "perfect".

( ) Actually throughout the video it looks as if the subjects are camera is moving or gliding ever so slightly…particularly at the 1:38 – 1:43 and so on mark.

The shot beginning at 1:38 and ending 1:43 was a simple hand-held dolly/truck move. The shot following it (bride w/ father) is an example of a twist induced by pan crop.

GM,

Cameras were Sony PD-170, Sony VX2100, and a Panasonic DVC-80.

Two more question: Do you render a widescreen version to give to the family or do you just letterbox 4:3 on the DVD? Also, do you leave the final product 60i or do you give them a 24p version?

4:3 Cropped, and 60i always.

Beautiful footage and marvelous edit!

The reason I asked about whether or not you did letterboxed 4:3 is because I have found that while that format looks great on a regular 4:3 television, it gives you black bars around all four sides and a small picture in the center on any of the newer widescreen TVs. This bothers me no end. On the other hand, if you convert to 16:9 using Ultimate S or Celluloid, it's not quite as clear as the straight letterboxed version on a regular 4:3 TV. I understand that this is because the DVD player drops every fourth line than deinterlaces the footage since dropping every fourth line would otherwise screw up the interlace pattern. I was curious as to how someone of your high caliber dealt with this.

Since moving to Vegas 6, I have found that 24P renders look great to me now whereas in Vegas 5 and earlier, I alway found them too low quality to actually use. Not only that, but with the 24p render, the scaling of 16:9 footage on a 4:3 set looks fine as well since there is no deinterlacing neccessary when the DVD is down scaling the footage for a 4:3 television.

I'm only pointing this out because your projects look to me like ideal candidates for a Vegas 6 24P widescreen render. Your stuff is very filmic to begin with, and the motion is extremely smooth and would translate well into 24P. I'll bet if you did a test render in 24P widescreen format with one of your projects, that that would become your final destination format from that point on.

Another benefit would be that you could render and post 640 x 352 clips that would be similar file sizes for all of us here to download and enjoy.

I love it. It is a wonderful piece of work. I would be happy if I could produce something similar.

Greetings from Europe,
Wolfgang

I'd love info on anyone teaching a good seminar or course on commercially viable videography skills. I'm OK on the edit, but my camera work needs to play a little catch up.

You can e-mail me at tdillard[at]gmail.com. Thanks!

I'm very busy at the moment- email me if you get the chance
gmephotovideoatyahoodotcom

From one videographer to another, it looks very very good! Not discrediting you work, I think the music played was 75% of what had a major impact. The camera angles were different and last but not lease the slow motion always adds emotional drama to footage. Your choice of music was top notch and it craeted a very larger than life feel for the video footage. Overall its definitly something to be watched over & over numerous time.