Need algorithm for groom's head:

OMFG!

AAAH Weddings. So I've been filming weddings for 3 years now. Its repetitive and painful specially when all of them have been the same format. The clients we end up with 90% of the time are Filipino couples. My team being mainly filipino members in Canada.

The worst thing about filming a filipino wedding is the annoying "filipino time". In other words, late and just go with it. The other thing is horrible MC's. They either have no control of the situation or are too controlling. This recent one I had, the MC ditched the written plan completely and went from the top of his head resulting in 3 hours overtime, the father + daughter and mother and son dances got called off. He kept yelling into the mic like he was eating it and suffering from starvation.

Having a same day edit to work with, it was a breeze because of his delays. BUT it was frustrating because of his amplified yelling and my noise cancelling headphones were not doing the trick.

So in the final video, were not going to have a lot to show.

The best tip I can have for anyone who tries to do this for a living: Be patient and calm at all times. Don't let annoying photographers or MC's or planners get to your nerves. Focus on your shots and editing. Shoot a lot of fillers like macro shots and sliding shots. Chances are the second video guy isnt at par at your experience or skill level so take the extra effort to ensure you get what you needed and always communicate!

@Vitaliy_Kiselev Thanks for tip!

Sigh... Unfortunately I didn't discover the Panasonic G6 black coma issues before this recent shoot. Actually its white and black coma to the left. The ETC on the G6 makes it even worse so most of my closeups are weird as hell and its impossible to grade (unless if I go low contrast, 70s style look on everything). To make matters worse, the groom ripped out the cord from the H1 so I had no LAV sound during the ceremony. Frosting on this disaster cake: this was also close to an airport, so I got some great Airbus 230 foley instead!

@oscillian, those are really crazy hours for shooting a wedding! I hope you are well compensated. Just filmed one this past weekend with great results...just forgot to shoot some establishing venue shots! My issue is I always bring too much equipment to use. Thankfully the venue had excellent staff with golf carts helping me out. Don't be afraid to ask for help (staff not guests) carrying stuff around a large venue where the ceremony and reception are at different sites and your car is way far off in the parking lot.

10 Things a Photographer Should Never Do While Photographing a Wedding

Do not share technical problems with the wedding party.

Let’s face it, stuff is going to happen. Problems will arise. Equipment will break, lenses will lock, lights will refuse to fire, and you will panic. No matter how seasoned of a wedding photographer you are, a lens that locks up in the middle of an event will give you the same sensation as if you swallowed an ice cube. But no matter what the problem, it is YOURS, not the couple’s. The last thing a bride wants to hear on her wedding day is, “WTF? Hold on everybody! My lens locked up and I’ve got to switch everything over now, so it’s gonna be a few minutes. I can not believe this is happening. I mean, come on!” Yeah, brides really love that…not. Just switch to your backup plan and move on. You do have a backup plan, right?

Via: http://petapixel.com/2013/05/15/10-things-a-photographer-should-never-do-while-photographing-a-wedding/

Shot one a couple weeks ago was my 6th wedding I've done since I started shooting weddings… the wedding started an hour and 15 minutes late, and was an hour and a half long ceremony (was my first Catholic ceremony, and from what I heard, this was long by even Catholic standards!). The reception was across town, and the bride and groom arrived an hour later than expected, which was then proceeded by a 5 course sit down dinner which took 5 hours for the caterers to serve. Needless to say, you can only shoot so much footage of people sitting around waiting for food to arrive. The DJ's were in a panic trying to re-arrange the wedding schedule as dinner was only scheduled for an hour. What was supposed to be a 6-7 hour day for me, turned into an 11 hour day… but I learned a lot about making a better contract so I get paid more when these types of issues come up.

Catrin and David got married on 29th of september this year. We started out at Catrins parents place with the ceremonial greetings from Davids family and then took off for church (last minute change!) The party lasted until 5 o'clock in the morning :) This was my first Syrian wedding with 600 guests and my first gig for Carlsbeckers Studios.

40+ hours of raw footage with 6 GH2s. Edit in Premiere CS6. Music: themusicbed

I use a personal recorder with lav mic attached for the ceremony. Guess who inserted the mic into the earphone hole? oops

I have now taped over the headphone hole to prevent this.

@oscillian, 6 GH2's!?!?!?! That is insane. I hope they are paying you well for it! How many shooters? Would love to see some of that 30h footage.
I am usually one person trying to manage 3-4 cameras: 1 GH2, 1 GF3, 1 Sony V1U, and a Sony TX100 point&shoot for hiding. Audio is through Tascam DR-40, and kudos to all the kind DJ's letting us get the audio feed for ceremony & reception!

Minutes before the ceremony was due to start, the minster kindly asked "You do know they are facing the congregation, right?" I said no they never said they were doing that.

Cue last minute mad dash to re-config set-up, and move up to balcony with lots of gear!

End result worth it, now every consultation we ask, which way are you facing?!