Wedding Tips?

[danel]

Hi guys,
I did a couple of wedding videos and wanna ask if any has some tips regarding the following...

1. Do you use a light during the dinner march-in? I really dun like to use lighting as I feel that it will kill the mood and ambience of the wedding venue (plus machiam action pattern pattern) but I have problems esp when the bride comes in from outside to inside where there is a strong backlight... How ar?

2. During the march in, do you track the bride coming in (shaky usually), or do you station yourself at the stage area and shoot them walking in (steady shot)?

Thats all for now... maybe this thread can be a wedding advisors thread...

[danel]

Alright another qn come into my mind... do you use tripod? haha...

[samvision]

Originally Posted by danel Alright another qn come into my mind... do you use tripod? haha...

Monopod will be good for your case if you have a bugdet for your solution.
very rare that the speech will be more than 10 mins long.

Cheers
www.vocaremedia.com

[JRC]

Originally Posted by danel Hi guys, I did a couple of wedding videos and wanna ask if any has some tips regarding the following... 1. Do you use a light during the dinner march-in? I really dun like to use lighting as I feel that it will kill the mood and ambience of the wedding venue (plus machiam action pattern pattern) but I have problems esp when the bride comes in from outside to inside where there is a strong backlight... How ar? 2. During the march in, do you track the bride coming in (shaky usually), or do you station yourself at the stage area and shoot them walking in (steady shot)? Thats all for now... maybe this thread can be a wedding advisors thread...

I also dun like to use light....will avoid if possible.
Normally, i use 1/25 shutter if too dark....and also +6 if needed.

For the march in, usually will have bright spot light on couple so just expose properly for the couple. And the spotlight usually will be standard 5.6k colour temp. (or is it 3.2k...can't remember).

I like to do 2 videographer shoot where obviously u can cover more angles. If i do solo, I just station near the stage to shoot if red carpet not too long. If too far can't see, then I probably will shoot at 2 locations. Location 1, shoot. Couple nearing oredy then run to location 2, shoot. I never try shooting and move together with them. I also will setup a stationary unmanned cam on wide on a tripod.

Something i find a bit difficult is the focus during march-in. Auto focus will not work and when you zoom in during march-in , the focus must be accurate. Imagine, the subject distance keeps changing, so the focus need to be adjusted, and need to take care of exposure, take care stability, take care composition. Not easy.

[Faiz]

spotlight temperature is 5500k bradder

[JRC]

Originally Posted by Faiz spotlight temperature is 5500k bradder

U good can differentiate 5600k & 5500k ?
but my dvx preset only got 3200k & 5600k.

But to think of it, both types of spotlights should be possible ?
Just switch to either one of the preset wb.

To make things easy, just leave the manual wb as it is (when you manual wb in the ambient lighting), can always post process the colour.

Any experienced wedding videgraphers care to share ?

[danel]

thks for the replies nice...
another qn... do you guys shoot with tripod? i mean morning session all the way to night.. I usually use tripod during morning make up, then handheld when groom attacks and hh all the way until dinner, make my tripod like monopod go around... but carrying the tripod around is really cumbersome... wats your take on this?

I got people tell me wedding must hh all the way... where got time set up tripod and use monopod?? hmm.. just wondering... novice here... dun dare to try too much and take people's once in a lifetime event for granted...

[Faiz]

i'leave it to preset 3200k anyway mix lighting kinda tricky 3200k is kinda good coz when u hit those kinda martin lights u can see a seperation in backlight i personally love mix lighting to so as not to make things turn out kinda flat ! happy trying

[engr]

I use a monopod.. its not rock solid stable but it does help...

[GhostSG]

I agree with JRC, have 2 angles as back up one unmanned on tripod. A video light is still a must as some hotel dun even use spotlights just dimmed lights. Try using a low watt(20W or less) video light will help a lot and will not kill the ambience. While walking backwards have to co-ordinate with the photographer and dun grip so hard in the handle, relax and just grip lightly and let ctr of gravity keep the cam stable or you can just use a mini tripod(spread the legs-retracted) or monopod(retracted) as a balancer.

www.heevproduction.com

[sundazz]

personally i like hh all the way.. becos i luv camera movement.. abit like MTV style.. think more interesting. so far i oni used once a mono pod for speech in a church wedding.
video lites is a must especially u can fill when there is back lighting and hotel ball room too!

[devilboy]

Originally Posted by danel Hi guys, I did a couple of wedding videos and wanna ask if any has some tips regarding the following... 1. Do you use a light during the dinner march-in? I really dun like to use lighting as I feel that it will kill the mood and ambience of the wedding venue (plus machiam action pattern pattern) but I have problems esp when the bride comes in from outside to inside where there is a strong backlight... How ar?...

Usually, for close up, 20watt is acceptable, anything higher your object face may be wash out. The Close Up here denotes that you are between 1~3m away from your subject. If the location have spotlight... your lamp serves no purpose... As for the bride and groom coming in, manually focus on the center of the door, if you use automatic focus, it will takes roughly 3 secs to focus on the couple when the door opens...

Originally Posted by danel 2. During the march in, do you track the bride coming in (shaky usually), or do you station yourself at the stage area and shoot them walking in (steady shot)?...

Actually depends on your setup, if you are running the show alone, go for tripod/monopod ("PLEASE DUN NOT USE PHOTOGRAPHY TRIPOD, USE VIDEO TRIPOD FOR THE SMOOTH TRANSVERSE.") with a LANC for smooth zooming in/out.

Following through the walk is good, however, do take note that you maybe obstructing the photographer... this must be well coordinated. If your cam is NOT shoulder mount, I personally think you should NOT be doing following through because it is extremely shaky unless your "TaiJi" skills is first class or you mount on with a "SpiderBrace"