Shooting « IN[FOCUS]

08.24.10

The Power of the Close-up (not forgetting the toasts)

Wedding filmmakers have a big job on their hands. It is up to us to capture a couple’s day in a way that it packed full of emotion.

I believe raw emotion comes directly from the subject’s eyes. We’ve all heard the expression “Eyes are the window to the soul” and in the bible (Luke 11:34), “The eye is the lamp of your body.” I believe you can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A good close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will often disperse that emotion.

It’s rather simple to gather beautiful close-ups during prep. It seems acceptable at times to break through someone’s personal space and get a close-up during prep. What about the rest of the day when we can’t get a camera right in someone’s face? What about the ceremony, or the dances, and of course…the toasts?

While shooting the toasts, we need to strive to capture good close-ups as well. The closer the subject’s face is to the viewer, the closer you feel to the subject. Any emotion that the speaker is experiencing will be amplified dramatically. I love seeing dad’s watery eyes as he talks about letting his little princess go or a sister who is overwhelmed with joy to see her older sister make that big move. A close-up shot will highlight the emotions of these speakers into a super-emotional spectacular!

Getting good toast close-ups requires good planning. You need to already know where you’re going to stand, what lens to use and on which camera. Lighting is important as well. Even a little side lighting with highlight the persons eyes especially when they are fighting back the tears.

Remember, get those cameras in there, get those zoom lenses on because there are tons of wonderful emotions ready to be captured. And it’s your job to do so.

Jet Kaiser
Jet Kaiser Films

Tags: close-ups, jet kaiser, toasts
Posted in Blog, Shooting

(3)

JJ Kim says:

08/25/2010 at 12:23 pm

Hey, Jet.
Awesome video and writeup.
I have one question, though.
Do you use any kind of lighting for the toasts, say like “reception light” or “on camera light” facing the subject? Thanks again so much for great info!

JJ
Jet says:

08/26/2010 at 9:20 pm

Thanks so much for taking the time to watch. Yes, we definitely use lighting during toasts. Preferably, we use a fill & hair light. I love seeing if we can pop them out of the background. We do use a reception light along with some other smaller off camera lights. Thanks again, JJ!
Jeff Brewer says:

09/02/2010 at 8:17 am

Hey Jet, definitely agree with you in this video. We try to get as close as possible without stepping on toes. If you can get into the eyes like you said, then some real magic happens on screen.

08.19.10

Creating The Perfect Ring Shot

THIS TUTORIAL IS FOR THOSE THAT ARE USING CANON EOS DSLR’s

Essential to a perfect ring shot:

MACRO LENS (EF 180mm f/3.5L Macro, EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro, EF 50mm f/2.5 Compact Macro)
LIGHTING (any small, off-camera light will do)
MOTION (whether it be camera motion or light motion)

Creating the perfect ring shot:

Plan out the setting, lighting & ring position
Gather the rings from the bride & groom
- Shooting the ring shot towards the end of the reception usually allows for more time to unleash your creativity.
- Avoid possession of rings for extended periods of time. Some couples get antsy when you don’t hurry back with them, not to mention the longer you have the rings the more time you have to misplace them :(
Set them up
- There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this.
- Using some sticky tack sometimes helps support a ring in an awkward position.
Light the rings
- Add enough light to shoot at a low ISO/gain. This is one part of the day where YOU are in total control of the lighting conditions so take advantage.
- Backlight the rings to highlight the jewels,
- Candles can be used for some out-of-focus flicker and they add motion.
Use tripod or slider
- Don’t try to shoot a ring shot handheld, you’ll wish you didn’t when you get back and review your shaky footage.
Reverse clip in post if you use camera motion.
- Start your ring shot where you want the shot to end later and then add your motion (tripod pan/tilt or a slide). Simply reverse the clip’s speed in post and your ring shot will have a nice, even flow to the perfectly framed ending shot.

Thanks for watching/reading. I’ll be on the look out for your perfect ring shots!
Jet Kaiser
Jet Kaiser Films

Tags: Canon 5d, canon 7d, jet kaiser, ring shot, wedding film, wedding videography
Posted in Behind the Scenes, Blog, Shooting

(3)

Kaipo says:

08/29/2010 at 3:59 pm

Great video, Jet! I’ve always sucked at shooting these, so I’m gonna try some of these tips and see what I get at my next wedding.
Awesome seeing you and Danielle at WEVA. See y’all in New Orleans.
Kaipo
Jet says:

08/30/2010 at 12:16 am

Sweet! Thanks for watching & much luck!
Jeff Brewer says:

09/02/2010 at 8:18 am

Very cool idea for running the clip in reverse. I don’t know why that hadn’t dawned on me until now.

07.13.10

Pre-production for a DSLR shoot

Hello there! It’s becoming abundantly clear that DSLR cameras are the future for wedding/event cinematography. For those that are already shooting with DSLR cameras, you don’t need me to tell you that it is TOTALLY different then shooting with your garden variety camera. And those of you who aren’t yet shooting on DSLR’s, but are having that warm, fuzzy feeling about these cameras, let me just tell you now…it’s TOTALLY different. Because of the complexities that coincide with filming on DSLR’s, it requires us as producers/cinematographers to be adequately prepared for the task that lies before us.

Today’s video is going to briefly touch on some of the ways you can better prepare yourself for shoots and help alleviate a ton of your stress going into production.

If you have a question or comment, leave it below, or send a messenger pigeon my way!

