artisan wedding videos by studio msv

Featured on the Re:Frame Blog: Part Two!

Check out part two of my interview on the Re:Frame Blog!

http://reframecollective.com/blog/?p=515

Leave a comment there or here to let me know what you think!

BAPVA Tonight!

I'll be at at the Bay Area Professional Videographer Association tonight speaking on the merits of the Canon 5D MkII. If you're in the area (Santa Clara) or if you've always wanted to know about the MkII and how it can help improve your business, you should totally come!

For details, go to www.BAPVA.com and click on "meetings"

Questions to Ask Your Videographer

An award-winning, "Top 25" videographer friend of mine, Dave Williams, of DVideography in Philadelphia recently posted a very interesting post on his blog about questions that every bride should know about their wedding videographer.

Most of the time, brides ask "how long have you been doing this?" or the groom asks, "do you shoot digital" and other questions that they most certainly gleaned from a well-meaning bridal magazine or resource site. There's nothing wrong with these questions, per se, but what your really need to know about your videographer is perfectly summarized by Dave's list of ten questions you need to ask your videographer before hiring him:

1. How will my movie sound?
2. How do you handle lighting?
3. How do you vary your shots?
4. How do you plan to tell the story of my day?
5. How long will it take to get my finished movie?
6. Are you 'preferred' by the other companies I've hired?
7. May I see other clients' movies and read what they had to say about you?
8. How do you get your shots without being 'in the way'?
9. Why are your services more expensive/less expensive than other companies?
10. What do you to do make sure our movie is unique to our personalities?

Thanks, Dave for the keen insight and hopefully we can continue to help educate the public about what GREAT wedding movies should look like!

Time-Lapse Videos

Time-lapse videos are a great way to enhance a video. Any video.

A time-lapse video is defined as a video clip that depicts an event in a much shorter span of time than the duration at which it took place in reality. For example, remember those videos of flowers blooming or fruits rotting that show hours of footage in just a matter of seconds? That's time lapse.

A time lapse video can be taken in one of two ways: (1) by filming an event in real time and speeding up the footage in post production, (2) using special cameras that will expose very few frames at a time every so often. The former being the more prevalant in event videography, the latter being the only viable method of shooting long-term time lapse sequences.

The sequence below that depicts the fog rolling in over the hills in San Francisco was shot with a regular video camera at regular speeds, then sped up in post.

The following sequence is of my backyard being landscaped and was taken with a special camera. I set my camera to film two seconds of video every five minutes over the course of about a month or so. There would be no viable way to shoot this with the other method; I would end up using up nearly $1000 worth of tape and countless hours of capturing and editing. The way I did it, I only shot about 70 minutes worth of tape to cover nearly a month of activity.

Time-lapse sequences can be used in your wedding video if the videographer has the right equipment, creativity, and foresight set up a great shot for you. Otherwise, you can specifically request one if you'd like to see a time lapse for your video. Your quoted prices may vary.

Some good time lapsed subject matter include setting up of your reception hall, a sunset, moving clouds, crowds of people moving from one place to another, and other similar events.

-----UPDATE-----

Some readers have suggested that I post a photo of the completed yard, so here it is!

As a side note, in a previous post, Lessons from a Landscaper, I reported that I was inspired by the work ethic of my landscaper. His philosophy that doing good work means "one job turns into many" that doing a bad job means "this job becomes our last" was apparently just lip service.

Although he did do a good job for the most part - like 98% - he was supposed to return to finish sealing the concrete and slate tiles with waterproof sealant and he has yet to do so. It's been months now and I'm not holding my breath about him coming back. But likewise, he's probably not holding his breath that I'll refer him any work either.

Midomi

Not too long ago I blogged about an iPhone app called "Shazam". It was a neat app that allowed you ask your iPhone to listen to a song and have it tell you the composer/artist and the title of the track. It is great for those moments in the car or at a restaurant where you hear a song and just want to remember it so you can buy it on iTunes later.

Well, today, I want to talk about the perfect companion app for Shazam.

Imagine, gals, that you've got a song stuck in your head because you just came from the salon and while you're driving home you wish you had pulled out your iPhone to shazam that song you heard. But you were busy chatting with your stylist so it kind of slipped your mind. But now that you're by yourself in the car, you can't stop humming that tune. What's the name of that song? you wonder to yourself.

