Archive for the ‘Wedding Blogs’ Category
Wedding film – Telling a story within a story
May 13th, 2012
Most people think of a wedding film as a videographer simply filming the day as it happens, and when he is finished going home and editing out the bad bits, adding music and titles and transferring it to a DVD. It’s all done in a couple of days.
There are wedding video companies offering this type of budget wedding video, and there is definitely a place for this in the market. Some couple just want a record of the day and don’t want to pay a large amount of money for it.
However, those couples whom want more than just a record of their day tend to aim towards the higher end of the wedding film market. Here, wedding films are more like the kind of feature films you see at the cinema, with colourful sharp visuals, ultra clear audio and professionally steady shots using sliders, steadicams and even cranes!
It’s not just about the visuals though, it’s about how they are all put together in editing to tell a story. For instance, you can film a shot of the bride putting on lipstick in front of a mirror in her room. This tells a story in its own right. But to define that story into its own little sequence you could have a wide shot of the scene, then move the camera close to get the close up of her lips as she applied the lipstick. The last shot could be of her finishing up in the reflection in the mirror. Just adding different angles like this to a story suddenly makes it all richer and with a more dramatic feel.
The whole story of the wedding is made up of many stories such as “The bride getting ready”, “The guests arriving at the church”, “The ceremony” etc. Each of these stories has their own little story sequences such as the bride putting on her lipstick as described above, or perhaps the bridesmaids helping her into her dress, at church the groom and best man arriving (shot in a sequence of shots rather than just one long continuous shot). All these stories within stories with help turn just a record of the event into a truly emotional feature film.
Then there is the whole story of the day to add on top of all these other little stories. The main story of the wedding. The story teller (the videographer) must decide what parts of the day need telling and what parts don’t have as much interest and can be cut. He needs to add the pace of the day, either fast and hectic, or slow and laid back. He needs to set the mood of the wedding, happy and joyful, or series and romantic, or more than likely a mixture of all these emotions depending on what part of the day he’s telling.
If he is making a shortform wedding edit then he needs to decide what direction he needs to go quite early, as the whole wedding film will be influenced depending on what direction he chooses to go. It can be scary stuff, but after spending a whole day with the couple he will have a feel of what kind of wedding film they would like.
Bootcamp Highlights
May 5th, 2012
I attended a wedding filmmakers boot-camp in March to try and learn something new and keep up with new filming styles and techniques. Learning from the best in the business is always a great idea and adding all the new styles and ideas with all I already have has got to produce some stunning results for my clients in the future.
The day focused on the Short Form edit style for much of the morning which seems to be the best style of high end wedding edits at the moment. With life so fast people don’t want to be sitting hours watch their wedding film do they? This style adds so much scope for story telling and emotion that it bound to touch the hearts of even the hardiest viewers. Short forms can be viewed on DVD, Bluray, online and on devices such as iPhones and tablest too!
Equipment was another area covered by the crew including steadicams and cranes, and the parts they play in wedding shoots. I bought my crane for my latest Asian wedding and its one of my best buys to date, offering so much scope in establishing my shot locations.
Here are some highlights from the boot-camp. I didn’t film much on the day as it was a learning experience, but I have put together a few shots of what I did take, with some exciting A Team music.
Filmed exclusively with the Panasonic GH2 and my trusty Glidepod.
Wedding videos – Dawn of a new age, or is it?
May 1st, 2012
It’s the 21st century and with technology at an all time high, is it time to start thinking more about having your wedding filmed? I don’t mean by uncle Harry with his super-duper HD camera from Currys, or by hiring a camera to try and do it yourself. I am talking about a high-end professional film that looks like something from a feature film.
Yes, there is a price for that but considering that a wedding cake can cost up to £1K, what would be too high a price for a professional film that is so good that not only you’ll treasure it for as long as you live, but also in the future you would proudly show it to your children and grand children?
With the kind of money spent on weddings, are photographs all you need to keep those memories of it alive, to see all the little details you have planned and planned all these months. Do photographs help you to feel the atmosphere of the day, hear the guests laughter and to see all those moments you never got the chance to see. A good wedding film can make the bride and groom look like stars!
I know that some people don’t feel that a video is right for them because they don’t want a camera pointed at them all day! This is very understandable, professional film actors take years of training to have a camera pointed at them, and they get paid big bucks for it!
Good videographers keep to the background for most of the day. Also, don’t forget that on the day you’re at your wedding , you won’t get time to worry about the videographer as you’ll have lots of other things on your mind. Things happen so quickly for the bride and groom that most of the day becomes a blur, which is another reason the wedding video is so important.
In my experience I have heard couples say how they have regretted not having a film made of their fantastic wedding day, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP0UHCVyvtU . On the otherhand I have heard all couples say they were pleased they had it done, and can’t imagine not having it!
So the moral of the story is, the wedding video can actually be one of the most important things to book for your wedding. Please don’t live in regret afterwards.
Discussion welcome….
The Asian wedding
April 15th, 2012
Been working on my very first Asian wedding for the last 2 weeks. The wedding was over two days, the Mehndi Party on Saturday 31st march and then the Wedding on Monday. The bride wanted something a little different and hopefully I have fulfilled that for her.
