VonTraining.net Forum

[catchlightDM]

I attended the One on One workshop in June of 2008 and had the fortune of being 1 of only 3 participants (3 being the minimum for the workshop to occur), so I was excited to get a lot of personalized attention but also a little nervous because I had only just shot my 4th wedding…ever…and only my 2nd professional shoot.

I had purchased the Moving Camera Techniques and Art of the Edit DVD’s, which gave me a lot of new information and improved my shooting and editing tremendously…but as I found out on my subsequent shoot – it’s tougher than it looks!
We were asked to submit a DVD of a complete wedding as a sample of our work and I knew that we’d be showing our work to everyone in the group…while I was excited to get feedback I was also a bit nervous because I am still in the process of getting to where I feel I am proficient enough to call myself a “professional videographer.”

Because I grew up in Tulsa (though currently live in the Seattle area) I stayed with my family. Sunday night we all met at the hotel and grabbed dinner at a nice local Italian restaurant. The other two videographers were a husband and wife team from Florida.
The Sunday night dinner was a great opportunity to meet everyone, talk a little shop and generally get acquainted with everyone. Mark & Trisha kindly opened up their home to us, always making us feel welcome with plenty of coffee and snacks to enjoy over the course of the workshop.
and all the meals, which were provided during the two days of the actual workshops, were included...and very tasty!

Monday we focused on Camera work.. Mark & Trisha had a young couple that agreed to play the part of the bride and groom and we covered shooting the groom and bridal preps, the first dance during the reception, and basic moving camera techniques. Then the rest of the day was spent on location at a beautiful local church, where we went through shooting the ceremony and everything from how to put the wireless lav on the groom to coordination between multiple shooters to getting the best establishing location shots.

From there we did a love story shoot with our couple and explored some neat camera angles and even some special effects type shots...you can see some of those shots in the opening video on the "training videographers" home page.
Mark showed us how to use the downtown area and all the various backgrounds that are available in just about any downtown area and we also went out to Gilcrease, which is on the outskirts of the city so that we could work in a more rural setting…so we got the best of both worlds.

Sunday was spent going through editing with Trisha (she covered concepts that pertain to any editing system-not just Edius), lighting, shooting the wedding cake and playing with some of Mark & Trisha’s “Toys”, like the Multi-Rig, the GlideCam, etc.

Trisha even took some extra time to work with me in some areas that I needed special help in and at the end of the day we discussed business related topics and set some goals for our businesses.

Overall I had a wonderful experience. Mark & Trisha are not only amazing videographers but they are excellent instructors with a genuine desire to help others succeed. Add to that their warm Oklahoma hospitality and contagious passion for weddings and videography and you have an experience that is both fun and inspirational!
My only regret is that the workshop wasn’t longer…in two very full days I got enough information to spend the next 6-12 months working into my process...but I was having so much fun that it was like the end of a great vacation.

I highly recommend this workshop for any and all videographers who want to take their work to the next level.

Now, when and where will the Level II/Advanced workshop be? Sign me up!

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Joseph
Catchlight Digital Media
Gig Harbor, WA

"He who civilly shows the way to one who has missed it, is as one who has lighted another's lamp from his own lamp; it nonetheless gives light to himself when it burns for the other."