What Makes a Great Wedding Video?

!±8± What Makes a Great Wedding Video?

Well, to answer that question let's first ask another question -

What is a typical wedding video?

When asked this question, most people have the same stereotypical images flying through their heads - a dull Sunday afternoon, all the family crammed into the lounge watching a 6 hour long shaky video shot by Uncle Bob on his handy-cam; long boring shots and no editing.

Or maybe you get lucky and you've had your wedding done by a professional wedding videographer - Yay!

Not so fast - 9 times out of 10 even the videos you pay for are equally dull; full of tedious panning shots, cheesy video transitions straight out of the 80's, and set to the corniest love music known to man. The end result is the same - half your family fall asleep while watching it and the other half wish they were asleep; anything to save them from the cringe-worthiness of your amazing wedding video.

The above scenario is of course an exaggerated nightmare; that's what we don't want in a video, but what do we want? What makes a great wedding video? Well, in short, a great wedding video is one that entertains everyone who watches it and is never out of the DVD player. And that's all down to one vital ingredient...

A great wedding video is all about fun!

When you hire a wedding videographer to film your special day he needs to have the eye to pick up on those great little moments, all the things you want to remember 10 years down the line; the smiles, the laughs, the tears, the bridesmaids strutting their stuff on the dance floor, and the hi-jinks of the best man whose had one too many beers.

Your videographer needs to be able to frame a great scene, and mix it up with wide shots, mids, and close-ups, not a succession of long shots panning round the entire room like a gardener hosing his lawn!

Wedding videography is about subtlety; it's about documenting the day, not directing it. The job of the wedding videographer is similar to that of the wedding photographer, but vastly different. The photographer has to direct the couple and guests in order to stage those all important album shots. The videographer, on the other hand, needs to blend into the background like a ninja! He carefully captures all the magic of your special day in a "fly-on-the-wall" documentary style. A good videographer is one you don't even notice.

And then there's the editing. They say the magic is in the editing and they're right. Obviously the technique has to be there in the filming stage, but ultimately it all comes down to what goes on in the edit suite; that's where the magic is born.

What is editing?

Every video project is different and unique whether its television, corporate videos, music videos, or wedding videos. At the end of a shoot it's the same scenario - you have a hard drive full of raw footage and you need to take that raw footage and turn it into a video. It's a massive jigsaw puzzle and it takes the right editor to craft it into a piece that engages and entertains the viewer. So when choosing the right videographer for your wedding video its not just about choosing a cameraman, it's about choosing an editor. A great wedding video is one with great editing, simple as that. If the editing isn't there, the video is a non starter. A good editor builds a scene that flows using pace and rhythm, punchy cuts, upbeat music, sound bites, and scene dynamics. An editor who knows his craft is worth his weight in gold.

And then there's colour grading...

What is Colour Grading?

Colour grading is the final phase of the editing process and a dedicated editor will not skimp on this process. In fact, colour grading is so important in movies that the editor of the movie doesn't do it; a dedicated "Colour Grader" is given the task. It could be argued that grading is the most important part of the movie because it's all about the aesthetic finish; it's about giving the movie its "look". A colour grader is the person responsible for giving films like "The Matrix" and "Minority Report" that dark look, a style called "Bleach Bypass", and while that look isn't really appropriate for a wedding, it's absolutely imperative that your wedding videographer takes time to find a look that is. Grading those high definition shots of your wedding day, making them ooze with colour and detail, will literally make your video jump off the screen!

What about equipment?

To put it bluntly, your videographer MUST have the right equipment; He'll have at least one professional HD camcorder to do the job, but by using two he can capture a selection of wide, mid, and close up shots at the ceremony and speeches - variety is everything. At the time of this article any of these cameras are well respected and are used in TV, corporate videos, music videos, and weddings -

Sony Z1/Z5/Z7, Sony XDCAM EX1/EX3, Panasonic AG-HVX200/201, Panasonic AG-HPX171, Panasonic AG-HMC151, Canon XL-H1, Canon XH-A1, Canon XH-G1, JVC GY-HD251, JVC GY-HM700.

There are many more camcorders on the market but these are some of the best ranging in price from £3000 to £7500.

A good videographer will have a professional shotgun mic mounted on the camera and a radio mic which will be hooked onto the Groom's belt during the ceremony; the audio levels have to be top notch - can't have the "I Do's" distorting like a robot!

As far as editing is concerned Final Cut Pro by Apple has become the industry favourite; its extremely powerful software, opening up many editing possibilities. Sony Vegas, Premiere Pro, and Avid are also good. Magic Bullet is great for colour grading, although effective colour grading can be done in all of the above editing applications.

Many videographers offer Blu-ray discs so you can watch your video back on an HD television in full high definition. This is great, but as long as your video is shot in high definition, watching it back on a standard DVD is just fine. This is actually how shooting for TV has worked for many years; pictures are shot on HD cameras and once the programme is edited it is broadcast in standard definition (with the exception of HD programmes). So while Blu-ray discs are all the rage, they're not essential.