We Love The Music Bed!   We use it exclusively to license all music for our films. The simplicity of finding and licensing great music, along with the fact that they’re just ‘great people’ make using The Music Bed seamless within our workflow. That’s why we were super pumped when they told us earlier this year they were planning on releasing a Music Bed mobile app.

We’ve had the chance over the past 3 weeks of testing out the app and all I can say is WOW! It’s like Pandora, but with a purpose! It’s been great to use while in an airport or traveling… in fact we used it when we were making our way to Philadelphia to film Lois + Eddie’s same day edit last month. The ability to create and edit Wishlists make it so easy for our team to collaborate and find great music.

The Music Bed catalog is always right at your fingertips! As new music is released, you’ll be able to effortlessly keep up to date with their most recent library additions right on the app. Instantly update your wishlists with the newest hand-picked tracks.

To celebrate the release of your new favorite app, they’ve got 30 Days of Giveaways where you could win $1,500 in song licenses + an iPad Retina from TMB, PLUS tons of insane prizes from the likes of Kessler, Rode, Zacuto, LensProToGo and MORE worth thousands of dollars!

Click HERE to enter for your chance at 30 Days of Giveaways!
Click HERE for your very own download of The Music Bed App in the App Store!

Our sister company, AO Creative Films, recently posted a tutorial on how they color graded a series of 30-second commercials using VSCO Film, so we figured that anything AO Creative can do, we can do better .

Here’s a video tutorial on how we recently color graded a wedding film using Visual Supply Company’s, VSCO Film for Aperture. Enjoy!

Here’s a look at the completed film:

Here are a few stills from the video after being graded in Aperture with VSCO Film.

color grading, color grading fcpx, FCPx, moetic, vsco, vsco film

Those of you who’ve produced a successful Same Day Edit understand the pressures of working quickly and utilizing an efficient workflow.  Finalizing the edit is an achievement in itself, but adding color correction/grading can prove to be difficult given the amount of allotted time.  Many wedding filmmakers might avoid the color grading task completely and then return to their edits after the wedding day to finalize.  But with the right approach we believe it’s still possible to wow your audience with a cinematic look to your footage.

We produced the following SDE in November of 2011 in Cabo at Cabo Azul resort.  We feel this is a good example because of the setting and content of the film.  We utilized 2 different looks in the film that cater to the atmosphere.  We took a chance to be a bit more edgy and creative with our color grading and feel that it paid off in the end.

Before we get in to the look we went for, let’s look at the tools.  We edit in Final Cut Pro X and do a lot of our color correction and grading with it as well, especially projects that require a quick turn around, such as a SDE.  The FCPX color correction tool is a great start, but we also utilize a couple different plugins.

Plugins: Adjustment Layer & Alpha + Levels

One plugin comes from Color Grading Central which is a free adjustment layer  title used for applying effects over multiple clips.  You can get the adjustment layer and some bonus plugins by submitting your email address here.

The other plugins we utilize come from Andy Yoong, called Andy’s Alpha & Andy’s Levels.  They are an Alpha channel effect (preset for a vintage/retro look) and a Levels effect.

Step 1: Complete your Same Day Edit

Once the edit is complete we’ll lay the adjustment layer over the clips.

Adjustment layer applied over timeline

Now you’re ready to get started!  Everything you apply to the adjustment layer will affect the clips below it.  Typically on our SDE’s we’ll shoot in a flattened EOS standard profile, lowering contrast, saturation and sharpness.  For this edit we wanted to achieve a low saturated low contrast look, which worked great with the environment.

Step 2: Alpha & Levels

frame before color grading

Apply Andy’s Alpha and Andy’s Levels to the adjustment layer.  We’ve brought up the blue alpha levels to keep the tones cool and we kept the whites fairly flat while bringing the blacks down a bit.

Alpha adjusted. Alpha channels slightly boosted with higher blue.

Levels added. “Black Out” slightly raised to slightly lower contrast in blacks. “Black In” raised to deepen blacks. White’s were not tweaked.

Step 3:

Then we’ll use the FCPX color correction on the adjustment layer to do a slight s-curve exposure adjustment.  We didn’t adjust the saturation.  Then we popped some color into the mids and highlights to give it a vintage feel.

