Wedding Videographer explains Filming style
Once I had decided to Film Weddings as a career change I then spent a considerable amount of time looking at what others were offering in terms of Wedding Videos, particularly companies near and around me in Lancashire and the Greater Manchester area. One thing I noticed straight away is that the overall quality of Wedding Videos has gone up considerably in the past 20 years. I think back to when I got married back in 1991 and we paid some guy to film our wedding and I seem to remember it cost us about £250.00 back then, which was a lot of money. The video that we got was about one and half hours long and to be honest quite boring! I don’t blame the chap because that’s what a wedding video was back in the late 80’s and early 90’s.
What you got was this epic long VHS film that had awful audio and awful white balance- I think our faces had a green hue on them. The videographer set up his tripod and rolled the film and it just kept rolling – that was ALL the ceremony ALL the reception with very little editing. Whereas today, Wedding Videographers are little filmmakers- that’s partly due to the advent of Youtube in the past 20 years, why do I say that? Because Youtube has sold us on an idea that- anyone can be a filmmaker anyone can be a content creator! Add to that, the digital revolution that has given us cameras with a small form factor that we now can get broadcast quality video images out of a camera that is DSLR sized!
These I believe have led to a revolution in filmmaking on a budget. Yet now we have Wedding Films that are like Hollywood movies (not all of them ;) Wedding Videography still hasn’t managed to shed is 1980’s/1990’s persona. Wedding Videographer’s are thought of as 1980’s inspired camcorder welding VHS delivery by friends of the family that shoot your wedding and as a result of that having a Wedding Film made, is still relatively low down on the Brides lists of wants- usually just above the chocolate fountain.
Choosing the style for Julian Voigt Wedding Films wasn’t difficult. I decided from the beginning that my Wedding Films would have the following elements;
- Be Cinematic -Film Like 24 FPS etc
- Capture Emotions- this to me is what a good wedding film maker should be looking to document- yes the bridal details, the dress, the decorations, the venue, the cake, what the mother of the Bride is wearing are all important elements but they will go out of fashion and I want the couples who’s wedding I film to be able to look back on their wedding film in 20 years and re-live those precious moments through watching a wedding film that captures how they actually felt on there wedding day- that will never go out of fashion!
How do you capture those emotions? By remaining stealth like and unencumbered by unnecessary camera equipment. The more discreet the videographer can be the, more likely he is to capture those candid moments and it’s those candid moments that make a good Wedding Film.
