The diversity of video production encompasses a wide range of specific projects. At Oconee Media Services, we provide the highest quality services for all clients, from corporate to consumer.Corporate projects require media production in the highest technology standards of Hi-Definition production. It is the corporate standard, yet is too expensive for the average consumer. We have the capability for shooting, editing, and DVD Production in SD & HD. The process of producing a wedding for a consumer and a conference for a corporation is still video production. What makes the difference is the capabilities of the production company.

Oconee Media Services is, among our other other services, a video production company. Our capabilities are defined by our creative talent and our technology.

Creative talent is measured by the effect of the final product. For us, this means using our years of experience to assemble the video, pictures, titles, graphics, and sound in a manner that achieves your intended goal.

• Do you ever watch the video of of your child's dance recital?
• Did the photo montage video bring tears to your eyes and make you laugh as your memories were awakened?
• Are you excited to watch your wedding video on your anniversary each year?
• Was the training video effective or a boring snoozer?

When you look at technology. We are in the midst of major changes for the consumer. To produce in Hi-Definition requires converting to HD cameras and requires over 2 times the physical storage per minute per camera to edit the footage. We have the editing solution up to 1080p HD in place, however; for the time being, you will find that we are not actively shooting, promoting, or authoring to HD resolutions for our consumer work. We shoot and author in SD or Standard Definition. Although the past year has seen the death of HD-DVD and drastic reductions in the cost of  Blu-Ray players, the cost for a blank Blu-Ray disc means Suzie's dance recital DVD will cost about $65. The prices are coming down, due to the availability of consumer cameras in HD. .

So now that I discussed our High Definition standpoint, let's take a look at video production. Operating from our studio in the Golden Corner of Oconee County, South Carolina, we employ a Windows 7 64-bit Core i7 post production system. While there are many hardware and software packages available, we are an Adobe Systems house and have been since Premiere 4.3.

• Premiere Pro CS4 is the backbone for editing our video projects.
• We facilitate these projects with After Effects CS4, Photoshop CS4, and Boris Red for graphics and animation.
• Audition, which was built on ProTools, is a multi track audio studio full of everything for our needs.
• Encore CS4 is the DVD authoring program which has full featured, interactive control and menu functions.

Whatever your video production need, we are not bound to our Walhalla, South Carolina facility. While we serve the local communities of Seneca, Clemson, Westminster, Anderson, and Greenville. We will travel across the country providing services to our clients, where they need us. For more information contact us with your request.

Oconee Media Services of Walhalla, South Carolina is a showcased Videographer on Videographies.com

We are listed in South Carolina Videography Directory at LocalWin.com

You have the event, we have the videography! Our primary system is SD (standard definition) for the specific reason of Blu-Ray cost. We offer the ability to shoot in 4:3 or 16:9 screen formats, however; most of our work in the past several years has been in the 16:9 widescreen format.

Whether your event is a dance recital, dramatic performance, wedding, or seminar; we know one certainty, there are no retakes. For us to provide the professional touch your special event deserves, we plan. We prefer a site check in advance. Knowing the lighting, sound, electrical, and facility requirements is paramount to a great shoot. When we explain we will be arriving as soon as the facility opens to setup, the reaction is usually one of surprise. I've been to a lot of events where the videographers are lucky to get setup by curtain. Live events have too many uncontrollable elements to take for granted the controllable ones.

For dance recitals, dramatic performances, and business events we have used the 3 camera shoot. This has proved to be an excellent method of creating a more exciting edited product. The main camera records most of the action and the two secondary cameras shoot B-roll. For wedding ceremonies, the essence is similar, the two secondary cameras are small enough to tastefully reside almost anywhere, unobtrusively. For the reception, the secondary cameras are setup in an "interview" area, allowing your family and friends to record their sentiments for your DVD.

When the event is ended, our work continues to the post production. The video production software we use allows us to assemble your video with graphics, animation, backgrounds, titles, and packaging. We also offer montage video for any occasion.

