For Your Information & Common Questions

Why Professional Videography? Videography is, by far, the most entertaining way to remember your Wedding Day. Video is not posed or staged but really captures sound and movement of your Wedding. If you can't hear your vows, see your friends and family enjoying themselves, hear your toasts, music played during your reception, watch your first dance in motion as well as important family dances, it will be extremely difficult to really remember your Wedding. You can look at your pictures, but you can't hear them. In such a sound and movement, you deserve to have a true audio and video keepsake of your day.

What about multiple video cameras? Some people don't mind cameras around. However it has been my experience that many people feel uncomfortable around multiple cameras. I guarantee that many of your guests will feel the same way. The more cameras you have on site, the more uncomfortable your guests will feel. It is also true that many venues, churches and other places of worship will not only allow no more than one camera, but the location of where that camera can be could be very restricted. Sometimes an "unmanned" camera is ok, but it is usually a wide shot that people can move out of a medium or close up shot with no camera operator. With multiple cameras you will pay more, and unless all cameras are connected to a switcher, to change or "switch" between cameras, any editing is a false shot and not exactly what is truly happening. If you have multiple video cameras and multiple still cameras, I will guarantee someone will get in front of another person resulting in..well chaos in a way.

Professional vs. Prosumer Equipment. Prosumer describes a market for video, audio and other multimedia that have features required by professionals, but are in a price range for hobbyists. Do you think there is a picture quality difference between a $5,000 or $10,000 prosumer camera vs. and $18,000 and up professional broadcast camera? You bet there is!! See RH Productions "Equipment Link" for for the equipment we use. Many events go into the evening when lighting is low and therefore lacking picture quality. Many prosumer cameras footage looks like "Uncle Fred" taped the event, not a professional camera.

Who owns the Copyright of your Wedding? You do! It is the law and called work made for hire (sometimes abbreviated as work for hire and WFH). The person who actually creates the work is the legally-recognized author of that work but according the copyright law in the US, the employer (you) not the employee (me) is considered the legal author. In summary, if you create or invent anything, you own the rights but if you are being paid to create or invent, the person paying for the service owns the rights. With RH Productions, you own and keep the master tape (Sony PDV-184 digital master). So, you have me video your event or project, and you pay me, you own all rights. Look it up. It is the law.

Everybody is a videographer and photographer. Good for those people who are starting in capturing stills and motion. I see a lot on the web, news stations, etc. Videography with people is a very different art. It is far from taping clouds, mountains, animals or whatever is out there to shoot. Even some news videographers haven't caught onto the concept that Wedding videography is quite different from shooting landscapes or people in an interview style environment. Some news videographers that RH Productions has hired in the past have been great, but others completely ruined the event. My name, RH Productions, is on the final product and if the end result is something different what I strive for, it is best to do it myself.

Film vs. Video. I read about several Colorado production companies referring to your video as film. I highly doubt that! As a graduate in the Audio and Video field with classes in film too, correct terminology and knowledge in the profession should be accurate and truthful. It is true that both capture images, however film is a transparent ribbon with perforations along one or both side edges, and once recorded, bears either a succession of images or a sensitive layer capable of producing photographic images which means you can see the images on the film. The process is chemical rather than magnetic like video. Film has a resolution of 4000 x 3000 where video is 640 x 480 or 1080 x 1920 HD. For editing film, this is physical editing where video is electronic. There are ways to edit film electronically, but the film footage needs to be transferred to video, Telecine, for this to take place. This process is very expensive and few facilities in Denver do that. Film will never be video. Video, even when shot in 15 or 24 frames, will never be film. In short, unless you have an incredible amount of money to shoot on film, you are getting a video. Pros in the film industry, like my brother, who has worked in Hollywood for over 10 years in the film industry, appreciates that distinction. You should know the difference, as well.

Can I print stills from video? Yes and no. If you are thinking of replacing video stills for a photographer, be very, very careful. First, photography and videography are two completely different birds. Pictures are for viewing in an album, Video is for viewing on TV. Pictures are usually CMYK, and video is RGB. Stills printed from video can be enlarged to 6x8 max (and that is with a really good camera) but you may get pixelation with that size. You don't pose for video; you pose for pictures. Although I have taped many weddings where there was no photographer to save money and and the customers were very satisfied with the stills I captured for them, this is not a good practice and I do not recommend it. I have examples here at the studio of stills captured from video, but a great photographer will get you better photographs. Pictures and video are the only things that you have to remember your day. They should work in conjunction with each other but they do not replace each other. In short, you should really have both, but not pay an arm and a leg for photography especially since digital photography has become less expensive to develop. There are very few photo labs since digital photography has become more mainstream. I also don't think 200 pictures during a reception with people dancing with their arms in the air is necessary as well. When the reception is going, that is when the video really kicks in because you see your guests dancing and hear the music they were dancing to. What a concept.

