HIGH definition has helped videographer Moustafa (Steve) Allouche make the leap from celebratory videos into the corporate video sector.

The videographer has just completed his first HD movie for a corporate client after moving into higher resolution production via a familiar route: wedding videos.

Initially, he was perturbed that his initial forays into HD filming made his clients cry.

He was startled when the bride from his first HD wedding shoot came back crying.

"I asked was what's wrong," Allouche says. "She said it was beautiful, which was a relief because I thought I had stuffed it up."

He bought a Sony FX1 HD camera three years ago as a form of future-proofing.

"We were shooting in HD, but we were not delivering or editing in HD," he says.

"People thought they would have their video in HD, so if they wanted to re-edit it in 10 years they would have clear footage in a high-resolution format and they could do whatever they wanted to.

"People liked that idea, and we could do it for the same cost and didn't have to charge extra. It was a good selling tool. People booked just because of that.

"But once we started editing in HD it became more difficult. People couldn't understand why we would charge an extra $1500 a wedding for it to be edited in HD.

"They didn't realise that even the most up-to-date computers these days still struggle with the format, especially when you start putting effects on it and getting creative with a lot of cutting, a couple of layers at a time.

"So they couldn't understand why it was so much work and how it slowed down the editing. Sometimes it doubled the editing process.

"Now you get the tech-savvy people coming in here with a 1080i television and they are excited about it.

"Clients who have a 1080i television want high-resolution regardless of how much it is going to cost. They will pay the extra money to have HD.

"When people see the difference in resolution, they are stunned."

The images are stunning, but editing and delivering causes some problems.

"About a year ago when we started editing in HD, we were delivering to clients on hard drives because of the war with the HD media.

"People did not know to use HD DVD or Blu-ray, but about a month ago Blu-ray took over.

"We have a bit more confidence now and are slowly doing an upgrade to Blu-ray burners, and in the next couple of weeks we should be delivering in Blu-ray."

On the editing side Allouche is migrating from Adobe Premiere editing software on a PC to Canopus Edius Pro, a PC-based system that requires a dedicated card.

"I find Canopus Edius more stable. There are not so many system crashes and the real-time capabilities are more streamlined for editing with HD.

"With Adobe we had to buy additional third-party software called CineForm, which cost $1000, and even editing with that is not true real time. You are working in draft-preview mode.

"Canopus Edius allows us to edit in full HD, so we are looking at full resolution."

While offering a high-definition product helps sales, it is harder for Allouche to convince couples pay for a two-camera shoot.

"For any ceremony where there is an exchange of vows we recommend a second camera because it offers a better product."

With a single camera you end up with someone's back when they exchange vows, he says.

"We have the other camera to cross-shoot," he says.

"Nobody understands editing on the consumer side, but a lot of people have been watching reality television shows of people getting married and they see how it is being filmed.

"Although people do not understand the editing process, they do know the difference between a quality product and a crappy one.

"When that camera cuts to the bride and you see the emotion, the smile, they immediately make the comparison not necessarily with a television, but with other videos they have seen. They see it is different.

"You can see the groom when they are exchanging vows and she has that smile for half a second - just being able to see that.

"When a bride-to-be sees a shot like that, they sit back and think about this wedding day and what they dreamed it would be."