I’m going to give away some trade secrets…
Ever notice that some wedding videos you see just “feel” amateurish while others feel like you are watching an actual feature length movie? It’s not an accident that you get all emotional when watching a love story or your heart races when you’re watching an action film. Every single shot is carefully constructed to make you feel and think exactly what the director wants you to feel and think. You can’t quite put your finger on it but there’s just something “different” about a professionally produced wedding video. Well, we’re going to pull back the curtain and share some behind the scenes stuff with you and help you understand how that works so you can really dissect a potential videographer’s work. This stuff will help you separate the pros from the wannabe’s.
Now I’m not going to teach you EVERYTHING we know but I will give you some serious hints here. Armed with this information, you will be able to tell the really good videographers from the people who just went out and purchased a camera and call themselves wedding videographers.
First, lighting… Lighting is critical. Watch a sample and see if the shots are consistently lit. Are some shots blown out (i.e. overexposed and very WHITE looking) and some so dark you can’t make anything out? Unless the videographer has done it for a specific purpose, that would be a true sign of an amateur. One of our signature shots at Memories Forever is the “blown out eyes.” Take a look at Dori’s Pre-Ceremony segment at around 0:23 seconds in for a good example. If a bride has very pretty eyes this can really be a dramatic shot.
Second, zooms in and out… Nothing annoys me worse than watching someone’s video and seeing lots of zooms. Unless it’s some kind of reality television show, you will never see a zoom on television. It’s just not professional looking. Rest assured if you DO see a zoom in television, it’s for a reason. Take a look at Battlestar Galactica, they zoom in and out a lot in the space scenes but it’s the style of the shooting. It gives the video an edgy feel and adds to the tension of the scene. Professional videographers try their best to NEVER show a zoom in the final edit. A zoom will mentally disconnect you from what you’re watching. Your eyes can’t zoom in nature so your video shouldn’t zoom either or else the moment is lost. If you’re looking at someones demo and you see zoom’s, you should zoom yourself to the next videographer.
Third, music… Listen to the music in a sample video. Does the music make sense for the clip you’re watching? The hardest part of making our videos is selecting the music. You have to find the right piece for the couple and you want something with a lot of emotion. Good wedding video music should have lots of highs and lots of lows. Every high crescendo should have some dramatic video accompanying it. If there’s a large build up in the music to a high point and the video doesn’t accompany that, then the emotion is lost. Watch Rachel Philliips Pre-Ceremony piece for a good example of how to use music. Also, if there are lyrics to the music, does the video match the lyrics? This is another trade secret that’s often missed. If the lyrics of the song talk about someone’s hands then you should see hands on the video. It’s a subtle connection that your brain will pick up on and love but you’ll have no idea why.
So that’s it for now… Hopefully by reading some of these hints you’ll look through some of the clips in our theater and really see that every shot in our wedding videos is carefully selected to capture the rich emotional essence of your day and that we are the premiere wedding videographers in the area.