Month: March 2015

Wedding Videography Tips

You might be wondering?

“How do I film a wedding video?”

Filming weddings can turn into a profitable business. Every year people are getting married. If you dying to shoot a wedding video, you’ve come to the right place. Follow this guide and you will learn some valuable wedding videography tips.

Note: This article is more curated towards beginners, but there is marketing hack to get brides if you skip to step 4.

Step 1

Go and watch these wedding videos:

 

Write notes on what you liked about them.

Go and watch them again and take screenshots of the shots you like. Put those screenshots into a table in Microsoft Word.

Step 2

If you don’t own any video equipment, here is a starter kit you can purchase/rent:

• 60D
• Fluid head tripod
• Zoom h4n
• Xlr cable
• Telephoto lens
• Benro monopod
• 2 sennheiser mics
• Wide angle lens
• 50mm lens

Some good places to rent are Lensprotogo and Borrowlenses. If you don’t have money to purchase/rent, here are several alternatives:

-Ask your friends on Facebook if you can borrow their video equipment.

-Go to your church and borrow their audio gear.

Step 3

Next, you are going to need to find a second shooter. I would recommend find a wedding photographer that’s interested learning filmmaking. They already have the framing and composition, so they will be a fast learner. Go ahead and make a post on Craigslist stating that you are looking for a wedding photographer who wants to learn how to film weddings. Meet them at coffee shop and train them all the wedding videography tips you just learned.

Step 4

Google “(your city) engagement announcements” and look up weddings that are happening in the coming months. Google the church, find their phone number, and tell them to notify the couple that you will film their wedding for free. If you find that too obtrusive, go on Facebook and type “engaged people”. Facebook will show you everybody that is engaged starting with your friends and then your friends. Message them to see if they would be up for you filming their wedding.

Step 5

Once you get in contact with the couple, start by asking them how they met to form a connection. Their love story will help you figure out how to go about capturing their wedding day. A wedding video is not complete without a story. The vows, speeches, gift exchange, and first look all help to capture the essence of the couple’s love story. Also, do whatever you can to convince them to do a first look where they see each other before the ceremony.  A first look is a gold coin in wedding videos. Once they have agreed that you can shoot their wedding and be able to use it as a portfolio piece, it might be good to have all the details under contract. Get a hold of the wedding planner. Have him or her send you the wedding schedule so that you know what is happening each hour. Figure out where the bride is going to be doing her prep. Make sure she is doing her makeup near a window. Natural light makes brides look their best. Also make sure she is sitting in a high chair.

 

Step 6

You have probably watched a ton of wedding films, but now it’s time to listen to stillmotion talk about the nitty gritty of filming a wedding video. Enjoy.

Step 7

Go to the rehearsal. I repeat, go to the rehearsal. It will save you a lot of heartache. On one of my shots that I attended, I discovered that I was not going to have permission to shoot inside of the church sanctuary. As a result of attending the rehearsal, I was able to plan accordingly and get permission to shoot not he balcony. This saved me a lot of stress when I had to film the actual wedding day.

Step 8

At this point, it is the day before the shoot. Go through your shot list and the wedding schedule with your photographer you picked up from craigslist. You want to be prepared as much as possible. Create a “don’t miss” list. Click here to see an example.

Step 9

Arrive to the location. You and your second shooter should separate and start filming the wedding.
Ray Roman has a tutorial on staging.

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Step 10

By this time you are exhausted. All the footage has been dumped to your computer. Now it’s time to edit. You can either edit on Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro X. If you don’t have money, you can install a trial of Premiere Pro. If you are that one guy that doesn’t have a computer, go to the library and log on to wevideo.com. Wevideo is an online editing program that allows you to upload your footage to the cloud and edit off it. I would love to know if anyone does this. As you are editing, make sure you have added the bride and groom as your friends on Facebook. This will be important later. I recommend first editing the speeches and line them up in the sequence. Next, put the clips of all the cute moments at the wedding. You are probably going to be mad that a majority of the shots were out of focus, or you missed some key moments. It is ok. That is why you did this for free. I remember when I made my first wedding video. I only had enough good footage to put two minutes together for a wedding highlight  film. Once you are finished, post it on Facebook, tag the couple and sit back and watch the views rise…. hopefully.

I hope that these wedding videography tips help you to make a wedding video. When I got my first opportunity to film a wedding film, I knew right away shooting wedding videos was my passion. If you want to learn more, check out Kraig Adams at Wedding Film School. He has an entire Youtube channel how to how to make a wedding video. Post in the comments below any other advice that helped you start your own wedding videography business.

Check out my article on tips and tricks to market your wedding video business via Facebook.