Creative and/or seamless ways to mix photo and video together?

[Dreadylocks]

So, my sister's wedding was on Saturday and as I mentioned on here, I volunteered to film it. Things didn't work out like I planned (all cameras but mine fell through, there was no audio output on the sound system), but I do think I got a lot of usable footage and the audio is listenable if not clear. Anyway, several hours and a sprained knee later, here I am.

So, I'm editing it together now, and so far (since I only had one camera), I don't have exactly every angle I want.

I was thinking I might be able to use some of the photographer's photos to sort of 'fill in' what I didn't capture.

So my question is twofold I guess.

1. Is this a horrible idea that would not possibly look good?

2. Are there any creative/fun or at least seamless ways to incorporate them? Should I try and do some 3D environments with them (I'm thinking, have the still and then crop my sister/the groom onto a new layer and have them grow bigger while the background remains the same)?

All ideas are welcome. I'm into doing something wacky or different, but if you've just got some tips on how to make it look smooth(ie: best amount of frames to blend, using transitions, etc), that would be awesome, too.

Thanks guys!

[Zensteve]

Using stills to fill in (or cover) edits is a great idea, sure. Good idea for that 3d-effect, too, though it can take a long time if doing many pix. Ken Burns uses that to great effect, in his docs.

There's all kinds of ways to cover things up. I'm using stock footage (public domain material) to cover an entire song at the gig I shot last weekend. I was filming a stage performance at the rear of the theater, with two cameras. For the final song, everyone was asked to stand to sing along with God Bless America... and they blocked my entire shot! I decoupled one camera, and ran down the aisles to get the final 30 seconds of the performance, but for the rest of the song... patriotic imagery of all kinds plopped in, 'cos noone wants to watch the back of someone's head for 2 minutes.

Lots of ideas. Brainstorm.

[Cracker Funk]

I think Ken Burns is a great example, in fact I was going to suggest you mimic his style -- slow zooms and pans over the still images.

I think audio can be used effectively to transition between shots. If going from still to moving, perhaps the audio from the moving image runs a little over the still image. Ditto, if going from moving to still -- let some of the continuous audio from the moving image bleed over onto the still image. Do you have interview footage? Interview narration would be terrific over the still images.

I think it will look great. Absolutely no problem mixing still images with moving (especially if you use the Ken Burns pan-zoom effect).

[wheatgrinder]

If you have AE, there are some awsome fun things you can do with stills.. not typical of Ken Burns.. as always check with www.videocopilot.net first.

watch these, both are fun to do!

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial...ating_a_still/

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial...ual_3d_photos/


and for Kens Burns.. check this one..

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorial...nt_slideshows/

[Dreadylocks]

Cool, thanks for the ideas, guys

Zen, I know exactly what you're talking about. I knew it was gonna happen but I couldn't do anything about it. But I'm missing so many 'bride shots' since everyone stands up when she walks down the aisle!

Not to mention the camera had to be on the left side of the church, so for the ceremony you can mainly see the groom (and seriously, who cares about that guy?).

Cracker, overlapping and mixing the audio is probably the way I'm gonna go. Honestly I'm having trouble deciding where to go with this editing. Not sure if I should make it more abstract and just put a couple songs and do some creative editing, or if I should make it more straightforward and have the whole ceremony. Right now I'm leaning towards doing both, because I think the 'abstract' one will be better.

Wheat, those tutorials are awesome looking. Gonna watch them today, thanks btw, are you familiar with any videocopilot tutorials that show you how to artificially create a quick flash pan type effect for cutting in between on shot and another? I'm not sure if I'm describing that well, but I'm sure you know what I mean I was thinking of buying the 'twitch' but I can't tell if I need it or if it's even the right tool for this job.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the suggestions!

[wheatgrinder]

hum.. are you thinking of faking a "whip pan?" That could be effective.

The twitch tool is cool, but you would not need it for something specific like a fake whip pan.

I googled "whip pan in after effects" and got this:
http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-cr...s-278660/view/

I watched a bit of it without sound (at work) and it looks good.