wedding trailer made with final cut x

any comments or advice accepted!

Very nice!

Nice scenery

Great video man!

Oh, Andreas, you really have made something wonderful here. What a beautiful video, dare I say, a work of art. Perfectly matching your piece to the music accentuates & never detracts, the crescendos with the joyous exhalations of the blessed event, the calm section with the honeymooners at the tranquil sea, it’s such a marvelous piece. The real magic you’ve captured is personal, the people exceeding the feigned futile attempts of actors, because this is all real, the emotions are so true to life, we can’t help but feel it too. Honestly, it made me weep with joy. Everything, the families, the beautiful Italians, the rustic church, the children, the clothes, the dancing, the laughter, the wonderful faces so filled with emotion & promise. I loved it!

The reason we were so able to feel, rather than watch, is that you did your job seamlessly. There were no misplaced effects, edits or camera work that jarred us from the experience, you utilized the technology as an artist should, unobtrusively, letting the pureness of the truth shine thru.

If I were to search hard, there are only three things I can find; two are shots, one is your still (that might be chosen by Vimeo, I’m not certain, if I remember correctly they give you a choice). Of all the joyous moments I would loved to have frozen as your banner, the one you have doesn’t show her in the best light. Just as the artistic transparency of your technical work here allows the timeless beauty of the universal union to reach us, we want to experience the beauty of your cast without being reminded of makeup or harsh lighting. Thus, for me, that still shot is a little too hard. Also her expression, looks anything but joyful. Ok later we learn that’s the moment when she sheds a tear from being overwhelmed with the love of it all, & you know that, but we only learn of it after we watch the movie. So it’s the wrong image up front. Also the veins in the temples are not flattering. She deserves better…

The other two shots, & please remember, these are just tiny negatives for me, & only very slightly. The first is the exterior shot of legs walking to the event, the long shadows are a symbolic detraction. With that time of day (magic hour), I’d preferred you to do a wide shot from the waists up, showing their happy expectant faces & skin tones in that perfect light, perhaps with a dolly sweep past. If no dolly then just walk past them & smooth it in FCPX after. Then the shot I really want is a longer shot of that group silhouetted walking up the hill into the light (sunset lens flare license), preferably the church is in that shot too, totally iconic. Though you do have a shot almost like this from the back of different group with a flare, but it’s a bit high shooting down, I’d prefer it lower almost into the sun coming over the church. Of course I understand you want to show the walking, the movement, the gathering together for this, & yes, the dusty path contrasts nicely with the fancy clothes, however I still like to see less of that dirt & more of the love.

With that in mind, the shot of the back of the dress trailing in the dust, could be greatly improved if that moment was her transitioning across the threshold onto the hard stone floor of the ancient church. Wow, now that would be a beautiful contrast, silk & stone, new & old, curly round ruffles & flat angular surface, soft & hard…. & no dirt. (Ok, sorry, now we’re up to three shots & one still) Oops, one other I’m a bit quizzical over, is the pan of the old city, with an odd speed ramp. I’m kind of confused why the city is there in the timeline. Perhaps earlier, could denote the people have come from the city & are now walking to this sacred place on a hill, but where you have it & then the speed ramp, I was left a little perplexed. Perhaps an extended crossfade transition there could have shown us the couple are leaving the world of cities & people, as they are alone together now in nature kissing, but you fade to black at the end of the speed up. I know you want to match the tempo shift in the music, but thematically I think you could creatively come up with something else here, & place the city elsewhere in time. Near that shot is a point when you circle the couple as she is smiling & looking up as the music reaches a crescendo you fade to black. I think your city scape tempo shift in the music could have fit with a speed ramp visual revolving round the couple as they come together in a kiss, then the musical impact results instead of a fade to black, a flash to white which burns to your over exposed light streaming in the church door as father & daughter bride walk out of that light to the altar.

