We have moved our technical postings to a new blog. The link is:

http://alansvideotech.blogspot.com

We have done this to keep the Bonnie Blink Productions blog oriented towards our clients. Technical readers can still access these posts at the new site, and any links to the old blog posts will be automatically redirected.

I was asked to make a short presentation on indoor wedding videography techniques at the November meeting of the Greater Philadelphia Videographers Association. I chose as my subject, reception audio tips. The presentation was well received and numerous question were asked by the members.  I have posted my notes (more extensive then the talk) here. Also included are tips for ceremony audio. While these will be most beneficial to videographers, they are also informative to clients who would like a good understanding of how we work with audio.

The September meeting of the Greater Philadelphia Videographers Association was held on Tuesday, Sept 16th at it’s new location, The Radisson Hotel Valley Forge in King of Prussia, PA. Turnout was good and we saw some new faces as well as some who we haven’t seen in awhile. The Matrox rep flew down from Montreal to showcase some of their products for event videographers. They also gave away  a $1000 door prize (I didn’t win ).

Al and Kathy Ritondo came down from North NJ to speak. Al and Kathy, in addition to their wedding videography, also produce podcasts for the industry. These can be found on their website. WEVA members can access Al and Kathy’s newer podcasts on the WEVA site.

After the meeting many of us went over to Chaamps for dinner and conversation.

The June Greater Philadelphia Videographers Association meeting was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King of Prussia, PA. Featured was a panel discussion on freelancing, how to be a freelance videographer, and how to hire freelancers.

Steve Newbert of All Occasion Video showed a portion of his new documentary about the American flag called The Color Bearers, The Story of America’s Flag Passion.

Joe Bradley received a well-deserved award for his service as GPVA treasurer.

After the meeting everyone went to Champps for dinner and discussion.

The April meeting of the Greater Philadelphia Videographers Association was all about business. George Alford of Pro Video and Photography in New Castle Delaware gave an excellent presentation on making a profit. It certainly made me think about keeping track of all my expenses, and adjusting our rates to maximize profit, while still being affordable. George also had some excellent tips on how to make a videography business stand out from the crowd.

Henry Franz moderated a forum on contracts. There were a number of excellent ideas passed around on how to write a better contract.

To cap of the evening, there was an online chat with John Zale of WEVA. John was in Las Vegas attending the NAB show and updated everyone on some of the new products being introduced there.

After the meeting everyone went to Chili’s for dinner and talk.

This week’s GPVA meeting featured I Do Stream, a company that markets a live video feed to the Internet. It is an interesting concept, You connect a camera via Firewire to a computer hooked to a broadband Internet connection. I Do Stream provides a way of allowing people anywhere to watch the feed live (or almost live). I don’t know how many wedding videographers will use it. We have enough trouble trying to get audio hookups at churches and reception halls to work without adding Internet connections, but at other more controlled venues live streaming video could be a reliable source of extra income.

GPVA member Joe Donato presented a very informative presentation entitled “How Ballroom Dancing Save My Videography Career”. Besides being a videographer, Joe also teaches ballroom dancing. He showed the audience how to apply dance concepts as a way of getting smoother handheld footage.

To cap of the evening, we had a surprise guest. Ron Dawson of Cinematic Studios in Cupertino CA, spoke via iChat from Las Vegas, where he is attending the WPPI Expo. WPPI is the organization of wedding photographers. Ron explained how he made a shift from wedding videography to corporate by producing videos for professional photographers. Ron is also well known in the blogging community and his talk at the WEVA Expo last summer on blogging is what got me going on this blog.

At the conclusion of the evening many of us headed up the street to Champps where a lively discussion of things video continued until past midnight.

The Next GPVA meeting will be held April 15, 2008 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in King Of Prussia, PA. Go to the GPVA website for more information.

The 8 to 12 hours that we typically spend shooting on the wedding day is only a fraction of the time spent producting a wedding day movie. Most of it is in the editing phase. This often runs anywhere from 40 to 80 hours.

In the beginning, much of this is routine, even tedious. After the footage has been captured into the computer, I have to go through all of it and pick out what I want to use. Then it is assembled into a rough cut. The next step is to refine this into what we call our “Documentary Style” program. This means that we edit the day’s events in chronological order, keeping all the major events, but cutting it in a way that keeps the video interesting. At the end of this phase we usually have a program that is from 1 to 2 hours in length.

If our client has ordered the Basic Package, we have completed most of the editing. If they are getting the Deluxe or Premium Package, we have just begun. Here we start on the Highlights program. Even though this only runs anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, it takes longer to edit. Why? Because this is where the artistry comes in. The Highlights program doesn’t document the day, it tells a story, the wedding story.

For me editing the Highlights is the biggest challenge. Distilling the essence of the wedding can be frustrating at first, but soon it all comes together and I have something that I am truly proud of. Most of all however, is what the couple will have. Perhaps fifty or sixty years from now, long after I am gone, they or their children and granchildren will still treasure it.

That is the real reward.

I returned Friday from the WEVA (Wedding and Event Videographers Association) Expo in Las Vegas. As always, I spent most of my time attending seminars (gambling and Vegas shows don’t really appeal to me). This year attendance was up. The show moved back to Bally’s after being at Mandalay Bay last year, and the Hilton the previous year.This was a good move, as Mandalay Bay was not set up well for this type of convention. Too much walking. At Bally’s the conference rooms were right downstairs.

Here are some of the seminars that I attended that I feel will make an impact on our work:

Canon A1 seminar with Rob Neal. A good introduction to the camera that we will probably purchase when we make the move to HD.

Tim Sudall’s excellent seminar called Destination Success. Very inspirational.

Soundtrack Pro with Larry Jordan. One of the best that I was at. I have been wrestling with this audio application from Apple for awhile now. In one hour I learned enough to make it useful.

Blogging For Videographers with Ron and Tasra Dawson. An excellent seminar on improving my blog. Should be a big help here.

Moving Camera Techniques with Mark and Tricia Van Lanken. As always, the Van Lankens put together an informative program on making wedding video more cinematic.

There was also a “mock wedding” where 12 experts demonstrated techniques for getting better ceremony and reception coverage.

Every year local videographers associations compete to produce a 60 second commercial for wedding videography. I am pleased to note that our local orgranization, The Greater Philadelphia Videographers Association, won for the second year in a row.