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Received my equipment middle of August last year. Was told by the fella I at Animated Lighting I'd want to use stock songs, because I was starting so late in the season. Well found out real quick what he was talking about. 15,000 lights and 4 and then 6 stock songs and 100 trips to Target and I was up and running. Brought my neighbors house online right before Christmas. Had a question though. Do folks use professionals to video and edit their shows. There are some fantastic videos out there. My son is in the process of editing what I shot off a 6 foot ladder in my neighbors driveway in the snow with a flip video camera. Below is a couple of my so so videos. I wouldn't have believe that amount of work involved, man what a blast though....
ya know, I dont do very professional work. I just do one shot. Some people take 2 or 3 shots and edit them together. I wouldn't reccomend hiring someone until you get REALLY good. take the Lindsays for example. They are on of the best (my opinion) shows out there ( http://www.lindsaylights.com ). They hire someone, but they deserve it!
I took video of mine from 3 different angles on the first song and went back to the pc to see which one I liked best then went back to that approximate spot to do my other two videos. I also took some at different times of the day to see which ones again showed up best
I also set it up in the windows movie maker which took some playing with to get it just right, but you can easily add the title screen and then lay your original audio track back on top of the video to get a much better sound for the video
socrnet wrote: Received my equipment middle of August last year. Was told by the fella I at Animated Lighting I'd want to use stock songs, because I was starting so late in the season. Well found out real quick what he was talking about. 15,000 lights and 4 and then 6 stock songs and 100 trips to Target and I was up and running. Brought my neighbors house online right before Christmas. Had a question though. Do folks use professionals to video and edit their shows. There are some fantastic videos out there. My son is in the process of editing what I shot off a 6 foot ladder in my neighbors driveway in the snow with a flip video camera. Below is a couple of my so so videos. I wouldn't have believe that amount of work involved, man what a blast though....
I am currently editing a number of display videos for this year's holiday lights DVD series.
Several of the submitters hired a "professional" to videotape their display, as they thought they lacked the skills necessary to obtain a quality tape. They found out later, by paying attention to a few basic rules, they could do the job equal to, or even better in some cases than the "pro"! I saw the comparisons first hand, and can vouch for them!
Maybe I am way too particular, but I have to say I think some of the shots taken by the "professionals" were far worse than the shots the homeowner who hired them also took! I am talking basic things like exposure, focus, using a tripod, etc. Some of those homeowners were taken to the cleaners!
Now there certainly are excellent videographers out there. Don't get me wrong!
The challenge is to find a good one, one that won't charge you and arm and leg, and one that has some experience video recording lights at night (or more preferably near dusk). There are many very good videographers that can do great sports, weddings, etc, but won't do as well trying to film lights in a night setting.
It's not their fault. It's simply an added skill set that they may have never had the need to acquire.
So if you decide to hire someone, make sure they have had that type of experience.
If you don't you may not be happy with the finished product.
We don't hire anyone though. I've spent many hours out there shooting many different angles, then spent many more hours editing all the footage. Until this season, one of my buddies used to do the editing.
One of the BEST and EASIEST tips that Greg shared with us was: USE A TRIPOD!!!
No matter how steady you think that your hands are when you are filming...the slightest movement can show up through the camera lens and ruin an otherwise perfect shot!
