Lessons

Lesson Info

Introducing Movements

so introduce the movement way all know how to introduce it we just need to learn how to control how much movement we introduce into the films and my recommendation to you is to do subtle movements you know because if you're looking for more speed and post cause maybe your song is a little bit a beat you can always ramp things up but whenever you try to slow things down that's when the image kind of gets a little bit distorted so my recommendation is that you know just kind of slow subtle movements you know that are visually at the same time visually pleasing to the very you don't want something that's kind of disrupting the flow of the film like oh my god what just happened you know just the camera just swung things like that so just try to control your movements are a lot of times you're gonna have to practice because you're going from one focal point to another so sometimes you may repeat a shot two three two three times just to get it right just to get that focal point right so I'll...

show you ah sample cliff of how we use some of the movement literally just transitioning from one so the other here I'm transitioning from the bride to the lady that's helping her get dressed and this a nice pan up she's looking out there is from the makeup artist of the bride and again just transitioning from one person to the next and it's very subtle and I'm not and I'm not I'm not introducing these clips back to back to back to back in the edit I'm just kind of here and there you know just to kind of tie little mini sequences together now remember you have to think differently when you come in to bright perhaps you want to think about creating shots that are different from everybody else because what's going to happen you're going to be in a market where it's flooded with wedding videographers correct they're going to have the same year they have same onna pa they're going have a dslr on pretty much all the gear that you're using they have but how are they approaching the shots themselves right are they thinking differently you have to always think like this if it's a basic looking shot I'm not even interested in it you're always looking to achieve shots that are different that are outside the box that are that are going to be completely different than any other videographer in your market and you should always train yourself to think like that because if you're ever confirmed in a situation where the shot just looks kind of plain I mean has good composition and good lighting but it's just kind of boy you know it's just it was nice but there was nothing special think outside the box you know look for some foreground you know these these cameras with these lenses and the shallow depth it's great when you have when you're able tto add interest by using foreground you know with reflective objects you know whatever you can see in the room whatever you can utilize start to use these start toe maybe push them philip with your compositions a little bit but like I said you have to understand the basics of composition before you can start kind of breaking these rules or you know going into the grayer because it's not always black and white but you don't want to create compositions that are visually disruptive to the film so always look for always look for shots that are different you know they're just they're they're they're like wow shot you know here should just gorgeous eyes here I'm using reflective surfaces reflective surfaces again and I'm just doing some rack focuses just always things reflective surfaces are great at creating images that are just does it mean anything to the overall story of the day no but it's just candy it's really the same reason why we introduce movement with the camera it's just add interest to what's going on because sometimes I mean listen it's a wedding so it's not the most exciting thing in the world is not like watching a football game it's a wedding you know so sometimes you just have to you've got to add some interest evoking emotion this is a big thank you evoking emotion is a big this is this is one of those areas where you have to be very careful you have to be very careful in being creative and not taking your couples outside of who they really are as people right because we all want to be created we want to get these cool looking shots but as soon as you start making your couples do things that are outside of their own personalities you might have friends and family of theirs watching the film wondering why are you guys doing that goofy stuff because that's that's not who you really are as people so there's a fine line between being creative and taking people outside of who they really are as people remember that you just you're just looking for things that are natural and one of the ways to evoke natural emotions is too sometimes give a little bit of direction and it's not it's not directing it in a way where you're getting something fake or contrived or something that's outside of the personality you're giving them some direction and just simply letting them know it's okay to be themselves and whatever that sparks naturally that's what we're looking for we just want them to be themselves because what's gonna happen is you're gonna have a bride like this one who looks great looks great it's great looking shot beautiful eyes but her facial expression is not what I was looking for her facial expression is telling me the viewer like wow is she upset is she stressed things like that all the things that she's not going to want to see in her film because she wasn't stress and she wasn't upset she's very happy but maybe she was thinking about the ceremony maybe she's thinking about all these things were racing through her head and she was like oh my god oh my god and she's not in my zone and I just need her to be in my zone so what I say as I'm filming this I said hey and she said what and I said be happy and that's all I said and this is what happened and now I have a happy right now you notice there's a difference I didn't tell her to smile because if I told a smile that's fake right you see the difference if I tell her a smile maybe that's something that she naturally wouldn't do when she's happy maybe she would just kind of smile with her eyes or her face would light up and things like that but as soon as I tell her to smile it's fake but I said be happy now whatever comes from her being happy that's a natural emotion and that's that's what I got in this frame so be very careful in your direction you just want you want to use quick little simple trigger words that they're going they're going quickly understand you don't like all this long directions were going like oh my god I'm confused what do you want to do it you know because the reality of the situation is these brides they don't know what to do on camera you know they're not paid actresses they're not models for the most part so so when they're on the other side of the camera they