Exposure slightly adjusted.

Saturation not tweaked.

Colors adjusted in highlights and mids. Yellow added to highlights for vintage feel. Green/blueish tone added to mids for tropical effect.

And that’s our look!

Step 4: quick clean-up

Obviously the adjustment layer may have a slightly different effect among clips.  Maybe some of your shots were over exposed, or the white balance was off.  Now we’ll quickly scrub through our edit and manually adjust these clips as needed by selecting the clip itself and using FCPX’s color correction.

(This shot was slightly overexposed, so we selected it separately from the adjustment layer to recover some of the highlights)

Have Fun!

This wedding was a blast.  The bride and groom played volleyball the day before the wedding so we decided to create a different look for their beach fun.  It broke up their film in a unique way and the warm tones were a great contrast.  All it took was some breaking up the adjustment layer and tweaking the sections over the beach volleyball sequence.

Take a look at Carla & Matt’s Same Day Edit

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Here’s a cute little video we got to put together for Eugene Young Life’s 2nd Annual Father Daughter Dance.

father daughter dance, young life

I love making films. I also love spending time with my family. I rarely blend the two as much as I should.

So last week, I sat down with my son Cade (5) and daughter, Avin (3) and asked them a few questions that would capture who they are at this early stage in their lives.

Cade was shooting hoops in the front yard, and within minutes his little sister came out decked out in ‘ball gear’ (she seems to care more about her outfits than he does for some reason).

In this 90 second video, Avin offered some insightful thoughts on princesses, unicorns and wedding colors. Being the father of a daughter has given me a new appreciation for weddings – and the reason they are so special for brides.

-RyanW

January 25th, 2011,

Ryan Welch and I had the privilege of attending IN[FOCUS] 2011, a conference for wedding and event filmmakers.  We got to check out some new gear and hear from some fellow filmmakers on the subject of integrating your passions and talents in your business.  I can tell you that Ryan and I came away super pumped for the 2011 wedding season.  We truly believe that what we do is important, and it is our goal to capture the essence of the love that each of our couples share with each other.  We’ve revamped the way we do things a bit, which will allow us to be more creative filmmakers.  It is an exciting time for us.

New Orleans was a blast.  We stayed at the Royal Sonesta hotel right on the famous Bourbon Street.  The night life was great, the food was great and the locals were great.  I recommend the Jambalaya from Mothers restaurant and Karaoke at The Cat’s Meow.  In this post I’ve included a short video highlighting a parade put on just for us IN[FOCUS] filmmakers.  Enjoy!

- Ryan Rossman

On December 19th, we had the great privilege to work with Sarah Pease from Brilliant Event Planning and cover a live proposal!

Josh brought his beautiful girlfriend Mandy to see chef Guy Vaknin and learn how to make sushi! They were taking a trip to New York from Oklahoma City. Mandy thought that they were taking part in a private cooking class being filmed for TV. She had no idea that Josh would be proposing to her. Her answer: “Absolutely!”

It was very special being a part of that moment. Thanks to Brilliant Event Planning for making it happen!  Make sure to check out the amazing photos from Mariann over at blue daisy weddings!  And also thanks to Chef Guy and Tali Katz of Esprit Events and Catering.

vividweddingfilms.com

brillianteventplanning.com

espritevents.com

bluedaisyweddings.com

Music used with permission from Cloud Cult
song: You Were Born

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Before everyone heads out for their holiday vacations, the team at Vivid Wedding Films would like to wish all of our wonderful couples and fans a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Thanks for making 2010 a great year.

We’re very excited for 2011 and all the awesome couples we get to work with.

happy holidays, Moetic

Here’s a look at the experience, as seen on the faces of as they watch their Same Day Edit. It’s sometimes tough to explain the Same Day Edits to couples who have never experienced it. We always hear stuff like…

“We loved our SDE and are so glad we decided to have it! It has been the most memorable part of our wedding…” or “It was truly the best investment we made at our wedding…”

…but it’s still difficult for people to understand the experience of being able to watch your wedding day unfold before you and your guests as a cinematic, artistic story.

