Wedding Videography: How to Capture a Cinematic Wedding Film

1. Introduction: Wedding day is one of the most special days in any couple of story. And if you've been tasked to film a wedding, It's really important that you put your research into it to make sure that you capture the best possible video. Because once somebody is married, you can't go back and film it if something has gone wrong. So in this course, I'm going to be running you through everything that you need to think about to capture a beautiful wedding film. We're going to begin by talking about some preparation and then I'm going to talk you through what you need to look out for in the getting ready stage of the day, the ceremony, the portrait session, the reception that then I'll talk about the equipment and the gear that I use and then I would recommend you use for your wedding films. I'm gonna give you some lighting tips, some cameras settings. What's your style and how to develop your style, what to offer. And then I'm also going to give you some bonus tips and tricks to keep in mind when you're filming your wedding videos. But before we get into all of that, let me please just first introduce myself. My name is Chris Brooker and I am a full-time at filmmaker and photographer. And these days I specialize in music videos. But before I focused all on music videos, my focus was weddings and wedding films. So I've shot a fair few weddings in my time and I've learned what to do, what not to do. And I'm going to share everything that I've learned with you in this course. With all of that said and done, Let's jump into the first episode and let's begin learning how to create beautiful wedding films. 2. Preparation: So first of all, before you actually get to the wedding, I would definitely recommend preparing. Because if you put all of the preparation and you know exactly what to do, what you need to capture, where you need to be. It's just going to make life so much easier for you on the big day. So first of all, I would definitely recommend talking to the happy couple because if you can talk to them ahead of the big day and awesome, any questions that you may have is really going to help you out. Because if you try and ask these questions on the big day, they're going to be stressed, they're going to be nervous. They're going to have a lot to do anyway, and they're not going to want to direct you and tell you what they want. You should have already had this discussion. So my first tip is to speak to the couple well in Advanced, Find out what they want and then ask a few questions that you might need to know. Then of course, it's really useful to have a breakdown of the day. What time the ceremony starts and ends, what time the drinks reception starts and ends. What time the main reception begins? What time the first dances, when are they cutting the cake? What time does it finish? You need to know all of this ahead of time so that you can create a plan of action. And if you can get all of the addresses for all of these places, then that's really going to help you out. If there are different locations. So maybe they're getting ready at home and then they go into a church and then they go into a venue for their wedding reception. You've got three different locations. So you can plan ahead, look at Google Maps, figure out how long it is between each venue for great. If there's gonna be any complications, any traffic problems, anything like that. So you're always one step ahead. And then of course, the next question that you're going to want to ask is, what do they want a film? Or more specifically, what do they not want to film? And again, this is a question you want to ask ahead of time. So before the big day. So maybe they're playing family politics and as a family member that they don't particularly like and then not too keen on and they don't really want loads of shot to them. If you have that conversation before, you know, not to capture too much of that one family member. Or maybe there's a sign that special to them. Maybe there's something in particular that they would love to see in the video. If you know you have to fill in that, then you can start to create a checklist of what you definitely have to film from their requests, from their point of view. Then of course, you can actually get the information you need for the edit. So chances are wants the couple of got married, they're gonna be pretty quickly going off to their honeymoon and you're not going to be able to get in touch with them. And ideally, you want to get the video ready for them as soon as they get back off their honeymoon. So if you can ask them questions about the edit beforehand, that's gonna make your life easier later on. The questions that I like to ask are, what music would you like in the edit? And if they're not entirely sure at this point what music they want to use, then you can just take songs from the day. So the song that the bride walks down the IL-2, you can take that. Maybe the first dance song you can take that maybe there's a few specific important tracks throughout the day, or just have a listen to that playlist throughout the day. Figure out the vibe, figure out what type of music they're like, and use this to make your decisions. Of course, though chances are they've already thought about this and they should give you a very clear answer of what track or tracks they would like in the Edit. And then of course, it's always worth speaking to the couple and explaining what they're going to receive, what deliverables when they can expect it. Just so they've got a clear idea of what they're getting and when they can expect it and you know exactly where you need to be to capture what you need to get to achieve the video that you're going to deliver to them. So this early conversation is important for both parties. So with all of this preparation done, you've got all of the information in the bag. We can move on to actually shooting the wedding. 3. What is your Style?: Before we get on into how to film a wedding, we first just need to realize what our style is. We need to develop a filmmaking or video style. And the easiest way to do this is to watch loads of other wedding films and figure out what you like and what you don't like. So it's very easy to do this. Just go onto YouTube, search for wedding highlight film, go onto Vimeo, go onto Google, go on to wedding video production websites. Look at their previous work, watch many, many different videos, watch potentially hundreds of videos, figure out what you like and what you don't like. Maybe you like the camera movements. Maybe you like the pacing. Maybe you like how the video is structured or how they tie the vowels and the speeches into the audio. The video. Once you've watched all of these videos, you'll get a better understanding of what you like. And then when you're making your wedding video, you can go ahead and incorporate these different techniques into your work. Now the more wedding films that you do, the more you'll automatically start to create your own style. Once you've done 3456, you'll notice you really started and get into a flow and it's becoming a bit more routine. You're developing your style, you know exactly what you're looking for. The whole developing your own style thing becomes much easier. You become less conscious about creating a style and ticking boxes. And you actually end up creating a story and creating a video that is going to paint the story of this couple and talking about story, you have to remember that the story of this couple is the most important point of this video. Unfortunately, I do see a lot of wedding videos. Spend a lot of time focusing on the venue, focusing on the flowers, focusing on very specific details when the focus should be on the couple and their love story. Of course, you want to see the flowers, you want to see the rings, you want to see all of these other beautiful things because time and money has been spent to dress the room. It is their wedding day. They want to remember those details, but at the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what the venue looks like. The important thing is that this person and this person, or getting married, they truly love each other. And this video is supposed to remind them of that special day where they realize that I'm made that official. Remember the whole point of this video is to show their love for one another. This is everything that is happening throughout the day. These are all of the people that have come together for a good time to celebrate the love of this person and this person. That is what you want to show off in your video? Yes. All of these other cool, pretty shocked at the venue and everything are nice. But just remember that the love is the most important part of this video, that is the narrative. So you've really got to try and show that off. It's always good when you're filming your video. To keep that in mind, think, is this shop building the narrative? And if it's not, if you feel like it's not actually going to make the cut. If it's not built into the narrative of this love story, then do you really need to film it? But we'll get onto those questions later on in the course. 