The other tiny neg is at the moment he lifts the veil to kiss his bride, you show the parents faces, neither look happy, & your shadow crosses the mother’s face. Also, can’t say I’m entirely in love with the overhead shot of the people walking in a trench. I’d rather have that shot from inside the tunnel showing them stepping out of the darkness into the light. It might have been nice to have a bit of slower speed on the rice throwing, just to soften it a touch, while you’re at it you could slow the groomsmen jumping from the ruins by about 10%, as well as the confetti, which I’d like to slow right down almost to a still. Still, I can’t bemoan these minuscule barely perceptible bumps in the light of your glorious triumph here.

A beautiful side note I didn’t catch the first time, the closing credit, how you joined their names together without a space. There are so many lovely little touches you’ve finessed, the men swaying & singing outside, the entire first act with the preparation, your focus work in that section is superb, the low dolly shot into the women’s room, the flowers, the props, the shot thru the banister, & again the wonderful faces, so happy, so natural, so perfect. Better than a script, better than acting, all entirely genuinely real.

Impressed & touched. Thank you.

J. Matthew
Global•Watch•Media•Consulting
www.GWM2.com

WOW...i'm so honored you liked it Matthew! your observations and critiques are like gold for me...and i think i will post videos in this forum more often! anyways, the wedding was located in Agrigento...,one of the richest and most famous of the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in Sicily! The beautiful site helped me alot with editing and also this time i was lucky to get a really nice couple that made my life easier! they were spontanous and easygoing! About the "vimeo still" let's see if i can change it!
thanks to you i just noticed the "long shadows" and they are kinda distracting..and just noticed the girl with a unhappy face when he lifts the bride's veil...i have to be more careful of surroundings..sometimes i tend to look only at the main "actors"! and thanks for the other advices too! it's with people like you that i grow and get better everytime! thank you

You are are also a pleasure to work with, Andreas. Some here have not been quite so receptive to my observations. Perhaps one man's gold is another man's thorns.

If I could choose a place for your still shot banner, I'd say that moment where they are under the tree & she is looking upwards. Capture & zoom in on that a bit, her look so perfectly symbolizes hope.

I'm not really sure the long shadows are "distracting" per say, I measure things on a scale of positive over negative, the latter detracting from the central theme. In this case, the shadows are only very slightly on the negative side, but perhaps mostly in a subconscious sense. Metaphorically & artistically, long shadows as nightfalls have a sadder connotation with impending gloom, aging, approaching death, as they're growing longer until darkness engulfs all. Whereas long shadows at dawn symbolize the new day, hope, rebirth, etc. These are deep seated images of the psyche bordering on the spiritual, but so were many of your images & their associated emotions.

As we're talking light & darkness, in your calm oasis moment at the seaside, when the couple appear walking onto the terrace, they are a little dark. Yes I know it's late in the day here & the shadows are approaching. I'm going to make a suggestion for something technical that I'm not entirely proficient at yet, but you can see it described in the Jazzy Blues Colors thread here...
fcp.co/forum/13-made-with-final-cut-pro/...-jazzy-bluesy-colors

If a moving mask could be applied to the couple as they walk across the shot, it doesn't have to be exact, as I'd actually love to see a slight glow about them that extends beyond their physical frame (with feathered edges). They appear a bit flat right now, & if their color grading & luminosity could be amped just a titch, we might have a very subtle yet beautiful effect.

The main thing that touched me in this video, Andreas, is that your near perfect melding of the visuals with the music, displayed a depth of artistic sensitivity exceeding most professional music videos, matched only by your emerging emotional maturity. Many film makers never achieve this transition to artistry because it's beyond the mind's eye moving into the territory of the heart. Please be encouraged in that.

Andreas85ct wrote: WOW...i'm so honored you liked it Matthew! your observations and critiques are like gold for me...and i think i will post videos in this forum more often! [/quote

TrixTrax's reviews are a real credit to this site! They are the most detailed and honest observations on the interwebs.

Thank you, Simon. That means a lot coming from you, a film maker I respect, not only for the creative & artistic quality of your work, but for your intelligent, ego-free attitude on these matters. Rare indeed.