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What DVD Home Video Editor does for your wedding:

• Improve the Vows sound quality

• Improve the Color from typical inexpensive cameras

• Improve the light exposure and correct it

• Produce with your favorite music in Dolby Digital surround sound.

• Include a growing up video with baby pictures using 35mm slides and pictures. We restore the pictures and remove cracks, mold and correct color.

IMPROVE THE VOWS

We use an extreme sound editor called Mavin3D pro to work on your soundtrack. It is a real pro program that can do anything, $900 of power with a license from Dolby labs. We will raise the volume using this during your vows in most cases to the point where it seems as if you had a microphone. And it will be in true Dolby Digital 5 channel surround sound.

IMPROVE THE COLOR

Are you shooting with your own camcorder from Best Buy or Circuit City? Even though you have a consumer grade camcorder, analogue or DV that is pretty good, the colors that it records are not natural or real looking. Cameras in the $1,500 range and up to $15,000 or so can capture true to life colors, and cameras in the $500 range can now capture colors so good it is very hard to tell any variance from nature. We use Boris FX, a state of the art product used by network TV and other pro labs. If you have a video camera in the $300-$500 range, your colors will look like you hired a $1,200 wedding videographer, guaranteed.

IMPROVE THE LIGHT EXPOSURE

We use an auto level filter found in Media Studio Pro 7 by Ulead to correct the light exposure, thus improving the viewership on screen of subtle differences in shading on shirts, eyebrows, cheeks and more.

PRODUCE WITH YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC

Include your own music and a few favorite pictures or 35mm slides. We will incorporate this into the movie free. We will also use professional sound track music from www.musicbakery.com and sound effects from www.sounddogs.com, two premier sound stores.

INCLUDE BABY 35mm SLIDES & PICTURES

We will restore them using Adobe products and create a growing up video using moving pictures that are produced in true High Definition TV, extremely smooth movement like you would see on the History Channel. Dig into your family history and add a growing up video to include up to 30 images that will bring tears to your family and guests when they watch your video.

Our proof of our product is in our demos. Please load the following excerpt from a recent wedding project. Client supplied us with MiniDV footage they took. What we did to it is amazing. ORDER NOW (printed order form)

What footage do I need to film?

TIPS FOR BEST WEDDING VIDEOS - By Ted Trebilcock, Feb 28, 2005

WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT WHEN SELECTING A VIDEOGRAPHER?

Experience. A great deal of people become involved with video editing the wrong way. They buy a camera and try to market themselves as a videographer. To produce a great wedding video, you need good footage. At the least you need footage that exists. Many in experienced camera men make the fatal mistake of holding the camera up for the ceremony and leaving the PAUSE button on, or forgetting to hit record. This can be done more often than you would want to know. If you want to shoot your own footage, or ask a family member to shoot for you, BUY A GOOD camera stand and have them practice a few days prior to the wedding. Shoot footage, and play it back. Make notes. Try again. Inexpensive camera stands for $40 will not work well, their pans have a jolt when it starts and stops. You need a camera stand with very smooth and fluid pan ability. If you buy a camera tripod in the $200 range and up you are probably safe. If you use a tripod costing $40, you will get camera movement that start and stops with a jolt. Your memories can only be captured once. Use a good quality camera tripod. If you have the budget available, hire a professional videographer to go on site and shoot for you. Via Vision in Lewiston Maine is a good example.

VIDEOGRAPHER? PHOTOGRAPHER? OR BOTH?

