#video: to have and to hold
Wedding videos have got to be up there in the shooting difficulty stakes. Weddings are full of ‘moments’ – the entrance, the vows, the kiss, the first dance – of which you only get one chance to capture.
The ‘once in a lifetime’ nature of a wedding swiftly ratchets up the pressure to capture as much as possible, in as many places as possible, all at the same time.
Erin and Gus’ wedding video was the first I’d ever shot, and one I committed to just a few months after getting my Canon 5d mk2. So everything was a steep learning curve.
The end result (below), whilst a little rough around the edges, I think manages to capture quite well the essence of the wedding, and of the bride and groom. Erin and Gus are good friends, and their down to earth personalities and easy going nature would have been out of place in a slick, manufactured production. Their lives are characterised by the people they love, and whom love them back.
For those thinking of undertaking a similar challenge, I have included a few wedding video tips based on the mistakes I made and what I learnt from the experience. They are included below the video. I hope you enjoy.
The music is: To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra, Scenic World by Beirut, and Just a Boy by Angus & Julia Stone. The video is shot on a Canon 5d Mark II on 50mm, 85mm and 28mm prime lenses.
12 Tips for a Successful Wedding Video
1. To properly cover a wedding I think you need two people using two cameras. While I did it with one and played a few editing tricks to make it look like different angles of the same moment, I was only halfway successful. A wedding has many sides; the groom, the bride, the family, the friends – all of whom need to be captured, and often all at once.
2. Stock up on batteries and memory cards. I had two batteries and had to keep swapping them in and out during the night. It was very stressful, as often I was using a half charged battery whilst waiting for the other to fully charge. In addition, I had about 12GB worth of memory which I used up 3 times over by taking my laptop with me and doing bulk transfers over USB. This transferring process takes a long time, and while you’re doing that, the wedding goes on.
3. Make sure the groom or organiser records the speeches and the wedding vows through a microphone. This kind of audio becomes crucial when you are trying to edit the videos and tell a story. My groom forgot to do both – and I didn’t own a mic for the mk2 – hence whilst still visually impressive, the end result is more of a montage than a story.
4. Take two main lenses, one for low light (lower the better – I used 85mm 1.8) and one for wide angle shots during the day (28mm or 50mm). I found the 85 mm portrait lens to be really good at capturing facial expressions etc from a suitable distance (ie you don’t need to be in people’s faces), but slightly restrictive when trying to fit in the whole wedding party.
5. Don’t increase the ISO above 1600. It looks ok on the view finder, but when you get it home you’ll notice the background grain in dark shots.
6. Have a designated driver so you don’t have to worry about finding a parking spot whilst the wedding party makes their stunning entrance.
7. Take longer shots than you need. I did a lot of 5 second shots that turned out to have tiny wobbles or imperfections at the beginning or end as I adjusted the camera (mostly everything is manual when shooting video on the 5d mk2). Because I’d only shot on average 5 seconds at a time, I didn’t have the option of just taking the last 5 seconds of the shot and cutting out the beginning/end wobbles.
8. People make weddings. Don’t be afraid to take a lot of footage of random people/faces in the crowd. Once you come to edit everything together, it’s more interesting to see people enjoying themselves than a montage of flowers. You’ll also have a better chance of satisfying the bride and groom that as many of the family as possible made the final cut.
9. Talk to the bride and groom before the wedding about what you want to shoot, what they want you to capture and where you’ll need to be at different times. I didn’t really get involved until a day or two before the event, so I wasn’t really “integrated” into the day’s schedule. A wedding is all about keeping to schedule, so if you’re not built into it early, expect to always be catching up. If you talk early to the bride and groom you have the chance to storyboard out some basic shots and do things like book a place in the limo, and find out where the wedding photos are taking place…
10. Most wedding waltzes feel the same because people tend to choose the same tired ‘wedding’ songs. Don’t be afraid to choose music that isn’t the bride and groom’s choice for the video. When you first get the footage back, make basic edits so that you can get a feel for what type of wedding video you want to make and the good shots you have, then choose the music and tweak from there on. What music you choose to put over your vision is going to have a big effect on the way you edit.
11. Take footage of wedding suits, dresses, corsages, any symbols of the ceremony about to take place. Weddings are as much about anticipation than ceremony, and hence the getting ready part of a wedding is actually very interesting and will help you to build out a story later on.
12. Finally, IMHO shorter is better. Length of a video does not determine the quality of a video, or the ability of that video to capture the feeling of an event. By making a shorter video you sacrifice comprehensiveness, but you gain intensity. Weddings to me are all about emotion, capturing that should be your focus, and not a blow by blow account of the day.