Here are a couple of sample videos of some various types of video and graphics we regularly produce:

Excerpts from The Nutcracker

Holy Trinity Episcopal Newcomer

News Story - Humane Society FlyIn

Graphics: The Dance Connection

Graphics: upstatetoday.com

While it is true we are located in Walhalla, South Carolina, we aren't limited to the Upstate, we provide event videography services throughout the country, contact us . We are only too happy to quote travel & expenses for your event.

Oconee Media Services of Walhalla, South Carolina is a showcased Videographer on Videographies.com

We are listed in South Carolina Videography  Directory at LocalWin.com

Find us under Videographers.

Special occasions can be honored with and celebrated by creating a video from photos, films, and videotapes - a montage video. Families grow up, merge with other families through marriage, have their own families and on it goes. During the time as families and friends are growing up and building relationships, memories are created. Photos, films, and video document those memories. So when those special occasions and milestones of life come around, it is a perfect time to create a video that will bookmark history or chapter point a new foundation in life.

There are many different ways to create this kind of video. We are somewhat old school, I began my involvement in slideshow production, real 35mm slides. That's just a part of our creative style. Creative style is important in a montage video. We know how to assemble images, graphics, and music to be artistically creative. What makes our creativity effective? You do! You are intimately involved in the lives and relationships the video is going to represent, so your part is key when providing the images and choosing the music to assemble. I like to spend time with our clients, going through photos, listening to stories, and learning some things about the dynamics involved in their lives.

We bring that information back to the technology that that we use to exercise our creative talent. From a technical standpoint, photos generally do not fit the video frame. So we create a background to justify the screen. Sometimes, we may recommend more than one background, depending on the vision we have. We determine the music score to edit the audio track. Then we begin to assemble the images into the timeline, creating motion and transitions that bring emotion to us in sync to the audio. In the end, there should not be a dry eye.


Here are a couple of videos that were produced for an Anniversary and a Funeral:

Anniversary Montage Video

Remembrance Montage Video

How we make your video:

• We scan your hard copy photos and slides.
• Capture any film or video.
• Crop and adjust images for video use.
• Create custom background(s).
• Acquire the necessary audio and edit the track.(copyrights require that you own a commercial CD of any song you use for personal use in this type of video.
• Edit the images to the timeline.
• Create the final DVD version.

We will create a customized quote based on the soundtrack time and number of images to be used.

You probably have all kinds of home movies and videos collecting dust on the shelves. For some, you may no longer have the capability to play them back. The important thing to remember is that those tapes are degrading over time. We can't stop the degradation, just end your loss by digital conversion. This is a professionally created DVD from your home videos. We have the technology to compensate for time based errors in the original video. We edit out the video you don't want. These are YOUR video memories to be preserved on SD (Standard Definition) DVD for years to come.

If you don't have your wedding video on DVD, get it transferred!!!

Accepted video formats are MiniDV, VHS, and 8mm videotape in NTSC only.

Accepted film formats 16mm, 8mm, and Super8 silent film only.

What we do:

• Digital capture of the video or film. Film is camera transferred.
• Chapter slates to identify each section of your video.
• Menu navigation to play entire DVD or search by Chapters.
• Packed in an album case with outer cover, printed (not labeled) disc.
• Choice of 5 design themes.

• Audio levels processed for basic level equalization and noise reduction

Example: your tape has 10 minutes of footage of a birthday party. The slate will appear for 5 seconds to identify the scene "Robbie's 5th Birthday" and the date "Sept. 12, 1986". The scene will be a chapter, it can be reached through the remote by chapter forward and reverse as well as from the scene menu.

What we require - whether you use our service or not, email us for an edit decision form. This form allows you to identify the scenes on the tape that you want transferred and identify the chapter titles for the slates. Everyone has video on tape that has no significance or, like I do, left the camera recording by accident. We will edit out those. Just a note about those tape to DVD recorders, they record everything and provide you no means to edit the content. The list you make will be the scenes you want. The form will explain how to do it. You send us the tape(s) and the list.

What we recommend - build your DVD's in chronological order. Go through all your tapes and have them all transferred. We design our product to be cohesive volumes that will be a matched set on your shelf. AND we archive the graphics from each job. So if you come back in 3 months to have more transfers done, we can format the graphics to match the originals.