4. What to look for: Getting Ready: When it comes to filming a wedding day, the day can be broken down into different sections, and each section of the day is going to be handled a little bit differently and it's going to give you different challenges. So of course, at the beginning of the day we've got getting ready, then we've got the ceremony, we've got the reception, and then we've got the evening. So these are four main chunks that you're going to want to focus on in order to capture everything that you need. In this episode though, I'm going to talk about getting ready. I'm going to talk about the couple getting ready in the morning, what you should look out for, and what you should avoid. When they're getting ready in the morning, they're putting their dress on, they're putting their suits on hair makeup, all of this fun stuff. Chances are they're going to be around friends, family, and loads of loved ones. They're gonna be helping them get ready and there's going to be a really nice atmosphere. And the first thing you want to capture reactions and emotions of the people around them. So maybe we see some shots of the bridesmaids laughing with the bride. Maybe we see the groomsmen cheering and laughing and having a good time with the green beforehand. All of these are really important. Emotion is one of the most powerful things in a wedding video. So if you can show people having a good time and reacting to the situation, that's really going to help you create a magical emotional wedding film. So just capturing the reactions and the expressions in the emotions of the people around the happy couple. That's really going to help you out. Then of course as well. You want to look at the finer details so you can get some shots of the wedding dress before it's being put on. You can get some shots of the suit before it's being put on. You can get some shots of any flowers or anything special. Just capture these close-up details because these are gonna be really nice to have in the edit, of course as well, you're going to want to get shots of the bride and groom or the bride and bridegroom and groom getting redder. So this means we're going to see hair and makeup shots. But generally, I try and avoid the first half of that process, especially for the braids, because I find in the morning pre, makeup pre where they're not too confident and they're not too happy with the cameras floating around them. I find them much more comfortable once the makeup and the Harris halfway done because you're showing that this process is taking place, but they've got half makeup and half had done. So it kinda feels a bit more of a comfortable, safe space for them to be on camera. I find if you get there first thing, as soon as they start to get really, they're a little bit close. They try and hide from the camera a little bit. And this just creates all could footage. So I generally like to give them at least an hour, let them get halfway into the process, and then I can jump in for the hair to be killed, mascara to be going on or any specific details. Of course there are, the guys are going to be much quicker to get ready because they're just throwing their suits on. So you need to do for the groomsmen is to just get that last phase that jacket going on that's high being adjusted, maybe some close-ups of the Cufflinks going in, or maybe some finer details. Maybe there's some special jewelry or watch that they're wearing that he's in memory of a relative. This is the process that you want to capture. And of course as well, because they're going to be getting ready in different spaces. They're not gonna be seeing each other. It's really important that you scheduled this accordingly because unless you've got somebody else with you, you're going to need to go from one location to another. Now, generally I like to start with the guys are film, the guy is getting their suits on. And then I'll go over to the bride and the bridesmaids and I'll film them in the last half of their getting ready process. But of course, schedules are different. Some people might be getting ready before other people. So it's worth having this conversation to figure out when people are getting ready so that you don't miss the important moments. Of course there you can recreate certain things. So if you get to the guys a little bit too late and they've already got their suits on, then you can just ask them to take their jackets off and film them putting it back on. The thing that you can't recreate though, is that emotion, that first reaction. So if you miss the big reveal of the bride, revealing the dress to their parents for the first time. You're going to miss that initial reaction. You're going to miss those tiers and the excitement and the happiness, and you just can't recreate that. So it's really important that you get your schedule lined up perfectly. And of course as well, It's important to remember, yes, you were filming your video. But it is a really special occasion and it's a really emotional time. And the couple, they might just want time on their own. It's a big nervous, exciting day. They're not going to want the camera in their face for the entire process getting ready. They've got a very big day ahead of them. There's gonna be a lot of people speaking to them and a lots of stuff that I have to do. So respect their space, respect their privacy, get the shots that you need, and then get out of there. Don't overstay your welcome because they might start to get a bit uncomfortable. Of course, though every person is different than might feel completely comfortable with it. But just understand that they might want some space and some privacy and some alone time with their family and friends. So grab your shots and once you're happy, Get Out. Of course as well. It's really important that you're grabbing your establishing shots of every location. So if they're getting ready at home before you actually go in and start filming the people getting ready, just grab a big exterior wide shots of the building that they're in. And then you can go in and shoot all of this. It's really important for your sequence to jump into this wide shot. This is where we are and then you can cut it in. It really helps to create that structure and narrative in the video. 5. What to look for: Ceremony: Next up we have the ceremony, and the ceremony is arguably the biggest parts of the day. It's the most stressful part of the day because there's a lot that can go wrong and you definitely cannot recreate this afterwards. So you've got to make sure you're getting everything perfect. Now, once I've captured all of the getting ready shots in the morning, I like to get to the venue early and I like to get my establishing shots of the venue. So if I've got a drone off, throw the drone up and I'll get the exterior shots of the building or I'll just get a big wide shots. And then I'll go into the venue and I'll get shots of the venue with nobody in the space. So maybe they've got some really nice flowers down the aisle. Maybe there's some petals, maybe this really nice decorations on the chairs. I would go in and grab all of these shots before friends and family of the couple of start to arrive. And then of course, when friends and family start to arrive, I will capture all of this. I would capture the groom, welcoming them into the venue, capture shots of the groom and the groomsmen just having a conversation and chatting, a welcoming people, run to the very front of the room and get ready to capture the bride's entrance. I love to be at the front of this because we can see the