GShutter Studios

July 30, 2008

Planning Wedding Photography 101

Filed under: Photography, Videography, Weddings — glenn @ 3:06 pm

This article has been written as a guide to help brides with decisions related to getting the most out of their photography sessions before, during and after their wedding. There are many different things that go into planning a successful wedding and we’re not going to be addressing them all. My goal however, is to at least help you in making more lasting memories. It’s a shame, but almost all weddings are scheduled figuring that the photographers can just deal with whatever is done, and in most cases we do pretty well working around things. However, planning with us in mind will only enhance the most important part of the day, your memories.

Step 1 - Location:
Most brides think that having a wedding in the local church is nothing more than giving them a call and getting a date. However, you need to be aware of a few very important things before making that date. First of all, almost all churches have rules about photography that can make recording your special day next to impossible. Some are dark, some have balconies, some don’t. All of these things need to be considered, because where your photographers can place themselves goes a long way to making you happy when it’s all over.

The Rules: The next big problem is that most brides are not aware that the church they’ve scheduled to house their special day, has rules against allowing photographers at the front of the church. This may not seem to be a problem at first, but what happens when you walk the aisle and everyone stands up? Another issue is that while capturing images from afar is not a problem for most professional cameras, you can’t expect the color and clarity of the images to match those that are captured much closer.

Lighting: Everyone knows a camera can’t take a picture in the dark. It needs plenty of light to get those special memories recorded and having a wedding in a dark location means that your images are not going to look that great when it’s all over. So try to schedule at a location that offers plenty of light, even at night. During the ceremony flashes and lights can’t be used for obvious reasons, so making sure you have enough light from other sources is very important.

Position: Just imagine, you’ve made all the plans, scheduled all the help, have everyone seated and you’re ready to go. The cameras have been forced to stay at the back of the church and there just wasn’t anything you could do about it. What’s left? Well, where are you going to face? Most brides end up walking down the aisle and facing the front of the church with everyone looking at their backs. While this might not bother the people so much, the camera won’t be able to get your facial reactions and other gestures that you might like to have 10 years later. Try to talk to your wedding planner and/or photographers to see if they have any suggestions during this phase of the wedding. Remember, we all have something at stake during your wedding and anything that will make it run smoother will help us all. Just ask.

When it’s all said and done, the photography that has been captured will be all thats left. The cake will be eaten, the food gone and the flowers will be wilted, but the images of the day will last forever. Plan your wedding as if it’s a movie production and the results will be something you’ll be proud of for the rest of you life.

–glenn hancock

July 21, 2008

Revised the GShutter Studios website

Filed under: General — glenn @ 8:15 pm

Due to a number of people having problems seeing the information on the pages of our main website, I’ve redone things a bit to make it more obvious that pages have changed and populated with new information. The larger icons that you click to move between the different sections are now located at the bottom of the pages.

I also fixed the wedding page so that its the first to come up and I’ve moved information around to hopefully make things a bit easier to navigate for everyone. Please continue to let me know what you think of the site so that I can continue to improve it.

Thanks for visiting.

–glenn hancock

July 14, 2008

The Latest News

Filed under: Videography — glenn @ 4:14 pm

In between weddings we’ve been trying to get more involved in other things such as commercials and music videos. The latest few videos posted to the site include a couple competitions that we’ve entered.

To check out the videos you can navigate to the Corporate section of the website and we’ve also posted a new funny video over on the Film section. We’re still working on the “Rewind” series, but things have been a bit slower than expected for various reasons. We hope to get back involved in that project very soon as we’re very excited about getting the first of the series completed and posted.

I will be signing up for my Apple Final Cut Pro Certification within the next month and hope to have all of the courses in Final Cut Pro as well as Color completed very soon. I’ve been using these programs for some time, just decided to go ahead and get the certification programs completed.

I also did a fun little test video working with Time that I’ll post to the Film section later today. Its only a test though so don’t expect anything serious… :-)

until next time.

–glenn hancock

July 2, 2008

Glidecam Wedding

Filed under: Videography — glenn @ 7:43 am

As I mentioned in the previous blog, I’ve had for some time a Glidecam 4000 which I’ve wanted to use in weddings but wasn’t sure how it would be accepted. One reason was the sound system and another was, I have to wear a vest that carries the camera and stabilization system and I wasn’t sure how my brides would take to it. Well, I finally got my nerve up to wear the system at the last wedding and believe it will be a normal attachment from here on out.

