[Neil Orman]

Hugely appreciated Brian, and you’re absolutely right sorry for the incomplete RAM specs! It should have read:
Memory 6 GB 1066 MHz DDR3
I had one question from what you said. How do you get that dialog box to come up to adjust the quality settings, the one that says “Ray-traced 3D Renderer Options?”
Thanks again!

[Neil Orman]

I shot it on a Canon 5D Mk III at 1920 X 1080 @ 30 fps, and I did use Vimeo’s specs I think. I’ve been compressing this way for a long time with these settings so I’ve kinda forgotten:
Quicktime 7 compatible, H.264 800 kbps streaming
Data Rate 7500 kbits/sec

But like I said the actual Quicktime looks fine, after it’s compressed and before it’s uploaded. Thanks a lot for the response Dave! Just let me know if anyone has more feedback on this, I’d appreciate it.

[Neil Orman]

I took the password thing off SORRY!! And thank you for letting me know!!!

[Neil Orman]

Sorry for the slow response Thomas, just starting to get back into the swing after the holiday. No I’m on Version 10.9.4.

[Neil Orman]

Wow Shane this post is incredibly helpful, VERY much appreciated!!! I feel sheepish but this will eliminate a lot of my ‘worst practices’ list, as I unfortunately fall in that category of shady editors you mentioned 🙂 Thanks again. Thanks also to Mark, who echoed some things and recommended your ‘FCP7 Best Practices rules thread.’ So that’s obviously different than the DVD you mentioned right? I’ll try doing a search on Creative Cow for this, but just let me know if you have advice on getting the FCP7 Best Practices rules thread or the DVD. I’d be happy to purchase that. I just had one quick follow-up right now on correcting my bad practice related to directing render files, before I get to the rest of my bad practices. So in terms of how I correct the render files issue, I understand that I go to System Settings. Once I’m there though, do I go under ‘External Editors’ and then set each of those categories – Still Image Files, Video Files, Audio Files – to my external drive? Is that where you direct your Render Files within System Settings, or is it somewhere else?

[Neil Orman]

Thanks so much Marcus, your post was a big help. I shot it exactly as you recommended, with that mix. In terms of transcoding, I had already started bringing my footage into FCP7 using Log and Transfer, and I do notice the footage says it’s in Apple ProRes already. Can you or anyone just briefly tell me why that’s important? Also why do you recommend that application 5DtoRGB instead of just directly via FCP7’s Log & Transfer? Is it a mistake just to bring my footage in directly that way? I should mention I’ve always experienced a lot of crashes of FCP7 when using Log & Transfer for my 5D footage, but I don’t have any of those problems when using Log & Transfer for other kinds of footage, like from a Panasonic P2 camcorder. So I’m interested whether you think I’m mistaken to do it the way I’ve been doing. Thanks again!

[Neil Orman]

Thanks a lot Dave. It was mentioned to me that, shooting at 1080 for the non-slow-mo, I’d have more options in post, like zooming into shots, adding some camera movement etc. Do you or anyone else agree with that? Because it’s a wedding I’d like to give it some nice camera moves etc., and along those lines it would be nice to have some options in post too. But I hear you about the simplicity of shooting the whole thing at 720. I just received this conflicting advice and like I said I would like options in post. So I’d be interested in your take on that.

On the Cinema Tools thing, my main challenge is, at least when I’ve tried it, it seems to conform the whole clip to 24 fps/slow motion, where I might want to have speed changes, more options etc. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but once you conform it, can you still maybe add a speed change for half the clip or something? Or this whole clip conformed forever more?

[Neil Orman]

You’re awesome Mark, what an incredible help. Very much appreciated.

[Neil Orman]

I really appreciate this great, detailed response Mark! So helpful. To answer your question I think it’s a relatively casual wedding with 50-80 people, held at a hotel. You mentioned a lot of things I hadn’t thought carefully enough about, like where to stand, and the monopod possibility, as well as that great list of make-or-break shots. And I’d thought about attending the rehearsal but your advice clinched it, I will go and do everything you said there. One person suggested I stand behind the officiant, which would be a great angle and out of the way, so I’m planning to try to do that. The only question with which I continue to struggle is the multiple cameras one. I will be a one-man-band, and I’ve heard a couple of other folks strongly suggesting I don’t worry about using multiple cameras. Instead they recommended focusing on story and capturing the emotion of the day, rather than worrying about full coverage of the ceremony etc. And for the majority of wedding videos I see (online anyway), they are 4-8 minute trailer-type videos that don’t seem to benefit overly from multiple cameras. They requested a full feature video too but the bride said she wasn’t worried about super complete ceremony coverage. So I’m still leaning toward one camera, but would be interested if you or others feels strongly one way or the other. I definitely do want to get all those key shots you mentioned, and if it’s impossible with one camera I will reconsider.
And just one last follow-up, for you or anyone else who cares to comment: The only lens I have for my 5D Mk 3 is a Canon zoom 24-105 mm. Is that one lens sufficient for a wedding or should I look at renting another lens? Was thinking this might be important, especially if I have to be a long way from the action during the ceremony.
Thanks again!

[Neil Orman]

Thanks Steve for the helpful feedback related to my slider question, much appreciated. I’m particularly interested in getting a slider that works with my own tripod head, which is the Vinten Vision Blue head, so I don’t have to take my camera off my tripod head and put it on another, or even buy a separate head at all. Is that possible? Just let me know if you or anyone has any recommendations on that, or happen to work with this same head and face a similar situation.