New Address

The blog has moved!!!

It is now part of the main site and located at www.sweetpeastudiosnyc.com/blog

If you are not wondering why it has not been updated her for so long, now you know.

If The World Would End Today…

Yes, I have returned with the next wedding.  Been busy with the main site overhaul and saw some rough drafts today.  Everything is on schedule I am told for a relaunch in about 2 weeks, at which point, don’t forget, the blog will move over to the main site and no longer be found on WordPress.

Anyway, here is the opening to Laura and Ro’s wedding.  Kind of taking a heavy documentary approach here in the beginning.  I like it because it does not need music.

The less music, the lest effects, the simpler the cuts, the better.  Like I said before, I think music and effects are just people’s way of covering up the fact that they do not know how to edit.  You’re forcing people what to think and feel.

done

I got there early and just starting shooting what was going on before the photo session, which took place before the ceremony.  I had what I thought were some nice shots, but not much to work with overall- just not much time between when the bride was done getting ready to when the photos started.  So I had to keep the part before the photos start kind of short.

This I Love

I am almost finished with Kelsa’s wedding, just some smoothing over left to do pretty much. But I still have something I want to post from it.  It’s just some raw footage of a shot I took during the photo session in the park across from the church.  There was a wooden swing that you could sit on, and this shot is taken looking through the back of it.

done

Even though it moves a bit, I think it’s nicely framed and has an interesting composition. I specifically waited for them to walk out of frame so that I can possibly use it as a transition shot to the next part of the photo session when they take pictures in front of the church.

Anyway, that’s all.

My Life Would Suck Without You

I know the title doesn’t make much sense here, but I couldn’t really think of anything else.  Plus like I said before, only communists don’t like Kelly Clarkson.

OK, so I have another part of Kelsa’s wedding I want to post.  It’s from the recap, meaning I’m pretty close to the end of the actual editing phase of her wedding (at least for now).

This just shows the basic look and feel I developed for the recap.  I kind of use this style a lot, so I think it has sort of become my thing with the short shots and camera movements.  It uses an effect called “old 85″ which I like a lot, but don’t really get a chance much to use.  It kind of gives a darker brown tone I guess you can say, which is why I don’t use it much.  It really works well with outdoor stuff, at least in my opinion.  I also added a film grain to it, which makes it look kind of like old film stock, but without the film damage look.

done

WordPress is not compressing the clip very well for some reason.  I don’t think it likes when there is movement in the clip.  Hopefully when the blog moves to the main site next month the new player will be more viewer friendly.

Editing in this style is actually kind of hard to do.  You need a lot of shots of a particular type, and each one has to work seamlessly with the one before and after it.  In about 3:50 there are 167 different shots.  It’s physically draining editing like this and going through 5 or 6 hours of footage that is going to be compressed into less than 5 minutes.

I really love the shot of her posing with the bridge in the background.  Perhaps the best shot I have every taken, so I tried to cheat a bit and let it run a bit longer than the rest of the shots.  It probably doesn’t look like it, but that’s what I tried to do.  The shot is more settled than the rest of the shots.

I spent like 3 days or so looking for a song that would work.  I went back and forth a few times between the bride trying to nail something down before the right choice was found. I gave her a list of what I thought would work, she gave me a list of her choices. Eventually something she liked was settled upon.

Grand View

Just want to post another quick shot from Kelsa and John’s wedding.  This is from the photo session at the hall the reception was held at, The Grandview.  The hall is on the banks of the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie.  The views from the river are probably the nicest I have ever seen at a wedding.  I got there and was like, “this video is going to look awesome.”  The entire reception was held outdoors.

Anyway, this is just a shot I used during the photo session at the hall.  Not much to say about it.  Posting it because I think it shows off the view extremely well, plus I also like how the text I created looks within it.  Just a nice shot.  This is also a good example of the framing in thirds I mentioned in the previous post.

done

Sorry, but no music with this one.

Knowing Is Half The Battle

I have a quick shot I want to post from Kelsa and John’s wedding.  It’s from the photo session after the ceremony at the park across from the church.  Posting it because I just like how the shot is framed and looks.  Not much to say about it other than the usual, which is that when it plays on a TV screen, you will not be able to see the photographer on the edge of the frame.

done

Even though I majored in film, I honestly don’t really think I learned much during my studies there other the fact that Ozu is the most boring director in history.

