Is wedding videography for me? What do I need to know about wedding videography?

We know the difficulties and stresses that go hand in hand with planning a wedding (we’ve been there ourselves). We like to help people wherever we can, and we get asked a lot of questions, particularly relating to wedding videography.

At this point, you may not even be sure if you want a wedding video, or if it’s a priority to you at all. Costs can mount up quick…trust us, we understand.

The questions and answers below may be helpful to you, but for the most part, they’re irrelevant…

The most important question is: Is a wedding film important to me?

It’s a really difficult question, and we know it’s not as simple as it seems. Wedding Videography has had its dark days, which have ultimately done damage to the industry, and to the value-perception of wedding videos as a whole. However, the good news is that what once was tacky and cringe-worthy has become something beautiful and amazing. We now, more than ever before, have the tools, the initiative and the know how to create stunning wedding films to last a lifetime of memories. Wedding Video has become wedding film, camera-guys have become film-makers, editors have become story-tellers.

If you’re not sure whether or not to get a wedding film, there’s one very important thing you should do:

Put yourself in the mind of your 60 year old self. Or your 80 year old self. Or think about your 5, 10, 20, 30 year wedding anniversaries ahead. When the memories start to fade, how will you look back on your wedding day? Think about the looks, sounds, faces, voices, details, colours, movements, textures, songs, kisses, hugs, smiles, laughs, beauty, happiness, love.

Then ask yourself: how will I remember it all? How will my children remember it all?

From there, we daresay you’ll have your answer.

WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHY: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Why should I get a wedding video?

It depends on how important it is to you to have your wedding documented – to be able to re-live and share your wedding day with family and friends, now and into the future. If it is, a wedding video is one of the best possible ways to capture your special day. Still photos – while a crucial element for almost every wedding – only convey a single moment. A wedding video on the other hand, records all the detail that is missed between photographs, as well as the emotion and joy of the day. The amount of happiness that your wedding film will bring you, both immediately and into the future, makes it a must-have for any couple.

Check out this link about The importance of wedding video.

What is a ‘Feature’ edit? Should we get one?

In the industry today, more and more people are catching onto Feature edits (AKA Short-Form edit/Story Film) as the way to go for their wedding videography.

A ‘Feature’ edit is essentially a 10-30 minute wedding film, creatively edited to highlight the most memorable moments of your day. In our experience as professional wedding videographers, a traditional ‘Documentary’ style video, while still a beautiful record of the day, is long and can be quite tedious. Our goal is to produce a wedding film that you’ll actually want to watch over and over.

Remember – longer is not always better. Believe it or not, more time and energy goes into creating a Feature film than a Documentary style. We’d highly recommend considering it as an option for your final wedding video.

How long should I book a wedding videographer for?

Generally, you’ll find that most wedding videographers have specific packages to cover a combination of different sections of the wedding day. In the end it really depends on how much of the day you want to have on video, and how much time each section of the day is planned to take. We recommend booking for the whole wedding – in the end, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Picture yourself after the wedding – you don’t want to look back, wishing you had gotten that extra special footage of the bride’s preparation, the bride and groom’s first dance together, the bouquet toss, or your guests saying goodbye at the end of the night.

Will the wedding videographer ruin the atmosphere and annoy our guests?

Although a wedding videographer must be highly skilled at staying unobtrusive to everyone at the wedding, there may be times when we need to provide a small amount of direction during the course of the day (in much the same way as a photographer would). This is simply to ensure that we capture your day in the best possible way, and we keep this to an absolute minimum. Also, fortunately for wedding video, it does not require a flash. A skilled wedding videographer, for the most part, will generally remain unseen at a wedding.

I can’t afford to get everything I’d ideally like…what should I prioritise when it comes to wedding videography?

Without a doubt, filming. Filming filming filming. The most important thing is to get the day covered and captured. We always recommend booking a longer filming time rather than an additional edit. We can always talk about additional edits later when the money’s replenished, but remember, we can’t go back and re-shoot the wedding day. This is one of the biggest regrets we come across from past couples…that they didn’t get us for longer.

Roughly how long will an edited wedding video run for?

It all depends on how long you get us to film for, and which edit/s you decide to go with. Highlights are generally between 3-5 minutes, Feature edits between 10-20 minutes, Documentary edits can run from 1-2 hours.

Can we provide our own music to feature in the background of the video?

Yes – we’re more than happy to take suggestions. However, unless it is something extremely special to you, we cannot guarantee that we will use it. Music is an integral part of the story-telling process, and in order to tell your story effectively, we need to have full creative control. In addition, not every song can be used, due to copyright and legality issues. Rest assured, we’re good at finding beautiful, effective, licensed music to be used for your wedding videography. Check out some of our samples: wedding videography samples.

How long until I can expect to receive the completed films?

Depending on the time of year, our usual turnaround is between 8-12 weeks. As we only take in a certain number of weddings each year, it means we have more time to spend on each of our films, making sure they are just perfect before sending them out to you! We are happy to arrange a rush service, however this may incur an additional fee.

We’d like to get our wedding filmed, but the price seems so expensive. Why is this?

That question pretty much needs it’s own article, but keep in mind, the hours and cost involved with: Administration, enquiries, marketing, gear (cameras, tripods, audio recording equipment, lighting, and a bunch of special tools to help us get some epic shots), gear maintenance, transport, meeting with clients, organising schedules, preparation (charging batteries, cleaning lenses, clearing cards), filming, editing (downloading footage, watching through, cutting down, choosing music, story-telling, colour-grading, touching up, exporting, uploading), re-editing, recovering, repeating. Wedding Videography is a huge, detailed, and time consuming process. If we didn’t charge what we did, the product would suffer.

We hope this has been of some use to you. Should you have any questions, or require any further information, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re more than happy to take the time to discuss your wedding videography needs.