groom's reaction. We can see them getting nervous, getting excited, starting to get emotional. And then of course, we've got the perfect perspective of the bride walking down the aisle once the bride reaches the top of the room, though, generally I like to get out of the way because I feel like I'm intruding little bit too much at this point. I drift off to the side or the back of the room. Now when I'm shooting a highlight video, I'd like to get as many angles as possible and capture as many people as a cancer and capturing the groom, the bride, the reactions of the friends and the family. And the problem is when I'm moving around and re-framing, I might miss something. So generally for safety, I like to get a second camera, put it on a tripod at the back of the room, zoom in on the couple. And that way I know if I'm filming for the entire ceremony, I've got the entire ceremony on film. And if I miss something, it doesn't matter because it's on that second angle. That is just a safety net though, and you don't have to do this. But I do like to have this safety net because sometimes couples will ask to have the full ceremony completely uncut. If you don't have that, then you can't deliver that. Now, it's really important to note that even though you're producing this video for them, this is an event, this is a real life event. This is a really emotional time for friends and family. It's a happy occasion. And you can't be ruining the day by having the camera up in someone's face for too long. If all of the pictures have the bridegroom and yourself with a camera, it's going to ruin the photos, is going to ruin the day and you're just gonna be making people nervous. So it's really important to be as invisible as possible. Become a fly on the wall. You want to carefully capture all of your shots. But if you're getting in the way too much, people who go into no tissue and start to feel uncomfortable. So try your best to get all of your shots, but always try and remain as invisible as possible. So don't be blocking someone's view for the entire ceremony. Don't stand at the front for too long. Don't be making noise or don't be running up and down the aisle to get these really cool sweeping shots. Just be very considerate. Grab all of your shots, and then just keep out of the way of people, of course, are the shots that I'm looking for when capturing the ceremony. Of course, are the bride and groom. I wanted to say a little bit of the marriage efficient. I want to see the reactions from friends and families. I wanted to see a few close-up detail so that ring going onto the finger and any closest smiles or reactions. These are all the shots that I'm looking to get, of course as well. If you are capturing sound and you would like to hear what is being said, the best way to do this is to get a wireless lapel microphone and stick this inside the groom suit jacket. Alternatively, you could ask the efficient if they would wear the microphone. And the reason why this is important is because one, you don't want to be putting a wireless microphone on abridge dress. And it doesn't matter that only one person is wearing the mic, because the efficient, the bride and groom, they're all very close to each other. That one microphone is going to pick up the three of them really nicely with each other and enjoy life together. Now of course, it's really important as well not to use a clip to the outside of the jacket if you can avoid it. Try and use an invisible love and stick this to the inside of the suit jacket. This means it's going to be completely invisible to friends, family, and photos. But you're going to get that really clean audio that you want. Of course there you need to make sure you're capturing this audio. So this signal is going to be sent to an audio recorder or into your camera. And just make sure you're recording this audio for the entire duration of the ceremony. Of course, if you're shooting a wedding and you have too bright, so you've got to women. That's gonna be a little bit more difficult because you don't want to be putting a wireless microphone on a dress. So instead speak to the efficient and see if they would be happy to have the microphone attached to themselves. Alternatively, though, you might not need that because the efficient might have a microphone that they use. And you just might ask them to just angle it towards them when they are talking. Every wedding is completely different, but I would definitely recommend having a wireless lapel microphone attached to somebody at the front if you want to capture a little bit of natural audio, the problem is if you're at the back of the room and you're using an on-camera microphone to capture the audio. You've got potentially 20304050 meters for the sound to carry. And the sound is going to sound really empty and tinny. So if you can get a lapel microphone on someone in that three, That's going to give you a really clean audio. The vowels, the speeches, and everything the Efficient has to say, and of course as well when it comes to signing the book. So you're actually doing the legal paperwork to make the marriage legal. You can't film this, although in some weddings I've been to recently, they've actually allowed the videographer to film. So it's always worth having that conversation with the marriage efficient beforehand and just asking, can I film this? If not, can we mock this up afterwards and get some footage afterwards? Because this is a really nice touch to see them with the documents. And then of course you want to make sure you're capturing all of those special moments of the first kiss, rings going on the finger. And then make sure you at the back of the room for when they start to walk down the altogether. And what I love to do is when they're walking down the aisle, I put my camera into slow motion and film this walk in slow motion so we can see the reactions of family and friends as they're walking down the aisle. Of course, you can travel halfway up the aisle and walk backwards with them to capture a really nice tracking shot coming backwards. But of course, be very aware that a photographer will probably be assuming that they're going to be in that position as well as to speak to the photographer and make sure you're not blocking their photo because you don't want the official wedding photos to come back and you're there with your camera. And that should be about everything you need to think about for the ceremony. Just make sure you're not in anyone's way. Make sure your subtle, make sure you're grabbing all of your shots and place a mic if you want to capture sound. 6. What to look for: Portrait Session: So now that the ceremony is complete, we're now going to move on to the portrait session. So once we've finished with the ceremony, we could go out and take photos with friends and family. And generally nine times out of ten of the photographer is going to lead this. And if the photographer is good or has a great style, you just want to let them get on with that thing. So just let them organize everyone the way they want to, because chances are they've had the conversation with a couple of they know what they're looking for and you can kinda just piggyback off the back of what they're shooting. Wants a photographer gets the shot that they're looking for. Before you move on, just running, grab a quick sweeping shots of the pose. Maybe you could get them to pose slightly differently or maybe just get them laughing because you don't want to try and pose them too much here. You don't want them to feel awkward. You want them to feel natural and comfortable. So maybe just get them to laugh, maybe get the groom or the bride to say a really bad joke and everyone can do an awkward laugh. This is a great way of capturing some really nice footage and you can just sweep around them, grab your shot. And this will look great and do this for each individual setup. So when you've got the coupled with parents, the coupled with bridesmaids, they're coupled with the groomsmen. You could do all of these setups and just get the really nice reactions, laughter, smiling, good energy. That's what we're looking for here because all of the shots, a good look, great. So just piggyback off the back of the photographer. Follow what they're doing and jumping every now and then and just grab a shot. And you can also capture shots whilst the photographer, it's grabbing