I’ve cut the wedding down from several hours of video to a 35 minutes film. There is no dialogue to speak of like in an English wedding, no speeches, the ceremony was chanted though which was interesting… Because the events where mostly in big rooms filled with chattering people the soundtrack wasn’t usable for the main so I’ve had to use a lot of music. But the music was great and really enhanced the film. All the editing was done to the music.
Interesting parts of the wedding was the home visits, the processions and the bargaining of the grooms party to try and get into the wedding room. Loved the little food fight that took place during dinner (on the brides side may I add) and the costumes were tremendous.
Got lots of really cool shots, and the crane was great, though didn’t get to use it much on the last part as it was so crowded around the bride and groom everyone was jostling for space.
All in all I loved the experience and learned so much. Its all so laid back which makes filming something like this a pleasure. I can’t wait for the next one!
The Indian Wedding Edit
April 6th, 2012
Sorry for not writing many post recently, but I have been so busy this last few weeks. Having just completed 4 different events at our local school (where my daughter goes), I am now editing my very first Asian wedding.
One of the things I love about the Asian weddings is the vivid colours! Fill any room with people wearing these kind of costumes and the whole room is isnstantly transformed.
After spending a couple of days editing I have done an amazing 4 and a half minutes of the Henna so far, but the first days are always the longest. Things may speed up a little from here on, until the actual wedding day where Janet did a home visit and came back with some amazing shots of the bride getting ready.
Our First Asian Wedding
April 1st, 2012
Yesterday was the 1st stage of our first Asian wedding. Basically, this is a Party for the Brides side. The Bride is placed on a lovely colourful stage and members of her family and friends feed her delicious cake. I will make a short cinematic film of this shot from varies cameras and angles. I had with me my Glidepod, slider , steadicam and even a crane to make the most of the occasion.
One thing I love about Asian weddings are the costumes. They are so colourful! It will make such a colourful film just on the costumes alone, as well as the flowers and decorations set on stage to help make this project a pleasure to work on. The details of the dresses, the jewelry and deco are inquisit and we have lots of closeups.
After the feeding ceremony it was time for food. The curry was hot in all sensors of the word! I loved the lamb and rice too. You get well fed at these events! We even had some cake as well and I was right about it been light and delicious.
To finish the event off (it was only a three hour shoot), there was the Henna. This is a tradition of detailed painting on the brides hands. It’s the first time I’ve seen this type of work and I loved the experience of filming it. See some photos I’ve added to the blog and perhaps you will agree just how colourful these weddings can be…
Enter the age of the crane
March 21st, 2012
I have gone and done it. Today I purchased my very own crane! Tis only a small one, but the shots with a camera with a wide angle lens upon one of these is amazing. Filmed next to a statue or other landmark, the shots are stunning with one of these babies and can’t wait to try it out on next wedding video 
While I was there I bought some other items as well from Cameragrip in Nottingham, home of the famous GlidePod which I helped design a couple of years ago. All equipment aiding the road to perfection in the ever advancing art of wedding film making. Can’t believe how far we have come in the last few years alone!
Wedding Videographer website
March 10th, 2012
I have been working on a new site over the last few days. Yesterday I sat from 8:30am until about 10pm on it, but today has been more relaxed. I have stopped to watch a little TV for a while. though I may get back on it later tonight if I start getting withdrawal :)
The site is for wedding videographers to educate people about their craft and to advertise their work. It’ll be a place for brides to come too to look through all the different style of wedding videographers from traditional to the new cinematic masterpieces.
There will be a forum to ask questions, as well as groups and brides can even talk directly with the videographers, save them as friends so they can watch what they are doing on the site (if anything) and read hundreds of articles on wedding videography.
The aim is, by the time they have left the site, they should know everything about having their wedding filmed and hopefully even have a videographer to do it for them. And the best thing of all, it’s all free!
More ionfo soon.
Monthly summary
February 22nd, 2012
What a busy month its been. I haven’t stopped editing all month. I have been editing dance shows, plays and preparing the dance academy footage for their Move-it promo Video next month. This weekend I have another dance show to film on Saturday in Ollerton, and on Sunday we will be visiting a couple for the 2nd meeting in preparation for an Asian wedding at the end of March beginning of April.
True story. A couple of days ago I had someone asking me if I can film their wedding next year, and can I beat a quote for £250? 20 years ago maybe, but need at least an extra digit on that price to film an all day wedding these days. My second videographer charges more than that!
I been duplicating DVDs and creating blurays for the DanceKraze dance show that took place in Nuneaton at the beginning of the month. Just packing up a box full of DVD box-sets now ready to post in the morning. It’s nice working on good dance shows like this, but also nice when It’s all completed and I can concentrate on the current projects.
Pride Park Wedding Fayre 2012
January 27th, 2012
We filmed the fashion show at Pride Park Stadium Derby on the 22nd January 2012. We thought we would try something a little different this time a took a young enthusiastic presenter with us to introduce the video, and to interview some of the vendors. She did marvelously and I think brought something new to the wedding fayre film.
The fashion show has been edited down from almost 20 minutes to just 3 and a half and looks absolutely stunning and exciting! Its worth watch just for that!
Hold onto your hats for cinematic clips from the show, interviews with the vendors and the great fashion show!