The images that are captured with this device are so much smoother and classy looking, that it far outweighs just holding a camera and taking shots. Of course, as always, I did learn a few things and am taking the unit back to my shop to make a few enhancements, but overall, it was a perfect day with a perfect couple. You can see the sample footage from last weekend on the wedding samples page for Erin. I think you’ll see the huge difference between having a system like this and not having one.

As always, stay tuned for more in upcoming entries.

–glenn hancock

June 27, 2008

Upgrading Sound

Filed under: Videography, Weddings — glenn @ 4:48 pm

We’ve been filming weddings and recording sound on our video cameras which has worked pretty well to date. However, we’re starting to get into the whole flying camera gig where we place the camera on a specially made piece of equipment and walk it around instead of holding it on our shoulders. While this makes our entire video quality 10 times better, it presents a whole new set of problems. One of which is weight and balance.

To pull this off we use a Glidecam 4000 with a vest and spring loaded arm. This unit alone works magic, but in order to capture clean sound of wedding vows we have to use a wireless mic system. This system requires constant monitoring, adjustments as well as a fairly heavy wireless receiver that has to plug into the camera. Because of this, it has presented numerous problems when working the camera on the Glidecam 4000.

This past week we stepped into the work shop and created our very own battery powered sound station that allows us to record even better sound onto our Macbook Pro with more professional sound equipment, all without needing power. This black box can sit in the back of the church or even outside if needed, and record all the sound we need and you desire. The wireless receiver is positioned with our sound station allowing the camera to be run off of the Glidecam 4000.

We’re very excited about this new addition to our equipment and you should check out the new wedding videos on the wedding page to see examples of the new process. We think you’ll be amazed! The first one should be up sometime next week.

Remember: The newer videos are always inserted at the top of the list, so check back sometime after 07.01.2008 to start seeing what makes our wedding videos so much better than the others.

–glenn hancock

June 10, 2008

A Typical Wedding

Filed under: Videography — glenn @ 12:21 pm

A lot of people wonder just what goes on during a typical video shoot, so I figured I’d write this blog entry today to help explain the processes involved. During the process I’ll also explain some of the tools we use here at GShutter Studios to process the film and produce the final DVD’s that we send to our clients.

Things start the day before the event where we make sure all our batteries are charged, glass is polished, bags are packed and everything that goes along with it. A quick check of the GPS to make sure we have directions to the location is also an important step. Once everything has been taken care of we’re ready (or we hope) for the day to come.

The morning of the event, depending on the time and needs of the day, we pack up the car and start on our way. Depending on the location and traffic around Atlanta, these trips could take an hour or more to get to make. Once there, we’ll take a quick look around to see what and where we can capture footage, as well as where we’re able to shoot the ceremony. We’ll then begin unloading the car and setting up our tripods and equipment at the ceremony location. Most weddings require equipment to be setup 30 minutes before hand, so despite us rarely filming from this location until the actual ceremony, we usually setup here anyway. This allows us to be ready to film with minimal fuss later on.

After the equipment is setup, the main camera is taken around the church as well as outside, to film anything and everything. It’s very important during an event like this to capture footage of everything someone might see. Anything to bring out that special moment that takes someone back to that day. These short shots also provide the footage required to make a production feel smooth and complete.

Once we’ve made our rounds and captured everything we feel might fit into the days events, we next locate the bride and groom and determine how and when we’ll begin filming them. If the job requires capturing their preparations, then we’ll begin filming as soon as they’re comfortable. Having shots of the rings, the dress before it’s put on, shoes and other accessories is a good idea. These things can be interlaced throughout the pre-wedding video chapter to show the natural progression and unfolding of the days events.

Filming the bride putting the dress on (with taste of course), getting help with the buttons, her shoes and so forth, also adds to the production value and provides those missing links so many videos lack. Most of the time here, will be spent with the bride, since this day is her day and the final video production should reflect this.

The next step is to move outside or to the location the photographer chooses to start shooting the photos. We’ll follow along side and capture video moments of the entire process and will use this footage in the final production.

Next comes the true challenge of the day. Most churches don’t allow up close photographers and require us to stay positioned at the back of the church. The use of lights is usually not allowed either which means that depending on the natural lighting of the church, things might not look so great. Depending on the camera being used (we use a Canon XL2) you may be able to play some tricks to get more light into the camera, however, all of these tricks come at a price. The farther away we’re forced to film, the worse the problem becomes, but like everyone else, we cope. After all, there is only so much you can do when the options are small.

