cinematography Question about shooting wedding videos with a DSLR.

H

harmonica44

A couple of people asked me to shoot their wedding videos, but I am reluctant to do it on a DSLR (which is all I have now), because of the shallow DOF. Since most weddings are done in low lit interiors I would either have to keep the aperture wide open, in which case i can only have a couple of people in focus at a time, and have to pick and choose...

Or I can shoot around f8, and have the ISO way up at 6400, and take out the noise later. Cause that way, I won't have to worry about not everyone being in focus. Since it's a live event, I cannot plan the focus pulling ahead of time, of course, so I was wondering, if anyone had any advice on how to shoot such a live event on a DSLR?
 
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harmonica44 said:
Are you saying that a wedding is just totally un-doable with a DSLR cause it's not run and gun enough?
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It's totally "un-doable" because you, personally, do not have the experience to do it. And all the techinical stuff (single-cam, T2i limitations, sound, etc.). But really...

harmonica44 said:
Who are they asking about ISO and depth of field?
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This guy was asking:

harmonica44 said:
A couple of people asked me to shoot their wedding videos, but I am reluctant to do it on a DSLR (which is all I have now), because of the shallow DOF. Since most weddings are done in low lit interiors I would either have to keep the aperture wide open, in which case i can only have a couple of people in focus at a time, and have to pick and choose...

Or I can shoot around f8, and have the ISO way up at 6400, and take out the noise later. Cause that way, I won't have to worry about not everyone being in focus. Since it's a live event, I cannot plan the focus pulling ahead of time, of course, so I was wondering, if anyone had any advice on how to shoot such a live event on a DSLR?
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Okay thanks. Well I don't have to the wedding. I would like to gain more experience though, but so many people are doing live events to get experience, and I have been asked to live events before, such as with the construction video.

So if I am to gain experience through live events, what can I do to overcome the shortcomings of a DSLR, such as limited recording time, and no zoom capabilities during shooting? As for the wedding, I offered to the audio only but they wanted me to do video as well. I feel that the more audio jobs I apply for, the more the clients want me to do video as well, as they want one person to do all the jobs. But if I am to gain experience on live events, what can I do to improve my DSLR? Or is it about experience and not technical? Should I just keep practicing to overcome the technical limitations? I could do that but it seems no matter how much I practice, the camera, still has limited recording time and crappy looking zooms, during live events, and no amount of experience can overcome those limitations. Unless I am wrong?

As for sound being a limitation, I already have a field recorder and different mics, so I think I got the sound covered, and it's just the video limitations in the DSLR, that's a problem.
 
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harmonica44 said:
As for sound being a limitation, I already have a field recorder and different mics, so I think I got the sound covered, and it's just the video limitations in the DSLR, that's a problem.
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The problem is with user error, not the fact that it's a DSLR. I have shot several live music events with a DSLR. They come out great because I don't use my camera as an excuse, I own lenses I know I can get good results with and I have years of experience meaning I know what I'm doing. Stop using your camera as an excuse. "Oh but the time limitation" well why are you only filming with one camera? At the bare minimum for a live event there should be two cameras and it should be timed so that during the ten seconds where you start a new file, the other camera is still rolling - so in the edit there's no pause or jump cut.

Lets be honest - you are not going to be happy until you own an Alexa; except then you'll be making topics on how to deal with such a heavy camera whilst doing handheld shots of a police drama.
 
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"Or should I have bought the Alexa Mini instead?"

LOL

H44: remember the John Cleese video?
The end part is about that people who don't know what they are doing often don't know they don't know what they are doing. That is you, because you block your own progress everytime again and again.
Every time you have a problem you try to solve it by either complicating the project ("I can't find a location I can use for longer than 4 hours. Do you think it is smart to use 20 locations to fix that?") or by making it stupid ("You told me to shoot a scene. I picked a dumb one that is boring and nobody wants to work on it. I think it is because it is too short.")

You assume too much and draw the wrong conclusions about 99% of the time.

Can't find enough cast? SIMPLIFY by lowering the amount of actors needed.
Can't find people who can help for 10 days? SIMPLIFY by lowering the amount of shooting days needed.
Always give people something exciting/fun(ny) to work on.
Is your plan too boring? Create a better plan.
Can't even find 1 actor? Make something without actors: the poem idea has been mentioned before: it is a great exercise to train your cinematografic storytelling skills.

But you are just reluctant to put in any effort. It is much safer to fantasize you are a filmmaker instead of putting real sensible effort in it.


BTW, how is your short script going for your assignment?
Still trying to cramp a whole lawbook in a 5 minute short?
 
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"Or should I have bought the Alexa Mini instead?"
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Definitely lol. Was in talks regarding getting an Alexa, mini or Amira yesterday. Still a year or so away. By then, there'll probably be an alternative worth considering.

people who don't know what they are doing often don't know they don't know what they are doing.
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The unconscious incompetent. The aim to grow is to become the conscious incompetent. Only at that point does the subject gain a chance to improve.

I don't think that's his problem. If it were only that simple, the IT forum would have a lot less content and considerably less frustrated users.

It's like they say. Movies have the most potential before they're made. Once they're made, they succeed or fail. Their potential becomes actual. With 99%+ of movies failing, a movies value is often greater before it's made. It made very little sense when I first heard the concept. Perhaps H44 is attempting to keep his value high. Once he makes a film, perhaps he thinks there's no more potential????

draw the wrong conclusions about 99% of the time.
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That's what I love about you. The eternal optimist. Are you sure his hit rate is that high? I think 1 chance in a hundred is generous.
 
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