[Steve Lux]

Matt,

Best advice I can give is treat every Bride as if they were the most important client you ever had. Referrals in this business are HUGE. Been shooting weddings for 5 seasons now and the business has grown steadily. It is all about referrals. Another important thing to do is network with photographers, DJs, coordinators and venues. They can all potentially refer work your way.

One other thing to consider. . . My first season, I offered my services for pretty cheap, just to get my name out there/pick up experience. A lot of those weddings turned into referral business for other brides down the road.

Hope this helped!

[Steve Lux]

Perfect, I understand exactly what you are saying. . . now a whole new bin of ?’s. . . .

1) I notice the file size created is massive. roughly a 1GB/minute. If I am creating a 1.5 hour piece (wedding), do you think I can still get that onto a standard DVD???

2) How can I maintain the 16:9 aspect ratio on the final product. When I go to import this into DVDSP4, and burn a test disc, the video shows up on a standard monitor in 4:3 aspect, squeezing the image. While I can adjust my monitor to 16:9, not every person out there is going to know how to do that with their TV.

Is there a way to ensure the video will play on ANY monitor in a 16:9 Letterboxed aspect ratio???

[Steve Lux]

David,

I read the post you were talking about, thanks for that, very informative. Only down side I see is the inability to batch capture logged clips, which I would prefer to stick to.

So. . .just to be clear, (Sorry, a newbie at this one!!!)

You are suggesting I

A) capture via Firewire HDV 1080i60 into FCP and then set my clips into a Pro Res 422 timeline??? Would I then need to just export a simple QT movie using current settings, thus giving me a Pro Res movie???

OR. . .

B) Keep my HDV clips in an HDV 1080i60 timeline and then, when the project is completely finished, export via QT movie and instead of keeping the current settings in the dropdown, switch the current settings to the Pro Res 422 codec, thus creating a Pro Res movie.

Thanks again for your help!!!

[Steve Lux]

David,

Thanks so much for the info! Couple follow ups:

Would I be better off to capture straight in through the Pro Res Codec and edit in a pro res timeline??? Is that even possible? I don’t have any aftermarket capture cards and would prefer not to get any if I don’t have to.

Also, is there any difference between exporting a QT movie out of FCP with the Pro Res setting vs. creating a Pro Res file in Compressor???

One final question. Just picked another brain today and they mentioned editing native in HDV and then dumping the finalized sequence into a Uncompressed 8 bit NTSC timeline and then just exporting a QT movie from that like you would in a good old DV NTSC timeline.

Any thoughts????

Thanks again for your input!!!!!