their photos because the photographer, again, if they're good and worth their money, then they are gonna be able to make the couple laugh and look great and comfortable. Of course, though, if they don't have a photographer or the photographers doing the photos at a different time of day, or the photographer is making decisions that you're not happy with and you would prefer to do something else, then just go ahead, jump in, rearrange people and do what you're looking for. The point here is to get some really nice group shots that you can cut into the video. Again, you want people to look comfortable, like they're having a good time. You don't want anyone to look stiff or awkward. Now it's really important that you get this right, but it's also worth bearing in mind that generally your drinks reception, so that time between the ceremony and the reception is generally only around one hour to two hours, with 90 minutes being about the average. So you've got 90 minutes to do all of the photos, all of the videos, and for people to actually go ahead and have a drink and Hangouts and have a chat before they go into the reception. So it's really important that your work in quick here. Again, this is a wedding. It's not a photoshoot, it's on a video shoots. It really important that you don't take up all of their time because they should be getting on and chatting with friends and family to get the shots. Make sure you're happy with them and let them be let them go ahead and have a great time. That is probably my biggest tip. Now, don't worry here if you haven't got many posed shots of the couple because we can get these later on, generally, in most weddings or most weddings that I've captured, after everybody has sat down, had their food, the speeches follow that. And after the speeches there's a down period of around one hour where the evening guess are starting to arrive, people are starting to transition from daytime to nighttime. And this is the time that you can use to steal the couple of way and get some really nice couple of pictures. And most were on that topic. Let's just go ahead and talk about that anyway. So in this one hour, it's generally between about 5.556 or six to seven. After the speeches have happened. You can go ahead, take the couple out and you want to get them in a nice room in the venue. Maybe you could take them outside the venue so you can see the venue in the background. Maybe take them to a field which is next to the venue. So you've got a really nice sky and you've got the couple in a nice field. Whatever it is, make a creative decision, put them somewhere really nice. And we're just gonna get them to run through a few poses and a few actions. So maybe we'll get them holding hands, maybe we'll get them doing a kiss. Maybe there'll be walking to camera, walking away from camera. Maybe you could just get them to hold each other and talk. But again, it's really important that you don't put the couple into a position that you think looks right because they might feel awkward. They look awkward. Feel free to adjust them. But don't be making them do really awkward poses that you think might work because it's just going to make them feel awkward. The best thing that I've found is to get them to stand next to each other, hold each other, and reminisce about the good times in the day. So I asked them to ask each other about the ceremony, what they thought about a specific moment, maybe talk about something funny that happened and just get them smiling and laughing and having a really nice moment. And then once I've got some of these natural shots, I can get some close-ups of hand-holding. I can get some wide shots of them walking away into the field. I can get some really nice shots here. But the whole point here is to get your beautiful shots of the couple which are separate to the actual wedding. Because you can use these at the start of the film. You can use these towards the end of the film. But these nice, beautiful cinematic shots or the couple are really useful. And generally, I like to shoot these in slow motion because it gives me more time. If I'm using the visual over the voiceover from the speeches are the vowels. Again though, just like the group photos from earlier, the whole point here is to be natural. So don't overdo direct. I would definitely recommend trying to get these shots because these shots are really important and it does help the narrative of your film. 7. What to look for: Reception: So after that first portrait session with friends, family, and the couple, we're going to move on into the reception. So in the reception generally, the couple is going to walk into the room and you want to film the entrance. Then you can go ahead and film them sitting down. You can fill them chatting with friends and family. You can fill in the guests, you can film them drinking, having a good time. But when the food comes, put the camera down, the worst thing that you could do is to film somebody in slow motion eating their food. It's not good to look pretty. You're not going to use the footage. And this is the only chance you're probably going to get in the entire day for you to actually stop and have something to eat as well. So if you're taking your break to film somebody eating and this is a shot you're never going to use, then you're just stealing the time that you're going to need later on when you could be capturing something important. So put the camera down when the food comes out, go ahead and take an hour's break and then start to get ready for the speeches. Because the speeches can be quite challenging. Now, it's worth having a conversation before the wedding day with the couple to ask if they want, the speech is captured in full or if they just want to highlight reel. If you just want to highlight reel, then you can just do what the photographer is doing. Just float about the room, grabbed some shots of the people on the microphone, grab some shots of family and friends laughing, cheering, having a good time. Grab all of these nice shots. You can just carry on shooting how you would do for the rest of the day. But if they do want to hear the audio and they want the speech is captured in full, which nine times out of ten is the case in my example, then you gotta wants to set a few things up. So first of all, I find two cameras here is very beneficial. I like one camera off and aim it towards whoever's got the first speech. And then the second camera I can use for close-ups or I could use for reactions. And then of course, when the second person starts to talk, I can just adjust that first camera, carry on filming when the third person talks and move that camera around. And then I've got my two shots for all of the speeches. Now the complication here for the speeches is audio. So there's a few different options that you can take care. You could just put a wireless microphone on everybody that is going to deliver a speech. Maybe we've got the groom's father of the bride, and the best man. That's generally your three that will give a speech. So you can put a wireless mike on each one of them. So you've got three wireless lapel microphones, put one in each and you're covered. I find if you try and use one and then swap it around and put it on the next person. It's a little bit too awkward and it takes a bit too much time between each person talking and it kind of takes away from the moment. Alternatively, you could have two and when the first-person finishes their speech, you could run in, take it off and put it on the third person. But again, you should be focusing on filming and not swapping microphones. So this is just a little bit awkward. Alternatively, you could have a wireless microphone that you're handing around. But the problem is with this, I find people just don't bother using the microphone or because they're not trained. They told it to low, they hold it too close and the audio is always unpredictable. I've been in this position before where I've been filming the speeches and halfway through, the person goes, not going to bother, puts the microphone now and just starts projecting out to the room. And the microphone that I was using to capture the sound is now lying down on the table getting terrible audio. So that's an option which if it goes well, can give you really clean audio, but is always unpredictable. Now the third option is to actually tap into the venues