XOXO,
Epic Eric

Tags: Canon 5d, canon 7d, cinematography, DSLR, Planning, pre-production, Production, wedding cinema, wedding films, wedding videography
Posted in Blog, Shooting

(2)

Evan Vickers says:

07/16/2010 at 2:29 am

How can you use DSLRs for an hour long ceremony? I thought there was a 12 minute clip limit, or is that just for 1080P?
Kmetz says:

07/19/2010 at 2:57 pm

Evan-
Yes, the DSLR’s do limit each record file to 4GB (approx 12 minutes). We overcome this challenge by having multiple cameras, and communicating between shooters as to when each camera quickly stops/restarts, then cover these brief gaps in post.

05.25.10

Improvise: Think outside of the box

In this video, I reference one of my least favorite sayings (you can pinch me if I say it around you), “think outside the box.” This post is NOT about thinking outside the box – it’s about improvising…

One of the biggest things that you can do to help reduce the need for improvising is to have thorough checklists. These should be reviewed a week before the wedding, the day before the wedding, and the day of the wedding.

When you find yourself needing to improvise, here are some resources that have proved very useful to us:

1. Twitter/Facebook: When you need immediate answers, there are quite a few people that use these social media tools to help others. Tweeting something like, “Hey Detroit filmmakers – I’m in need of a Steadicam today… where is the best place to find one last minute?” should get you some responses if you’re following the right people – and the right people are following you.

2. Be active in online forums: Depending on how much time you have before you need a solution to your situation, you may be able to hit up a forum and do a search for “Canon 7d overheating” to figure out anything you can do with your oven-roasted DSLR.

3. Involve yourself with other local video professionals: This is one of the MOST important ones. If you have access to phone numbers, being able to make a quick phone call to say, “Hey – we left our wireless mic at our studio that’s an hour away and the ceremony is starting in 20 minutes – and you live 10 minutes away from this church… can we meet up with you and borrow yours?” I mean – if a situation like this ever happened – a local filmmaker-friend might save your tail… not saying that this has ever happened to us… errrr…

Tips on how to Improve Your Improvising Skills

Tip #1 – Shut your mouth: Only let those who can help with the problem know that there is a problem. DO NOT even hint at this in front of the bride and groom – unless they are the best resource to helping find the solution. People love drama, but as a professional, it is not professional to get others riled up with whatever situation that has been encountered.

Tip #2 – Find your happy place: Take a deep breath and try to clear your mind for a few seconds. You need to make the best of whatever obstacle is in front of you, so instead of immediately reacting, let your mind do a quick brainstorm.

Bonus Tip – Eat, drink and be merry: Make sure that you’re eating and drinking (non-alcoholic) enough the day of the event. The last thing you need is a self induced headache on top of a wedding-day-snafu-headache.

Tags: customer service, improvise, mad skills
Posted in Blog, Shooting

(0)

01.28.10

The Perfect Super 8mm Highlight Part II – The Shot List

Hi IN[FOCUS] Readers,

Well, Corbin and I hope part 1 of this series has helped you prepare for your Perfect Super 8mm Highlight, and that you’re now ready to learn some of our day-of-strategies that help us obtain that perfect Super 8mm Highlight (or at least get as close as possible, lets face it, rarely does wedding filming reach perfection).

Here I am describing the shots we choose, and why we choose them:

And now what you’ve been waiting for, a shot list for The Perfect Super 8mm Highlight: (all ceremonies and receptions are different, so this may not be the perfect list for every wedding highlight)

establishing shots of the ceremony location (remember you’ll want a still shot over which to put the bride’s and groom’s name)
detail in the bride’s room to establish it (her bouquet is always a good choice)
the bride smiling and/or laughing
a wide shot of all the bridesmaids
establishing your groom (maybe entering his room if possible)
detail of the groom’s room (jacket hanging up)
a wide of all the groomsmen
the groom smiling and/or laughing
establish the ceremony location (a wide of it with no guests or a shot of the program)
3-4 ceremony detail shots (you’ll use these as cutaways during the ceremony, so be sure to shoot mids or close shots)
guests mingling and greeting one another
the groom walking into place for the ceremony
groom’s smiling (remember to get it in-between the bridesmaids coming down)
a wide of entire wedding party in place (not shown in film)
the bride’s entrance (remember to try and get 2-3 shots of her entrance)
the bride’s father giving her away
unity candle or any other unique ceremony event
vows and/or ring shots
the kiss
the couples exit
1-3 shots of couple right after ceremony as they look at their rings.
reception establishing shot
2-3 reception detail shots (we no longer film the cakes, since we show them during the cake cutting)
the couple’s reception entrance (only film the bride and groom’s entrance and not their entire wedding party)
2-4 shots of the couple’s First Dance (the groom twirling his bride is always a good shot, as is the dip and/or kiss at the end)
2-3 shots of the Father/Daughter Dance
2-3 shots of the Mother/Son Dance (the beginning and ends of the dances seem to be the best moments)
cake cutting (again, all receptions are different, so just do your best to get all the major moments)
family members and wedding party dancing (do your best to get both sets of parents and grandparents)
bride and groom dancing
anything unique to the bride and groom’s reception (photo booth, candy bar, etc…)
bouquet and garter toss
the couple’s Last Dance and/or exit

Corbin and I hope this helps you create the Perfect Super 8mm Highlight and look forward to seeing your films!

Happy filming,

-Dave

Posted in Blog, Editing Tips, Film, Shooting

(0)

Your Name:
Your Email:
Website:

Your Name:
Your Email:
Website:

Your Name:
Your Email:
Website:

Your Name:
Your Email:
Website: