OK, I guess I must be a glutton for punishment but I just couldnt resist...

I've recently finished editing a wedding video for some friends of mine. I've uploaded the final highlights montage online and I'd love your feedback.

Last time I posted a wedding montage you pretty much slaughtered my attempts, but justifiably so. Hopefully I've learned a few lessons this time (slow mo and vignettes and flashy light rays kept to a minimum!) so maybe you will see an improvement? I'm not 100% happy with some of the shots myself and I can see a lot of room for improvement if there is a next time. I havent decided if wedding videography is really for me yet. Do I have a future in this or am I barking up the wrong tree?

And yes I know the lighting sucks in the first dance, but this is a freebie and I cant afford all that lighting gear yet, particularly as I might not be doing it ever again.

Anyway, the video is up at


or if that doesnt work try:


Why Vimeo doesnt work in widescreen is beyond me...

Hi eternal - camera work has improved greatly since the last one and this looks so much better.
I watched without the music and suggest you do too. I'm sure the B&G loved it, but my personal cribs are on the cuts, especially from the photo session onwards.
Same scene cuts with the couple in different positions/location, jar on the continuity and would have benefited from cutaways to guests/watchers while the B&G moved scenes. Either that or a fade down/up if it's really desperate.

1st dance was dim and maybe a bit of gain would have helped and in the absence of cam lighting was to be expected.
Much improved though, keep it up!

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Hi Eternal

Nice job but I also agree that the cuts were a little jumpy! If you are going to do hard cuts then make sure it's to a completely new camera angle ..as already suggested cutaways are a great asset but tricky if you are only using one cam. Whenever I have a fixed camera the second one is shooting cutaways!!
My biggest asset at receptions is an LED video light..you can easily make it yourself for less than $50 and when the lights are dimmed on the first dance it makes your life a lot easier!!

I'm a big fan of keeping ambient sound in the mix too and I see you did it on the speeches but not really anywhere else..it adds realism to the shoot instead of just music!

We look forward to the next one!

Chris

A few jump cuts need to be sorted out, do you have any shots that can be sandwiched in between one shot of the main action and another similar shot of the main action? I'm not a big fan of a continuous music track, it would be better to fade it down at certain parts and then back up again. You want to capture the atmosphere both in pictures and sound.

Nicely done, good steady camera work, upright verticals, I thought the lighting was ok in the first dance or maybe I've just got the brightness turned up too high on this monitor. I wouldn't have used the opening title sequence you used but if the bride and groom are happy with it, that's all that matters.

Don't like the beginning effects...better keep it simple.

Thanks for the feedback. Glad to see I'm moving in the right direction!

My main wedding video has all the ambient sound in, I guess when I'm doing the highlights of the day I just prefer the music telling the story, but thats me.

The little intro thing was for the start of the wedding video, not the montage. I just added that to see if anyone thought it was cool or not.

I do have cutaways that I could have used, but I like to keep the focus on the bride and groom where possible, but I will certainly think about that if there is a next time.
Thanks again!