don't really didn't really know what to do so you just kind of kind of like sometimes if need be just given the direction like hey you know be happy this another bride she looks very upset right there I panned down and then I said hey happy thoughts and then I panned up and you'll see she didn't smile but it was like a nice happy grin I just said happy thoughts so maybe she started thinking about her future husband and those were her happy thoughts just thinking about her future husband so remember don't don't give them any trigger word that's kind of like an instruction to do ah specific thing because that specific thing maybe something that's that's fake you know even even kissing is kind of like I never told I really never tell couples to kiss because maybe they're not um our lead emotional in public like that where the public and a lot of you have to be careful a lot of like middle eastern weddings they don't do public displays of affection she have to be very careful and know your clients and things like that but just little trigger words you know be happy I interact you make eye contact happy thoughts you know whatever the situation is look at this here and and you'd tell me if we were able to evoke any natural emotions how does she look as she's walking up she looks like she's going to eat the groom alive you know like there's no verbal command I can give this bright to make her do that you know like look hungry as you're coming towards him there's just there's nothing I can do and right here this was just a shot I directed the day after the wedding because they couldn't do any candidates on the on the day of the wedding it was nighttime so they don't have an opportunity to do any shots together like candy shots it was really no time for that so I said you know I told him I said wow this wedding has been amazing the footage is incredible but if we just had those shots of you guys together you know spending time together cause annika time in with beautiful words that were spoken during the wedding and I said if we just went out for an hour tomorrow thiss film would just be it will be on another level and they told me they said what time you know that was it theyjust out what time you want is there and they were so into video and they were so pumped up that we just went out for like an hour and we just got candy shots you know and these air really just candy shots that as people are speaking these beautiful words about them in the film I can just kind of sprinkle them on top they're just they're just gonna look orders but I don't want them to look fake you know want them like this you know these people just got married I want them to look like they just got married and they're just as happy the next day as they were on actual wedding day so for this particular situation here I coached him I coached him before they made contact and I basically went up to the groom and I said I said you just got married right he was yeah I says do you love this girl he said oh my god with all my heart and I said she's standing about fifty yards away do you miss her already and he goes oh my god so much and I said I want to see that like I just I just want to see that how much you miss her and I told her basically the same thing and then that's what I got I just got I didn't tell him to do anything specific I didn't tell him to lift her up and look into her eyes or any of that stuff because the instructions the instructions would be a mile long I just coached him that the way that I coached him just to put him into the zone this is a quote I got from video on time if you're in this situation you're you're in trouble creating eye candy this is kind of like the magic sauce and when we get into the editing on day three and constructing these films and kind of building foundation the films you're going to see that these films are built upon the words that were spoken on the day off because the words kind of you use the word scenario the film uh so what do you put on top of the words we have to put some interesting visuals and like I tell you we're doing these twenty minute films now that are loaded with hopefully some really creative visual eye candy that we can kind of tie into some of the worst the creative shots that we get they weren't planned they weren't on a timeline they weren't part of the wedding day these air shots that we went out and we created much the same as like a photographer goes out and you control light you control background and you create this stunning imagery were hired much the same to create this stunning imagery to put into these films so don't ever think that don't ever go into a wedding and feel is though I'm the fly on the wall and I just got a kind of document what's going on that's not what they're hiring you for I don't think unless that that's your business model but most people I think that are in this room and they're here on creative life ah you're really looking to evolve and take your work to the next level and kind of cater to those brides that are looking for the visual artists they're not looking for uncle bob's you know like the the whole thing where you kind of like you know hid behind the photographers and kind of fly on the wall approaching things like that that was for you know the sixteen ninety minute films to our videos that were really unwatchable and really known for a long long time just to be long and boring you know so we are we're kind of like the new generation off wedding video first you know we're creating these really films and that's where the terms you know cinematographers and filmmakers and all this stuff has come from so creating eye candy you know like standing by window these air just kind of shots that you know transitioning from her reflection in the window back to her here these air just eye candy shots you know these air not any type of shots that are expected from the bride they're not expected from the bride all these creative shots that you're going to do they're not expected from the bride she doesn't know what types shots you're getting until she gets the actual film but she is expecting you to you know be a creative videographer or cinematographer that's why they're paying you all this money is you're going to produce this very compelling short film but you're also going to load it with some some really creative shots if you can you know if if that's your style you know that you may have a style that's more documentary you know where there's there's interviews and you're laying on top of the interviews you're laying some visual eye candy and things like that but but either way you're always laying on top stump stunning visuals of up the couple together whether you're laying it on top of the words being spoken of the ceremony or speeches or first looks or things like that or maybe it's just kind of like interview base you know maybe it's very documentary and I've seen a couple of those films they're they're very well put together but for the