audio system. Chances are if the venue is half decent, they'll have their own sound system. This means if you speak to them ahead of time, you might be able to take a feed out of that audio. So maybe they've got a wireless microphone system and it's going into their desk to put to the PA system. Well, maybe you could take a signal out of that and put that into a sound recorder or into your camera? Of course, though it's worth speaking to the venue beforehand. No. Because if you don't speak to them beforehand, person that sets up all of the sound equipment might not be there on the day. They might not have the correct facilities to plug in. So don't just assume you can have that conversation with the venue beforehand and figure out if you can get an XLR out from the system into your camera. Or alternatively, you could just put up mike or a microphone on every single table where the person is giving the speech and pointing it in that general direction. This isn't going to give you the cleanest sound. But if you've got it pointed in a general direction and it's next to everybody that is going to be talking. Then you're gonna get pretty decent audio. And it's gonna be way better than if you're using the microphone on your camera. Now the problem is, wedding speeches can be unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen, how people are going to react if somebody's going to completely move off their spots. So sound can always be a challenge, especially if you're filming this budding on your own and you're handling three microphones and two cameras. It's a lot to deal with. So really think this through and figure out your best line of attack. Generally, I go for three wireless lapels and I've put these onto everyone giving a speech, but things can get in the way. Maybe they made. Ivana is going to give a speech instead of the best man. Well, you're not going to want to put a wireless microphone on somebody's dress, especially if it's strapped. Plus, it's a bit difficult to find somewhere to put the wireless microphone there. So it's definitely worth having a game plan and having a backup plan. If worse comes to worse, just put a microphone on top of your camera and that's going to give you at least something that you can work with. Filming wedding speeches can be really unpredictable and can be difficult because of the unpredictability of the speeches. Yes, sometimes somebody can stand on their mark. They can use the microphone in the exact way that they're supposed to, and everything will be brilliant. But another wedding, somebody could be moving around and if you've got a microphone placed on the table, they could move away from it. If they're holding a microphone and they could decide to put it down and just start projecting out to the room. There's so many things that are out of your control. And because it's a wedding day, you can't go in and tell them to stop or tell them to go back to their mark. So you've just got to be prepared for the worst. And then of course, just remember again that you've got to try and be as discreet as possible. Don't bring too much attention to yourself. This is a wedding, not a video shoots are trying not to be getting up into people's faces if they're not comfortable with it, it is a bit more difficult to get the shot that you're looking for when you're trying to be discrete and subtle about it. But just be aware that some people might not like the camera right in their face. It's best to stand back a bit, zoom in and get the shot that way rather than getting really close to somebody's face or to somebody's food. Of course they wants the reception is out of the way. The speeches are done with getting into the evening. You can start to get a bit closer to people because chances are, most people would have had a drink by this point and they'll start to feel a bit more open and comfortable with the camera around them. Plus if they got to the wedding reception at one o'clock and it is now six o'clock. They've had five hours with the cameras on them. So they should be feeling pretty used to it at this point, so they'll feel less uncomfortable with your presence. So after the reception and the speeches, feel free to get in a bit closer. But until that point, try and keep your distance if you can. 8. Gear & Equipment: When it comes to equipment, you want to try and be as light as possible. You don't want to be bringing extra equipment that is going to slow you down and more importantly, weigh you down. You want to be using the right tools which are as lightweight as possible. So when it comes to cameras, I recommend a small lightweight cameras like the Sony A7 S or the Canon EOS R, you can even get a Panasonic Lumix g h five or bleeds a G H six is out. Now, these are all really great cameras. They're super lightweight and they're going to give you great footage. The Sony A7 S in particular is really incredible because it has really good low light sensitivity. This means that when you're filming the evening reception, you're filming the dancing your film and the disco. You're filming everything else in the evening. You're going to get really clean footage without having to put light into the location. This is really important. Of course, though these cameras, even though they're incredible, that battery life is awful. So I would definitely recommend getting a handful of batteries with these cameras. And EQ can try and find somewhere at the venue where you can keep batteries on charge. So you can be constantly swapping batteries in and out. But always make sure you've got spare batteries to hand with these cameras. The problem is, if you have a bigger camera, like a Sony A7 or Red camera, a Canon C3, 100. These are great. But because they're heavier and because you're going to be shooting for up to 12 hours in a day, you're going to be absolutely wrecked by the end of the day. So by using a camera like the Sony A7 S2, which is really lightweight, it's going to make sure that you can film all day long without absolutely Nackerud yourself. Now going on to sound, we want to be really simplistic with our approach to sound. We don't want to have loads of boom mikes and loads of Mike's all over the place. The best thing to do is to get some wireless lapel microphones. Wireless microphones at the absolute staple of wedding filming. For me, generally, I like to put a wireless microphone on the groom or the marriage efficient when I'm filming the ceremony. And then I put a wireless lapel on everybody delivering a speech in the reception. So that's one lapel microphone for the ceremony and generally about three for the ceremony and the speeches. And personally, I find that's the only time you're going to need sound equipment. Of course, you can bring a shotgun microphone with you or an on-camera microphone if you just wanted to get general Atmos. But generally I don't use this, so I generally don't bother with that. I just find those lapel microphones are useful to capture the speeches and the ceremony when it comes to lighting, I actually try my very best not to bring lights. In fact, most of the weddings that I've filmed don't bother bringing any lights at all. I just use natural lighting. But in those instances where I do need a little bit of lights, this is the light that I typically use. This is the young new white, white, and 360. This is the first edition. It's basically just an LED strip light. It's battery-powered and as you can see, there's no cables. It's nice and small and it's really lightweight. So again, it's really light. It's got a small footprint. And this is really handy for just adding a pop of light wherever I need it. There is a full episode all about lighting. And in that episode, I basically say, try not to use any lighting if you can avoid it. So realistically, if you need it, this is great. I would try without using any lighting whatsoever to keep your kit list as small as possible. And then of course, getting onto our grip. So how are holding the camera? You can use a mono pod for your static shots. Or if you have a lots of cameras, you can use a tripod for a bit more stability. Then of course, I would definitely recommend having a camera on a gimbal, putting one of your cameras onto a gimbal, or having the option to use a gimbal is really great because it's going to give you those really nice, smooth cinematic shots. And it's gonna be really great as well. If