The World of Wedding Videography
What Does a Wedding Videographer Do?
It is 2 p.m. You have been at work since eight o’clock this morning, and you have eight hours to go. Your feet hurt from standing in dress shoes, your shoulder hurts from carrying a tripod, and your head hurts because the bride is crying to her mother about last-minute changes to the seating arrangement. You aren’t sure if you should record these stressful moments or retreat to another room. You secretly wish the bride was wearing a microphone, but you’re pretty sure it would be inappropriate to ask her to put one on at this moment. Complicating things for you is the fact that the bride specified that she wanted lots of footage of the groom getting ready, but that appears to consist of him watching TV in his hotel room. Should you tell him to get dressed? Also, the ceremony starts in an hour, and you have yet to be allowed into the chapel to assess lighting; you only have one chance to get the vows, and you have to make sure you’ll be standing in the right place when they happen. And of course, the florist forgot the boutonnieres, and is driving 60 miles round trip to her shop to pick them up—hopefully by show time. Stress levels are higher than anything you’ve ever experienced…since last Saturday’s wedding, that is. You are, in short, having a typical day on the job as a wedding videographer.
The fact is, wedding videography is exhausting—with long hours, heavy gear, high stress— but it is also incredibly rewarding. As a wedding videographer, you will be regularly surrounded by people joyfully celebrating. Besides, wedding videographers thrive in a somewhat stressful environment and know that at least a small portion of the job is to advise, calm, and help the couple through the day’s events. After all, the videographer has probably been “backstage” at more weddings than the bride and groom. Wedding videographers get the satisfaction of knowing that their tools, gear, and creative vision will create a tribute to the couple and their important event. A wedding videographer’s artistry will shape how the bride and groom perceive and remember the day itself
There is an immense amount of colorful material to work with in building a wedding video: leading characters in love, a supporting cast of friends and family, and a few settings almost guaranteed to be beautiful (albeit often poorly lit and with bad audio). There are also some dramatic moments already built into the script: the vows, the first kiss, the first dance, the cake cutting. Even the most jaded wedding vendor can get teary during these moments.
While shooting video of weddings is common practice today, it’s a relatively new phenomenon—with today’s final product differing greatly from its ancestors:
In 1979, the extremely rare wedding video is a few minutes of super 8 film recorded by a determined family member or guest toting his or her hobbyist camera. The exposed film strip has to be sent out to a processor—at no small cost—and, once processed, must be viewed with a super 8 projector, most likely at the home of the same hobbyist shooter. The film itself has a grainy, jagged feel to it, with lots of dirt and vivid colors. It is possible, but very unlikely, that the film has any sound or editing.
In 1989, a wedding video is almost two hours long. It’s shot on a Sony camera attached to a bulky recorder with a cable. An assistant helped carry a huge light throughout the ceremony and reception, but it didn’t do much to improve the poor color saturation and fuzzy shots. Nor did it ingratiate itself to the wedding guests, who danced around the production team or were scared back to the dessert table. Post-production consists of titles being added to the beginning and end and clumsily chopping the part where Aunt Gloria said the wrong name during the toast. Because of generation loss, the audio on the VHS tape that Grandma gets has degraded from the already-poor mono recording from a bad microphone to practically unintelligible noise.
In 1999, a wedding video is about 45 minutes long. It’s shot on a digital video camera with small, attached lights and lavaliere microphones, and is controlled by one videographer, who mingles seamlessly among guests, lowering the camera when it is inappropriate to be shooting. Though nearly five hours of mini DV footage is shot, the final product has only the best bits, cut to music chosen by the couple and delivered on a DVD that can be duplicated inexpensively and without generational loss.
In 2009, a wedding video is an authored DVD with an hour plus full-length version as well as a stylistically cut highlights version. Depending on the couple’s taste and budget, the video can include a time-lapse sequence showing the reception being set up, a series of interviews woven throughout the piece, and effects such as a retro super 8 look on the romantic shots and campy transitions between the groomsmen’s toasts. The wedding guests are so busy shooting their own video clips on their phone cameras, they barely notice the videographer and her streamlined equipment. The final product is posted online, delivered as a DVD, and separately compressed for YouTube and the iPhone.
Recent advances in both camera technology and editing software have likewise advanced bridal couples’ expectations to include an unobtrusive videographer, multiple camera coverage, heavy editing and special effects to create a far more finished and interesting final piece, all at a much lower price. This, in turn, has allowed—even demanded—the growth of the wedding-video industry. Dramatic price drops in semi-professional and consumer video equipment and post-production hardware and software have made wedding videography a line item that can now fit relatively easily into the average American wedding budget.
What makes a great Wedding Video?
First of all, let’s explain, in the most simple way possible, what a video is! A video is a set of images – 25, 30, 60, etc. images per second. When shown together, these images give off the impression of movement. So essentially, the very simple definition of video is “moving images”.
