Enough about my work flow, here are some new videos that I want to share with the world.  First up is a photo montage that is on a couples DVD.  They chose to use photos from their wedding for their montage.  The down side to that was they had to wait to get the photos from the photographer.

This next one is a highlight video from the wedding I recorded the week before my own wedding.  Second camera was Steve Wrinkles.  Two things to note with this video.  The cable for the wireless mic system I use during the ceremony turned out to be a bad cable, and it has since been replaced.  And this is the first wedding where I started using my new light.  You will notice that in the reception that it ads some light to fill shadows without being over powering like some lights you may have seen.

My first experiance with a Photographer that I didn’t like was back in October.  I would gladly tell you the name save the fact that she never told me her name.  She didn’t seem interested in anything else aside from taking her photos.  In fact, through out the reception, she would walk in front of my video camera.  Not to sound like I am more important, but I am taking video, and I can’t stop.  At the beginning of a reception, I have the camera rolling for 25 straight minutes from the introductions, first dance, toast and blessing.  If someone walks in front of me, then my shot is now bad, no second chance.  A good photographer knows this, and will either duck under or go behind someone who is taking video.  This photographer also got upset when wedding guests were snapping photos of shots that she set up.

Photographers that I like to work with communicate well, and we discuss positioning before the ceremony to make sure that we are not in each others way.  This not only makes both of our days easier, but will result in better pictures and video of your wedding day.

Here are a couple of ways to figure out if you have a good match of video and photo.  When you are first looking around and you are their web site, look to see if they have a list of recommended vendors.  For example, I just started a list that you can see on the left to both vendor listings and vendors that I have worked with.  If someone, like myself, lists another vendor then chances are they have worked together and they work well together.  This is a good place to start.  Say you found a great photographer, then look at their list videographers that they have worked with, and pick the one that is right for you.  The other thing is in your first meeting with a vendor.  One of my questions is always who your other vendors are.  I want to know if I have worked with them or not.  I have never turned down a job based on who your other vendors are, but I know that some people do, so these are all things that you should know about ahead of time.

People will tell you that the day goes by faster than you can imagine.  I didn’t always believe that.  After experiencing it, I can tell you that people don’t say it enough.  The day goes by way too fast.  I only danced with my wife once, barely ate dinner because people dragged me on the dance floor, and the only cake I had was the piece that my wife shoved in my face.  Looking at pictures that friends took, there were so many things that I missed.  I can only imagine what the video will hold.  So now this is a new message that I have for people thinking about having a video.  You can’t afford not to have a video.  You won’t remember or even see half the the things that happen on your wedding day.  Take it from me, I was there.

First, I think it is a good idea to step back and create a list about once a week.  This will likely be one of many lists you have already created, but I find it helpful since every week it seems like that there is something else that I thought of today and that I didn’t think of yesterday.  Take that list and post it next to your computer screen at work since you will most likely be looking at it all day.  When you get the chance to call that Church, and book a meeting with the DJ, that is one less thing that you have to do, and you check it off the list.  With only a couple of months to go is the nitty gritty stuff.  Paying all the vendors, and double checking with the limos to make sure they know where to be when.  Even though you aren’t supposed to do these things at work, when people know you are getting married, they let these little five minute breaks slide.

Second, you need a place to live if you aren’t living together already.  I am finding out that this just ads a little more complication.  On top of paying your vendors and making sure everything is ready, now you need to find a place to live, come up with the security, move in, and so on.  For anyone that has moved before, you know there are a lot of things that need to be done.  My advice is to try and have a new place ready a month before the wedding, even if you aren’t going to live there yet.  Have a place where you can start moving your furniture and such.  You want to have this out of the way before the wedding, because once you get to that week, you won’t be wanting to move.

Lastly, relax.  Just because there is a lot to do, does not mean it is time to freak out.  Maybe this should the first point.  But, the point is, that this is going to be one of the best days of your lives, don’t let the little stuff ruin it.  Once your rehearsal dinner day is here, you should not have a bad moment until long after you get back from the honey moon.

