Experience in filming live events is one of the key ingredients towards the job going well. Unfortunately the word experience has become negative in the minds of many brides, thinking if they book someone with experience they will end up with a cheesy old style of film. In reality many of the old style videographers retired ages ago or were forced out of business with there reluctance to change, the ones who are left are the videographers who have always embraced technology and change.
Experienced wedding videographer documenting a wedding cereomony
One of the top independent cinematographers in the UK is Phillip Bloom, who is in his mid 40s yet leads the way in terms of new technology and style adoption. Yet the best thing when booking Phillip is knowing he has seen and encountered most situations, meaning he already has a good idea about how to produce the best results, what kit to use and can do this very quickly under pressure.
On the top of most wedding couples wish list when it comes to having their wedding filmed is for the cameraman to be invisible (or at least unobtrusive!). Experienced cameramen are in the right place before anyone else and then they let the action unfold in-front of their camera. Newbie camera operators often react to a situation instead of being proactive, this lack of preparation will mean that they will quickly become center of attention dashing around all over the place.
So I mentioned that experience is one of the key ingredients to a great filmmaker, so what are the other traits you should look for when deciding on who to book? The first is style, watch 2-3 of their example films and see if you like the style of filming. Look out for things like the amount of angles during the ceremony, quality of image and sound, out of focus shots.
The next is price. The old adage of you get what you pay for is really true when it comes to both photographer and videographers. In the UK the average cost of a wedding video sitting at just over £1000, the quality of wedding filmmakers in the USA and Canada are amongst some of the best in the world and the average cost of a videographers wedding package is $3500. Cheaper videographers won’t have all the kit necessary to film your wedding day to a comparable quality of those charging a much higher price. The kit needed for a videographer includes cameras. Lenses, lights, mics, tripods, memory cards, computers and software licenses and that’s just the start!
Lastly look at what films are included in the cost and hours of attendance. Some filmmakers only offer a 2-5 minute film, some only offer an unedited version, so decide what you want and find a videography package suits.
Article courtesy of: www.yourweddingfilmed.co.uk