Who shows up at my Wedding? With RH Productions, you get the owner and founder of RH Productions on your special day. A trust level and bond are so important between any vendor and client. To be comfortable with the people you hire around your family and friends is so vital. I do believe that if you and I meet, you would feel much more comfortable knowing that the person you had a meeting with actually shows up at the event. I will always believe in that extra personal touch in my business instead of sending out an employee to shoot an event. I've done it that way in the past and will never do that again.

Payment options to book services. If you are getting married in 2009, a $200.00 deposit is required to confirm your date. An additional $350.00 is due one month prior to your event and your balance is due prior to RH Productions shipping your Wedding to you. Your video will be ready to ship no longer than two weeks after your Wedding. I do not collect money on your wedding day...that is your fun day and I don't like seeing couples writing checks on their Wedding day. If you are getting married in 2010, a $50.00 deposit is required to reserve your date. A $150.00 additional deposit is due in January of 2010. An additional $350.00 is due one month prior to your event and your balance is due prior to RH Productions shipping your Wedding to you which are ready to ship no longer than two weeks after your Wedding. Checks, Visa and Master Card are welcome. Of course, all deposits go toward the cost of your Wedding.

Magazines, literature and other ways to plan your Wedding. It is wonderful to read articles, plan and genuinely get excited about your Wedding. There is also a saying that those who don't actually do certain types of work...write articles! Fact is, this is sometimes "oh so" true. There are many different philosophies, techniques and services that people offer. I believe talking with the actual person or people is the best way to get an idea of how they will work at your event. There are some great videographers out there. Talk with them, meet with them, see sample footage, get referrals, learn about their package breakdown and build a bond. You will be very happy that you did. Your planning time prior to your Wedding should be a fun experience. Put your trust in full time professionals rather than hiring weekend warriors.

What does 3-CCD or three chips mean? Charged-couple device (CCD) are the silicon storage devices which replaced the older video camera tubes. I have not seen a tube camera in at least 10 years when we worked with older Beta SP cameras. Almost all cameras have three chips, but it is the size of the chips that makes your picture quality look better. There is a big picture difference between 1/8' chips, 1/3"chips, 1/4" chips, 1/2" chips and 2/3" chips. In short, the larger sized chips will result in a better picture quality.

DTV and HDTV. Digital television and High-Definition television refers to the type of television broadcasting...period! Don't forget SDTV (standard definition TV) refers to the type of TV and EDTV (enhanced definition TV) is a better picture than SDTV but not as good as HDTV. DTV, which is what our new delivery platform, is how we see programs. It has cleaner images and sound. The original format, discussed by the FCC in the early to mid 90's was broadcasting in HDTV, but that could not be done due to cost and bandwidth so we went with Digital Television. Our new delivery platform is not wide screen but digital. You may subscribe to a few HD channels, but if the original footage was not shot in HD, it isn't and never will be HD. As of now, TRULY shot HDTV footage looks the best but Japan has been working with a different format that blows HDTV away and it is called UHDV (Ultra High Definition Video). This format's resolution is 7,680 x 4,320 pixels which is four times as wide and four times a high for a total of 16 times the pixel resolution of HDTV. UHDV has a resolution of 32 million pixels compared to HDTV's 2 million pixels and this results in a massive 4,000 lines of resolution. Wow!! Today, the Red Camera comes close but opens a new door of issues in production. This technology won't be in the US for probably five years. Unless your original footage was shot on an HD camera, on HD tape (not mini DV), edited on an HD post-production edit suite, burned to Blu Ray disc, played on Blu Ray player and on a HD television, you won't see true HD. High definition cameras vary from consumer, prosumer and professional and the picture quality varies vastly among them. When most people think of High Definition, they want an extremely beautiful picture where everything is in focus. One usually sees this type of footage on sporting events like football, car racing and golf. Good HD cameras start around $45,000 - $66,900 to get that quality, not a $10,000 HD camera which is what RH Productions uses only as a spare camera. In short, if you think you are getting a HD video of your event, I call that "HD wannabe," not the real, beautiful picture you desire. In short, you can get a wider screen taping of your event, but if you believe that you will get a true HD documentation, you will very unsatisfied. Since we own both types of cameras, our broadcast cameras punch out a far superior picture than the HD cameras that you will see at any wedding unless you spending much, much, much more.

So much more to come..