Hope some of you find that useful. Be sure to post your own experiences in the comments below and let me know what you think of the vid.
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13 Comments
Absolutely beautiful Mark. If you hadn’t said it was your first time shooting, I’d have never guessed. You certainly did tell a story, and the music choice was perfect. Congratulations to the bride and groom, and to yourself for producing a piece of art I’m sure they’ll cherish.
Thanks Phill. Yeah a decision on the music probably took longer than the edit itself.
Hi Mark,
Great tips! As a “stills guy” for many years, next Saturday is my first attempt at wedding video with a 5D MKII. I’m renting a small Zacuto rig (Target Shooter) and an Z-Finder to help out with focus. I’m curious to know if you used any stabilizing equipment? Also:
- Was there a particular aperture that you felt was the sweet spot for most of the general shots? I’m so worried that I’m going to get fuzzy footage if I try to shoot too wide open.
- Did you “auto” anything while shooting? I’m a manual shooter, and plan to lock down at 1/50th shutter, but I’m not sure about aperture. I’ve heard the Canon responds nicely in auto aperture?
- Did you use auto focus or quick view and manual focus? With the Z-Finder rental, I’m hoping that manual focus will be relatively easier for me. It’s just a matter of getting used to which way to turn the lens…
My dream is to focus on the art and not be dogged by equipment. While very familiar with the 5D, but as a still camera, I’m nervous about the video equation…
Thanks
Dave
Hi Dave,
The truth is, I’m self taught – so I am not the best person to discuss techniques with. I will try and answer your questions as best I can.
I used a monopod for most shots, and for the rock solid ones I used a tripod. I found the monopod a nice portable solution that still delivers that slightly rough “first person perspective” you see in the video. As I was the only person shooting, I had to move around a lot to give the impression things were shot from multiple angles – so the monopod was a good companion.
I did shoot a lot of stuff “wide open” and it’s challenging to say the least. At night, I didn’t have much choice, but in the day there was a lot of dappled shade mucking with the light. If I was to do it again, I would try to keep things above f4-f5, as focusing is so sensitive any lower (ie turning a 50mm lens a millimeter would result in the person behind the bride being in focus). I’m not that practiced yet at finding the sweet spot.
Most of the lenses I use are nikkor lenses, so everything (focusing and aperture/shutter) was in manual. I haven’t ever really used the auto settings when in video mode, as it’s just as easy to do it in manual and use the screen to make adjustments. I had watched a few of Stillmotion’s wedding videos on Vimeo and they tend to use high shutter speed as it gives the video a bit more energy. I kind of like the effect of a high shutter, as I wanted that rough, behind the scenes look.
By the way, I never knew you could do auto focus (even with canon lenses). Is that something the new firmware added?
The is one tip I did forget to put in was the importance of framing. Motion is much more interesting when it’s contained in a given space. You’ll notice in my video I took a lot (perhaps too much) of video where I placed things in the foreground and used it to frame the subject. It helped to build that behind the scenes feel (particularly useful for the ‘getting ready’ parts) but also helped make shots a lot more interesting as it draws your eye to the subject, without getting lost in the overall clutter of the shot.
Good luck!
Interesting thoughts. Thanks Mark.
On autofocus, it is possible, but you have to use “Live Mode”. This allows you to hit the AF button during filming to capture focus. But it is ridiculously clunky — especially when the AF hunts for the right focus (meanwhile you’ve lost the action). “Quick Mode” is much better to get initial focus, but then it’s manual from there on in for the shot.
On shutter, I’m curious about what speed(3) you used? It does make a difference for sure. This is an interesting comparison:
http://www.canon5dtips.com/2009/06/the-effects-of-shutter-speed-control/
Thanks for the tip on the monopod shooting. I tried that sometime ago, but with the 70-200, I had a terrible time with side-to-side movement. Maybe for that lens, I need to stick with a tripod. I plan to use a 28-105 IS for most of the work, but I also have a 50 1.4 and an 85 1.2. So I think between the Zacuto grip and monopod, I should be pretty steady.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the link David. Sounds like anything below 1/250 is fair game if you don’t want any noticeable effect on motion. Yeah I initially thought he monopod would give me smooth pans, but my hands are way to shaky for that. Tripod does the job well.
I’m actually about to buy another camera so I can shoot an upcoming wedding with two people. But my budget is a little more modest this time, so the second one will probably be a 7D rather than a Mk2.
I just rented a 7D body from LensRentals.com. Even though I’m only one person on this Saturday’s shoot, I thought that maybe it might be useful for some static shots that I set up before hand while filming the same event as a run/gun. In post maybe I can pull off a two-camera effect? Also, it will give me a backup body in case something bad happens to my 5D.