most part I think we're all on the same pages for us you know the style that were trying to achieve right now remember content be assertive get what you need this the bride perhaps like I tell you it's going to be thirty at least thirty percent of your content is going to come from broader props so be very aware of that don't get lazy sometimes you may show up and you got a lot of time but that time's gonna go very fast so that three our window that you had for perhaps or to our window it's just going to before you know it the bride's already doing final touches she slipping in her dress and you had all this time to get other shots now what else happens during broader preparations besides the bride doing makeup and and getting dressed sometimes the groom prep is going on at the same time exactly you have the groom perhaps um what else is going on you have you have set up some of the event going on let's times you have family interactions exactly pops into the room exactly exactly sometimes the dad's going to see the bright for the first time in a dress right that's actually becoming more more common like a father daughter first look in the room type of situation and these air situations that you really want to learn how to control because what are you looking for you still need grey light you're gonna have a great uh you're gonna have a great moment happened but you want that moment tow happen in great lighting so you always gotta think okay dad going to come in and if dad's coming in you need to hold him off at least for like thirty sixty seconds just so you can get set up you need to be well aware like if something special happens you need to have an area where first of all you're gonna have the right lens on your camera because you don't want something to long because you're not going to fit both the dad of the bride of the frame so you want something little bit wider she'd get both in the frame you need to be aware that that's gonna happen but sometimes that that just shows up and just want to come in the room if we can we will hold that outside until like everybody's right not just judges me but photographers well you know photographer wants to be set up for this stuff and we're both hopefully looking for the same situation you know good shooting situation with nice lighting but there's other things that happened on bright perhaps you just have to ask the questions and what I generally do is when I show up if the bride's just getting started with a makeup I'll get a handful of shots just to cover myself sometimes if you say you know what she's not ready to be filmed I'm gonna walk away and I'm gonna get some other stuff by time you come back maybe they already done or you got involved in shooting something else that was like really good maybe somebody you know writing writing a toast or some gift exchange type of thing and you know you missed makeup so what I try to do is at least get a handful of makeup shots just in case and then I leave and then I'll start asking questions I'll find the maid of honor and I says hey is anybody giving speeches tonight only going to give a speech was I ok er have you written your speech so we gotta have a room must be just a good hold let me get a few shots of you writing speech because a lot of times they'll have their speech on their ipad or their computer or even on their phone and they still got to transfer what's on there till like a piece of paper that they're going to use for the reception so I said okay hold off in a little bit just don't start without me just let me know whenever you gonna start writing him and we'll do it so when they come up to me later they said hey I'm gonna start writing my speech okay great can we do it over here and I've already got maybe like a couch like this with a nice window window light coming in and I just haven't write it there and then I'll just bounce around the room and I get a million won shots of them letter writing now am I going to use all those shots and post no but it's just arsenal that I have it's always best to have more than you need then less than what you need you know we've all been stuck in post where we're like oh my god I just had one location shot you know or a couple more locations I see what it would have been great you know or a couple more bride getting in her dress shots and things like that so just shoot as much as you can I mean you're in there for an hour and a half two hours maybe shoot as much as you can you know if you leave I typically leave bride perhaps with one hundred fifty usable shots one hundred fifty very usable shots that's a lot and a lot of those shots I don't you when I had that footage to jessica and she's dead and she's like oh my god this is like this is eternal I'm going to use all the shots you know she's like a fraction of them but the good thing is she has some flecks of some flexibility imposed to where she can go and she can pick and choose what she wants but it really is an exaggeration of shots you know that that I do but you should think the same way because why leave them there why leave the shots at the wedding you know if you could take those shots with you to post just just get him you know if they're good shots um and they could be strong and you know a lot of times I tell you a lot of video offers to do highlights with every wedding we don't but sometimes if you don't shoot enough footage what do you putting in the highlights in the trailers what kind of shots the best shots so imagine if you burn all your best shots in the highlights what do you have left for the film that they haven't already seen you know but if you should an abundance of shots that are of the same moments but different angles so they look different it's like they're seeing all new shots you know I mean so you could you could ultimately do ah highlights and a film and the shots only shots that are always gonna look the same as what the kiss when they get pronounced you know maybe some vows if you use that and edit but other than that everything should look kind of different if you have that footage you know so I just tell you don't don't get lazy don't get lazy always find out about gift exchange and and here's the thing jessica does groom perhaps forming and there's got to be there you guys have to be connected you have to be connected with your second shooter because sometimes if I have a bride that's preparing this beautiful gift for the groom and writing that letter like this broad was writing a letter um the groom's gonna receive it so I need to make sure that my second shooter is on the same page and she's going to complete the sequence because in the film you know I have the one side which is going to be great for the film but I need the receiving end if I can so sometimes I call him the foot I said oh my god you know they're going to run over a gift to you and she's like okay I got it I got this and sometimes she did sometimes I forget to call and she you know she's so on her toes that