CINEMAWORKS by John De Guzman

Our Videographer:
CINEMAWORKS by John De Guzman

The Story:
Dati akala ko ayoko ng video coverage sa wedding. Minsan naiisip ko... sino bang manonood ng video? Yung mga video ko naman na nagba-ballet dati, inamag na; mga family travels, nanganganib nang amagin! Ganon din ba mangyayari sa video ng wedding namin?

Pero... iba na ngayon. Videos are uploaded, more easily accessible. You can easily replicate with a DVD burner. It's not just a documentation tool anymore, it's a tool for sharing your wedding to those who were not able to attend. Video equipment is now relatively cheaper, and getting a fabulous-quality video is no longer as expensive. Tapos may konsepto pa ng same-day edit/onsite video... ay iba na talaga. Dati editing suites are mounted in rooms, ngayon laptop at external drive, buo na!

Ay sus... all these coming from a person who works in video production. So, you can just expect how tedious my search was for our videographer. Sabi ko kay Momon, kung magpapa-video tayo, let's not get someone whose bread and butter is still photography--those two disciplines are definitely different. For me, pag photo, photo, pag video, video.

Ang tagal na nitong na-achieve. April and May when we started contacting and setting up meetings with them. We only met with two--Playback Productions by Pheoben Teocson and Cinemaworks by John De Guzman. It was July when we finalized our booking with the latter.

Other Option/s:

PLAYBACK BY PHEOBEN TEOCSON

PROs
1. Good clean lines, nice videos cut to the beat of the music.

2. Creative

CONs
1. I asked him if I can have a viewing of the output prior to him making it final, and if I have changes sa mga transitions, comments on the chosen videos, can he change it? He said no. Sabi nya ang pwede lang daw palitan is yung mga wrong spelling na pangalan, etc. Pero on the creative side, wala nang pwedeng gawin.

2. He does all the design of the album cover, and will also not revise.

3. I feel he does not capitalize on the natural sound.

4. Overuse of dolly and moving shots.


Our Choice:

CINEMAWORKS BY JOHN DE GUZMAN

1. Clean steady shots. - This is one of the primary reasons why I chose him. I'm not a big fan of handheld shots. I like the camera on the tripod cause it's easier on the eyes. This is the big difference with amateur and professional videogrpahers, they use the tripod.

2. Uses natural sound well. If you visit John's site, the SDE entitled "This Side" had a lot of the natural sound: the priest talking, people clapping, the guests laughing during the preps, etc. I think people tend to forget sometimes that in a video presentation, the audio is as important as the video. I find it really weird--irritating even-- when I see a person on screen, with his/her mouth opening but I can't hear the voice. I feel that a lot of emotions are lost when the voices of the people are muted.

If you watch docu's or the news you'll find that the audio is often two layered--the natural sound (voices, background, etc) and the music. Sometimes there are even sound effects, if needed.

3. Uses dolly and moving shots with purpose. This is my pet peeve. I watch some SDEs of W@W members, made by some other videographers, grabe... hilong hilo ako. Dolly (camera moves towards or away from the subject), tracking and other camera movements must be used with a purpose. Hindi lang for the sake of magamit. And this what I've seen in John's work. He's a filmmaker kasi e, and he knows the meaning of shots, and how to use them properly.

Additional things that swayed us to John's side:
1. The packaging of his video is a lot better than Pheoben's. He offers it in a leather or native case. Meron din crystal (plastic) case.

2. Time table of final video is also faster. Si Pheoben sometimes inaabot daw ng 6 mos kasi sa dami na rin ng kumukuha sa kanya.

3. John is open to revisions, basta lang hindi complete overhaul.

4. And of course, the cost. Pero at this point, the cost is just a bonus. More than enough na yung reasons I stated above.

***

Overall, they are both good videographers. They are very creative, have great composition of shots and very clean editing. What matters is how they tell the story, how they interpret the videos they gather into a clean narrative of your wedding. For me, this is where the natural sound/voices come in: to enrich the visual story.

The scenes we find on an SDE without voices is just like the scenes we'll find when we browse our photos.So para kalang nanood ng photos na gumagalaw. Our videos will have to go beyond that. Often times we just forget what we said, the vows we recited, the tone of voice, the laughter and reactions of the whole party. If the audio is in place in the videos, I believe that we can truly feel and relive that moment each time we watch our SDEs.


Here's a sample SDE by John.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW HIS WEBSITE.

Anna and Roddy / Same Day Edit from John de Guzman on Vimeo.