I think I learned everything after I graduated during my time working in TV. That’s were I learned how to write, edit, produce, shoot, etc.  The one thing I did learn in film class that I actually use is framing the screen into thirds, which is exactly what is sounds like. You divide the screen into three parts and place whatever is in frame into those thirds, and that will give you a nicely compositioned image.  I actually do it all the time and this shot is a good example.

Since You Been Gone

As the mighty phoenix rises from the ashes, I have returned to posting.  I have not been posting lately, but that does not mean I have not been busy.  Like I mentioned in the earlier post, the site is going to be going through some major changes, so I have been busy doing that, as well as a lot of prep work for the current project I am working on.  

As people who have worked with me before know, I do EVERYTHING by myself, so at times it can get daunting with a lot of late nights.  I also demand perfection from myself and can spend half a night trying to find a way to push a shot for just a single frame more.

Also, Kelsa, the bride who’s wedding I am currently working on, said she does not want a traditional/regular wedding video, so I have been spending the past few days just going through tons of music trying to find the right song(s) to make her video really work and give her what she wants. (By the way, is there anyone who does not like Kelly Clarkson?)

Anyway, here is a clip from the beginning of Kelsa’s wedding when she arrives and walks does the aisle.  

I decided to take a different approach with this part.  The ceremony is always the most boring part to edit because you’re just letting the scene play out and other than audio or video fixes, you’re just basically changing shots between cameras when necessary.   So I’m always trying to find a way to do something different with it while still being respectful to the fact that it’s the most important part of the day.  I think I may of found something here.

done

When I was outside waiting for her to come out of the limo, I was able to get a shot of one of the bridesmaids entering the church, and then a shot of the bride entering as well.  Instead of just having everyone walk does the aisle in order as usual, I crosscut the two shots of them entering with them walking does the aisle, which I think makes it a bit more interesting than usual.  It’s not that big a deal, but I think it’s a nice change of pace. Not to make myself sound like I think I’m Steven Spielberg, but it also make it a bit more cinematic.

The two bridesmaids are shown mostly from the back because when they walked down, they weren’t very far apart, so it was hard to get a good shot of them and the camera in back just gives a better angle and adds a bit of separation to them both.

I’m Still Here

I have not posted for a while, but I’m still around.  Will start posting again end of the week/beginning of next week.  I am having the main site reworked and updated, so that has prevented me from posting for the past few days.  You don’t wanna know what I have gone through trying to get it done.

Once all the work is done in about a month or so, the blog will be moving there as well, so if you have the blog bookmarked, it’s going to have to updated because all the posts will updated there.  Will of course let everyone know when that officially happens.

This Weekend

I will not be around for a few days starting this weekend, so if you need to contact me about anything, please be advised that I may not be able to get back to you until perhaps late Wednesday or Thursday.

Love It Up

So I have a quick preview from the wedding I did this weekend at the Westchester Country Club. It was fun because I have never been on a golf course before and at one point specifically during the photo session walked onto one of the holes to get a really wide shot because I know I wasn’t allowed to.  Anytime I see a sign that says “do not go on whatever”, you’re just asking me to do it.  

It’s rare for me to ask the couple to do something just for the camera, which is good because if I did then I would of had them run on the course while everyone was playing golf, which would of resulted in them getting kicked out and there wouldn’t be much of a wedding after that.

Anyway, I said I was thinking of not showing preview clips recently, but I knew what I wanted to show and exactly where it was on the tape, so here we go…

This is from the photo session after the ceremony.  I’m choosing this because I really like how the bride, Caroline, plays with the veil and thought it looked really good as I was shooting it. I did a bunch of tight close ups when I shot this part because I just really love shots like that and her eyes really stand out well. 

done

I have stuff I have to get done this week, so it’s pretty quick.  Very simply edited.  I really am liking the whole documentary approach to things recently, so I kind of did it like that to see how it would look, so this clip is also a test of how it would come out.

The photographer was great because he was very vocal and had a lot of personality, so you can hear him giving a lot of direction when he’s taking photos, which is awesome because you can really use something like that to your advantage (if you know what you’re doing).  Most people would probably put music underneath everything to drown him out, but that would be really stupid.  A guy like him is the opposite of how I do things, which is just stay in the background and not get in the way, just try to observe.  

It’s like I always tell the groom when I put the mic on him, as soon as the ceremony is over I’ll take it off and you will probably never notice me for the rest of the day.