she's got everything I already know she's so efficient and she shoots absolutely everything in the group and group perhaps she almost overshoots so I already know she's got like every ounce of footage over there but it's always nice to be able to give your second share at least a heads up uh especially they're coming right now if they're going there in a march over right now you want them to be prepared with proper lens and things like that so ask questions there's always things gonna happen um what's another situation that we run into a lot of props that's kind of like a monkey wrench we come in in the music's blasting and we cringe the doctors don't care because they just shoot photos and there's no audio involved but we cringe because we're like oh my god that's going to conflict with the audio that I'm trying to record for the film here's the way that I approach it because you don't want to be the guy that comes in or you come into the room and they're watching the national football championship game you know college college football on tv and you're in alabama alabama is playing if you turn off that tv when alabama's playing in alabama you're not gonna be well like um so just use common sense my general rule is if nobody's watching the tv turn it off if nobody's if the music's kind of just like on commercials and not really music nobody really listen to music I was slowly tune it down if the people are kind of dancing around the room to the music you don't want to like turn it off that's probably not a good idea so just use common sense now here's the thing what are we only concern with in terms of audio the stuff that's usable for the film so usually most of the chitter chatter that's going on during bright perhaps it's not even relevant to the film it's not even stuff that I would ever use in the film now when the brides in the makeup chair and people are coming over like oh my god you look so beautiful and this and that and there's a wonderful things to the bride that I can use in the film if it's like a string of that and there is music playing or there's a tv going I will motion to my assistant I give little hand signal grant down the music or I would just flat out tell the bride I say hey okita mayfair there's such there's so many beautiful words that are being spoken in here right now but the promise of that music's just conflicting and you're going to hear that music in the video instead of the beautiful words even though they're not you know you gotta kind of blow off a little bit on dh there like oh we're not even listening to the music go ahead turn it off so that way whenever the bride says turn off the music it's a lot better than the videographer coming in turning off the music because the bride's kind of like the one that's in charge even when I'm asking for things like a high chair for instance I'll always call like concierge or housekeeping and I says yeah the bride wants a high chair in the room right now you know it's never I need a high chair because you'll never get the high chair so remember whenever you need something always say the bride wants this now okay so and if you're in a hotel in there really catering to the bride trust me within a couple minutes somebody's knocking on the door and here's a highchair a barstool or something just make sure your specific when you say high chair because I've been brought like booster chairs for kids so when the bride's getting in her dress all music goes off I don't care what the situation is because this is guaranteed a segment of time where there's going to be beautiful words being spoken the entire time and if they're not speaking beautiful words to hurt her in the sign there there's a problem but there always is so as soon as that bride's gonna slip the dress the primary focus I don't everybody in that room families friends everybody should be that bright and not a tv screen or not a radio and things like that the primary focus is a bright so at that point of time I don't know what the situation is the music goes off and the tv goes off because that audio I do need so make sure if you don't really have one I'd liketo have on onboard microphone for the camera because of built in the built in microphone on these cameras is not it's not the greatest thing in the world that audio still passing through the camera so I always clean my audio and once we get into our editing day on day three I'm going to go into some of the things that I very quick the things that I do too clean audio and correct clips and do it's very fast I don't get into anything I'm not a colorist I'm not a sound guy or anything like that I've just found ways to achieve results that I want very fast very quick I'm going to share with all you guys because I don't want I don't want to spend a lot of time in the edit like in post production I just want to enjoy my clips and be creative with my work you know and whatever sound trucks I've had about whatever natural audio I've identified I just want to work with that and just be creative I don't wantto I don't wantto worry about correcting errors you know in audio and video and things like that stuff that should have been shot right I don't want to do with that imposed but some self you can't avoid like that odd that audio that's passing through your camera and you have you know simone water sounds and they're either you want to remove but but I have ah I've got a great tool teo to deal with that so I'm going to share that premier fanatic had said that was me when I started out always wished I had more shots in post and I wish I could redo the entire day but now I know what I want and know exactly what I need to make a nice film and I'm just wondering do you do you think it's a good idea to edit in order to know what shots you need course that's works editing is going to make you a better shooter because you're going to know when you have a lack of shots you're like oh my god I need to shoot this more I need to shoot that more um editing this stuff ah lot of times the studios will hire a subcontracted shooter that doesn't edit so that shooter doesn't know what that editor needs to create the film so it's always best I mean the strongest shooters are the people that had it because they know exactly what they need they you know they get in there and they're like oh my god I should have had a better angle on this I should have a better angle this I should have got more of this so I can kind of piece it together with a little mini sequence so yeah one hundred percent editing even even with jessica you know she's ah she's a primary editor for us and a lot of times I'll even hear her grumble like oh my god I should have done this I should have done that and then the next time out she does you know she addressed the issue and things like that and I've done the same thing myself from way I wish I would have done this you know but but thankfully there is a next time hopefully that will be able to go out and get some great footage