When the budget for the wedding starts to get tight, and you have to decide between things like downgrading the china, or meal, to have both a photographer and a videographer, how do you choose between the two? There are some key factors to consider. A photograph captures one moment in time. It is a permanent still image. Video history captures fluid motion, 30 still pictures per second. A video DIGITAL VIDEO master file, created on the MiniDV tape if you shoot in MiniDV, can be used to pull fairly good quality still images. These can be used for cards, small print pictures and more. And you can scan your home grown video footage at home for the good candid VERY HARD to get shots. Any consumer grade program can do this. The limitation in quality is not the program, but the originating footage in DV, or the file with the extension ".AVI"

If the Photo Album is your priority, you should at least still have someone film your wedding, the getting ready footage before, and the reception afterwards. It is a good idea to hire someone to professionally edit the video for you. Editing platforms are the weakest link in DVD production. A consumer grade software package even when producing at the highest bit rate it has will look grainy, and will have altered weak colors. It is the editing platforms in the $500 range and up that can maintain perfect color and enough lines of resolution to be true High Definition. A professional editor can also add stunning video effects such as a transparent still photo moving around beneath some video footage with HD text moving on top. These things are easy with a pro editor and impossible with a $200 video package purchased from Best Buy, Circuit City or Wal Mart.

At a wedding expo I recently attended in Portland Maine, a dialogued with a well intentioned bride. She said, "I don't really need a wedding video, I don't think anyone will watch it." I replied tactfully, "A video of your wedding day, even if it is just a family member holding a $100 analogue camcorder, will allow your family members, your future children you have not had yet, to see your special day. They will be able to see you when you were young as today, to hear your voice, to hear the sounds of your wedding and reception. It will allow them to be there and actually feel the emotions and partake in the ceremony. Pictures cannot do this. A picture album in 10 years can only bring memories back to people that were there. If you  have a family member that could not attend, they are just a bunch of still images. If they watched a video with you over dinner, they will hear the vows, hear the background noise, see the video imagery and feel like they were there. "  Understand that a video is not just for the BRIDE AND GROOM, they are done for many reasons. Primary reasons are for future generations and direct family members. One of my family's most memorable times was taking our professionally produced wedding video out after Thanksgiving dinner and watching it. If you SHOP WISELY you can have both a professional picture album and a professional video. Shoot your own footage with a checklist and printed guide, and hire a pro to edit the video for you.

HOW IMPORTANT IN THE BEST EQUIPMENT? REALLY? Prove it.

NOTE: The best equipment is great for TECHNICAL quality, but CANNOT replace CONCEPTUAL quality. Many new cameras out there are 3CCD. This means there is one separate chip for three primary colors used for video, RED GREEN AND BLUE. A one CCD camera has to create the video information for all colors at once, so the speed limitation of the hardware creates limitations on the accuracy of the colors recorded. A $1,500 one CCD camera will probably create great colors, but a $200 one CCD camera (all cameras under $500 are probably one CCD) will have good color, but not great. Reds will be blurred and show interference with black and white tints. As a rule of thumb, a 3CCD camera will produce the best results (1st choice) a 1CCD camera in the $500 range that is digital will be second best (2nd choice) and a Super VHS camera in the $500 and up range will be third choice (3rd choice). Note that a Super VHS camera is still good. Read our article for real facts on the resolution of TV's versus DVD and S-VHS.

Remember, equipment does not make a video. A person holding a camera in the hand or on a tripod makes video footage. Get someone that has shot a home camcorder for a few years or hire a pro. MAKE SURE IT IS SOMEONE THAT IS DOING SOMETHING THEY LIKE TO DO.

Try to have a wireless microphone on site, or make sure your personal camcorder is close enough to pick you up. This can be accomplished quite easily without a shotgun microphone or expensive wireless setups if you invite the person shooting your footage to get within 8 feet of you, standing right in front but down low for the guests. Another alternative it to have your camera man from the family shooting personal footage stand behind the minister, off center.

If a professional wedding videographer loves their job, they will pay attention to details. You Do not need the BEST equipment to make a great video, here is PROOF. In this sample, a real family member in this wedding shot this video footage. We produced it  into a pro video. It was produced in High Definition and Dolby Digital surround sound. A wedding video can be shot using family members, and it can be a stunning result. The demo above was shot by a family member using a low cost MiniDV camcorder. We restored the colors using $500 Boris FX and edited the footage into a great video with text, converted sound from the camcorder to surround sound sound, adjusted the volume of the vows to be clear, and added music.

DVD or VHS?

