One thing you might consider is turning the slo-mo "on and off." Someone is walking down the hall at normal speed, then suddenly they are moving in slow motion. If you combined this with a film effect or sepia, etc., it could really be nice. JMHO...

Definitely don't use too much slo-mo.

Also, to get the best smoothness when you render slow motion, you might want to add supersampling, set to 2 or 3 (however, beware: it increases rendering time by that much, i.e., 2x or 3x). You can also add a little motion blur, although that may make it look too soft (this also adds considerably to rendering time). When you render, you can try "best" instead of "good," although I don't think this makes much difference with slow motion (makes a BIG difference with still pics).

Count me in. Too much of any special effect makes it not very special anymore. For weddings, I would suggest you save the slow-mo for the must have events like: the first kiss, throwing the rice, cutting the cake, a few others maybe. I think 90 seconds of solid slow-mo is at least TWICE as much as you should use.As far as how slow, depends on the scene. I'd scale it down.

For my money a wedding is about telling a story . . It's about telling the story as it evolved and danced through the day.

The bride is THE person and everything revolves around her and watches her . . within this story there are a zillion other little stories pranching and leaping into and out of view . . colours and laughter and tears and flowers . . . so much to film and capture . . the final piece is a full and rich testement to "their" day . . our job is to record and caopture ads much and as many items that can bring that story to the couple . . . let the people and the day tell its story . . any effects are the last thing to think about . . get wound up in the day . .be detached but also be part of the feelings that are going on . . . special effects? . . . Get the picture?

. . .I've been lucky to have worked with a bloke who understands these things . . Get the picture and then think what's needed OR better still film something that would work with a special effect . . but at the end of the day, create that day BACK for the couple . . after all they will not have known what had happened . .this is where videographers can really add to the "whole" experience for the newly weds . . .

Sorry wandered off a bit . . but maybe not - yeah?

Grazie

Thanks all for the opinions. And typically, I would agree that too much of one thing is never good. I recently purchased an instructional "how to" wedding videography video from www.universityvideo.com. It takes you through all the elements of shooting a great wedding video to the final edit. The last segment of the video, they actually show one whole wedding from start to finish. The first two minutes of the of their sample wedding was slo-motion, and a mix of color video and black and white video. It was what they called the highlight montage. They shot really close tight shots of the gown, a hand, a boutineer, a profile......and set this two minute segment to music using only slo motion and the bride and groom interchangably reciting the vows. Then after this highlight montage, a black screen appeared and then all the usually stuff began. It was absolutely beautiful. So, I guess, for the most part, I am trying to re-create this "slo-mo montage for the intro to a wedding that I'm currenty working on. Thank you for all of the insight though, I really do appreciate it.
Lori J.

Just for the record waht's the best way of introduicing slo-mo, cut straight to it or a gradually decrease till the required speed is met?

Myself, I prefer to go straight to it but are there beniefits I have missed of using the alternative?

>Just for the record waht's the best way of introduicing slo-mo, cut straight to it or a gradually decrease till the required speed is met?<

You may as well ask " what looks best next to a blue brushstroke, a red one, or a purple one?".

It all depends on the painting.

Gary