Same Day Edit, what is a same day edit

After shooting Emily + Dan’s wedding at Cabo Azul Resort in San Jose del Cabo, Susan and I switched hotels for a few days of rest and relaxation in the Cabo sun. We moved to Dreams Los Cabos Suites, an amazing resort with amazing people. It was a very relaxing time and a nice break from the long, cold northwest winter/spring.

Above is a timelapse I set up one evening from our balcony (Room #4409), that starts around 10:30pm and ends the next morning around 7. I had to change the battery pack a couple of times early in the morning, as you’ll notice a couple of small camera movements.

Here’s a couple of photos of our stay…this is pretty much where we spent most of our time.

The architecture around the resort was amazing. This is one of our favorite courtyards.

We rarely come out from behind the camera, but here we are just before dinner our last night there.

I don’t think you’ll have to twist our arms to get us to come back, so if you’re planning a wedding in Cabo, let us know.

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We just finished up a weekend of wedding shows – one in Sunriver, Oregon and one in Eugene. It was so great to meet all kinds of new couples looking to have their weddings filmed. We get very excited to meet couples who really see the value and art in what we do. What we do is WAY MORE than just show up with a couple cameras and hit “record.” We tell stories. True, real stories about couples on one of the most important days in their lives.  ”Remember it Vividly” is what we like to say.

We’re already booking up for 2010 pretty quickly so if you’re interested in ’10 dates, contact us soon.  Remember that we’re also offering 10% off any packages booked by the end of January.

We’re super excited about the couples we get to work with this year!

-Ryan

Totally stoked  to announce that we are producing an exciting new blog series, no doubt it  will be a valuable resource for brides looking for tips from some of the Willamette Valley’s most sought after wedding vendors. We should be launching in the coming weeks, with plans to release a new video every month or so.  The team here at Vivid Wedding Films is blessed to work alongside of so many gifted wedding specialists.  Here is a peak behind the scenes at Studio 385 in Eugene, of course the shoot was a bunch of fun, the first vendor to be featured in the series is our good friend Karen Stott of Avayah Photography. Look for Karens video to be up and running soon.

Karen and Susan on the set of Your Day In Focus

avayah photography, eugene wedding videographer, karen stott, Willamette Valley Weddings

One of the things we love is working with other creatives around the Northwest. Yesterday, we had the chance to work with Karen Stott of Avayah Photography on her promo video. She’s a very, very talented photographer, who loves to push the envelope in terms of creativity and what she’s offering couples as far as wedding photography is concerned. We had a great time in the studio yesterday with her. Here’s a couple of shots (one’s a video still and one is a photograph) from our shoot yesterday.

avayah photography, karen stott, photographer video promo

Todd and I returned last week from San Francisco and the Re:Frame Filmmakers conference. It was 4 days of intense shooting technique, business management, HD workflow, branding & marketing, creative storytelling techniques, social media and more.

We both learned so much during the 4 days and are exciting to putting those things into action as we move ahead into 2010. More than anything though, we were encouraged by all the relationships we built with other filmmakers around the world. We’re also very thankful to the 4 filmmaker who founded the Re:Frame Collective: Kristin Bliss, Bruce Patterson, Jason Magbanua and Julie Hill.

Here’s a few photos from our week in San Francisco.

- Ryan W.

A view from the roof of the Clift Hotel in downtown San Francisco.

Todd helping Jason Magbanua during our shoot-out. Jason was demonstrating how to get the ring shots.

We had 3 models to shoot during our shoot-out at a SF park.

Todd and Ryan after the shoot-out.

One of the models we had the chance to shoot.

re frame conference, reframe, san francisco

Wow. What a gorgeous day we ended up having this past saturday to share with Aaron and Lauren and their family up in the West Linn area just outside of Portland. It absolutely poured sheets of rain earlier in the day, but God was showing us some favor with a break for sunshine and autumn color hitting us from every direction. Here is a video still we shot just before the sun set behind the mountain.
One of my favorite scenes of the day was when the bride and groom ran out the door after being pronounced husband and wife and headed to this belfry in the old church and rang it out with a couple of good tugs on the rope.

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