So what does the idea of moving images have to do with a great wedding video? Here it’s important to understand, that a wedding video is more than just a recording… it’s a recording of thousands and thousands of images or ‘photos’ and as such, the photography or ‘cinematography’ of the images is one of the most important elements of a great wedding video.
The word ‘cinematography’ comes from Greek language, meaning ‘writing with motion’. It is the process of taking ideas, actions, words, emotions and other non-verbal communication, and rendering them in visual terms. Cinematography refers to how shots are framed, the colour, the texture, the camera angle, the lenses and focus, the composition.
One of the best ways that you can appreciate the cinematography of a wedding video, is by watching it while muting the volume. In this way, you can really notice how the video is filmed and made. You will be able to appreciate how the shots are framed, the composition, the light and colour, different camera angles and focus, and if they are charged with emotions, happiness, smiles, nostalgia. In this way, you will realise if you like the work of the wedding videographer.
Another thing that make a great wedding video is of course the footage itself.
Did the videographer capture all those key moments on the day – walking down the aisle, the first kiss, the celebrations of the family and guests before and after the ceremony?
Are the shots high quality?
Does the video showcase the couple, the family, the guests and the venue in the best way possible?
Wedding Videography Packages, Ideas, Tips
Looking around for some great wedding videography but don’t know where to begin? We’ve got you covered. Here are some tips to find and choose the perfect wedding videography package, or use a DIY wedding videography solution for your big day.
How much does it cost to hire a videographer for a wedding?
According to popular outsourcing site Thumbtack, the average wedding videographer can cost anywhere from $1,200 to $1,500. That price varies greatly depending on how extensive your wedding videography package is, where the videographer is traveling from (if they’re not local), and their level of experience.
How long is the average wedding video?
If you want to include everything from the bridal party getting dressed to the final farewells after the reception, you can expect your wedding video to run as long as 25 minutes. Or, if you just want the highlight reel, it will most likely be the length of one unedited song (think: 3 minutes-ish).
ost common wedding videography packages & the pros/cons of each
Different wedding videographers will all have their own names for these
Just the basics – A short highlight reel of your ceremony. You may also opt to receive the raw footage and edit it yourself.
Important Questions To Ask Your Wedding Videographer
The key to finding a wedding videographer that you will love is to interview and ask some key questions before signing any contract. Why is this so important? This is a person or the people that will spending the entire day with you, on your wedding day. You can love their style but you will be so much better off when your wedding videographer is someone you enjoy being around and trust.
It can be daunting to make the right decision, and usually you will have a few wedding videographer options to choose from. Here are some questions to spark discussion and help you get a good feel for each option.
Add these “ice breaker” questions to your list of what ask your wedding videographer. I made this with the intention of helping you really get to know who the person is behind the camera, and how to make sure they are real pros! Download the questions sheet below, and read how these are the best questions.
This is a great way to make sure you know some very important things about your wedding videographer. Firstly, you’ll get to know them, how long they’ve been in the industry and maybe a fun story or two about how they’ve came to be wedding videographers.
You should get a good sense of them as a people/a person because this is a person who will be there ON YOUR FREAKING WEDDING DAY! You want (and deserve) to feel the warm fuzzies when you talk with them. Knowing their history and story is going to help you decide if they are going to be the right people for you.
Reasons to Book a Wedding Videographer
Hey everyone and welcome back to another blog post! You’ve probably guessed from the title that today’s post is all about weddings which we’re certainly missing here at McLeish Film & Media. With the current cap on patrons able to attend weddings, we are unfortunately not able to shoot our beautiful couple’s big days until these restrictions are lifted.
I understand wedding planning has likely slowed down due to the uncertainty we currently face, however this post can get you thinking about your big day and whether wedding videography is something you and your partner might consider!
Photos capture moments in time, but video allows you to relive your wedding day
After attending a number of weddings we can safely tell you that your wedding day will go by in the blink of an eye. There is a huge lead up to a wedding, so many hours spent planning and dreaming of your special day. Don’t miss the opportunity to have this important day captured, you’ll only experience it once but you can relive it time and time again in your wedding videos.
Audio
As wedding videographers, we have a unique opportunity to capture your love story and bring it to life through elements of video, sound and style. Relive your wedding vows again, share them with future children and grandchildren or family who couldn’t be present on your wedding day. A videographer will also film your reception to record the kind words said about you as a couple, words that you’ll listen to and cherish.
Video captures raw moments
A picture paints a thousand words but a video says even more. The opportunity we have as videographers is not only to document the formalities, but to capture the raw, emotional moments between guests, family, friends and you as a couple. So often the feedback we get from our couple’s is how surprised they were to see certain moments filmed that they didn’t realise we had been there to capture. Also there is a lot happening on a wedding day that it’d be easy to miss something, especially when you’re the centre of attention you can easily get caught up in the day. Your videographers will be there to film not only you but your guests as well and all the antics they get up to!