Wedding Video Tips
I have a friend who helped me out a few years ago writing some article for me on an old photography site I used to run.
One of the categories of that site was “Wedding Photography Tips” so I contacted him and asked for a good article on that subject.
I felt pretty confident in asking him because after all, he had been a wedding photographer for years back in the day.
Given that the site was aimed at the amateur photographer I made sure that I explained this to him so that he didn’t get too technical or involved for the average person.
What I received back was the following article.
“Here is the one tip you need when you are asked to photograph a friends or family member’s wedding: Don’t do it!”
The road to disaster is littered with people who thought to themselves, “Hey! How hard can it be?”
In light of that I can across an article this week foolishly offering tips for videoing a wedding.
As with many aspects of video the basics lie originally in photography and the number one basic for both wedding photography and videoing a wedding is simple. Don’t do it!
Get a pro or get out of town but don’t do it.
If after all you are still hellbent on pursuing this madness then check out the article linked below for some tips that may keep you alive.
Remember, when your friends or family members are saying to you that they don’t expect much and anything will be fine what they are really imagining is something out of Gone With the Wind!
Family Histories
A few weeks back I was mentioning a type of project I think a lot of people could be interested in and was the subject of family histories.
There has never been a time in history where the average person had such access as we do today, to tools that would allow for the recording of such complete histories as we do today.
Even if you hadn’t thought about it before take a moment to consider how amazing it would be to be able to speak at length with your great grandparents or beyond about their lives, their experiences and the world they grew up in.
Of course this type of project falls well into the style that would be best described as documentary and to do something like this is very simple.
All you need is a camera and some good audio recording arrangement and you are good to go.
The one tip I know of for when you are interviewing people is that really all you have to do is remind them to repeat or include the question you ask before they answer.
This eliminates the need to record your own voice as well.
I found a list this week of some good questions you could use to get the ball rolling in any such interview.
How To Shoot Videos in Wind, Noise, and Sunlight
Tim Schmoyer from Video Creators on YouTube is usually one of my key “go to” sources for all things YouTube especially from the perspective of understanding and being successful there.
If you have any inkling of wanting to explore how to be more successful on YouTube for whatever reason I highly recommend heading over to his channel and taking a look.
He has some great tips and tricks for all manner of YouTubeness right there for free.
This week I was a little surprised that he broke away from his usual subjects and posted a new video showing just how he actually makes his own outdoor videos.
The good news is that it is one of the best how to videos on shooting video I have seen for a while now.
He covers all sorts of little details like some basic location ideas for getting good light, setting white balance, getting good sound and a whole lot more.
On top of that Tim has a great presentation style that makes the subject matter not only interesting to watch but easy to understand.
More Outdoor Stuff
Another great article this week from PremiumBeat this time on the subject of filming outdoors.
By no means an in depth analysis but a great set of tips nonetheless!
Don’t Get Bogged in the Detail
One of the key aspects to the overwhelming success of YouTube as a service is something that these days is easily overlooked.
That aspect is the fact that the video content YouTube started off with and continued through the growth years with was very simple in nature.
These days we see lot’s of videos on YouTube that have production values comparable to any mainstream TV show or even Hollywood movies and that’s all very well but the majority of viral content and content that is being watched fits more into the cheap and cheerful category.
Youtube is built on user generated content and most of it is not professionally produced.
The real driving force behind just about any successful video or video channel on YouTube is the content itself, not the slick looking cuts and transitions and soundtracks and special effects.
- Low Tech Video Production Can Lead to Higher Viewer Engagement
FaceBook Ups the Ante
Well it’s been a few months since FaceBook fired their opening shots at YouTube in the coming war for your attention with video.
FaceBook started off with their usual low key promotion of the service then ramped it up by openly throttling the sharing of videos not hosted on their service.
The way they achieved this was by adjusting their Open Graph algorithm to favor videos hosted on FaceBook over videos that had been simply pasted onto timelines but were actually living on YouTube.
Now that the hoohaa over that has settled they have started the war in earnest by introducing a revenue sharing model similar to YouTube.
Now before you get all excited you need to bear in mind that at this stage they have only partnered with three content providers.
They are Funny or Die, NBA and Fox Sports.
At this point in time they haven’t announced anything beyond that and most likely their strategy will be to see what happens with these three high volume partners then see where to take it next.
Got Filters?
Now that the still camera market and camcorder market for the purpose of shooting videos has finally melted into one we are seeing some pretty interesting developments in both areas.
One trend that has been driving this development is that traditionally camcorders were always superior for video and still cameras superior for stills.
This is no longer the case and what is driving the market is the demand that still cameras get what the camcorders have always had and vice versa.
The area of lenses is one of the main areas this has been happening.
Camcorders at the consumer level always offered pretty poor choice when it came to lenses and most came with a fixed lens that had very limited capabilities.
On the other hand the still cameras were always superior in that area but for the purpose of video they had other limitations.
Now we are in a great position where they are all beginning to offer an incredible array of lenses and fittings to suit all situations.
So, the inevitable question that comes up is, What about filters?
To answer that there is an excellent cheat sheet over on NoFilmSchool that will answer your every question!
Fireworks
This is a pretty light weight tips article over on VideoBlocks on how to video fireworks and although they say “Like a pro” I am not sure it’s that detailed!
It does however give some good insights into dealing with the particular demands of shooting bright lights flashing in a dark sky.
- How to Film Fireworks Like a Professional
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