Fun with shooting

So I just finished shooting Joe and Jasmine's wedding and I couldn't wait to get home and look at the footage because I know we got some great stuff, but on top of that I got to try out a new toy, the glidecam for some shots and got to see how it looks.

I have actually known Joe and Jasmine for a few years now stemming from an anniversary video I did for Joe's parents 25th a few years back, which then lead to doing Joe's sister's wedding (Anna and Paul) and from there it just snowballed. This family and their friends and relatives have referred me so much business that I can't even put into words how thankful I am for them. It's a great feeling going to a wedding and seeing multiple people whose weddings you filmed or people whose weddings are coming up in the future that you are filming - its just amazing and again THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

And back to the glidecam (sorry I get off topic sometimes!) - its essentially a pole that the camera sits on top of and the bottom of the pole is weighted to counter balance the camera. Towards the top of the pole is a handle that pretty much free floats. What this allows you to achieve is amazing movement shots that do not look handheld - they look like they were shot on a dolly.

I have been wanting to spice up my shooting for some time now and this may be the answer. I still need a lot of practice as its extremely hard to frame the shots and move around while keeping it steady, but I should be good at it in no time!

I decided to give the glidecam a shot for some of the day today, without hindering the normal shots I would get - and below are just two examples of what I came out with (this is all unedited raw footage!) - to see it in 720p High Definition click on the right hand side where it says HD off and follow the instructions to vimeo.com!


Glidecam Fun from Matthew Fink on Vimeo.


As you can see it needs work - I need to slow down with it and with that framing shots will come easier, but the smoothness of the motion is just amazing.

As soon as I get this down pat it opens up a huge world of new types of shots and creativity which I am very excited to explore!