5 ways to help your Wedding Videographer
This is a blog-post from us, the videographers of the industry, to you, the soon-to-be brides and grooms of future weddings. I know you’re busy planning your big day right now, and the last thing you want to do is read yet another list (I’m sure you’re making enough of your own as it is). But honestly, what’s the point in all that planning and all that money if your Wedding Film doesn’t have any speeches because your videographer missed them?
What’s the point in writing those custom vows if your faces aren’t visible in the ceremony? So please, take note of our advice, and give your videographer the best chance possible of making your Wedding Film fantastic!
1) Tell us EVERYTHING
We’ve all heard the old adage: fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Well, I cannot stress this enough: a prepared videographer is a good videographer. There is nothing worse than filming the speeches at a wedding, and then having somebody decide to deliver an impromptu speech – chances are, if we didn’t know about it, we didn’t put a microphone on them so they’re going to sound really bad in your film. Likewise, don’t give your partner a surprise gift/stage a surprise dance without letting us know beforehand so that we can capture their reaction for you! The more we know, the better prepared we can be, and the better your film will be. The best rule to follow is: if in doubt, tell the videographer!
2) Keep us informed throughout the day
I know quite often videographers are almost invisible – you don’t notice us capturing those intimate moments, and that’s the way it should be! But please don’t forget about us – when you’re going to cut your cake, just give us a heads up so that we can get cameras set up. Tell the DJ to wait for our nod before cuing your Ed-Sheeran-first-dance-medley. It’s likely we’ll want to have more than one camera set up for these important moments, so that we can cut between different angles in your film (and so that, if something goes wrong, there’s a back-up capturing those cherished memories). Additionally, if you’re going off with the photographer for some shots, it would be great to let us know, too. Sometimes the photographer forgets because they’re so focussed on getting some beautiful photos of you in beautiful settings, which is absolutely fine by us. But chances are, you’ll want those beautiful shots in beautiful settings in your film too, so just give us a heads up. Maybe the photographer wants 15 minutes alone with you – that’s cool! All we ask is that we get some time alone with you, too.
3) Get ready by a window
Whether you’re a bride or a groom, getting ready by a window is crucial. I’m sure your photographer will agree that this just gives us so much more to work with in terms of light. Artificial light is really yellow and makes the colour of your skin and EVERYTHING ELSE look weird and unappealing. Natural light, on the other hand, is both flattering and true to real-life colours.
Ladies, when your make-up artist arrives, chances are they’ll sit you by a window (after all, it makes sense for them to have loads of light too in order to work their magic). If they don’t, maybe try and suggest moving. Some make-up artists will bring their own lights, and will prefer to work in front of them than in front of a window, and that’s okay! Any worthwhile videographer will be able to work in artificially lit conditions – all we’re talking about here is how to foster the ideal conditions for the best Wedding Film your videographer can produce.
Gents, chances are your videographer will spend less time with you when getting ready, simply because it doesn’t take as long for you to get ready, and there are only really a few shots we want to get. For example, a shot of you (or your father/best man) doing up your tie is always great, as is a shot of you putting on cufflinks and tying your shoelaces. These can be relatively mundane shots in a dimly lit hotel room. But stand by a window, and we can position you such that there are all kinds of interesting shadows occurring, and it’ll just make the shot much more interesting and appealing. Plus, there’s scope for silhouette shots!
4) Turn to face each other in the aisle
During your ceremony, the officiant will, at some point, ask you to turn and face each other. This is usually for the vows and the ring exchange. Please please please turn fully. A lot of videographers like to get a shot down the aisle (it’s a really beautiful shot because of the symmetry and because it captures both your faces at the same time). But if you don’t turn to face each other all the way, so that you’re kind of diagonal, we end up getting more of the back of your head than your faces, and nobody wants us to miss the part where you start blubbering into your own veil/pocket square. So turn to face each other head-on, so that your officiant is on one side, and your guests on the other, gaze into each other’s eyes and let us capture the magic!
5) Don’t try and hold back your emotions
Speaking of blubbering, please don’t try to hold back your emotions. This one applies to men more than women; because of the whole ‘man up’ thing, we’ve found that men are generally reluctant to let their emotions show.
When they see their significant other gliding down the aisle, radiating beauty, a lot of men do want to cry, but only a courageous few let that happen. The rest of you try to bottle it up, which results in some of the strangest faces you will ever pull (which isn’t ideal on what is potentially the only day you’ll ever have a professional camera trained on your face). So don’t bottle it up… let it all out and cry like there’s nobody watching – it will make your Wedding Film ten times better. Plus, it’s a fact that the sight of a man crying is more likely to set somebody else off than the sight of a woman crying; so chances are that, once you start, someone else in that room will join in before long (and, if they’re anything like me, it may well be your videographer).
So there you have it – 5 ways you can help your Wedding Videographer to make your film the best that it can be. Again, these aren’t essential, and they won’t ruin your film if you neglect to follow them, but they will help to foster the ideal conditions for your videographer to work his magic and make you a fantastic Wedding Film that you’ll be proud to show family and friends for the rest of your lives
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