you get something like a Ronin S or a smaller Manfrotto gimbal because these are lightweight, it's going to give you that really nice cinematic level type footage that you're looking for. And of course, these are really versatile. And because they're so light weight, you can film with these all day. So generally a decent mono pod, a tripod if you're using a static second shot and then a gimbal is what I use for all of my grip and then Lenses. Lenses, we're going to need something wide. So maybe the Sigma 1835, That's a lovely one. It's a F1 0.8. So we can get really nice bokeh. Then of course, we've got the 70 to 200 millimeter, which is a zoom lens. So this means if we're standing all the way at the back of a room, we can zoom in and get our close-ups from all the way at the back of that room. And then of course as well, you can use prime lenses. So a prime lens has a fixed focal length, so a 50 millimeter and 85 millimeter, 105 millimeter. These generally do give you more beautiful footage, but because they're fixed, you can't just snap in and out of shots as easily as you could do with a zoom lens. So if you feel like you can manage it, try prime lens, but generally I find having a wide zoom lens. So in 18 to 35 and a tighter zoom lens of around 70 to 200, and maybe even something in a middle of a 242105. I find that lens combination works really well. You want something that's going to give you the wide shot and it's gonna give you something really tight if you need to zoom in far. And that's pretty much it for my wedding filming kit list. Now, sometimes I do have a drone with me if I wanted to get those really cool exterior shots of the location. But because of the change in drone laws, It's not very often actually bring one of these with me now. So everything mentioned in this video is what I would take to a wedding film. And again, I want to stress that it's really important that you have a really slim down, very intentional kit list. There's no point bringing equipment that you're just going to be dragging around with you all day because it's going to weigh you down and therefore tie you out. But most importantly, it's going to slow you down, which could mean you end up missing a shop because you're messing with equipment rather than being ready to go. So a lightweight camera, a few wireless microphones and LED light, maybe not essential, tripod gimbal and amount of pod and then just a few lenses. And that should cover all bases. 9. Camera Settings: When it comes to camera settings, there is no specific camera setting and no go-to set of camera settings that I would suggest because every single room is going to be different, every single wedding is going to require a different look in each room will have a different style of lighting. But generally, I know I'm contradicting myself. But generally, I like to shoot the majority of the video in slow motion, but not super slow motion, just 50 frames per second because this is going to give me enough to slow it down if I want that option. But not to the point where anyone's doing anything really dramatic. It's just gonna give a little bit of extra something to the video. So in order to do this, I just increased my frame rates from 25 to 50 frames per second. And then of course, because of the rural with the shutter speed doubling the frame rate, because we're increasing our frame rates of 50, we need to double that to get a shutter speed of one over 100. So shutter speed one over a 100, and frame rate is 50 FPS. And then of course I try my very best to keep my aperture as low as I can because I loved that bokeh in the background. I love that really nice, dreamy look. You get from that shallow depth of field. With my Sigma 18 to 35 millimeter lens, I can get down to F 1.8. So this gives me a really nice blurry background. But of course, sometimes that might be too bright and if I don't have my ND filters with me, I might have to pull down to an F4 or an F16, but generally, I try and keep that as low as I can. And then of course, my white balance is just going to match the scene and then everything else is just going to be dependent on the scene and the location. So generally, I like to shoot everything in slow motion, but only 50 frames per second. My shutter speed would therefore be 100 and I keep my aperture as shallow as possible. So F18, or if you've got a specific lens, so this 50 millimeter lens, this bottoms out at 1.8 as well. This is also a 1.8 lens, so this would do 1.8, but something else, like the canon 24 to one to five. The lowest that could do is an F4. 10. Lighting: When it comes to lighting, you want to be very, very, very minimal with your lighting. In fact, I would actually argue that you shouldn't really have any lights with you. Now, it is useful to have a light with you. And as I mentioned in the equipment and gear video, I do carry this small LED panel with me. In fact, I carry two of these because I find that really lightweight and I can fit two of them in a small bag. But generally, I just like to use natural light. One, it can give you a really soft, natural look. And two, when you put a video lights up your drawing attention to yourself, you're making it become a video shoot rather than a wedding. So when I lean more into natural lights and then video lighting, it's helping me to stay discrete. And therefore, it's going to help to keep everyone focused and completely unaware that I'm even there, and of course as well. The other problem is when you are using lighting, is it something else you've got to manage? And because everything that's gotta be done quickly and efficiently. If you're messing about with a light stand and you miss the shots, then unfortunately, it can't be recreated. Of course, there are some moments throughout the day which you can slightly recreate. But if you miss the ring going onto the finger, if you miss the first dance, if you miss that cake cut, or you miss that initial reaction where the bride walks out with her wedding dress on and shows her parents for the first time. You're not going to be able to recreate that. And you'll be kicking yourself if you are messing about with a light rather than being on standby, ready to go. So that brings me on to how on earth are you supposed to light without a light, where you've really got to think intelligently and really try and do the best that you can in the space. Windows are your best friends here. So in the morning when you're filming the getting ready scenes, if they're getting ready in a dark corner in the room. But there is a window in the room. Just awesome to move their stuff towards the window because then you can use the big window as a big softbox lights. This is gonna give you a really nice soft natural look. And of course as well, don't be afraid to turn the lights off if you can, and don't be afraid to move lights around in the back of the shots. Now, of course, you can't be doing this in the ceremony if they're walking in and all of a sudden you flip the lights off in the ceremony whole. It's not going to go down well. But when the bride and groom, groom and the bride and the brighter getting ready in the morning. There's nothing to stop you from just turning off the ugly tungsten lights in the ceiling and maybe turning on the lamp in the back of the shots. That is a really subtle thing and it's not going to affect many people. So be aware that obviously sometimes you can't change the lighting, but if you can and it won't affect anyone, then go ahead and just move some of the lights around, turn the lights off if they're not adding anything into the scene, I find practical lighting in the back of a shock can go so far. So just simply turning on a lamp in the back of a shot can help to add depth into that shot. Maybe you're filming the evening rather than shooting them with a blank wall behind them. Maybe angle the shots around so that you can see some fairy lights in the back of the shot. Or maybe you can see the DJs lights in the back. Be really mindful about where the lights are in the frame and try to get that depth in the shot by making sure there's light in the background. Of course, when you are posing people outside, be aware that the sun is harsh light and the clouds are soft light. So generally, when you've got harsh light, the sun, you want to try and position this behind them. So if the sun was up here, rather than having the person