Enter Midomi.

You bust out your iPhone, click the Midomi icon, and then tap the "Sing or Hum" button to hum the tune that's stuck in your head. Midomi does a quick search of its database and spits out the name and artist of the song you're thinking of.

Brilliant.

Click here to get Midomi from iTunes.

My Friend Stacie on HGTV

My friend, Stacie Tamaki was on HGTV (Home and Garden TV - it's a cable network, people) a few years ago and they did a feature on Stacie and her amazing minature origami cranes and hand-crafted mini cherry blossom tree.

It's a pretty cool video but, if you know Stacie at all, you'll wonder why the editors of that piece edited the life out of Stacie's personality. Maybe she was camera-shy or maybe she was just really concentrating on her craft, but whatever the reason, meeting Stacie in real-life is a much more exhiliarating experience than what they depicted in the video.

Anyway... check it out!

You can see more of Stacie's stuff at www.tinycranes.com or her regularly-upkept blog, www.theflirtygirl.com (which is where I first saw this video, not coincidentally. Hat tip to Stacie. :-)

David Jay Interview Part III

Here's the third and final part of celebrity photographer, David Jay's interview that I helped co-produce down at his home in Santa Barbara a few months ago. Check it out!

Great job, Ron! Keep up the great work!

The Coolest iPhone App!

My movies are very music-driven.

If you're a bride of mine, you've gone through the rigors of having to create a song list from which the foundation of your wedding movie will be laid. If you're not a client of mine, you might get a sense of the importance of music in my movies just by watching them.

So it's no surprise that sometimes my "editor's block" centers around the fact that I can't find that perfect song to create the mood I'm looking for in a particular segment. In fact, I try my best to find (musical) inspiration wherever it finds me. That means trying really really hard to remember a band name, a song title, or a lyric or two that I can later Google from my desktop. But my memory has never been great when it comes to that sort of thing so thankfully those days are over!

Have you tried the Shazam App from your friendly neighborhood iTunes App Store? Goodness gracious. It's awesome.

Imagine: You're a wedding videographer. You're in an elevator and you hear a killer tune that would be perfect for a dramatic Super 8mm segment of the movie you're currently working on. You bust out your iPhone. Touch the Shazam App icon. Shazaam listens to the song you're no longer trying to memorize the lyrics of, searches its database for what song you're hearing, and reports back to you the title, artist, album, and even allows you to order the song from iTunes.

Nice.

If you've ever found yourself in a situation where you heard a cool song and wanted to know who it was by, but couldn't, give Shazam a quickie (FREE!) download.

David Jay Interview Part II

Here is part two of the David Jay Interview that I helped Ron Dawson of F-Stop Beyond and F-Stop Beyond in Living Color shoot down in Santa Barbara not too long ago.

Check it out.

If you missed my post about the interview, go HERE.
If you missed part one of the interview, go HERE.

Save Money on Wedding Attendance

I saw an article today at U.S. News and World Report regarding the busy (and costly!) wedding season. Many of you have probably attendedd multiple weddings already this summer, but the article listed five ways to save money this season on attending weddings.

Here are their thoughts...

• Just say no. It may sound harsh, but sometimes it's the best solution. Ask yourself, will I still be friends with this person in 10 years? If the answer is no, then consider responding with a polite decline.

• Stick to one celebration. The National Endowment for Financial Education points out that guests are often expected to attend not only the wedding but also a bachelor or bachelorette party, bridal showers, and engagement parties. If you do end up going to more than one, NEFE recommends sticking to cheap gag gifts for the bachelor and bachelorette parties and giving joint gifts with friends for the others.

• Rein in presents. While registries often include $400 china sets, there's no need to buy something beyond your budget, says NEFE. Gift cards at the couple's favorite store can be just as welcome.

• Negotiate with the happy couple. This may not be a popular idea, but if the bride wants her attendants to wear a $200 dress, plus the shoes and jewelry of her choice, she may need a reality check. Similarly, meeting up for a bachelor party in Las Vegas may not be possible for the groom's friends who already have to travel to the wedding.

• Split costs with friends. Consider weddings as a chance to relive your college days of room sharing. Ask the bride and groom to match you up with another guest who might be interested in splitting hotel costs.