Wedding Video Shots & Setup

[momoffduty]

The wedding is tomorrow and overthinking things again. I only have one camera and cannot set up behind the minister because it is a small gazebo. Where would be the best place to sit? Center aisle to get shots of everyone walking down the aisle and use a monopod? Or set up outside aisle on the right side with a tripod? But, then when the bride walks in the guests will be standing and will block the shots.

I used the tripod & switched to the monopod at the rehearsal picnic. Easier for me. Got plenty of B roll. I interviewed the 6yo flower girl. When we finished she asked if that was okay and if not we could do a retake Maybe I should get lots of moments like this in case I bomb on the wedding portion.

Any last minute tips?

[Chuck Engels]

I would say that if there is a way to get back behind the minister to get the bride and grooms face during the ceremony do it. Center isle is fine while everyone is entering, nice shots of the bride coming down the isle are great. How quick can you move to somewhere that you can get a shot of something other than the bride's backside during the ceremony? If all you have is a shot of the minister's face and the back of the bride and groom's heads it won't be too exciting. That is a nice cutaway, B roll shot, but not A roll. Can you stand on a picnic table on the outside of the gazebo or something? There must be a way, videographers never quit... Never Give Up, Never Surrender

[momoffduty]

Thanks Chuck for the pep talk & you are correct about the backside of the bride. We are arriving early and I will scout things out.

[momoffduty]

Thanks for the picnic table idea Chuck. I am happy to report that I stood on a chair outside of the gazebo & got the shot. Used the monopod extended to get the shots of procession from inside the gazebo, the Father giving away the bride side view, and ran around to the back to the chair for the remainder. Collapsed the monopod and rested it on the railing. I have plenty of B roll to place over my moving.

Think I got most of the day's main events. It was a casual outdoor wedding & guests seated outside & in for the meal. Bluegrass musicians, very nice. I have a new respect for people who do this for a living.

Thanks for everyone's tips.

[Ken Jarstad]

I have a new respect for people who do this for a living.

Amen!

Now, you get to put it all nicely together.

[momoffduty]

A long day! I have to wait for the audio from the sound board before I start editing. The bride's brothers & father played after the wedding too and I recorded a few songs. Hopefully, they recorded that too.

[mark hansen]

I have plenty of B roll to place over my moving.

When I did a family wedding and had three cameras when they were at the alter. One static over the priest's shoulder, one moving with me and one in the audience (my wife).

To edit the alter part, if found it easiest to place ALL the footage on different tracks and sync it up. ( used a cough by a bridesmaid as my marker).

Then kept all the footage there, I dropped the sound on my camera and my wife's camera and kept the sound from the static, it was the best audio.

To change camera views, I just fiddled with the opacity of the upper tracks when I wanted a lower track and faded them from 100% to 0% to transition from one camera to another.

Keep all the footage synced and on the time line, meant I didn't have to do any cutting and then try to match match it up over and over.. It helped keep most of my sanity during that project.

It came out really well with fading (changing opacity) from camera to camera.

Mark

[momoffduty]

Great tips Mark! Unfortunately I only had 1 camera. Only have to sync the audio to video. Some of the B roll shots are items on the 2 tables in the gazebo and shots of mums that lined the side that I took early in the day. Thought about using that in the spots of me moving. Also have some shots of the guests seated I took before it started. The last resort could be photos, but that may be cheesy since this is video.

I'm making a slideshow & a highlight montage too. Hopefully that will make up for any shortcomings in the video portion. The bride saw the wedding photo's slideshow I did recently for Dani and she loved it, so at least I an idea of her likes & dislikes.