Today here in the UK its sunny, one of only 6 sunny days we will get all year. So a perfect chance to let our two lovely bunnys have a hop around the garden.

Being who we are what would a hop around the garden be without a little video.

So here they are, Ellie and Alice. Our two lovely buns.

-Danny

• Danny wrote an article for the website videodslr.tv about shooting with the Canon 7D (our new camera) and how he shot the Joshua Jackson | My First Year short film. Clicky here to check it out.
• Our ‘My First Year’ brochure including prices is now available to download. Click here to view.
• We went to see Kick-Ass last night. Excellent film, lots of action and what a super hero movie should be. So if you’ve avoided seeing Spiderman, X-men or Iron Man because comics simply aren’t your thing then you will definitely enjoy this.
• Speaking of Iron Man, is anyone else really looking forward to this? Have a look at the new trailers on the Apple site.

It would be all too easy to just take the footage, place it on a DVD and call it a wedding video. What we produce is more like a film than anything else.

Part of what helps us achieve that is how we colour the movie. Something known as colour correction and colour grading.

Colour correction is where we take the video footage and fix any problems that may have crept in. Sometimes the lighting can be a challenge and make things blue or red. So we must correct this so it looks more natural. We must also make the footage from the multiple cameras look the same.

What we then do is apply a colour grade to it. One reason for this is that it helps the video footage look more film like which in turn is much more pleasant to watch. Also what we do to the footage can enhance what you feel when you watch it.

In the example below we have taken some footage from Roshni and Dipan’s highlights. On the left is the footage as it comes straight out of our camera and how most other wedding videos would look. On the right is how it looks after we’ve worked our Mintyslippers mojo on it. We’ve taken the grey London building and given it a spot of colour both outside and in. As this video was taken in October the leaves on the trees were starting to turn a wonderful brown colour. So we used this and gave the highlights an autumnal feeling with an ever so subtle brown and orange tint.

-Danny

Everywhere we go people want to know how we came up with our business name. Unfortunately the story isn’t as interesting as the name itself but we still love to tell it when we meet people. But we know we have a lot of readers who we may never get to meet so thought we would share with you the story behind the slippers.

Back in 2006 Julie and I were in my study, enjoying another fine day of married life. Back then, we had time on our hands, and were looking for a custom e-mail address, simply because we were passing a cold wintry rainy day.

So we spent quite a lot of time wondering what was different or not already taken. For no particular reason, Julie looked down at her feet and what she saw were the very same slippers you see above. The slippers were minty in colour. The name Mintyslippers was born and we quickly bought the address mintyslippers.co.uk.

Some years later we started our wedding video business. We knew we wanted to be slightly different and call it something unique. We also knew that people had to remember it, as people just don’t remember names. We then thought about company names which instantly spring to mind and realised they were all names which were a little off beat. Then remembered we had this excellent email address already… mintyslippers.co.uk

So we decided to call it just that. It was unique, it was memorable, when people see the name they instantly want to know what it’s all about. We love Mintyslippers, its so much of who we are now and we love it when people say they have heard about us.

If your after something unique – i.e. an e-mail address – it’s really cheap and easy . We got ours from 123-Reg.co.uk and they are about £3 for a .co.uk address and £10 for a .com address (per year). You just type in what address you would like and it will let you know if you can have it. I mean, how cool would it be to have the email danny@supercoolredpants.com…. actually, that address is available! This could even make a seriously cool gift for you husband to be.

-Danny

One thing however which is a problem for most is the camera flash. Your watching your video as you share an intimate moment with your new partner and that moment is interrupted by constant camera flash’s. Often this can distract from the moment you, as a couple are sharing.

Part of what we now offer for those investing in our ‘Dream’ package is the reduction and often removal of those inappropriate camera flash’s. Below is a little video which shows a side by side example of just how well this works.

-Danny

We can now offer a hands on, one-to-one training, group training sessions and coaching. We are just putting the final details in place but registration is now open so contact us on 0845 224 1562 or email info -at- mintyslippers.com to discuss your individual requirements, to give you an idea, these are some of the subject areas we cover:

This is a fantastic opportunity for anyone looking to get started in the wedding video world or those who are already established within another medium and looking to broaden their horizons.

-Danny & Julie

We are very excited to announce that we can now offer Blu-Ray to our couples, past and future.

We create all of our Blu-Ray movies in full 1080p HD which gives unsurpassed levels of detail and sharpness along with beautiful vibrant colours. Being able to see every last detail and button in your dress is just beautiful. To get an idea of how good HD is just check out any of our video’s here on our blog as they are all in 720p HD.

For anyone with a wedding in 2010 and our ‘Dream’ package then Blu-Ray is included as standard (if you want it). For any of our 2009 couples and those with our ‘Simple’ package you can upgrade to Blu-Ray for just £100 for the first copy and then only £50 for each additional copy.

If you havn’t yet made the leap to Blu-Ray then now is a good time. ebuyer have an excellent Blu-Ray player for just £89.99 which will also play back your old DVD’s and upscale the image to HD. Check it out here http://www.ebuyer.com/product/168916. However, my personal favourite Blu-Ray player has to be the PlayStation 3.

-Danny

What made this day extra special was the magnificent evening they had arranged for their 400 guests at the Victoria and Albert museum in London. This building is one of the most prestigious venues in London and to be able to have your wedding there was just something out of this world. With scenery that was thousands of years old it was really a sight for their guests to behold as they walked from the dome to the Raphael Gallery for their meal and entertainment.

It will be sometime before you get to see the highlights but I just wanted to share this one photo we took of this curious sculpture which hung above the bar (which is the reception in the day time). The entire venue had been lit up, inside and out and this just stood out for me.

-Danny

The truth is we actually no more indiscreet that any other videographer who would attend your wedding. It’s normally just myself and Julie attending on the day and for the bigger shoots we may bring along an assistant. Most of the day we film using nothing more than our Sony HDR-FX1′s and a sturdy tripod. These professional HD cameras are great in low light and we really know how to push them to their limits. We surprise many of our peers with what we can produce from this humble and compact camera. It’s most definitely not one of those huge, on the shoulder cameras most are afraid of.

We very rarely use lights, it has to be really dark before we turn one of them on so for the most part they sit in our bags. We use a Sennheiser G2 Wireless mic to capture the vows with crystal clear clarity and an array of other hidden recording devices as backup.

Many of our moving shots are captured with the wonderful Glidetrack Compact. This small rail is just 0.5m in length and is what we use to get those shots of the venue or the tiny details as the camera moves slowly across the floor or table. Normally you need a large dolly track on the floor to achieve this but the Glidetrack makes it possible and totally discreet. The other device we use to get moving shots is our Steadicam Pilot. With this we are able to walk, run, shimmy, glide and float our way around you and your locations and keep the camera shots smooth at all times. It’s quite compact but achieves amazing results.

All this allows us to produce shots which would normally need a crew of people and a van of equipment. But we appear at most times to be just 2 people with a camera and a smile on our face.

-Danny

Each issue we will feature unique content including updates about Mintyslippers, featured videos, promotions, exclusive newsletter subscriber only discounts (Oooooo!) and our own words of wisdom.

Also, along our way we meet a lot of talented people and visit some of the most stunning venues in the country and will regularly feature some of the best suppliers out there.

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