Given the current state of the economy, and the challenges facing shooters who are transitioning or who have done so to compete in the market place, the notion of giving up some sort of ethical standard and so called “stooping” to shooting such types of work as events or weddings as “degrading” is doing yourself a disservice.

Why not apply the skills of story telling and apply them to other types of video work?

I just completed my first wedding video shoot last weekend and shot it in the solo vj paradigm.  I learned alot about what my gear is capable of and not capable of doing, and also discovered what gear I need to eventually invest in to market myself more effectively as a pro shooter.

I shot the wedding in a docummentary fashion – very much in the style of Loi Bahn, principle of Bluecore Media, a Vancouver BC wedding video production company specializing in the concept of “Wedding Documentaries”.  Viewing his work is like watching cinema – the content is stunning and the editing is some of the highest quality work I have seen to date.

It is said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – since I felt his work was the best out there currently, I reviewed his clips for several days on and off, trying to absorb his unique style and applying it to my first wedding.  I did get a sense of his style and it resulted in a pretty solid 26 minute DVD edited within two days in Vegas Pro 8.  All video with effects and audio was handled right on the timeline – I never once had to go outside the application for anything else.  Once the project timeline suited me, I rendered out the timeline to drop into SONY DVD Architect 4.5 – and within 30 minutes of working in DVDA, I had a finished DVD to present to the couple.

Click for detailed image

How does this apply to the paradigm of Solo Video Journalism?  Two fold – One, you gotta make a living somehow – especially when working as a freelancer.  Secondly, this is the best way to shoot and edit under self imposed deadlines and Vegas Pro 8 provided a rapid turn around post production solution.  Many claim that to work with video one needs to work in the old post production paradigm of multiple application suites.  This is the 21st century and to stay competitive, one needs to look at post production from a new perspective. The Associate Press is utilizing Vegas Pro 8, those in the know are using it effectively for video productions ranging from web videos to film festival winning documentary projects.

Shouldn’t you remove your preconceived notions about what is a professional post production process and be more efficient – and competitive?

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