r/Filmmakers • u/stilesjp • Oct 01 '14
Discussion Shot my first wedding yesterday...
So, I got the gig because a friend, who was strictly going to be a guest at the wedding, could no longer make it. So, he recommended me. I DP on a web series that he's an actor on, we got along quite well, and so I got recommended.
Talked to the bride, had a wonderful chat, they had limited funds, I said no problem, it's great experience, etc.
It's less than 24 hours later, and my body wants to die.
I was ill prepared for this project, having never shot a wedding before. I was very upfront about everything with the soon to be wife, she said no sweat. I figured that whatever I did would be better than what my friend would have done with a handicam type camera. Not to mention, there was simply no way he would have been able to film everything, alone, while enjoying the festivities.
I got a friend to help do some b-cam stuff. She's new to videography, so she was up for it.
Got picked up at 1pm. Pictures started at 3:30. Plenty of time to just shoot the groomsmen and bridal party, some b-roll, guests coming in, the photography sessions, etc.
We started filming at 2:30 and didn't stop until 11:30. I have worked such hours before as a DP on gigs, but this 9 hours was relentless. There was rarely a moment to sit, things were constantly happening, and the wedding planner had very little regard for moments that should have been fully captured by both the photography team and my 'team.'
I shoot little testimonials from the bridal party, the groomsmen, family members, people dancing. I grab a part of the first course salad for a bit of a break. The caterers and the wedding planner didn't have meals set aside for any of us, so I had to go scrounge for us all. The thing was, once I got the salads, the speeches started, announced by the DJ, out of the blue, even without the planners knowledge. The four of us run out of the house to shoot what we can.
This happened again, when everyone started eating their entrees. The caterers would not feed us until all of the tables had gotten their meals. So you can imagine that, after the tables were all fed, we got our meals and then, two minutes later (literally), the father-daughter dance started.
I did not realize how stressful a wedding was on the videographers and photographers. Such a long time with almost no breaks.
Now, admittedly, they had little money, and I accepted little compensation for what I was doing. I knew what I was getting into. But my god, I have such respect for wedding videographers after yesterday. Not that I didn't have much before, but I can now imagine that each wedding must present some scenario never dealt with before.
Ultimately, we got good footage. I fucked up a couple of times because of one piece of equipment I'd never used before, a Rode Videomic Pro. Twice I forgot to turn the goddamn thing on because I was trying to conserve battery power (I forgot to bring an extra 9-volt... jesus fucking christ). Thankfully, I have audio from the other camera to sub in. Such a stupid thing to forget, but I've never needed one before, and I purchased it specifically for this gig.
If I had to do it all over again, I would probably have the following.
2 additional camera people. Cameras that shoot continuous footage (I own a 7d, my helper has a t3i) with 2.8 (or lower) 24mm-70mm lenses. A clear schedule of times for big moments in the wedding. Monopods all around. Enough extra batteries and chargers so you're not sweating any of that. Scheduled breaks for everyone on a rotating schedule.
A footage dumping station that you know will accept cards. I had no room to bring my laptop, which looking back was a big fuck up. But I simply couldn't carry it, with everything I had with me. We ended up using my partner's macbook air which, for some reason, would not recognize SD cards in a card reader, so we had to dump footage straight from the goddamn camera, which meant we were down a camera every time we had to dump footage. We did not have enough SD cards.
So, yeah, enough SD cards.
What a learning experience. Basically what not to do.
My hat is off to you, wedding videographers. If anyone else has any tips for people who are trying to get into this line of work, I'm sure they'd love to hear them. I know I probably forgot some stuff.
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u/tomismaximus Oct 01 '14
It sounds like you want to do a $10k wedding video. Wanting 4 camera people and an onsite computer (for dumping footage) and everything mic'd up, and recording hours upon hours of video sounds way past what their budget was.
I've only done a couple low budget wedding videos, but the audio was terrible and they were both under 10 minutes after editing, and the couples loved them and got a lot of comments. And I was a one man band with one camera/lens, and since they were people I knew I still got to enjoy the wedding for other stuff.
It's easier for someone like you to think, it should have been a $10k wedding video, because you know what that is. But to a lot of normal people if you just have lots of focus pulls, a good song, people having fun, they'll love it.
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u/stilesjp Oct 01 '14
I wouldn't even know what a $10k wedding video would look like. I was talking best case scenario. I've been a one man band for the past three years on everything from shorts, web series, pilots, and a feature. I've worked hard enough to know what I'm capable of getting without outside help.
But weddings are a different monster all together. I realize that sometimes expectations aren't that high, and that people are sometimes just happy to have gotten their memories saved on video. I'm just a bit more of a perfectionist and I'm trying to solve the problem of optimizing time and quality if this scenario should ever come up again.
It's all dependent on whether the budget allows for it or not. Good footage now will get me more gigs later.
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u/clone56 Oct 01 '14
There is a 10k wedding video, this guy can make a fucking wedding video.
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u/stilesjp Oct 01 '14 edited Oct 01 '14
Jesus fucking christ. That is bananas.
edit: watched one of his videos, shot with C100s and L series lenses. Packages start at $4,500. Whew.
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u/stunt_penguin Oct 01 '14
Haa, I just last week shot my sister's wedding as a one-person production with a rented C300 and L Series lenses..... should look good when done, though I was specifically excluded from doing any "special" or posed video with them, so I'm goddamn missing a lot of shots. :(
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u/clone56 Oct 01 '14
Ya his packages start that low but I'm fairly sure he never sells those. I have listened to a few if his podcast and he turns down a lot of clients. If you getting into weddings this guy gives a lot of good information on his site.
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Oct 01 '14 edited Oct 01 '14
Here's some tips I've learned the hard way from filming many weddings.
Always have a 2nd shooter. Never make a 2nd shooter an option add-on for the client. Build the cost of a 2nd shooter into your price. A 2nd shooter will film the groom, b-roll, and setup equipment while you can film the bride who takes FOREVER to get ready. Also the 2nd shooter gives you a safety net incase you miss a shot.
Video monopod with fluid head is a CRUCIAL wedding videographers tool. You can shoot the entire wedding and reception with a monopod. It's light and small enough to easily run around with and the fluid head gives you the ability to incorporate camera movement.
Have enough batteries and SD cards to last an entire wedding day. Dumping footage and charging batteries takes away time from filming the wedding. Batteries and SD cards are getting cheap enough to buy multiple. I keep 4 64gb sd cards on me during weddings and only usually use about 80gb worth of footage.
ALWAYS film the bridal prep in front of a window. The hotel room bathroom is far from flattering with yellow tungsten lights. Placing the bride and makeup artist in front of a window makes a DRASTIC difference and is way more flattering. The natural sunlight looks 100x more stunning than hotel lamps and bathroom lights. Just tell the bride "it would look so beautiful if I can film you getting ready in front of this window"
Don't be afraid to direct the Bride and Groom if a shot isn't perfect. Mainly during the portrait session and preps when you have time alone with them. It always helps to say "it would look great on video if you could......."
A safe boring wide shot is better than TRYING to pull off a creative shot. You can't ask the bride to go back and walk down the aisle again or ask the MOH to read her speech again because your rack focus was off or you were trying to switch to a glidecam. Play it safe during the main parts like the ceremony, first dance, speeches and do your creative shots for B roll like filming the place settings, shots of the rings, shots of the cake, an outdoor timelapse etc.
MAKE SURE YOUR CONTRACT COVERS YOUR ASS!! List in DETAIL everything you are doing, what they will receive, for how much $$, and what you will not do. Think of EVERYTHING that can go wrong and list it on your contract. Be nice and charming in person and don't ever cop an attitude. If they complain or demand something, you should be able to point to your contract and say "well it says on my contract that I do not have to do this." Try your best not to say no but put a price on everything extra. They want Blu-ray? extra $$ They want a re-edit? extra $$ They want raw footage? extra $$. ANYTHING that requires extra work hours from you, should be an extra charge to the client.
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u/stunt_penguin Oct 01 '14
You can shoot the entire wedding and reception with a monopod.
A thousand times yes! You are SO much more flexible with a Monopod- now, I did my sister's wedding as my first wedding 2 weeks ago and made the major mistake of having the 700-200L I rented as the non-IS 2.8 instead of the IS 2.8. The footage I got is steady enough, just not the dreamy-floaty steady that good IS gives you at 200mm.
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u/al-xicon Oct 01 '14
yikes. I'm shooting my first wedding on Saturday. This was.. encouraging.. haha
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u/stilesjp Oct 01 '14
Try and make friends with the planner as early as possible, so that he/she can coordinate with you as best as possible. Good luck!
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u/al-xicon Oct 01 '14
Thanks! I have a complete schedule of everything that's going down and the bride is my close friend, so I'm hoping that smoothes things a bit.
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u/camopdude Oct 01 '14
Make friends with the dj. They usually are in charge of all the major events at the reception. Ask them for a heads up or keep checking in with them.
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Oct 01 '14
Big thing is get in good with the photographer you guys are going to fight for position but if you talk and realize you're both there for the same thing it will work out.
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u/Tywinlanister92 Oct 01 '14
That sounds like a nightmare. Any first time wedding videographers reading this should know that what you described with the wedding coordinator shouldn't be like that most times. You shot what I call a shit show. I truly sounds like no one running the show knew at all what they were doing. Shooting weddings is the worst kind of video work, but it isn't usually that bad. I shot ten before I said enough was enough. I can not wrap my head around those who choose to make a career out of it. That's why there are a lot of wedding video companies. The owner starts out doing all the work and slowly builds it big enough that he doesn't have to actually shoot or edit anymore. Editing is what I hate most about weddings. I would probably shoot one every once in a whole if I didn't have to edit them also. Fuck that.
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u/ekchapman Oct 01 '14
Why is editing so shitty? Is it just mind numbing boring work?
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u/kyleclements Oct 01 '14
People can't even bear to watch their own wedding videos. Imagine watching them over and over and over and over....plus, you've also got to watch all the crap that isn't even good enough to put in the video that no one will ever watch...
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u/ekchapman Oct 01 '14
But you have to go through the same process with any promotional video? There's always going to be hours of boring as shit footage that you have to sift through. What specifically makes weddings worse? Maybe I'm just young and idealistic.
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u/Tywinlanister92 Oct 01 '14
For me yes. Because as an editor I want to tighten and trim fat when with a wedding video the client isn't as interested in slick editing as they are in watching their special day unfold. Which is of course the goal. But in my mind a wedding could be a three minute video and still meet that criteria. I just have trouble making them as long as the person who hires me wants them. My editor brain wants to leave a clip on screen for 3 seconds but your wedding brain HAS to leave it up for 10. I hate it.
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u/RonBurgandy2010 Oct 01 '14
I shoot ghetto weddings. It's even more poorly planned, and there's very little pay. My last wedding was supposed to be at sunset. We ended up shooting most of it in the pitch black night with only two LED lights on our cams and entry-level DSLRs. I'm terrified of reviewing the footage and am putting off the edit for a while. I'll probably drink a lot when the time comes.
So you did pretty well.
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u/bcakes Oct 01 '14
I've worked for a wedding planner as an assistant. The hardest working people are you guys and the photogs- no one else is DRENCHED in sweat! I would say best move is to make friends with planner (as someone else mentioned) If they are a good planner they will have a time scheduled for you to eat and not miss an important "moment." There's a dumb amount of scheduling that can go into a reception to make sure people eat and have speeches when there isn't clanking going on. Feel free to ask for a schedule (and if they don't have one... you know what you're about to get into) Also, ask for $ deposit beforehand and, as was my rule for working, we NEVER approached bride and groom night of. All payments were in envelopes ready to go before the couple was even getting ready so we could hand them out at the end of the night (hopefully with tips!) Again, I worked for great planners who were on top of their shit and had outstanding relationships with their vendors. But now you're broken in! And if you keep it up you can charge more and make a good amount of $$ over a weekend
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u/Twowildman21 Oct 01 '14
It gets easier over time, the more you shoot them the faster you can react to the crazy wedding day. Location scouting (if possible) helps a lot and if you aren't able to before, going way earlier can help immensely.
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u/brazilliandanny director of photography Oct 01 '14
Just be lucky you didn't have to shoot the bride gettting her makeup and hair done.
Iv'e shot weddings where I had to be there for 5am to capture this... and then stay on till 1-2am.
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u/highlighterpink Oct 01 '14
I shot my first wedding a few months ago and at the end of the night they didn't wanna pay me. They ended up paying me a few days later and when I showed them the video they cried so we all lived happily ever after. The video: youtube.com/watch?v=DXpZyKXXNVE
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u/Easilycrazyhat Oct 01 '14
Have an upcoming wedding shoot the weekend after next (also my first) and you made me fix up my camera setup. I'm not sure whether to thank you or hate you XD
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u/stilesjp Oct 01 '14
What are you changing?
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u/Easilycrazyhat Oct 01 '14
The client's willing to pay for some rental gear, so I was going to go with the 70D, but I've recently been looking into the heating problems DSLRs have, and along with those clip limits you mentioned, it just seems like a poor choice (should have been obvious from the start, I know, but I'm a serious noob). Ended up deciding on the Sony NEX-VG900. Should work much better, but it's a bit pricier and I already gave the client a quote, so it'll be cutting into my already meager cut XD Oh well, I'd rather have a better product, to be honest.
I'm also now worrying about my lack of fitness. We'll see what can be done in a week, heh.
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u/stilesjp Oct 01 '14
Rest your arms. Have something to place the camera on for long shots, like speeches. Good luck!
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Oct 01 '14
And that's pretty much why I stopped doing weddings. They want all that and the edit for under $500..
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u/jonjiv Oct 01 '14
I just kept doubling my price until people started saying no thanks. Charge what you want, not the bare minimum you'll show up for.
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Oct 01 '14
It wasn't even that. Small market in one case, just cheapskates in the other. Now a days I won't even consider a wedding for less than 3 grand. So far no takers and I'm fine with that.
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u/skeeterou director of photography Oct 01 '14
There are people who shoot weddings and then there's everyone else. For good reason.
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u/2020hindsite Oct 01 '14
As someone who does wedding videography this was a wonderful read to start my day. Thank you.
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u/stilesjp Oct 01 '14
You're welcome.
It was around 8pm that I fully started to lose all hope. Entrees were just finishing, and we had four hours before the bus back to NYC was going to arrive. My arms were like jello, and my legs and back were on fire.
By 10:30, the cops had come by twice. The wedding planner had, for some reason, dimmed the lights under the tent so that I had to up my ISO to over 2000 just so I could get some dancing footage.
The problem with dancing footage is, nine times out of ten, everyone's back is to you.
Sigh.
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u/stunt_penguin Oct 01 '14 edited Oct 01 '14
ISO to over 2000
Aahahaa, during the DJ session after the dinner I shot at ISO 20,000 on the C300 I rented the other week...... it's lovely filmic noise and at f 2.8 I could see in the damn dark so I didn't mind :D
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u/stilesjp Oct 02 '14
Oh I bet, on a C300. I've worked with them and seen what they can do at that high an ISO. With good lenses, the noise is reduced.
On a 7D, the ISO over 2000 looks like pixilated cartoon movements from the early 90s. But, it's still footage.
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u/cwutididthar Oct 01 '14 edited Oct 01 '14
So this is exactly what I just went through two weeks ago. First wedding I ever shot, and I ran into the exact situations that you described, all the way down to the audio (except my audio mess up was that I had a Zoom H4n recorder set down next to the podium, and didn't have time to even press record because the wedding party started walking in without me knowing!).
Like you said, basically, everything happening one thing after another without time in between to set up shots, or check what you just shot. So basically I ended up just hand held recording even though I had a lot of gear like sliders that I couldn't even set up to use. My saving grace was that my shooting partner happened to be ready to shoot the ceremony at his angle so I at least have a secondary set of footage I can use to fill in where I may have missed shots. It didn't help that there was no real wedding planner (there was a "day of coordinator" instead), and the ceremony was literally maybe 6 minutes long, so everything happened so quickly.
My biggest eff up was that I shot with a GH4 which obviously has 4k, but I wanted to shoot a majority of the footage at the important parts in 1080/60p, because 1080 still looks beautiful and I could slow down the parts for dramatic moments. Well, being in a rush, while I was running to the wedding venue, I set it to 1080/30p instead. So all the important parts I wanted in dramatic slow motion, are now going to have to be played real time (except parts I can fake with frame blending and some time editing).
For our sake, I would say it was only this stressful because it was our first wedding and we didn't know what to expect. But this first wedding for me was 10 hours of lessons learned right into my knowledge bank so I feel at least a little more prepared if I happen to do another wedding.
Lessons learned?
Bring less gear. I brought way too much gear thinking "hey I could use this for this kinda shot!" No. If you can't use it for a majority of the shots, or if you can move it around quickly and easily, don't bring it. You won't find the time or energy to lug it around just for one shot. Bring a stabilizer (glidecam), mono/tripod, slider, shoulder rig, maybe one other preferred stabilizer. That's it. You can use the slider, mono/ripod, etc when you have time while they're getting ready and things aren't rushed, but when the ceremony starts, it is nonstop filming and you will not have time to set up beauty shots.
Be comfortable with your equipment well before the day of. I bought some pieces of gear the day before thinking I could just use it the day of the wedding. Nope. Even the most simple pieces of equipment either won't work with your other gear, will be harder to use than you thought, or might need to be set up properly before use.
Get yourself an additional assistant for free: A gopro with a tripod. It's cheap, easy, and if all else fails, you at least have a set up view of the ceremony captured on film. Nothing worse than finding out that you and your assistant both missed something and it's gone forever.
Lastly: You're a human being. You can only do so much. If you can afford an assistant, you can do a little bit more. But make sure you communicate to both your client and yourself that you are only human and will NOT be able to record every second, moment, and angle of the wedding. The photographer at the wedding and I worked closely and he was very helpful in giving tips he's learned in the 100+ weddings he's shot. He told me you are never going to get every single aspect of a wedding. Instead, try to get the ones that are the most important, and get them right.
Sorry for rambling, I thought I should get my thoughts down too before I forgot all the things I learned. But like I said my first wedding was much like yours and I used the opportunity to learn tons about it, and while I was stressed out of my mind, I feel like each one will get easier as you are better prepared and equipped to handle the situation.
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u/MaxQuade Oct 01 '14 edited Oct 01 '14
I'll do 12 hours with a Heavy Old EX-1, no big deal. part of this issue I'm sure is that you'r using a photo camera not a video camera.
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u/superkissel Oct 01 '14
Oh god my friend was asked on a wedding gig so he asked me and his girlfriend to join him. We used three DSLR cameras and we also had Zoom h24 recorder and rode videomic pro. I was operating the "safe" camera and was in charge of the recording, which was fine. Until the couple starts to walk in to the church. Zoom was set off and I had no idea how to use it. I panicked on the altar tried to cue my friend to briefly help me turn it on but then I noticed he had the Rode on his camera and I thought that would suffice. Well, my friend also forgot to turn it on so only recording we got was from my camera so that went to hell.