First of all, NEVER sign on the dotted line right away.  Even if you end up going with the first person you meet with, you should always shop around.  You may feel like you wasted your time, but if you went with the first person you met, you will never know what else is out there.  My fiance will tell you that I am bad at that, because I always want to book someone soon or right away.  Then again, guys aren’t that good at shopping around.  And not only should you shop around, all of us vendors know that you are shopping around.  The first time I ever met with a client, I brought a blank contract with me and everything hoping to book them that night.  I was excited about getting my business started, however it was a bad idea.  Although, they did book with me, filling out the contract form right then and there isn’t always the best idea for someone like me who happens to be a small shop.  When you do meet with a vendor, ask all the questions you need to, get a quote and let them know you are still looking around.  Trust me, if they are a good vendor they will not be insulted that you looking around at other vendors, that is just part of the business.  However, I have noticed that some vendors play a little more hard ball.  When my fiance and I were shopping around for out photographer, we met with one who was only going to give us the weekend to decide, and after that, he could not hold the date any longer.  In most cases, this shouldn’t happen to you, but if it does, don’t fall victim to this and think you need to book that photographer or else you will be stuck with no one.  Tell them that you still need to shop around, and meet with other vendors.  As the couple getting married, you have the upper hand, because with out you, we would have no jobs.

Now taking the time to shop around is recommended, but taking too long can be rude, and can lose your spot with a vendor that you might want to book.  For instance, taking a couple weeks to shop around is okay, but taking a couple of months can be too long.  Even though your wedding is a year or more away, other people are looking for the same vendors for the same days, and in the end, the only thing that books the day with any vendor is your deposit.  For this reason, I suggest trying to schedule vendors in the same time frame.  Try to meet with a couple of DJs within the same time period, and then make that decision.  Then meet with a couple of photographers in a time period and make that decision.  If you do it one type of vendor at a time, you can make a nice time schedule for yourself, and get a lot accomplished. 

Lastly, once you do decide who your vendors are going to be, it is polite to contact the vendors that you are not going with to let them know.  You may feel funny about sending an e-mail or making a phone call to a vendor telling them that you are not going to higher them, but in actuality I prefer to hear from people that they have gone with someone else.  First of all, it means that I can try to book that date with someone else, and second, I don’t have to continue to send e-mails or make phone calls to someone that has already booked another vendor.  Consider it like a R.S.V.P.

I hope that this along with all other advice posts is helpful.  If you have other topics that you would like me to write about, please let me know.

The change is subtle, and it is right in front of you if you are reading this.  That’s right, I changed the blog.  For a few years, I have been using the Blogger service to host my blogs for various groups.  It worked well, but it is a little crude, and you can’t get it to look just the way you want.  When I created this new site in the Fall, I tried using some different tools that are plugins for this site.  The programing language behind the site is called Joomla, and there are several plugins that people have made that will create a blog, however, I didn’t like any of them.  Instead of using one of them, I simply "wrapped" my Blogger site into this one.  And that was okay, but not great.

In the past month, I have been fooling around with a blogging technology called WordPress, and I love it.  My first major thing I did was create an online magazine with my friend called AAVR Magazine.  We have some contributors, and are running like a true magazine.  The next thing that I did, was redo my personal blog that I share with my soon to be wife.  And then finally, today I moved my Keith Michael Production blog into WordPress.  WordPress lets you import from your old blog, so everything that I had on Blogger, has been moved over.  Now this blog will be easier to maintain, and I think it will look a lot better.  So please enjoy the new format as I hope to be writing a lot more.

Am I always nervous? do I always hod my breath? I would say yes. But the times that I am even more on edge is when I do a video for somebody I know. Most clients I don’t hear from for months or years until they need another video, but my friends I see all the time. Recently I recorded the wedding of a friend of mine. The pressure was on.

It was a two camera setup for the ceremony, I was going to know a good amount of people there, and this was the first time I was bringing my fiance Joy on as a second camera. First off I had to balance the time I spent talking with friends and doing my job. I never like the idea of my voice on video, especially if it’s for someone else. The good part about knowing the people was that they weren’t shy with the camera. In fact, a lot of them enjoyed having it around. In the end, I had fun with friends, and kept the video professional.