Major networks archive permanent copies of programs on video tape. Albeit much wider than VHS, up to 2 inches in some cases, but they use it nonetheless. Video tape, when filmed in S-VHS mode using a real high quality recorder can produce picture quality far beyond most 29 inch TV's people typically have in their house. A DVD can be produced, given good 3CCD footage, that can max out a plasma or High Def TV. A DVD will last forever, or so the industry that makes them claims. A VHS tape can last according to a Senior Editor at StarTV in Hong Kong, forever when stored properly. If you get a DVD of your wedding, and keep the DV master video files archived on 10-20 DATA DVD's, and store them in heavy duty freezer zip locks and in a filing cabinet they will likely last forever. If you also store a very high quality produced VHS copy in a freezer bag with the air compressed out, and sealed tightly in a dark place like a filing cabinet, it will likely last at least 20 years with zero loss. VHS tape does not fade on its own like some sort of magic vacuum. They typically fade due to water vapor reacting with the tape itself and fluctuations in magnetic fields caused by large electric sources such as TV's and dryers. I recommend getting a professional recorded final copy of your DV master video files on S-VHS. Play and use the DVD copy produced from the DV master files. Archive the DV master video files on DATA DVD's and the copy of very high quality S-VHS tape for future use. Just in case we find out in 20 years that the chemicals used for the storage of the laser pits on DVD's changes for some unforeseen reason, you will still have a very high quality copy on VHS, if stored properly. See our articles for further fully footnoted information on VHS.

SHOOTING OR EDITING? WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT IN THE END?

Editing is more important to the final product that shooting. This is not a blanket statement. If you do not get footage, there is nothing to edit. You can however, hire a $500/hour professional camera man that has a resume including footage on Discovery Channel, and if you produce it at home with no experience, you will still end up with a bland video with lots of transition and perception issues. As long as you can acquire in some fashion footage of the wedding that is stable, not jiggling around, and captures two ore three angles without losing key words or footage, and you get several very short clips of closeups on wine glasses, wide angle pans of guests etc, you will have material that can be produced into a typical video you may see at a wedding expo or on TV.

TWO CAMERAS OR ONE?

If you hire an experienced professional camera man, you will have a finished product that maintains great variation and captures all the necessary footage in the event. Two cameras is in reality not required to have a great video. It does offer the ability to move a great video to a stunning and breathtaking video. One camera for example, during vows, must be focused on the subjects. It cannot change its angle or focus or zoom without losing some of the dialogue and video. Two cameras can change this limitation for the better. One camera can be focused on the Bride, and zoomed in very close. Shotgun microphones can be rented or bought to also zoom in on the spoken words, so the viewer does not feel like they are near the bride but sound like they are far away when viewing later on TV. A second camera can closer to the rear of the ceremony and capturing wide angle shots. It can also get shots of the Bride and Groom together. In the editing phase, the editor can change between the cameras to show the facial effects of a few words the bride spoke, or can show a close up of the groom as he speaks, then cut to a wide angle with the same audio from the zoomed in camera, but to show the facial impact on guests. It is this cutting between angles that can help to pull the viewer into the video. This is a great feature if you can afford it. It is very wise if you want to use two cameras to hire two professionals. If you need to cut costs, hire one and ask him/her to direct your family member with specific shots and angles. Buying two walkie talkies or wireless headsets is a wise idea. Communication between the two cameras is CRITICAL.

SPECIAL EFFECTS AND EDITING?

As the canvas is the artists blank palette, so is the video editing platform to an editor. Editing the raw footage in MiniDV or VIDEO 8 analogue can come in many forms, from elaborate to bare bones. Basic editing should include cropping out or cutting out bad footage, and clips that are out of focus, or shots of the floor while the camera man was walking. Advanced editing would include special effects to make transitions from one scene to the next, great looking text, layered objects, transparent objects that move slowly under a subject, and more. As a rule of thumb, one hour of raw footage should consume 4-6 hours of editing for a good video. Barebones editing should consume 1 hour of editing for a 1 hour raw clip.

