VIDEO....continued....
SO STEVE, WHAT'S YOUR IDEA OF GREAT STORY TELLING?
Well, this has been a question that has probably plagued most of Hollywood for years and years to come. I mean, if they actually knew what great story telling was, then we wouldn't have crappy movies right? Technically, speaking from a screenwriting and movie point of view, story equals conflict, so when conflict ends, story ends. But the rule of screenwriting really doesn't apply to weddings too much.
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Great story telling for a wedding is actually the ability to capture the true essence of a wedding, and to glam it up, just a bit, not to much…just a bit."
I know you're saying, Steve, c'mon, this doesn't sound like rocket science, you're killing me here…give me some substance to go with. But in my humble opinion, that's great story telling for a wedding. And it's easier said than done. I can honestly tell you that the current wedding standard out there, is to do entirely the opposite.
The entire wedding standard in the industry is as follows:
- To shoot as many setup shots as you can
- Use the actual wedding ceremony as the filler
- Put everything to music, and to slow motion
To further explain these bullet points. If you take a look at many wedding videographers work, you will find beautiful shots of rings, the bouquet, the groom hugging his best man then putting on his overcoat. Then you will see the bride putting on her earring, her mother zipping up her dress. Great shots. Too bad they are all fake and setup. Yes, they are not real…that is not really what happened on the day of your wedding. That's what the videographer told you to do so he could get his shot and make his job of editing a lot easier.
The next thing you will probably see are slow motion shots of your wedding, mixed with some smiles. Your vows will come around, you wont hear them, you will be “mouthing” them in slow motion, and your fiancé will look very very happy, followed by close up ring shots. It's too bad most these shots are not real. They are also setup shots that your videographer will shoot after your wedding is over. Again, when that ring gets slipped on your finger, it's not real. Your fiance's reaction to your vows, that smile, is not real. That smile when you walk down the isle, that's not real either. Those are all shot after your wedding.
Why do most videographers do this? Firstly, as far as camera quality, they really have no idea how to put themselves in a great situation to anticipate great shots. In other words, they don't work for National Geographic. They are not true professionals. Secondly, most videographers in the wedding industry are not great editors. In order to be a great editor, you basically have to have a great sense of story. Editors must be able to piece together sometimes random shots in order to create a coherent story. If they, the wedding editors, did not follow the wedding industry script, then they really wouldn't know how to weave a coherent story together for you.
So Steve..you didn't answer the question!! What is a great wedding video?
I have one rule when it comes to my wedding videos. Keep it as real as possible. What does this mean? Don't go overboard with the generic setup shots that has been done over and over for every wedding. Also, editing should also be kept to a minimum as well. If possible, show the entire ceremony for what it truly is. Leave very little of the ceremony on the cutting room floor. Every stutter, every laugh, every vow which the bride or groom stumbles on, leave those in because those are what makes a wedding unique.
OKAY, I'M SOLD, BUT I WANT TO KNOW HOW YOU SHOOT AND EDIT YOUR VIDEOS…
The Canon XL2 Looks fancy, but it's just a big version of the small cameras...
Well, lets start with my equipment. For my main camera, I like to shoot with the CanonXL2, professional video camera that has many manual overrides so I can fine tune the shot. I mostly fine tune color and exposure in this camera, and match my other cameras to this shot.
Amazingly, this little bugger shoots just as well as the Canon XL2
My other two cameras are small Panasonic 3CCD camcorders. You can buy these camcorders at your local Best Buy. The quality put out by these palm size camcorders are surprisingly excellent! But even better, their exposure settings can be manually overridden rather easily. To add icing to the cake, they also have external microphone jacks.
How do I shoot your wedding ceremony? Shooting ceremonies for wedding are quite easy. And I truly think anyone with half an eye can pull it off. This is why I don't charge much for my services to shoot your wedding with three cameras. This is also why I can shoot your wedding photos and video at the same time. Yes, it is that easy.
THE THREE BASICA CAMERA SHOTS!
THE MAIN CAMERA SHOT!
The main camera shot MSHOT: A very basic shot that captures the minister's face and you and your fiance's profile. If you have single camera video coverage, this is what your shot will look like. The camera is set up at around 15 yards away from you. I usually use the Canon XL2 to shoot this shot if it's a 3 camera shoot. If not, it's a one camera shoot, I'll use the small panasonic. Again, the quailty is strikingly very similar. In fact the little camera color corrects a bit better.
A STANDARD OVER THE SHOULDERS SHOT:
CAMERA B: The groom close up: This camera is set up roughly 20 yards away the subject. It shoots over the shoulder of the bride. The brides shoulder provides a reference point to the viewer when we cut to the closer up shot of the groom.
The closeups tend to capture all the emotions...perfect for cut to's
CAMERA C: The bride closeup: This camera is set up exactly like the groom's shot. These close up shots are perfect for intimate moments. As you can probably tell, these over the shoulder shots are used quite frequently in movies and television shows!!!
These three cameras will all be on sticks (tripods), for your wedding, and will run non-stop from the beginning of the ceremony and to the end. Most of the time, I fine tune each shot through the wedding, moving each camera a little left or right to make sure it's perfect. Not to worry though, when I adjust one camera, I still have two other cameras that I can cut two, so during editing, you wouldn't even be aware any camera movements.
A screen capture from my editor. As you can see all three camera's are synced with a simple clap which is performed after we we've finished video taping you signing your marriage license.
After the end of the ceremony, after your kiss, and we we've signed the marriage license, I will take the three cameras to the side and sync them with the claps of the hand. This simple clap is equivalent to what you see on movie sets. Basically it makes it really easy for the editor to sync up all three cameras, and the sound.
So post production, or editing comes around, and I basically take all three camera shots and I run the ceremony in the real time. Then, I basically cherry pick my camera shots throughout the entire ceremony in the editor. As you can see in the shot above, I have 3 great shots to choose from! If you laugh, cry, stutter, you will end up with a close up shot! This is what I consider true editing. You'll get your wedding ceremony in full, from beginning to end, and real close up shots when needed.
NOW WHAT'S THE VIDEO EDIT UPGRADE ALL ABOUT? This runs $350.00 USD dollars and includes the following:
- 3 camera video coverage
- Ceremony video editing
- A mini slideshow (15 picture) in the beginning
- A mini slideshow (15 picture) in the end
- 3 DVD's and all raw footage that I shot.
The video edit upgrade is actually a perfect video for receptions, a gift for your parents, or a great show for people who couldn't come to your wedding.
Regarding the mini slideshow – these shots usually consist of 5 pictures of you, 5 pictures of your fiancé, and 5 pictures of you and your fiancé together, put to the music of your choice. You can give me scanned versions of your pictures. Just remember to scan them at 300 DPI, and you're all good to go. If you have a flatbed scanner, you can also scan them all together, instead of individually, and just give me 1 large file to play with. Lastly, I'll need two favorite songs so I can sync up these pictures to. One for the 1 st slideshow, the 2 nd , for the ending slideshow!
LAST THOUGHTS
Since I got my start in the movie industry, shooting video actually is a second nature to me. In all honesty, videography to me is a lot easier of a task than photography. For that reason, I can actually handle video and photography services for all of my weddings. I wouldn't recommend other photographers trying to pull this task off unless they are 100% confident that they can get the shots they want, and really have the ability to think on their toes.
Remember, videography, like photography, is all about story telling, and keeping everything real!!
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