Conversion and the Intro music

First things first, for those of you thinking about correcting my use of the Cybermen, I'm aware that they upgrade and not convert but if you ever try typing conversion or file conversion into google images you get some pretty boring pictures come up.

Here we are then 26th July and 6 days AW and the file conversion is finally done, there were a couple of minor glitches along the way but panic attack over and it's all done. Now we move on to the next stage which in this case happens to be picking the music for the into. "Well thats easy you might say" I wish that were true, you see for me that first piece of music sets the whole thing off, its got to click and feel right. That first song sets the pace for the whole introduction, too slow and the whole thing drags right from the start, too fast and you stand to make the ceremony feel slow, you need something upbeat with a decent pace. I always know when i've got the right music because once the clips are cut together and the music is playing I can't but crack a huge smile, thats when I know i've got it and getting just that first couple of minutes right gives me that buzz for the rest of edit.

Of course the other thing that needs thinking about is the couples taste in music, the last thing you want is to find the perfect song only to find that the couple absolutely hate the song you've chosen, that shouldn't be a problem for this one because I'm pretty sure Jo and Pete love Jedward.

Anyway i've got a few selected I've just got to try them out and see how they work and just hope they like them. Hopefully by the next time I post the intro should be finished and i'm going to try and put a little clip on the website or at the least the link to it on youtube.

Steve

The Beginning

It's now the 22nd of July 2 days AW (after wedding) and so far i've managed to get all the footage transferred across and put into categories to make editing easier and renaming. For those who are interested i've 53GB with of footage all in stunning HD, now the next job will be to convert it all to a file format that works with Final Cut which should be quite straightforward but time consuming.

While looking back at the footage you come to realise how much of the day you've actually missed due to filming and if I think about it I don't really get to experience the special day that everyone else experienced until I sit and go through the various footage, because although you're there your not really focusing on the wedding but trying to get the best footage that you can to make the couple proud and being as they're your friends you put everything you've got into making it special for them. Thats not to say that I regret doing this because I really don't and quite honestly I wouldn't have it any other way.

On another note I've got to say, and this is by no means a criticism of other weddings i've done, this has been the most fun wedding i've shot, just in terms of sheer content and the amount of footage i've got to work with, in fact i've almost got to much. Normally the DVD I do clock in at about an hour, with this one however I think this will literally be our Return of the King in length alone and i'm talking the extended cut here. 

Anyway enough from me for now ad hopefully next time I post the conversion will be done adn the editing will have started.

Steve

The Edit: An Introduction

So with this first post I thought i'd give a little introduction and some motivation behind this blog. On Saturday the 20th of July two of my good friends got married and, as the case has been been for quite a while now I've been asked, along with my other good friend Neil to film the wedding and create the DVD. Neil and myself have been doing this along with Pete (the groom in this case) since my wedding in 2004 and we've been involved in the filming of friends and family's weddings and other events ever since.

So whats different this time?

Well for us this is the end of the "trilogy" our Return of the King if you like, Pete is the last of the crew (that's crew as in camera crew, not the other way, there's no way we're street enough for that) to get married so it holds some significance. Now thats not to say that this is the end, not for me anyway, I cant really speak for the others but if a friend asks then i'll be more than happy to do it, in fact as hard a work as it can be I do enjoy doing it.

Why the blog?

Well since i've got into the whole blogging thing with my other blog http://steveig77.blogspot.co.uk (sorry, shameless plug) and the fact that this is the end of an era I thought it would be good to chart the ups and downs of making this DVD and it give people a good idea of where I am in the making of it, plus it saves the conversation of "hows the DVD going" "yeah good" and then me boring people with the details, so the plan is that I can bore people this way and they can chose to read or not. I'm also going to apologise in advance if the blog gets a bit technical but don't worry if you don't understand some of it because chances are I wont either so any tech support will be appreciated.

Shouldnt you be editing the thing rather than blogging about it?

True, but the plan is that I'll be updating the blog whenever stuff is converting or rendering or when I hit an editors block (not sure if thats a real thing) or if I just get plain fed up of editing for the evening. I also have a family to spend time with other wise i'll be a 33 year old divorced man editing videos at his mums house so a break in editing is alway a wise option.

So that's the blog I hope you enjoy it over the coming weeks, i'll try and keep it as light as possible and I'll try not to post anything too dull.

Steve