Dos and Don’ts of Wedding Video Packages
There is more to your wedding video just like your photos. That is why you should think of hiring a good photographer for you to get the best. Not everyone who sees around walking with a camera can deliver the quality that will meet your standards. What matters is professionalism and the right skills coupled with enough experience that draws a line between professionals and amateurs. But to help you settle on the right package, here is what you need to include in your wedding video package:
The Dos
Do include a digital file
Given that DVDs are still popular for storing high-quality wedding videos, some photographers seem to be drifting to digital, movie files. These movie files come in high-definition (HD) on thumb drives and from there you can stream your wedding videos to your television via the Apple TV or any device with similar specifications. In fact, a number of TV sets come fully equipped with built-in USB ports to facilitate that process. Also, thumb drives enable you to share the files digitally with family members or your friends from any location.
Do include the ceremony
It is obvious that you would like to have a clear footage of the entire ceremony from the beginning to the last man standing, especially the special moment when exchanging vows. Since it is a historic day in your life, you would want every moment that makes history to be covered.
In case you are having a church wedding, it is important that you find out if that venue permits filming inside before the big day. Otherwise, you couldn't afford to miss out on the climax of your wedding, which is the most significant moment of the whole ceremony. For that reason, make sure that you don't skimp on the ceremony coverage so you may have more coverage on reception as part of the four-hour video package. Or, you can hire the second wedding photographer to make sure that every moment is covered from the time when guests start to arrive until the end.
Do include the reception
A wedding ceremony can be a good gathering for your loved ones and as such, a special moment to have great memories. Through photography and video shooting, every moment is covered including those you won't see in person. For instance, you might not see every detail of events taking place simultaneously. But when watching the video later, you will able to see everything that was taking place all along.
Do include a highlight reel
The highlight reel will give a brief overview of the entire wedding and as a result, it will provide you with a better understanding of how the event was. A highlight reel of about 5 to 10 minutes can act as a trailer to the whole wedding video and this is the best way of motivating anyone viewing your wedding video to go on until the end. Such short previews of the wedding videos are always viewer-friendly and easy to understand, unlike sitting down for about five hours watching the entire video. Apart From that, the highlight reel gives a preview of the top moments which are of great importance in telling the viewer how everything went on at the wedding.
Do include a second videographer
Two cameras are definitely better than one in terms of coverage. This is true when it comes to effective coverage of the wedding event and the number of hours involved. With two cameras rolling, you are sure of all parts of the ceremony getting recorded including those moments unfolding concurrently. If it happens that there is no room for the second cameraman in your budget, then consider including two cameras whereby when one is rolling, the second one will be on standby to take over. Consequently, the entire ceremony will be covered widely and efficiently.
The Don’ts
Do not include a photomontage
Please, don't get us wrong. Even though it is fun looking at the baby pictures including your honeymoon's snapshots, you don't need a whole reel of both to be at the beginning or the end of your wedding videos. You can save your childhood photo montage for the rehearsal dinner. On the other hand, you can share it by simply burning copies of the DVD or downloading the file onto your desktop or laptop and then share the link to relevant people.
Your childhood photomontage can make your friends to lose attention within ten minutes of viewing them and you don't wish to waste any more time watching still photos of your transformation from an infant to an adolescent and now, to newlyweds. Just go straight to the real action to save yourself some more time for other things.
However, if you are hiring a professional photographer for your wedding event, it is likely that you will have plenty of footage covered during that occasion. You can condense the footage into a film of about 20 to 30 minutes. Therefore, you should devote your photographer's time and of course your money to obtain the best videos through skillful editing of your wedding videos. Through editing, you can be sure of that top quality that meets your expectation and that of your family member or friends.
Don't include the guest interviews
Guests are fond of repeating themselves on the interview and this could be a waste of time and resources. Messages such as, “Congratulations, you look more beautiful”, are a common thing that is often repeated by nearly every guest.
On the other hand, it can appear rude to interrupt a guest on the interview to cover a more special moment and this may not go down well with other guests as well. As a photographer, such actions could trigger a backlash to your carrier and bad recommendations which might affect your work in the long run. For you are fair, you need to consider using a video guest book which acts as a photo booth where the guests can record their short videos with messages for you to include them later when compiling the videos.
Don't include the raw footage
When the event is over and the wedding videographer is done with compiling all the footage, you will have the raw footage sent to you before editing starts. In this way, you will able to give your opinion on what should be included or excluded from the final copy. There are scenes covering moments that you would not want other people to view and that is why it is important to watch the raw video before it is edited into the final copy.
Alternatively, you can still have the unedited footage for posterity as part of the wedding videography package. In case it was not included in the package, there is no need to pay the extra money to have it in your possession.
Sometimes it can be difficult watching a five-hour raw footage and still give your opinion on how you want it edited. In this case, ask your videographer to send you two videos; the unedited one and the highlight reel to use the latter as your guiding principle when editing the raw version.
To wrap up, planning for a wedding can be hectic and time consuming let alone the amount of money involved. In your plan, you will, of course, include a professional wedding photographer or videographer to capture every moment of it. However, there are dos and don'ts which must be applied to make the whole coverage a success. From the discussion above you must be, by now, equipped with basic ideas that you can use to make your wedding video coverage a reality.
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