No matter what the job, we’ll stay around after the wedding and film the final photo shoot just before the reception. This allows a nice closing to the ceremony portion of the production and a nice setup for the reception if we’re filming it. The reception is always a bit more relaxed and allows us to use at least a little light to help capture cleaner images.

Unlike a lot of videographers, we usually take a photographer to capture moments during the day as well. This allows us to have much higher quality images to mix in to the final video production and adds to the brides collection of photos. We don’t charge for this service but instead look at it as part of our job to capture the moments of the day as well as possible.

Here is the part most people don’t realize however. The day of filming a wedding is really only half of the job and most times, not even half. Once back at our office, we next have to watch 100% of the video again in order to retrieve the data from the tapes and load them into our computers. We utilize top of the line Mac systems here, running Final Cut Pro, Color and a number of other software packages to help process our images.

Unlike photography, Digital video produced extremely large files. This requires massive amounts of disk space and systems with enough memory to process them in a reasonable period of time. It also means that capturing the tapes requires as much time as it took you to press the record button in the first place. The sad thing, is that this step only gets it into the computer to start working with it.

The next step in the process is watching the entire footage and making creative decisions of how we feel the day played out. Taking the music the bride and groom selected and getting a feel for how things should move. Taking these feelings and beginning to paint our production into reality. Taking massive amounts of film and breaking it into a creative master piece for the bride, to help restore those feelings of that special day, now and into the future.

Once the timeline is built, the music is selected and the images are cut the way we want them, the next step is to do color grading. This step requires moving the entire production into another application (We use “Color”) to start making decisions of color, saturation, lighting and many other things. This requires viewing the production sequence many times through specially calibrated monitors to make sure everything is just right. Once accomplished we move it back into Final Cut Pro for one last look before we start the final two steps.

If everything looks the way we want it, the next step is to produce a compressed version of the video in order to upload it to our website. This is done in order to get the impression of the bride before we actually start burning DVD’s. Of course, this is not always possible, but it is something we try to do.

Before all this started, the bride has usually supplied us with a list of music that they would like to use for the production. Instead of having massive amounts of footage strung back to back, song after song, we usually try to break them down into chapters with each song on a separate track. This provides shorter tracks to show people and breaks the days events into subsections that can be quickly viewed if desired. This step also allows us to color grade and line up the cuts using shorter segments and proves for an overall better final production.

And finally, once everything has been signed off on, the final DVD’s are burned and mailed out.

I hope this helps to provide at least a little insight into how your wedding production comes together. There are also many other steps not listed here, but you should at least now have some idea of what to expect from whoever you hire to do your wedding videography.

–glenn hancock

June 2, 2008

Catching Up

Filed under: General — glenn @ 3:29 pm

The first filming of “Rewind” took place a few weeks ago. We worked through a number of things but still have a good bit more to go. We’re hoping to do some more filming in the next few weeks on that front.

Last week we got 4 more commercials filmed and a couple are almost finished being edited. Last weekend we did a wedding in the Atlanta area and hope to have that ready for the new couple sometime end of this week. Look for the new footage to make it online soon.

We’ve purchased a new Glidecam System for our XL2, that adds a nice floating effect to our shots. We’ve been practicing as much as possible with it and hope to actually start using it for filming projects in the next few weeks.

Well, thats about it for now. We’re staying busy drumming up more business for both our weddings and commercial shoots and I’ll check back in when I’ve got more news.

–glenn hancock

May 17, 2008

Rewind

Filed under: General — glenn @ 9:45 am

We’re finishing up on the script and shot list of our new short film “Rewind”. We plan to start shooting next weekend if things line up for us. We hope to be finished with the shooting in the next couple of weeks and will move things into post as quickly as possible. The film is being shot for a contest and we hope to have a nice production that everyone enjoys.

We’ve shot plenty of test footage and this will be our first go at a full production shoot with actors and an actual script. We’ll be working the shooting in between scheduled weddings and events but we hope to keep things on schedule as closely as possible. We’ll post back when things are a bit further along.

The last week and a half we’ve been in Colombia S.A. working on a few things here and will be returning to the States next week.

–glenn hancock

April 30, 2008

Current News

Filed under: General — glenn @ 2:20 pm

Over the weekend we shot a little league ball game and a baptism. The ball game was a bit of a challenge as we had to shoot over the top of a 6 ft fence from the center field line, but other than that it went fairly well. The video turned out really nice and everyone seemed pretty happy with the results.

