Dealing with DIY wedding videos requires special skills and patience from video editors. It’s not a frequent situation, but sometimes couples decide to save money and make wedding videos by themselves (they ask friends, relatives, amateur videographers). What do we have as a result? It’s usually bad-quality raw footage. What clients are willing to receive? A well-made compilation of the most amazing moments. Is it really possible to convert a bad-quality video to a professionally looking trailer or highlight? Our reply is “yes”. But, it will take effort. Below we’ll list some tips to help you fix bad DIY wedding videos.
#1. Eliminating Shaky Footage
One of the most common issues all unprofessional videographers face is an unstable camera and, as a result, shaky unclear footage. Not everybody utilizes a tripod or other stabilizing equipment. Using the strobe effect is the best solution to the problem. It makes the video look more aesthetic and adds a special atmosphere to the wedding film. Other additional effects can be used to make video smoother, such as blinking or flickering. If using a slow-motion effect, it’s important to not overdo. Otherwise, the slow-motion technique will only attract attention to downsides.
Best Effects to Stabilize Shaky Videos:
For Adobe Premiere Pro: “Camera Shake”, “Shake the Camera or Text”, ”Short Shake Kit,” “Shake Text Transitions” by Motion Array, “Ultimate Earthquake” by Cinecom, “Deadpool Handheld Camera Presets” by Jarle Leirpoll, “Shake Transition” by LXXIV.
For Final Cut Pro: “Free Shake Transition” by Ryan Nangle, “Proshake” by Pixel Film Studios, “Shaky Cam” by FCP Effects, Wiggle Transitions by Ryan Nangle.
For more profound tips on how to reduce noisy footage, read the detailed guide: https://www.wedcuts.com/how-to-reduce-noisy-grainy-footage/
#2. Improving the Focus
Professional videos are notable for the clarity of the images. The amateur footage is different: it usually has a lack of focus. To improve the quality of the original material, use a sharpening filter. This simple tool helps set a needed focus, but it works well only with smooth blurring. In case the main object is absolutely out of focus, it’s a low chance to make the image better. Another technique that could help improve focus is masking or rotoscoping when you’re blurring the footage background thus making the main object look sharper. However, this tool won’t be effective if an object is moving around too fast. In such a case, it’s necessary to apply rotoscoping to every single frame which is not a guarantee of 100% good result.
#3. Good Framing Matters
Most problems with bad DIY wedding videos can be fixed with the help of good framing. Frames make the overall video product look more attractive and smooth. Framing is good for crooked and skewed footage. There are two possible ways of framing: one is to put footage in a frame and crop the best-looking parts, another is to scale down the frame and shrink the footage.
#4. Working with Colours
Colour balance is another important and easily fixed thing that can improve the overall look of the video in times. Colour correction includes putting out certain levels and colours. Start your bad DIY video improvement with a colour correction: sometimes, you may find that the footage is better than you thought, it just needed more colour love.
#5. Be Realistic
When you receive raw DIY footage from the client, try to be sincere and tell the truth about a possible outcome. Of course, telling people that there’s no chance to improve their video can be unpleasant to hear. However, promising them something that is not real will only cook your own goose. Watch the footage with clients, discuss difficult moments and their expectations. Remember, that sometimes it can be a good idea to address the editing process to outsourcing services, for instance, Wedcuts (https://www.wedcuts.com/) – a team of professionals with years of experience that will do all needed editing work for you.
Takeaways
The main aim of any wedding video is capturing the moment, tell a love story. And no matter what quality the footage is, there is always a chance to convert a downside into a special effect. We hope that our tips will help you create a good-looking wedding film even with the bad DIY video material.
Professional Videographer since 2014. Mary is in love with romantic fairytales and wedding video storytelling. She also writes articles for WedCuts https://www.wedcuts.com/, a small post-production studio based in London and Berlin that specializes in wedding video editing.