I started this as help for Lauren Wave events who was hosting a DIY wedding class. At first I thought, how would I come up with DIY help. Where is it I see couples trying to do their own thing. Now do I think that this will replace the artistry of a well edited video, no. But it is a start to help your uncle along.
Tip 1. Don’t let your video get lost.
Have your parents retrieve your video from Uncle Ralph within days after the wedding. Use a service like Reel Pro Video to transfer your raw footage tapes to dvd or separate hard drive before they have a chance of being lost or recorded over. I’ve talked to photography clients afterward who tell me that 3 family members volunteered and none of them delivered the tape. thttp://reelprovideo.net/
Tip 2: Shoot some test video
It is a good idea to visit all of the places that are to be included in the video, such as the church, the hall where the reception will be held, and possibly the homes of the bride and groom. This will help you determine what type of light you will be shooting in, as well as determining where the camera should be for the best shots ahead of time. Have others help you out with your testing, posing as the bride and groom. You also need to determine where wireless mics need to be placed, and decide if you will need a back up cassette recorder to make sure that the sound is captured as well. Find out about the music, the source that will be used to play the music, and how loudly it will be played as well. You won’t want the music to drown out the couple exchanging vows on the video!
Tip 3: Make sure you know your camera
You need to know everything there is to know about your camera, including how to use the different features, including what to do if the head table is seated right in front of a bright table. You also need to make a list of everything that you need to bring to the wedding, including a tripod, extra batteries, wireless mics, video tapes or discs, extra lenses, extra lights headphones, products to clean lenses with, and anything else Uncle Ralph might possibly need.
Tip 4: Things to avoid
Use the tripod as much as possible during the ceremony, and avoid touching it when you can. There will be a tendency to want to fidget with the camera to fine tune the shot too much. Focus on the speaker. Avoid constant zooming in and out like a yo-yo. Make sure that you do use the pan technique when it is appropriate. Keep the camera stable and don’t try to follow the action. Remember with the prosessional, they will eventually get to where the camera is. Avoid sudden movement, or fast zooming. It’s a wedding, not a car chase.
Tip 5: Know where to stand.
As this may be Uncle Ralphs first video he may not know where to be. The 2 best choices might include behind behind you in the choir loft, or from the back of the church. Remember if he’s using a shorter consumer tripod he might have a problem seeing you walk up the aisle so advise the groomsman not to block him. If he’s really advantageous, he can go through the back door of the choir loft with his tripod, and finish the ceremony from the back of the church. For the bubbles and grand entrance standing too far away leads to people walking in front of the camera. For the speeches stay on the side of the head table nearer the djs speakers. While you will hear background laughter and Uncle Ralph for sure, being closer to the djs sound system gives you a better chance of not being drowned out by the audiences reaction to the toasts. Above all, Uncle Ralph is to defer preferential placement to where the church coordinator says, and to where the professional photographers/ videographers need to be. Remember that he is doing a favor, but you don’t want the professional work to suffer.
What the professional videographer will provide.
It is definitely worth asking how many cameras will be used. A single camera is not really capable of capturing everything properly and safely. Two cameras will allow for much better shots and significantly reduce the chance of missing something important.
Sound recording. The heart of the video is what was said. Each situation is going to require a different recording device. Whether it is a wireless mic for the ceremony or a high end field recorder using XLR cables plugged into the dj’s sound system. Having clean audio goes a long way to the enjoyment of your film.
Editing is very important. Good quality editing will make a huge difference. Ask these questions:
• How long will the final product be?
• Is your video a stream of moving pictures one after the other or is it thought out and are the most heartfelt part of the toasts and sermon hand selected.
• How many hours do you spend editing. While a standard documentary edited wedding video can be completed in 15-20 hours, it is not uncommon for a cinematic edit to take 2 hours of editing for ever minute of film shown.
• Can you have more than one version, e.g. a full version and a 4-15 minute highlights package?
• What titles, captions, etc will be included?
• Will the DVD have a title menu?
• Will music be added? If so, what is the copyright situation?
Note: If you are concerned about budget, one option is to ask for the wedding to be covered but not edited. Instead, you get the “raw” footage which isn’t very practical to watch, but you can save it and get the editing done later when you can afford it. The most important thing is to capture the day — editing can wait if necessary. Unfortunately many videographers don’t like showing their raw footage but it can’t hurt to ask.
The Wedding and Event Videographers Association (WEVA), an international professional group founded in the 1980s, commissioned a 2005 nationwide study to look at brides’ attitudes about videography both before and after their weddings. The brides were asked to rank videography on a personal “Top 10” list of wedding priorities.
Prior to their weddings, barely 50% of the brides listed videography as a Top 10 item. However, after the weddings the emphasis changed dramatically. A whopping 79% of the brides placed videography among their Top 10 items for wedding planning. I would bet that a follow-up survey, checking with brides a year or more after their weddings, would show the percentages climbing even higher. Here’s why: Your video (and your photographs), unlike the contributions of other vendors, are the “to have and to hold” parts of your wedding celebration. They endure — long after the bouquets have withered, the top of the cake has been taken out of the freezer and shared at an anniversary dinner, and you have forgotten whether the fancy china dish was a gift from Aunt Mary or Debbie your moms coworker.