The baptism was at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta. This was a last minute dash and we had no idea what to expect until we got there. Things ended up a bit hectic and we had to film from 2 aisles away hand held. The church was beautiful, but we had lots of trouble with everyone standing between us and the baby so we lacked the shots we were wanting. Everyone seemed pretty happy with the video, but we’ll have to make sure things are a bit better planned for the next one.

Both of the videos can be viewed back on the Events page of the main site. Clicking on Videography and then Events will display them. GShutter Studios

We’re currently working on a short film that we plan to enter into a competition in June. Filming should be starting in a couple of weeks as we’re fine tuning the script. Most of the actors for part 1 are in place and we hope to be able to film a few more parts if things work out. We’re also working on a few Music Videos for a couple local bands around the Atlanta area and we hope to have those finished up soon.

Well, thats about it for now, we’ll check back in the next week or so.

–glenn hancock

April 23, 2008

Publishing to DVD

Filed under: Videography — glenn @ 4:04 pm

Today’s entry is going to discuss a few things about publishing your movies to DVD.  At GShutter Studios we use Mac Systems running Final Cut Pro Studio 2 which comes with all the tools and utilities you need to build your DVD’s, so we’re going to stick to discussing those.  Keep in mind though that most of the discussion covers details that should apply to other editing systems, so hopefully you’ll find something here of interest.

The first step in any production is getting the film off your camera and into your editing system.  While we’re not going to be covering all the details of that step, it is important that you learn as much about your editing system as possible in order to get as clean an image as possible from the camera.  For final Cut Pro I’ve found that converting my sequences that I plan to dump to DVD, to 8 bit uncompressed, yields a little more quality to the end result.  This can be done in the Sequence / Settings menu and changing the Codec which usually will say DV…NTSC, to 8 bit uncompressed.  Keep in mind this will make your final MOV file much larger, but you only need it for the few minutes it takes to build your mpeg2 files.

The next step is to click File / Export / Quicktime movie.  If you like, you can choose to create a self contained movie but I generally don’t do this.  Since I have Final Cut on the system that I’m going to later be compressing with, I don’t need the larger files required to make a self contained movie.  However, if you plan to use a different machine that doesn’t have Final Cut Pro to compress with, then you’ll need the self contained option checked.

Next we’re going to go into Compressor to create our mpeg2 files that we’ll use on the DVD.  While its entirely possible to just import the mov file into your DVD editing system, its almost always not a good idea.  The DVD programs that I’ve seen normally do the simplest thing possible to get you a DVD without regard for quality.  Using an external compression program will allow you to tweak things to get them as perfect as you like.

Compressor ships with presets for DVD and you’ll most likely not want to use any of them.  While they are almost always better than letting the DVD program build the files, they aren’t much better.  So we’ll make a Copy of them and modify the new Custom entry to our liking.  

First an explanation:  Most mpeg2 processes are going to include a 2.2 Gamma modification in order to insure the movie is light enough to see on the TV.  However, depending on your post work you did, this might be something that really jacks up your final production.  While some compressor programs will allow you to turn this feature off, some like Compressor do not.  However, Compressor allows you to add a filter to the preset, that you can use to offset the Gamma changes, thereby negating them.  To do this go to the filter tab of the preset and click the checkbox beside Gamma.  You may have to scroll down to find it.

Once checked you can apply a setting of about 1.1 or 1.2 to help offset that automatically applied setting.  However, doing this may cause your contrast to be a bit flat, so after testing, you may want to add a bit of contrast back into the images.  This can also be done on the filters tab and you’ll have to play around with it to get it to your liking.

One HUGE note:  Make sure you NEVER test your DVD footage using Quicktime, or even the DVD Studio Pro’s simulate screens.  Both of these programs seem to reverse the 2.2 Gamma increase on their own and as a result won’t show you a good example of the final footage.  I usually use DVDSP to build a set of DVD files that I’ll then test using DVD Viewer on the Mac.  This will generally show you a pretty close example of what your TV will look like.  While its not perfect it will at least let you tweak things more quickly without having to build multiple DVD copies.

Well, I realize thats a 10,000 foot view of a pretty complex issue, but its probably the most important part of getting a high quality final production done, so if nothing else, I hope you learned that you need to learn your tools completely if you hope to produce high quality films in the future.

Lastly, here are a few images taken from a clip that caused problems.  Each image has a label to describe how it was compressed and you can see for yourself how much better you can make the image look, just by applying some basic knowledge of the final compression stage.

Click here to view the images

-glenn hancock

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