Rangefinder - May 2015

DSLR VIDEO GETS CINEMATIC

correct and color-grade. Many new cameras have specific flat or neutral profiles designed to help achieve this look.

Martin Bentsen, also of My Cinematic Wedding, actually prefers to shoot using the standard picture style, thereby reducing the need to color-correct every clip. He instead leaves the heavy color grading for the edited montage, which he delivers to his clients.

“To get more range, I’ll desaturate the
color a bit when I pull the files into Final Cut

10,” Bentsen says. “I’ll adjust the brightness
and add a color tint such as a slight blue in
the shadows and warm up the highlights,
which results in a very filmic look.”
“We shoot as flat as possible,” Owen adds.

“We start with a neutral profile and then add
contrast and sharpening back in post.”
Brian Dooley, of Brian Dooley Wedding
Videography, cautions that if it’s too flat,
“you’ll crush your blacks,” or leave yourself
potentially unnecessary work in post. “If
you’re reasonably well exposed in camera,
the colors you can get are still fantastic,”
Dooley says.

Lighting is always key, but it’s especially important to think ahead about how the color will be graded during post processing.

As event shooters often face challenging
lighting conditions, it’s important to record
footage with a camera that provides
excellent high ISO performance. That
combined with fast fixed lenses maintain the
quality of the footage. “We bring quite a bit
of lighting with us,” says Steve Graham of
Cinemedia. “Thank goodness for LEDs. We
dial in the color temperature and we’re able
to shoot at between f/4 and f/7 and keep
the ISO low.” Though high noise levels can
be reduced in software, the resulting loss in
sharpness, detail and color fidelity can make
achieving a cinematic look that much more
challenging.

MOVEMENT

While cameras have made huge strides in
image stabilization, shooting hand-held is
still something of a no-go area for wedding
videographers. “I never shoot handheld
since it has more of a documentary look—
it’s not as romantic,” said Alex Karas, co-
founder of Voila Cinematic. “Every camera
movement has to be fluid.”
In fact, Graham, Owen and Karas all use
Glidecams to keep camera motion smooth.

For establishing shots and detail work, Dooley relies on a Kessler Pocket Dolly to gently pan the camera. Drones, too, are an increasingly favored tool for wide-angle establishing shots that sweep across the venue grounds. If you’re leery of sending a drone aloft, a jib crane can give a “broader feel to your footage,” especially outdoors, Owen says.