posed with the sun directly on them, I would just ask them to turn around that the sun was behind them and given them a nice glowing backlight. And then of course, if the light is soft, it doesn't matter where you shoot because it's going to be nice and diffused, of course as well. Be mindful that the shade is a really beautiful source of soft lighting as well. So if the sun is too harsh and bright and you can't find what you're looking for with this harsh bright sunlight and it's not working as a backlight, then just move people into the shade to get those shots. Of course. Again, be aware this is a wedding, not a video shoots. He can't be pulling aunties and uncles off from grabbing random shots of them if you're pulling them away from their friends and family. So try your best to angle people if you can, but also be aware that you are at a wedding and not a video shoots. The best thing for you to do is to just to walk around somebody to try and find a better angle of them where the sun hits them at a better angle. So if I were standing here and the sun was hitting me from here, rather than shooting here, I would walk around to here, capture more of the side of the face where the sun is more of a backlight. So this requires a bit more thoughts and quick thinking on your behalf, but just filming from the right angle, making sure the sun isn't falling directly on the face is really going to help you to create beautiful soft lighting in your video. And then of course, like I've said, if you're using a camera like the Sony A7 S, for example, which has brilliant low-light performance, then you shouldn't have to worry about adding extra lights in when it gets a bit darker, especially in something as special as the first dance. If you all of a sudden turn on a big video, lights and lights up the whole space. It's going to feel very distracting. So this is where the importance of your camera and the camera sensor really comes into play. So if I was to use a phone, for example, it doesn't have the best low-light performance. But a camera like the Sony A7 S3 has really great low-light performance. All you have to do is just increase the ISO number and you get really great low light videos. So invest in a good camera and you won't have to worry about using video lighting when you're filming your weddings. And that's all of the advice that I could give you on lighting. So try your very best to not use lighting if you can, but if you have to, then just pop a little bit against the back wall, try not to shine it directly in anyone's face. Be very subtle and very careful and very mindful where you're putting this. Again, don't spend too much time messing with the settings because if you're fiddling with this dial, you could be missing a really precious moment happening behind you. 11. Bonus Tips: So I've pretty much covered everything that you're going to want to think about when you're filming a wedding throughout this course. But this episode here is going to serve as a refresher and I'm also going to give you a few extra points that you need to pay special attention to. Number one, be a fly on the wall. It is a wedding, not a video shoots. It is really important that you try and stay as invisible as possible. Yes, there will be moments where you need to direct the couple and you may need to tweak somebody or maybe shifts something out of the way. But you have to remember that everyone is here for our wedding and not a video shoots. So try to be as invisible as possible. Tip number two, try not to overshoot if you can avoid it. If it's your first wedding that you're filming, then you're probably going to end up completely overshooting because you're not entirely sure what too much what you've captured. But that is completely fine for your first wedding. But if you plan to do this over and over again and shoot more and more weddings, it's really important that you streamline the process and know when you've got enough footage. As a general rule of thumb, I like to use the wood. I use the shot question. So when I'm filming a wedding and I go to film a specific shot, I asked myself the question, am I going to use this in the edit? If I know the answer is a no, I'll just move on and I won't even bother filming gets. So this could be people eating. Maybe it's just a really boring shot of a very, very specific detail. These are shots that I'm not going to use, so I'm not going to bother wasting time, effort, and energy on capturing these shots. However, if the answer to that question is a yes, or maybe, that maybe could be a real saving grace in the edit. So if the answer to the question is maybe or a yes, shoot it. If it's a definite no, don't bother grabbing the shots. But of course, you will learn this over time at the beginning for your first wedding and maybe even the first few weddings that you film, you will overshoot. You'll have way too much footage. You'll have loads of virtues that you just won't even use in the edit. But it's nice to have that there in the beginning until you know how to hone this down and grab exactly what you need. The reason why overshooting is a problem is because it means you've got more footage to sort through in the edit. It means you're taking up more space on your memory card and there's extra space that you're using on your code is going to slow down the transfer, and it's just going to slow everything down. So if you've got a tight turnaround for the edit, all of this extra footage is just going to slow the whole process down. But of course, it's a good safety net to begin with until you've learned exactly what you need to capture and what's not important. Tip number three, be light. You do not want to be dragging around loads of equipment with you because it's one go into getting your way. It's going to slow you down and this will make you miss shots as well. You'll just be absolutely Nackerud yourself out. You're hurt your back. You'll be really exhausted by the end of the day. So don't worry, just use all of the essential equipment that you need. Have that with you and then anything else which you won't use, don't bring with you because if you're not going to use it, there's no point of carrying it around with you all day. Tip number four is to not force anyone into an uncomfortable or awkward position when you're filming the post positions, don't force somebody into an awkward couples pose because they'll look really awkward at the camera and it won't look natural and you won't use the footage. Instead, just let them be natural. They're having the best day of their life. They're in love, they're having a great day. So just let that come through. Just let them have a chat, let them talk through the day. And it's not just the pose couple of pictures where this relates to. You want to make sure that everybody looks natural and comfortable on camera. So if you're filming people at the drinks reception, for example, Don't get too close to people because people will get aware that you're there. They'll feel uncomfortable that turn away, stand back, keep some distance and film them from a distance and they'll come across more comfortable and natural on camera. Now it's all well and good trying to be creative and getting some really beautiful tracking shots or triangle new technique that you might have heard of to get this really interesting shots. But for the important shots, the shots that can't be recreated, don't risk anything. Just be say, get the shots in the safest possible way where you know, you're guaranteed to get the shots. So this could be the first case, the first dance walking down the aisle, the ring going onto the finger. You don't want to be experimenting and messing with this corner effect, but you miss the moment because you can't ask them to do it again. You can't ask them to kiss the bride again because that first kiss has already come and you've had the reaction and it's just not going to work. So make sure you're playing it safe and make sure you get all of the important shots in the bag and then everything else you can experiment with and be a bit more playful later on when it's not as precious, emotions and reactions are the key to your wedding film. A successful emotional wedding film will show off the emotions of the people throughout the day. So make sure you're capturing those emotions. So make sure in the morning when the bride puts on her dress for the