What kind of work is involved in post-production, after you shoot the wedding?
After we return from your wedding, all of the footage is "dumped" to our computer's hard drive (we actually have several external hard drives). This process is called digitizing and takes place in real time. That is, 56 minutes of footage take 56 minutes to transfer to the computer. Therefore, if we have 5 hours of footage, it takes a minimum of five hours to transfer that footage to the computer plus the time to change out tapes and name them in the computer, provided there is no glitch which might abort digitizing mid-tape.

Our next step upon digitizing the tapes is to take the ceremony footage from the two cameras and splice it together. Sometimes this is an easier job than others. If the footage has significant color variation because of the placement of windows in the venue, for example, then we will spend a good bit of time in color correction so that the two sets of footage will match as closely as possible. Otherwise we will watch both angles to see which camera has a better angle at each point in the ceremony and alternate shots, adding appropriate transitions as needed.

Adjusting audio levels between the two-three sources of input is another step in the process. Because the groom is mic'd, there are times in the ceremony where you definitely want his microphone to provide the primary audio. There are other times, however, where the viewer would prefer to hear the ambient audio (say, during congregational singing -- sorry groom!). If the audio tech permits, we have a digital audio recorder which is plugged into your sound system to record the audio from all sound system inputs (officient, soloists, & readers).

After finishing the edit of the full ceremony, we will place chapter markers at various points in the footage and capture screen shots for the photo menu so the viewer can skip to specific points in the service without holding the fast-forward button for several seconds (or minutes). These chapter markers are usually placed at the points in the service designated in your program.

Having completed the ceremony edit, we can get to the fun part: selecting footage for the highlights video. Before we can even select footage though, we need to lay down the music track. Editing the video to the music ensures a video with images that match the tempo and relative meaning of the lyrics of the song, if appropriate. Each highlights video is unique in the placement and use of special video transitions and effects (slow motion, freeze frame, black and white, etc.). A lot of that again depends on the tenor of the music selected and the particular shots captured.

Once the highlights videos are completed, the final phase involves the creation of the DVD menu images, menu buttons and links, and then drop in the special features, where appropriate.

How long before I get my completed video?
Our contract states that we will have the completed video to you within 6-8 weeks. Depending on the time of year, we may have the finished project to you as soon as two weeks after your wedding. We are as anxious to get it to you as you are to receive it. We look forward to your feedback! It is the most enjoyable part of our job!