First Wedding

[Michael Schocker]

If I were you I would get 2 wireless mics and mic the pastor and the groom. If you only have one mic pick one.
Just make sure you have it turned up enough to pick up all the people. It’s better to turn down in post then turn up.

$500 would be a good price if you weren’t having to travel.

Just my 2 cents.

[George Burbano]

Set up a lav mike on the groom. He would be the closest to the bride, and close enough to the groom. That would pick up the important voices. Leave your other channel for ambient, try and use a good shotgun to pick up the ambient front sound. Set both levels carefully, and monitor your audio thru a good headset. Always start with fresh batteries. I typically use, Sennheiser E-100 lav trans.rec unit, channel 1, and channel 2, a sennheiser mk-66 mike on camera. The audio quality is very good.

Good luck.

George

[Todd Roush]

Get yourself a second camera if at all possible. I would never even consider shooting a wedding w/one camera. Also, make sure you get a GOOD wireless. Sennheiser Evolution 100 is a good mic at a reasonable price and for $600 you can get one with both a lav and a transmitter that will go on any mic with an XLR.

Go to http://www.weddingvideodoneright.com for some good advice about shooting weddings. You don’t want to be the guy who ruined somebody’s wedding video. This is very important stuff.

Good luck.

S.

Todd Roush
Dreamscape Digital Media
Panny DVX-100’s but changing so Sony or Cannon HDV soon.

[Taneil Adams]

Thank you for the info. After looking at the site articles I’m just not prepared enough to take this on. I have the software, camera, pc components. I’m trying to find another camera person in my area but no luck yet. Oh well, I can wait.
By the way, if you edit the video and transfer to dvd what is a low budget but clean way to label it.

[Michael Schocker]

I went a bought the Memorex labeling kit.
It has a lot of labels to start with.
It also comes with software and the “stomper”
I bought mine for about $30

If you have 2 cameras why not try it. I will be shooting a 3 camera wedding by myself.
You just need to make sure the static/wide camera is in the right place and you can rove with the other.
That’s what I’m going to do.
What do you think???

By the way, this will be my first wedding also.

[Taneil Adams]

I think that’s pretty advanced. Though I do know some who have successfully used just one camera. I think once I get the mics I’ll be O.K.
There’s not much really to take of a wedding. 3 cams is a large order. A friend of mine shot the bride/groom getting ready, scenic, church, and then the guests as they were coming in. Then he set up the bride/groom and adjusted focal distance.
Why may I ask do you use three cameras?

[Zane Barker]

[Ta Neil Adams] “Why may I ask do you use three cameras?”

Better options in editing, it is overall more interesting to watch in the end.

Renting mics and additional cameras is a GOOD way to go, just make sure you add the price of all your rented equipment into what you are charging.

Don’t let technology get in the way of your creativity!

[Stuart Allman]

Labelling disks?

One word – lightscribe.

The lightscribe technology allows you to permanently label disks using the laser on your DVD drive. You have to have a lightscribe drive, media, and software. The downside is that the labels are monochrome, but verbatim sells pre-colored disks so you can at least do two-tone. The upside is that there’s no sticky label to come off or inkjet printing to rub off/fade in sunlight.

You can use any bmp/jpeg image for the label.

I recommend staying away from HP media because the contrast is very poor, but memorex and verbatim seem to do a decent job (especially Memorex).

http://www.lightscribe.com

Stuart

[Michael Schocker]

Because it gives you a variety of shots to cut from when editing.
I would never shoot a wedding with only 1 camera.
Imagine watching a 30min wedding from 1 camera angle. BORING!
If you have 2 cameras, you can set one as a wide shot and you can move with the other one.

[Jennifer Kingston]

OR, if you want a really slick, professional looking disc, go to Staples and grab a little Epson printer that prints directly onto disc, as well as paper. For much less than a light scribe (my Epson printer was $89) you can have a great looking dvd in full color at minimal cost. It even comes with the software to create the labels using any graphics you have on your drive. I was getting the printable discs at Costco for a while. Beats those sticky, thick labels that won’t play in some players.