first time and her parents walk in on the room and see her wearing the dress. Make sure you capture that initial raw emotion because there'll be overwhelmed with joy. They might cry, happy tears. And this is something that is really going to bring the emotion to the video. When the bride is walking down the aisle towards the groom, capture the groom's reaction. There's so many instances throughout the day where you'll see true raw emotion, whether that's happy tears, whether that's excitement, laughter, whatever it is, capture that raw emotion and place this into the edit. Your emotion is going to carry this video. And if everybody has got a dead pan face and you're not using those emotive moments in the edit. You're not going to have that emotion there. So really try and use these emotive moments to bring emotion into your edit. And then my last tip is to always be ready, expect something to happen at every possible second. So make sure you've got enough batteries in your camera. Make sure you've got enough cod space and your camera to capture something and make sure your camera is set up and ready to go. There's no point. Turn your camera off, powering down the gimbal. Taking a quick break to only realize you've got to capture something in the next two to three seconds by the time you've got the camera powered backup and you've rebalanced the gimbal and got that powered up, that moment has come and gone and you've missed the shots. So always be ready, something might happen. Weddings are really unpredictable. Of course there are the predictable moments like the ceremony, the reception, the speeches, the first dance cuts into the cake. But there will be a lot of people there that would be drinking alcohol. So there could be some unpredictable moments of humor, never gonna be so many moments that you're going to want to capture. So always be ready. And even if you're not filming a shot, look around, watch the space and see what is happening. Always be scanning the space, ready to jump in to capture a specific moment. Maybe you've got an uncle who is doing a really funny dance and the dance floor, or maybe you aren't lives on the other side of the world, but they've come to the wedding to surprise the bride and that true emotion that wants to be captured. Or maybe there's just a really nice present given and there's a really nice moments of joy, appreciation. You want to capture all of these moments because again, these are the moments that are going to make the edit. The worst thing that you could do when you're filming a wedding is to miss one of these precious moments. And then once you've completed and sent the video to the happy couple, they come back and say, Oh, did you get any footage of this? And you actually have to say no, I was changing my camera batteries. I put my camera down a completely missed it. So my last step is to always be ready. And of course, always make sure you've got spare batteries and spec camera cards with you. Because if you run out of battery or you run out of space in your card, you just want to be able to quickly flip in a new battery or a new card and carry on filming. 12. What to Offer: When you're having the conversation with the happy couple, you want to make sure that you know exactly what you're shooting and what you are offering at the end of all of this process. So if they're just looking for a highlight film, you want to make sure you're on the same pages and you want to make sure you're shooting in a way that enables you to capture all of the shots you need to create a highlight film. And if you didn't know what a highlight film was, a highlight film can be anywhere between three to ten minutes. It's a shortish video highlighting the whole day. It's kinda like a summary. It's like a nice show reel of the day. It's capturing all of those really nice moments in a beautiful cinematic way. But of course, it does miss out big bits of the day, like the speeches and the vowels and the full ceremony. So it's worth having a conversation with the couple to figure out what they want. Do they want a highlight video or do they want something a bit more long form? So do they want the ceremony captured in full? Do they want the speech is captured in full. Do they want their video to feature the audio from the speeches or from the ceremony. It's worth having this conversation of figuring out what you are offering. And then this way you know exactly what equipment to take, what style you need to shoot in, and everything else that you need to think about in order to capture the footage, to deliver a video that takes all of the boxes that they are looking for. Now generally, when I'm creating wedding films, I like to create a package. So in this package, I do two edits. One is a highlight video, where this is a five to six minute video. Generally. This is just highlighting the day. And then I do a longer edit, which is the highlight video. But when we hit the ceremony, we have the ceremony mostly in full. And then when we get to the speeches, we have the speeches in full. So it ends up being around 45 minutes to an hour. But there's only around three or four minutes and Montage in-between each long section. The longest sections are just those speeches and the ceremony. So that's what my wedding package generally offers. But of course, every video production company will offer a slightly different package or offer a variety of different packages. So before you land a job or before you start advertising as a wedding videographer, it might be worth creating a plan or create a few different options for people to choose from. Do they want a highlight film? Do they want an extended version? Do they want a full documentary of the day? It's really important you think about this because this will affect how you shoot and this will affect how long the edit is going to take. And of course as well, if you are capturing all of the audio, this means you're going to have to take microphones and cameras and it's going to add more expense so it's worth stopping and thinking, what can you offer? What's beneficial to the couple, and how can you make that happen? And then of course, you've got to find the right price in order to create all of that for them. 13. Outro: And there you go. At this moment in time, you should be starting to feel a little bit more comfortable with the process of filming a wedding. Now, the first wedding that you film is probably going to be one of the most terrifying experiences of your life. There is so much pressure. You have to get things right. You really don't want to miss things, but just keep watching this course over and over again and just remind yourself of what's important and what is not important as long as you follow the advice mentioned in this course. And as long as you don't completely mess up on the day and miss a really big moment, you will be fine. A lot of people that haven't filmed a wedding before, they really build it up in their head to be this massive thing. But once you've done one, you realize it was actually much easier than you were expecting and anticipating. The second one is easier than the first, the third is easier than the second, and it just gets easier over time. It becomes a routine and you know exactly what to look for and what boxes you need to tick. So just make sure you followed all of the advice mentioned in this course. And I promise you, you will have absolutely no problem filming your first wedding. And of course as well, if you do end up filming a wedding video and you make a highlight film, as long as the couple are okay with it, I would love to see your work. So if again, the couple are okay with you sharing your work and you're happy to share your work, then please do consider sharing a link or uploading your video to the student's project section because I would love to see your work. And of course I will share my honest feedback and opinion on your work and let you know if there's anything that I would suggest to improve or maybe think about for the next wedding that you fill. But anyway, thank you ever so much for watching this course. I really do appreciate your support. And of course, if you are interested in learning more about filmmaking, photography, then please do check out my profile because I have loads of other courses available. So thank you once again, and hopefully I'll see you on the next course. See you there.