One affordable option if you have a low budget is to hire an editor to cut out the bad shots, bad transitions, and insert professional transitions. Add some text and also a growing up video montage from baby pictures. Music should be able to be added without effecting the price.

Medium to High End budgets should allow for a great deal of cuts, inserting pieces of clips from later footage into other sections for impact, adding lots of visual effects and sound effects as well as unlimited on screen text and banners. Good video editors should be using platforms such as Avid, Adobe Pro, AfterEffects, Final Cut Pro, Boris FX, Media Studio Pro, Canopus and a few others. Ask for their platform, complete with models, makes and versions. Look them up on the web. If the total platform cost for software for the Editing software, Sound Track editing software and Authoring software cost less then $1,000 than you will be getting into compromise land very fast. If the total platform cost is around $2,000 and up, you are in a very professional range of editing.

COVERAGE

A wedding videographer should shoot at least an hour at the ceremony. It may state in their contract how many hours or minutes they will shoot this part. You should have 3 hours from the reception. The full 3 hours will not show up in your video, but it is needed to get the candid shots and the best choices of facial expressions.

Optional but still important footage to try to obtain is shots from the before. Seeing your new wife or husband the day before, and the day of getting dressed is wonderful, funny and brings people closer together. Don't miss this aspect.

WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN FOR ME?

You have one shot to get the shot. Before deciding you cannot afford a videographer, what would you rather have when the day is done? 275,438 individual pictures that can be pulled from the DV frames, or one specific set of photographs from a photographer.

Almost all videographer websites try to directly state that you will regret not hiring a pro to videotape your wedding. Although it is ideal, it is not mandatory to do this to create a great wedding video. Print our check list for wedding video shots that are realistic and attainable by a family member. Using this guide and hiring a pro to produce the video for you using state of the art effects and production technology is far better than not having a video.

SHOTS TO FILM AT YOUR WEDDING

Before the Ceremony

1. Video footage of the Wedding dress on a couch, chair or bed
2. Wedding video footage of someone helping the bride with the back of her zipper - she should be in front of a mirror to do this one
3. Home video wedding video footage of Mom helping daughter with jewelry
4. Video footage of the bride's garter in the drawer
5. Home video footage of the bride's veil
6. Wedding video footage of the bride doing hair from behind, camera face mirror
7. Footage of the bride facing mirror in a smiling gaze
8. Video footage of the bride gazing out the window in reflective memories
9. Video footage putting on makeup with laughter
10. Putting flowers onto parents
11. Home video wedding video footage of bride hugging parents
12. Footage of bride and parents leaving for ceremony starting at front doorway, camera angle from outside facing in at an angle
13. Wedding video footage of the groom getting his tie on
14. The groom looking into mirror, serious thought
15. The groom putting the flowers onto his parents
16. Footage of the groom hugging parents, get camera facing groom, then camera on other side facing parent during the hug
17. Wedding video footage of the bride and parents leaving for ceremony

Get these Shots At the Ceremony

1. Footage outside, calm, people talking
2. Guests walking into ceremony site, back 40-50 feet
3. The bride and father entering ceremony site, get wide angle at first, then cut quickly to close up and follow them in
4. Video footage of the Parents being seated
5. Get the Grandparents being escorted/seated by grandsons or daughters
6. Maid of honor walking down the aisle - get an angle in front and low looking UP slightly
7. Bridesmaids walking down the aisle at same horizontal height as their upper body
8. Video footage of the Flower girl and ring bearer coming down the aisle
9. Get the Groom waiting for the bride - try to zoom in from the side with some of the guests in the background
10. The bride right before she makes her entrance into the ceremony
11. Get footage of the groom seeing the bride for the first time and the bride walking down the aisle with the dad
12. GET THE BACK of bride and father also - walking down the aisle – with the groom waiting in the distance
13. Get the Bride and her dad hugging in front of the altar
14. Get a shot of the audience - try to get the view the groom would have
15. Ceremony, get the vows, be close enough so you can HEAR THEM
16. extreme ZOOM in on hands to film the rings being pushed onto the new mate
17. Extreme close up of hands, then CUT - zoom back, film again wide angle to get them kissing
18. Get the bride and groom walking up the aisle and greeting guests
19. Candid shots greeting
20. Get the groom inside the car, or the groom holding the door for the bride