Time to completion will depend on number of orders to fill. We will maintain email contact to update status. Because these videos are precious, all shipping should include insurance and tracking. Once we receive your videos, they will be treated as if they were our own. Upon completion of the DVD, the DVD and the original video will be returned to you, insured and with tracking.

We also offer add ons to this service:

• Archive MPEG-2 data disc of the DVD. This is your video in compressed format that can be edited later if necessary. For instance, you find another tape that should chronologically fit into the original. We can get those scenes added in, preserving the quality of the original DVD.
• Additional copies of the DVD.

For more information or detailed quotation, contact us .

We have been producing DVDs from live dance recitals and stage performances for the past 6 years. Our clients have been thrilled by the quality of our productions, as well as the cost. We produce video that gets watched! If you are a studio owner looking for a videographer, contact us . We can provide some references for you. Be sure to watch our sample videos below. We still have some dates available for 2010!

Want to know what sets us apart from the rest? Here are some thoughts:

Was your videographer setup, white balanced, hooked to the sound board, and ready 1 hour or more before the house opened for seating? We have heard that many videographers a lucky to be ready when the doors open. We can't work that way, we want everything triple checked. If they don't take a direct audio feed from the source at the sound board, you need to let them go, NOW.

Did they record separate tapes in all the cameras? Okay, unless we are intimately in tune with all your music, there is no way to live switch cameras to the music beats. A stage performance is not so critical, yet a dance recital is 45 -60 3 minute performances. No human can watch all the cameras and switch a camera shot to the music without a half second delay. They make a mistake and that's it forever. We run tape in every camera. We then synchronize the 3 cameras in our editor and cut the shots right on the beats. Sure, it takes a little longer to edit; our clients love the results.

Pricing? We have a philosophy. If we keep the price lower, more copies will be sold. Suffice to say, we have been 25 to 30% less than the the folks we replaced. And they were replaced because of quality, not price.

One of the other features that we provide, navigational menus. Our DVD is designed to play the entire disc, however, each dance is accessable from a scene menu to go direct to that dance. All of our discs are printed, not labelled and have full cover inserts and full size album cases.

For more details about having us handle the video production for your next recital or performance, contact us . We have clients from Michigan to South Carolina. Travel is not an issue, just a consideration.

Some clips from 2008:

Love Dance - Ballet - The Dance Connection

Trouble - Tap - The Dance Connection

Freak Out - Adult - The Dance Connection

Fallen - Solo - The Dance Connection

Little Devil - Kids - The Dance Connection

Your wedding day is one of the most important moments in your lives. You will have invested a lot of time in planning for the ceremony and the reception. Choosing your photographer and videographer are every bit as important as the caterer, the band, and the decorations. Just like the everybody else, we have to work by the calendar. You don't want to leave getting a videographer to the last minute.

We believe a great wedding video begins with planning. We need to discuss your vision of how your video will look. Our editing process begins while you are on your honeymoon. Decisions about graphic design and DVD layout are made prior to the wedding.

To get the best video shots of the ceremony requires us to meet with the officiant and review the facility. We have to determine the optimum camera positions without interfering with the decorum of the wedding. The rehearsal is our only chance to instruct the 'actors' how to 'hit their marks' in order for the plan to be successful. We are not afforded the opportunity for a second take!

The reception is a party. There is a checklist of traditional 'tasks' that must be accomplished. Our goal is to capture those moments and get the cameras out of your party. We encourage your friends and family to record a personal sentiment. For this purpose, we provide an area dedicated to that task, a controlled environment where food and drink are conspicuously absent. You are hiring a videographer to document your wedding event, not to create it.




Wedding Reception Video

Wedding Recap Montage Video

Our wedding video services start as low as  $ 850.00 for local weddings which includes the ceremony, reception, and personal sentiments. Additional services can be discussed and offered ala carte. You can contact us to fill out a request for a quote for your wedding!

Oconee Media Services of Walhalla, South Carolina is a showcased Videographer on Videographies.com.

Wedding Planning on PartyPOP.com: Wedding Video.

Find us under Videographers.

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We are listed in South Carolina Videography Directory at LocalWin.com