My first highlights vid so be firm but gentle

[Dynesh]

This is what I've got so far.  I may change it a little for the final product, as I really go through my footage and see what I have.  But I wanted to get something for them to look at on their honeymoon.  Again, from an earlier post I made, exposure was a beast, for a newbie like me anyway, because of the all white tent with the bright sunny day setup we were shooting with.  Like shooting in front of a huge window on a bright day.
http://haleyvideo.com/KimberlyRyan/index.html

[HankCastello]

I think your clients are going to be very happy.  It's obvious that you have talent - you're going to do very well in this business.  You made the best of a bad situation with the bright background and your exposure looked just fine and there were minimal glare issues.  You really nailed that groom's reaction shot!

I had occasional issues with composition / framing  (sometimes too much headroom; subjects looking or moving out of frame instead of into; rule of thirds could have been followed a bit more; etc.) and was looking for a better angle on the bride (& nice closeup), during the ceremony.  A wide camera in the rear would have given some viewing relief by varying shot types and angles (even more important for a doc-style video), though I understand you did have little room and much crowding.  I am firmly on record with my view that the majority of shooting at the ceremony should be done from a tripod, though handheld shots can work for highlight videos like this.

I generally prefer instrumental music when doing voices over the music - but maybe I'm just old fashion.  At any rate, since you did a bit of voice of the minister, I was a little disappointed that the most important sound bytes weren't included - the vows, or at least the main part of the vows.

You show a lot of talent here, and the technical aspects were mostly good. This is much, much better than work I've seen from some wedding video veterans.

[Dynesh]

Thanks Hank

I might include the vows in the highlight video, but to be honest, they were only the standard repeat after the preacher bit, and were not very emotional.  I've been back and forth whether to have any audio during this highlight film, and I may just leave it out.

I would have loved a better angle on the bride, but honestly there was nowhere to put a camera that would have gotten the shot, not without being the center of attention and standing right next to the best man.  I did have a third camera set up in the back on a tripod, but as I mentioned in my other post, I did not leave myself enough time to get everything set up properly, and this camera suffered because of it.  I might still use some shots from it though.

[osbornes5]

Oh yeah! For a first wedding, that is first rate buddy. I'm with Hank on this. I have recently seen work from veterans that is not this good. I have a few thoughts that I don't have time to get into here and will try to post later but basically I really like the overall effort. One quickie, Hank is right on the headroom thing so I will fall in with him on that, however since that is a re-curring problem that I too constantly have to remind myself to not do, I can't say much. Congrats man!

[Dynesh]

Ok, thanks.  Yeah, anything you can post that will make it better, by all means do.  Since I've already had a couple of compliments, thereby saving my ego, hit me with em.

[BillGrant]

Hey Wes,
I echo the others in saying great effort. I saw only a few minor color balance issues in the beginning, and the shot of the tree in the beginning was too shaky but also looked washed out. I think you got some great content here which is so often lost to things like shot composition etc. The only other comment I would have is about pacing, and trying to keep it moving a bit. I know the song was slow etc., but I lost interest a bit towards the middle. Again, great work. Did I detect some Von Lanken techniques here?
Bill

[Sly Ry]

Nice Job, Wes! Very good for your first time.  It will only get better, I'm sure of it.

I also noticed a bit of the headroom too but I don't think it was that bad.    I'm sure they loved it.  Plus, there's always ways to 'try' to hide stuff like that(doesn't work all the time though). You can try zooming the clip in a bit as long as there's no noticeable pixilation.  Works well especially if it's a quick filler or cutaway clip that needs adjusting.  

Or you could try slapping a widescreen bar over your montage and move the clip up and down to position the clip properly and hide the 'dead space' above the head.  I had a major problem with this on one of my first videos.  The video was 4:3 but I threw in a widescreen bar on the entire vid to fix the headroom and passed it off as if I shot in widescreen in the first place.  I've even done it where I have the video in 4:3 and only put the widescreen bar over the montages/highlights.  That I passed off as an artistic way of recapping the entire wedding.

I rarely do that nowadays but it doesn't mean I don't get those problems still.  It pops up.  But it's like I said, you'll get better each time and remember stuff like that.  Especially 'the rule of thirds'.  I shoot in HDV now so its always widescreen.  It can be tough to hide headroom.

Also, if you can't use a tripod in a situation like that, a monopod might be good just for the added stabilization.  

I think you're on your way to good things.  I can tell you've got a style of your own in the making.  I saw some reveal shots and you're attempt to match the the words of the song to the action in your clips.  Good stuff

[Souvenir]

Sorry I'm chiming in so late, but I didn't want to miss the chance to tell you what a great job you did.  Awesome!  And notice that I didn't say "Awesome...for your first video."  I mean awesome, period.  You are going to do well, if this is your starting point.  I'm sure you're going to give your area competition a run for their money!