Before the Reception

1. Get the Bride, alone
2. Maids of honor and bridemaids
3. Groom with bridesmaids
4. Bride with her parents, then with grooms parents, then all together, try to be candid, not posed
5. Groom with his parents, then brides parents, then together, UNPOSED
6. Bride and groom with entire wedding party - posed
7. Flower girl and ring bearer, try shots of the flower girl sitting on the lap of the bride, with the bride slowly brushing her hair talking to her. Ring Bearer, try a shot of the groom putting a tie on the little boy.
8. Groom with his men, best man and groomsmen

Typical shots for the wedding Reception

1. Outside reception site, prior to guests, you are looking for slow pans, wide shots, try to record the crickets sounds in the background... Get the table centerpieces, silver ware, Guest book etc
2. Shots of bride and groom arriving and meeting guests - wide shot when they first arrive - then stand no farther than 8 feet to film them saying hi to everyone
3. Head table
4. Wedding cake and gifts, a few people placing gifts
5. Candids of bride and groom meeting people at their tables - camera needs to be 5-6 feet back - no farther facing them to pick up voices
6. First dances, can be scripted
7. Mother Groom, Father Bride
8. Cutting Cake
9. Toasts - WIDE angle to see as much of the table as possible, but close enough to HEAR the toast very clearly, slowly, slowly zoom in while toasting
10. Drinking champagne, and signing marriage license
11. Throwing bouquets
12. Footage of the garter coming off and being tossed
13. Bride and Groom leaving party

See also www.weddings.about.com for good information.

Want to spend a traditional budget amount of $1,000 and up for professional wedding videographers? Click here to go to Via Vision in Lewiston Maine. I have personally seen their work and it is professional. They can send professionals on site to videotape your wedding and produce a wedding video.

NOTES ABOUT OUR CAMERAS AND HIRING ON OF OUR CAMERAMEN

* to rent our cameras a deposit is required. We recommend hiring one of our tuxedo dressed camera men to come on site and film for you. We will capture casual moments, vows, incidental funny things and the reception all so you can enjoy your guests and not worry about missing a good shot.

If you want to use our camera, a 3CCD mini DV panasonic camera rated as a best pick from Consumer Reports in the $1,000 class ($600), or the new Sony HD camera ($2,000), a replacement deposit is required. This covers loss, theft, damage to the camera and anything else that may impair its ability as an asset. Optional insurance can cover damage but not loss or theft. Credit Card deposit accepted through PayPal.

* $60 per day fee if returned late.

* You must pick up and drop off. For receptions at night, drop off must be made by 9AM the following day to avoid a $60 extra per day rental. These cameras run 24/7 performing film transfers and so we incurr losses when the cameras are not being operated every day.

* Do not expose lens to the sun, it will permanently destroy the CCD chip

* Do not jar or drop, will damage loading mechanism and chip

* Do not expose to dust or sand or moisture. This includes indoor swimming pools, think fog, and being stored in wet bags etc.

* Do not touch the lens with fingers, cloth or any material, ever. It will pick up un-repairable smudges and will render the camera defective.

* Never force the loading door. Let the motor load and unload the cassette. Force with finger pressure will cause permanent damage.

* Use caution when it is plugged in to avoid damage to the camera electric port.

* Save a copy of the raw DV on your PC right at home before returning.

* These cameras are great for pictures, but are FRAGILE. As long as you handle with extreme care there is little to worry about.

	Shoot your own footage and make a professional broadcast quality Dolby Digital video using state of the art platforms with us! Starting at $99.95 includes growing up video with pictures! Print this CHECKLIST of shots you need to get.

Customer Service

Call for info. We are friendly, and family oriented. Ted, a Maine native and father of 2 beautiful girls and husband to a wonderful wife of now 7 years, will answer 207-212-0782. or CONTACT US

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