Did you use the Canon firmware, or MagicLantern?
Dave
Yeah I reckon an extra body is a good bet. Particularly for speeches and vows, it would be good just to set it up and capture one type of shot (either a closeup, or wide angle) so that you have something you can cut away to when editing.
I used the canon firmware on 24p, but I have looked at Magic Lantern before with some interest. However, I don’t think I’m ready for that kind of detail yet. There is so much the Mk2 can do out of the box that I’d prefer to work with what I’ve got and master composition rather than focus on the minor technical points. But that’s just me.
Also, have you checked out Stillmotions education blog? It is probably the most useful resource for anyone thinking of shooting weddings with the 7d or 5dmkii. Every couple of weeks they answer questions from the public on everything from workflow to gear setup. I found this post particularly useful:
http://stillmotionblog.com/2010/02/02/the-stillmotion-gear-bag/
It’s what I love about the internet. You find people with amazing creative skills and discover they are also willing to share everything they know. The stillmotion blog is very useful for people like me (those who are self taught) as it helps me to develop a more structured workflow. When you’ve had no formal training, the editing suite can get very messy, very quickly.
Out of interest, what kind of timeframe have you given the couple for the final result?
Wow. GREAT link for sure. (an expensive one if you know what I mean). I have not discussed time-line for the final result. I’m thinking 30 days? What is typical? I’m on a MAC 8-core w/ Premiere CS3, but I also have Canopus Edius running on a 6-core PC. Not sure which I’ll use yet.
I think 30 days is ok. I mean I have no precedent, but how long would you take to deliver photos?
The way I was going to approach the upcoming Sydney wedding was to deliver a rough cut of all the shots I planned to use and an example of colour grading + music within two weeks so that they felt like some progress was being made. Then I’d give them a couple of days to get back to me with any “veto’d” shots (I wasn’t going to ask them what they thought of the edit, more if there were any shots they absolutely hated). with the final cut two weeks after that.
I think part of the charm of the video is in the surprise at the final cut, so the draft edit would only give a hint at the final result.
Thinking back, when I did Erin and Angus’ video they started to ask questions after the 30 day mark about when the video was going to arrive. So I think if they’d seen an initial cut early they would have been much happier (they were very happy at the end mind you!). It took me a long time to edit that video, but that was mostly as it was my first time and I didn’t get music sorted until a bit late in the piece.
I hear you EXACTLY what you’re saying Mark. The reality is this is also my first time at it, so getting them rough cuts within two weeks might be a good idea if it would buy me more time. Perhaps rough cuts for approval in two weeks and a final product 30 days after the approval? The only thing I’m nervous about is showing rough cuts without a clear understanding from them about what it is that they are seeing. I’m assuming that you would basically lay it out sequentially, hard cuts, some music and some key audio where appropriate? My couple wants guest interviews, but I don’t think I would include those in the rough cut version. That should be kept for a surprise. I’ve committed to deliver two products: 1) 5-10 minute highlight video (ala Stillmotion style) and 2) longer full-coverage piece which would be fairly sequential and boring.
I think they are expecting an hour or so…
I’m looking forward to someone else (still photographer) running a lot of the show. I’m burned out on that scene… And to think that I won’t have to mess with all of the “formal” photos of the wedding party and families! woohoo!
I just bought one of these:
https://indisystem.com/products/indislider_mini
CHEAP but very functional for getting started. It’s the bees knees. I can’t wait to try some on-the-floor shots during the dancing…
okay, I have a question about this:
“While I did it with one and played a few “editing tricks” to make it look like different angles of the same moment, I was only halfway successful.
I have to shoot a friends sisters wedding video in 2 weeks and I have never shot a video until today when i took a video of my dog for 10 seconds…..with that said…..what editing tricks did you use to make it look like you were in 2 places at one time!???!! I noticed something like this when you were filming the bride sign her document….
Any help would be great! Thanks so much!
Hi Scott,
Sorry it’s taken me a while to get back to you. I hope I’m not too late. By editing tricks I mean that I actually moved around a lot during the filming, zooming in and out, so that afterwards when you cut it together as there is no sound, it makes a seamless cut – like using two camera angles.
In terms of help, my best advice would be to go and take a look at some of the great wedding videos over at http://www.vimeo.com and jot down some basic shots that you like (for example bride and groom holding hands, shots from behind objects). Just do a search for “wedding” and then filter the view by “most liked” or “most played”. That’s pretty much what I did.
Mark.
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