Just the Camera?
When is there Too Much Equipment?
In my last blog- ‘To Drone or not to Drone’ I was discussing the pros and cons of adding gadgets like drones when filming a wedding. Basically that blog stated that in my experience the more equipment we bring along to film a wedding the more of a challenge it can be operate as a creative film maker during the day. Surely, you might ask, “do not drones, sliders, jibs and cranes all add those cool looking shots to a wedding film?” They can but… here’s the problem.
Carry Less
A wedding unlike a Hollywood movie does not afford the wedding film maker the luxury of time unlike a Hollywood film. Essentially a Wedding Videographer is a documentary film maker- in other words you capture what is rather than create it. So the more equipment you have to carry the less ready you will be to capture that unique time sensitive moment.
Ability to Capture All the Important Moments
Moments like the father of the bride seeing his daughter in her wedding dress for the first time or perhaps something as simple as a look between the bride and her mother- a truly unique and special moment in time never to be repeated. I honestly think how honoured I am to have a part in capturing that hence I am always very cautious in adding equipment to my arsenal that could potentially slow me down or worse cause me to miss a truly special moment.
Learning from the Best
Yes they are exactly that- MOMENTS- they may last seconds but in my mind it’s the job of the wedding film maker to be on the look out for those moments. One person that has influenced my thinking on this subject is the award winning film maker Philip White. Having had the pleasure of attending his ‘Beating Hearts Wedding Film Masterclass’ workshop I understood what he meant when he advised the class to simply, “strip back to the camera..” By striping back to just the camera and the videographer you become more creative and pay more attention the things that truly make a wedding film more cinematic, more than any one piece of equipment can, namely lighting a composition.
Lighting & Composition
Lighting and composition when done correctly really do make a wedding film film like, it’s almost like the camera becomes like your third eye- something that’s part of you. It’s hard to acquire that level of connectedness with your camera when you are busy hoisting around a slider, drone and even tripods.
Here is an example of a Wedding Film I shot in the North West of England with just 2 lenses a 35mm and an 85mm
Another very sought after wedding film maker that I admire is Alejandro Calore, his films are very real and are shot with just a camera – I think he uses the Canon 60d. His channel on vimeo is called ‘real & short’ you can check him out here: https://vimeo.com/realnshort