Next was making sure that Joy did a good job. Most of her experience with the video camera was from video taping some of my old bands gigs. That’s ok though because in those videos I could tell she had the good sense of what to keep in frame. All I needed to do was a crash course in the rule of thirds, pan and zoom techniques, and we were ready. After reviewing the video, she did a great job! I’ve seen media students that aren’t as good as her. I can’t wait to see how she does after a couple of weddings. The best part about her doing the second camera? I don’t have to pay her (by her own choice).

How did the video turn out? Well, I had some audio sync issues which I cleaned up in my editor. Aside from that, it looked like a great video. Then it was the moment of truth. My friend stopped by on Friday to picked up the DVDs (which I had for two weeks waiting for him). On Saturday, I was working on an audio job when my cell phone rang with his name on the caller ID. I picked up to hear his wife say "Hi Z" (that’s my nickname). I took a deep breath as I new this was going to be the moment of truth. The result, they loved it. They cried while watching it. This made me feel great. Another job well done. The only thing left is for me to give them the un edited video. I usually give all of the videos at once, but when you are dealing with friends, you have a little more cushion on the time table.

This past weekend I was reading an article about this, and it seemed to share a lot of the same opinions that I have, and that is it does not make sense or the local videographer to go HD just yet. For my justification, I like to take a look at the history of HD. HDTV came out first, and in the beginning, only a couple of major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) started to broadcast in HD. And when they did, only some shows and some events were being shown in HD. Only recently have more channels been going HD, and are becoming available on more cable and dish providers. Just this week, the WWE went HD.

The thing to consider here is the budget that these networks and companies have and how long it took for them to become HD. My last example, the WWE, is a multi million dollar company that is seen around the world. So why did it take so long for them to go HD?

First, we look at the cost to go HD. It’s not just buying a new camera, for shooting things in wide screen. It’s also having the media to store the content on, and then your viewers having the ability to watch the HD content. The article I referred to earlier had another good point. They basically said that a bad story in HD is still a bad story and people will stop watching it.

Now to relate this to Keith Michael Productions, LLC. I am one person, recording weddings part time. The majority of my clients do not have the ability to view HD. They may have a HDTV, but they may not have the all important HD or Blu-Ray Player to play the Disc. Also, I am more concerned about creating great content right now, and I don’t need HD for that. Am I intending on going HD in the future. I sure am going to HD as soon as I can afford it. When I go HD, I want to go full HD all at once, and that will not be cheap. Until then, I am still recording in broadcast quality, and will continue to do so until HD is ready for me.

When I met with woman who was going to be the person handling my own wedding at the hotel, she gave me some hope. She said that a business like this takes at least three years to really start taking off. This is about the time the referrals start to kick in. And a friend of mine has also given me good words of wisdom. A salesman by trade, he told me that for every 10 people you talk to, 1 will hire you. That’s a 10% return rate. With these things in mind, I haven’t been discouraged when I didn’t get the job because I have actually been beating the 10% rate.

In the past year, I have met with people who haven’t hired me. Then, I was hired by people who never met me. Now, as I sit here on the first day of December, I think about where I was at this time last year. I had only one wedding booked, and it was for that same month. I had nothing booked for the next year. This year I look ahead at my calendar and I have 3 weddings next year along with my own, and I am working two other couples to book their weddings as well. In business terms, that is a 300% growth in future jobs compared with last year. That is something that I can be very happy with. Of course if I wasn’t getting married in June, I would have one more since I have had to turn someone down because their wedding day was the same as mine.

Even though I am seeing a 300% increase in business, I am no where near ready to go full time with this. As yet another friend of mine said to me the other night, when you make 2/3 of your current income doing your own business, they you can take that chance. That means if I can book around 20 weddings within in the next 6 months, I can go full time independent, except for the fact that I should wait until my fiance is out of Grad school.