Toronto Photography Meetup Group

Hi Guys,

So I've been planning this for a few weeks now, and thought it would work easily (theoretically), turns out I was wrong.
Here's the situation:

1. I'll be proposing to my gf on a hiking trip outside Canada. But because her friends and family won't be there, I'm filming them saying the congrats as well as me asking permission from the parents. I have edited all the clips with Adobe Premiere and exported into .AVI format short movie.
2. I planned to play the AVI video on my point-n-shoot (ELF SD790) via a SD card that I will swap out quickly, then hand her the camera exclaiming "look at the great video clip I took when you weren't looking" and play the clip for her.
3. Then do the rest on one knee when she finishes watching.

Problem:
The point-n-shoot is not reading the AVI file when I turn it on. It is the only file on the SD card (Transcend 8GB SDHC Class 6). The file size is 500MB, named in correspondence with naming system of the camera (i.e. MVI_0000.AVI).
I've got 2 weeks to get this to work!

I hope you guys can help!
Thanks a bunch!


J.

Is your AVI file encoded with MJPEG codec? I think that's what your camera supports.

Is it in the right folder on the card?

I have no idea. I just wanted to say that it's a really sweet idea and good luck! Hope she says yes!!

Agreed, it might be the codec used to export the file is not the native codec of the camera.
worst case scenario you may need to record with you camera the video of the parents permission played on any screen, then you 'll have the video recorded natively in your camera.

I hope I was clear ..great idea and good luck !!

best of luck with the proposal

play it on your phone maybe?

congrats! show us the picture of the rock!

Do you have an ipad? export it as an mpeg movie, convert it for ipad and upload it to your ipad. It will work well!

If all else fails play it back to a HD TV, then rerecord it with the P&S.

Thanks everyone for all your input!
I've figured that it just won't work with the P/S. I've tried on the DSLR too, and got nothing.

So I think what I'm going to do is put the video on my blackberry (sorry iPhone users.... I know its not the most ideal screen).

Before the trip, I'm going to bet her sister (her bff) who lives in the USA that I can get a signal on my phone when we are in the mountains. And get her to try to skype me on Day 5 of our hike.
Little does my gf know, this is all an act.

Her sister is recording a fake skype video call and I will append it to the start of the video.

On day 5, while alone in the mountains with the snow covered peaks in the backdrop, I will record us with the DSLR on video mode, then pretend I'm getting the skype call from her sister right when we are waiving into the camera and pass the phone to her (giving me a reason to make her put the earbuds on while she takes the phone from me). She will see her sister saying "hi, how are you.... enjoying your trip? bla bla bla..." then it will cut to me designing the ring, and finally to me asking her parents permission.

Then I get on one knee and do the rest.

I think this is a good plan.... I've altered it since the original since I cannot get it working on my P/S.
I do also have an iPod Touch.... but I don't use it outside of the house.... it might be hard to convince her that we should take it, since we have to pack light.

Anyway... I hope this works.

FYI, I'm still going to experiment with getting video on the P/S once all this is done with.... hehe... I just can't help myself when it comes to a challenge!
Hopefully I'll have some more time and figure it out.

I've also figured the standard "ring-in-a-box" might not be the most ideal solution... its gonna be hard to conceal that box... its rather big compared to all the other items I'm carrying and easy to spot. (I'll have it with me in my sling pouch with my passport, monies, etc.)

I'm thinking that I've got a boarding pass stub from when we flew to africa for the first time as friends, and came back as a couple. I figure when I propose, to work that into the proposal off one knee, hand it to her as a reminder of how far we have come, then ask her to turn it over, and that's the ring!

Plus I can hide it better if its attached (somehow) to the stub.... the trick is how to attach it so that it's secure? Working on it....
Tape doesn't seem elegant enough.
Perhaps a small ribbon.....

Why don't you just hand her a sheet of paper that says "will you marry me?" with little yes and no check boxes underneath. It worked in the third grade.