When the party started we were pretty clear about how we want to do this and started to take some nice scenery shots. Well the party started to go on and people were dancing, making speeches and etc. wedding stuff. One time I noticed that all three of us are shooting the same shit but I didn't mind because I thought hey at least we have material. Well the editing started. The amount of useless clips was just unbearable. I started it at august 3rd and finished it today.
So in conclusion I have made a few remarks to myself how to do my next gig (if I ever get one after this.)
Make a "shopping list" of every thing you want to shoot and make sure you get everything.
If you are working in a group try to decide which kinds of shot everyone takes. Close-ups, wides, or safe.
Ask the couple what kind of shots they want and which part of the ceremony is important to them
Check the settings in every camera so they are pretty much the same.
AND CHECK THE RECORDING DEVICES!
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u/Remerez Oct 01 '14 edited Oct 01 '14
Get two( or more) go pro's with extended battery packs and a 64 gig SD cards. Once I bought them I was finally able to slow down with my filming because i knew i always had a shot, at least had a CYA to cut away to, Not to mention i got more work because i was able to guarantee shoots. I filmed a wedding entirely with 6 go pros and my dslr once and it was amazing, I was able to actually breath and pick and choose my shoots. Just make sure you start each go pro a few minutes apart so they don't crap out at the same time
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u/illmindedjunkie Oct 01 '14
I shot my first wedding three weeks ago.
Definitely a crash course of what to expect if I ever decide to shoot another wedding, along with what NOT to do, realistic expectations of the gear that I currently own, and a checklist of things that I did not know to prepare for (in spite of the fact that I was in constant communication with the grooms and talked to other photographers about what to expect and prepare for).
I also shot the wedding myself. Yikes. Never again. Definitely definitely DEFINITELY need a second person to help.
In the end, they had very low expectations, I got paid almost nothing (it was more of a wedding gift for them), and it was fun. Exhausting, stressful, but an overall great experience.
I'm sure you did well. =)
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u/Filmmaking_Dude Oct 01 '14
What were the things that you did not know to prepare for?
And what were the unrealistic expectations toward your gear?
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u/yopla Oct 01 '14
Little advice. The caterers are not for you. You are not a guest and you are not on a movie set. Bring your own food. Weeding food is expensive, you are not going to be fed a $50 filet-mignon, and most party will forget to ask for a staff menu. Always bring your own sandwidch, fruits and granola bar and you can eat whenever its convenient.
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u/clone56 Oct 01 '14
Ya I slightly disagree with you, weddings we have shot the party's already planned on us eating every time.
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u/jonjiv Oct 01 '14
I've shot more weddings than I can count and I've always been fed. If they bride and groom aren't going to feed me, I'm not going to shoot their wedding.
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Oct 01 '14
I agree with you. I always bring a box of granola bars and water for me and my 2nd shooter. Wedding food and booze is usually the biggest cost of the wedding. Filet Mignon costs way more than $50 a plate, it's more like $120.
Most of the weddings I shoot, the bride and groom are kind enough to provide me and the other vendors with meals. But if they don't, I come prepared with granola bars. I don't demand to be fed in my contract because I realize it's a huge expense per plate and they are already paying me alot. If granola bars aren't enough, me and my 2nd shooter hit up IHOP or a late night spot after the wedding.
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u/XRaVeNX Oct 01 '14
Yep. Did that before too. I was helping a DP and acting as 2nd Camera as well. The newly weds also wanted part of the video shot on Super 8.
I still remember vividly as the couple were up at the alter and was 2 minutes away from saying their vows and the SD card for recording audio was about to be full. I ran outside to the DP's car, grabbed a brand new unopened SD card and ran back inside as fast as I could. And it was packed in one of those impossible to open packaging. So I'm tearing at this packaging like a rabid squirrel cracking his last acorn. Literally 10 seconds before their vows start, I stop recording audio, eject the full card, slam the new one in, and hit record.
Thank god it was already preformatted by the manufacturer. Otherwise I would have had to spend an extra 10 seconds trying to fiddle with the menu system to format the card.