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Love is in the air, so I'll share my tips for producing beautiful wedding films. How
to book your first client, setting up cameras and microphones, and editing sure to make
brides and grooms smile.
Every year, I produce several weddings films—it's about 25% of my freelance business, and I
get lots of questions from viewers about the right way to capture weddings. With Valentine's
Day this week, it's the perfect time to answer your questions. Most weddings are in the summer,
but it's this time of year when lots of couples are getting engaged, planning their weddings,
and asking you, their talented videographer friend if you're available.
So today I'll share my tips for producing beautiful wedding films.
But first, how do you book a wedding? I've tried a bridal show, business cards, but most
of my weddings come from word of mouth. There are over a hundred guests at an average weddings—one
of them will get married soon. So if you can get one wedding on your reel, more will follow.
But how do you start? If you're in your 20s like me, you probably have lots of friends
getting married. Or if you're in high school, do you have any teachers getting married?
That's how I started. Make sure everyone knows you're a talented videographer who wants to
shoot weddings. Offering a cheap or free wedding is a great way to entice your first client.
Just like any video, a wedding film should tell a story. So I open with our protagonists
hours before the ceremony, to document the nervous excitement of getting ready. Short
interviews with the bride and groom are a great way to capture their energy and the
love they share. Before the ceremony is the ideal time to pick up establishing shots,
b-roll—I use my Glidecam a lot, to capture these beautifully steady moves. I've added
a couple ceramic tiles and a quick release plate—to make it heavy enough to work with
my lightweight DSLR.
I usually need about an hour before the ceremony to set up my gear. Starting with cameras.
You really need at least two cameras. A wide camera in the back, and a close-up camera,
positioned on the right—so you can see the bride's face. I often use my GoPro as a third
angle. Having multiple cameras allows you to move or refocus, knowing you have another
angle to cutaway to. Having a second camera operator is nice, but even an unmanned camera—if
you shoot in 1080, and you edit in 720—gives you the flexibility to tighten and reframe
the image. Once you push record on each camera, don't stop until the end of the ceremony.
That way, you only have to synchronize the video tracks once in
the editing.
I use two tripods, but I often need to go handheld with a shoulder rig. Everyone stands
when the bride enters, which will block your shot. I also like to get close during the
vows. Even if you go to the wedding rehearsal, there will always be surprises. The ceremony
could start early, or 10 minutes late. You expect the kiss to happen at the end, but
not every wedding follows the same format. And you always make mistakes, so protect yourself:
Bring extension cables, so you don't run out of battery.
You also want to capture as much audio as possible. I use a shotgun mic on my camera,
and a lavalier mic and portable recorder on the groom. My H4n has a built-in mic, plus
if the ceremony uses a PA system, I'll connect it to the sound board. I always bring an XLR
cable, a 1/4 cable, and RCA cables. You never know which output a system might use. At the
reception, I always ask to plug into the DJ's sound board. Speeches sound much better straight
from the microphone. Having several audio options is important: Maybe the sermon sounds
best through the groom mic, but then the music sounds better through the shotgun mic, so
you can switch back and forth.
At the reception, I usually only need one camera, but it might get pretty dark. So I
use my fastest lens—f/1.4. Sure, an on-camera light or softbox would help, but I'd rather
be unobtrusive and capture candid moments, so I just have to accept that some video will
be dark. Here, they turned off the lights on the dance floor, but the other side of
the room was lit up, so I turned and shot this couple's first dance as a silhouette.
Now that you have all this footage, how will you package it? I cut about 5 hours of raw
video, down to 1 hour of edited content—a full length-ceremony, and a reception video
that includes all the important moments: their entrance, toasts, cake cutting, first dance,
bouquet toss, and I finish with a montage of everyone on the dance floor. They get all
this as high-definition video files, and on a DVD.
But my favorite piece, is the five-minute short film. This is my chance to show off
the best moments of the day, and it's short enough that lots of friends and family will
watch it. I include my most beautiful shots, and lots of smiling and laughing. Because
when we see people smile, it makes us smile too. I shoot in 60 frames per second, and
slow it down to 24. When a bride watches her wedding in slow motion, set to an emotional
song, and she hears her husband's voice saying how much he loves her, she will cry tears
of happiness, and she'll love the video.
You may feel like there's a lot pressure—you don't want to mess up someone's wedding video.
But even if your shots aren't perfect, you're capturing a beautiful day in two people's
lives. So they will love watching the video you produce, and reliving those moments.
Weddings were the first projects I got paid for as a freelance videographer, and they've
led to lots of non-wedding work too. So if you want to shoot weddings, I hope today's
episode helps, and let me know in the comments, what other questions you have.
Thanks for watching, have a happy Valentine's Day, and know that I love you!