First, please don't mistake anything that I say here...it is only meant to help...
I have been filming weddings for the last 10 years, and it is a labor of love. It is so much more work than you apparently think. To do it well, you absolutley need a higher end pro camera. There is just no ways that you will get the shots needed in lower light- which is almost all of your shots. I use a Canon XL H1 and have nothing but great things to say about it. The camera makes me look much better than I am, and the films that I produce in HD look very much like film. I have lower end consumer cameras that are HD, but the quality is night and day between them.
That being said, the Canon hv40 looks real good for $800. I would suggest filming in 24 p. Very few non pro cameras can film at 24 p and it will make your footage look more like film. You will still need to worry about light.
Another thing that nobody mentioned, is the type of customer that you attract with prices that low. Expect them to complain and try and work out a free product in the end. That has been my experience.... I am selective and try and find people that value what I do. If you offer to film for $500, you are going to run into problems in the clients that you reach.
Low light will be your biggest problem. Unless you plan on using lights, which instantly kill the mood and make the light the center of attention, you will need a higher end pro camera. I would also agree with above posts- if you show up with the same camera as uncle bill, you will have people rightfuly question you.
As to your editing skills- nobody here means any harm. But you are going to get attacked when you ask knowledgable people for help, and then come off as a know-it-all. Just a little-bit. And while your basketball footage is cut nice, I am not sure that it shows the skills needed to do a wedding justice. 50% is getting/filming the shots. Edit skill 50%. I would also suggest that you look around and find examples of weddings online that look professional.
I think that when I first had the idead to do this, I was much like you. I would tell you from experience that it is much harder than I thought, requires more skill than I thought, and keeping up with advertising/new equipment/trends takes way more than I thought. Whatever can go wrong, can. If you or your equipment makes a mistake you will have the worst bridezilla on your hands.
But, there is also lots to like. You meet great people who are very appreciative of you. You have artisic expression in form of a product that people will watch. And while I could never make a living doing this, it does make for some very helpful side money on the weekends.
I wish you the best of luck!
I have been filming weddings for the last 10 years, and it is a labor of love. It is so much more work than you apparently think. To do it well, you absolutley need a higher end pro camera. There is just no ways that you will get the shots needed in lower light- which is almost all of your shots. I use a Canon XL H1 and have nothing but great things to say about it. The camera makes me look much better than I am, and the films that I produce in HD look very much like film. I have lower end consumer cameras that are HD, but the quality is night and day between them.
That being said, the Canon hv40 looks real good for $800. I would suggest filming in 24 p. Very few non pro cameras can film at 24 p and it will make your footage look more like film. You will still need to worry about light.
Another thing that nobody mentioned, is the type of customer that you attract with prices that low. Expect them to complain and try and work out a free product in the end. That has been my experience.... I am selective and try and find people that value what I do. If you offer to film for $500, you are going to run into problems in the clients that you reach.
Low light will be your biggest problem. Unless you plan on using lights, which instantly kill the mood and make the light the center of attention, you will need a higher end pro camera. I would also agree with above posts- if you show up with the same camera as uncle bill, you will have people rightfuly question you.
As to your editing skills- nobody here means any harm. But you are going to get attacked when you ask knowledgable people for help, and then come off as a know-it-all. Just a little-bit. And while your basketball footage is cut nice, I am not sure that it shows the skills needed to do a wedding justice. 50% is getting/filming the shots. Edit skill 50%. I would also suggest that you look around and find examples of weddings online that look professional.
I think that when I first had the idead to do this, I was much like you. I would tell you from experience that it is much harder than I thought, requires more skill than I thought, and keeping up with advertising/new equipment/trends takes way more than I thought. Whatever can go wrong, can. If you or your equipment makes a mistake you will have the worst bridezilla on your hands.
But, there is also lots to like. You meet great people who are very appreciative of you. You have artisic expression in form of a product that people will watch. And while I could never make a living doing this, it does make for some very helpful side money on the weekends.
I wish you the best of luck!
) and instead of hiring people to film the ceremony and reception and what not, they purchased an $800 Sony HD Camcorder with a 80 gig hard drive, which was still less money than they would have had to pay a professional. A family member did the filming of the ceremony and stuff for us and I edited it and put it up on the web for everyone. All in all, I think this was a better route for my brother and his wife to go, because they now have a very nice camera in addition to a recording of their wedding.