The Wedding Video question!

Eraserhead2416

Eraserhead2416

Active member
Recently I've been playing with the idea of wedding videos. I've become a little tired of working but not really making any money, and I figured this would be a great way for me to get even more familiar with the camera and be able to pay some bills.

So the big question, where to start? How do I go about the production?
Very broad questions, I know. So if anyone has any links to some good forum posts, websites, and hopefully some good examples of DVX wedding videos, that would be swell.

I don't have too much, equipment-wise. Just a DVX100a, tripod, and computer at home. I'm hoping to hear about any other required equipment. I would bet some sound, but how much would do the job just fine? Do most people overestimate the work going into wedding videos, or is it surprisingly time-consuming?

Thanks for any help and suggestions you've got. I'd like to get rolling on this soon!
 
Weddings... Most people will probably tell you something like this. They are probably one of the most time consuming, diffucult, challenging jobs with some of the most demanding clients who want you to make a Hollywood production of their daughters wedding for peanuts.

That said, yes there can be money to be made.

You will need sound.

www.dvinfo.net/conf has a good wedding sub-forum that you might browse around at for more in depth info.

The key would be don't lie to yourself, and especially to your clients about what you will deliver.

Some people do do the one camera, on camera mic wedding specials. They do it for a couple of hundred bucks. But, you just have to make sure that your client knows that is what they will be getting.

Others have 3 or 4 cameras, a crane, steadicam, etc, etc. The whole nine. And they charge thousands of dollars.

The thing about wedding videos, is yes, you can find a large range of clients to fit your particular "capabilities" or package that you can offer.

Most people, however, will tell you that those bargain basement shoppers usually end up being the most demanding. They don't realize how much work it is. They think you can give them thise extravagant production for 200 bucks. They'll want everything for nothing.

On the flip side don't go charging 2 or 3 or 5k, or whatever, if that's not what you can deliver with your equipment and skill level. Those people will know what it costs to get a quality product, and they will know what a quality product looks like.

There are tons of different resources that you can find out a lot about the whole "wedding industry" from. You might start with the link provided above. You will find a lot of folks that do weddings and I am sure they will be willing to share some of their experiences, and equipment required.

You'll "probably" need a wireless lavalier mic, or two. You can mic the groom and the officiant. You will need a camera, at least. The "good" weddings are usually done with at least two cameras though. A ceremony can get real boring, real quick when it is just a one camera shoot.

There is a niche market out there (depending on your area) that I am sure you can find and make a few hundred bucks per wedding with just a camera, a mic, a tripod and a computer.

If you are easily stressed, or rattled under pressure, it might not be the best choice for you. One chance, one take. F' it up, and you get one pissed off bride and or mother :)

Jason
 
If you are going to do weddings I would say the basics would be. 2 cameras one stationary wide and another that you can man yourself if it's just you. at least one wireless lav where you can mic the groom. Generally one mic is good enough to pick up the bride. You will also want an on cam light mainly for the reception because clients love to turn the lights down to "set the mood". You can get away with using one camera for your wedding but just like ramjet said inform your client of what the difference will be between a 1 cam and 2 cam.
 
Hi Eraserhead,

My, Jason seems to be saying it like it is - cogent advise. But even that's only the tip of the iceberg. Aside from all the techie stuff (including 20-100 hours of editing each job, burning VHS/DVDs, attractive website including streaming demos, always learning the latest techniques, etc...), you'll need to be a salesman/marketeer who loves to smooze with photographers, DJs, wedding consultants, etc (probably having to buy $500+ bridal show tables to get established) - and work well with all of them, your clients under extreme stress on wedding day while you must always wear a happy face with clients, their guests (who may not take kindly to being videotaped), perhaps competing with the photograper for a money shot, etc. Oh yeah, the DJ companies are beginning to compete for the low-end business and they often get second crack at possible clients to book videographers (photographer had the first chance). Here's how the B&G perceive their budget: rings, Church/officiant, bride gown and tux, reception hall/food/drinks, photographer, DJ, honeymoon, Limo, honeymoon, rehearsal dinner, gifts, invitations, ... oh yeah dear - can we still afford a videographer? And hopefully you have good business acumen setting up an office with systems and processes to manage lengthy sales processes. Knowing the marketplace will be critical, too - what customers are spending, who's getting most sales, the most profitable sales, and why (technology, service, brand/reputation, networking/affliliations/partnerships, advertising budget, internal efficiencies, etc). And not only have a near bullet-proof contract to avoid lawsuits due to "Errors and Ommisions", etc (of course, you'll still need insurance for O&Es, liability insurance, and will wish you had gotten personal property insurance for equipment if some shyster steals your camera WITH a critical videotape when you took a quick toilet break). Be sure to join your local event video association so if you're terribly sick or get in a car accident, a buddy can bail you out of hot water. And along this line, when business is going well and you're overworked, you'll need to be able to outsource assignments under contract or hire part/full-time employees; good business owners know what to hand off, who to employ, how to retain good folks, etc.

Oh yeah, hopefully you're excited to learn all the ins-and-outs of the wedding business itself, how everyone thinks (clients, their parents/familes/friends, vendors), how everyone works together (or not), what motivates everyone, the mechanics of the wedding ceremony and reception, where the camera/s should be at any given moment and why, avoiding no-no's and other lethal taboos, are prepared for the unexpected and can recover with a quick fall-back plan, etc.

Additionally, the videographer must be cognizant of the economics of the business, knowing not only the profitable market segments but how to offer, sell, and deliver profitable add-ons to the basic packages. But above all, the wedding videographer has got to have a gregarious pesonality that is devoted to preserving the B&Gs most important day, always exuding a enthusiasm had have a great additude.

So if all this sounds fun, by all means join your local WEVA group, beg to help out as a second/third cameraman, pay attention, and prepare to make the plunge - come on in, the water's fine!


Regards, Michael
 
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Wow, certainly nothing to scoff at!
Thanks much for the great replies, guys! You obviously know your stuff. Perhaps it would be best to hook up with some people who have already established themselves, instead of diving in on my own.
There are some people I already know in the private sector, so I'll at least contact them and talk one-on-one. There are some video production businesses around, too, but from what I hear their wedding video production is rather dubious. I could totally be off-base, too, in which case I'll be looking into them as well- it would mean fairly steady work.

I'll check out the link given above! And again, thanks very much!
 
i usually try to just shoot weddings and not deal with the post production part of it. that seems to be where the problems come in at. i work with a few different wedding companies and i usually do about 2 a month on average. and as far as that goes, its usually pretty easy.
 
Rehi Eraserhead,

Least I be accused for raining on your parade, just because the wedding industry isn't entirely peachy you might still be on the right track. For instance, let's say you *DO* have good communications skills. Well, you might consider specializing in a similar market such as doing interviews. One market that might be profitable would be interviewing seniors to document their life story/history/legacy. Let's say you live in the proximity of an affluent group of seniors, an untaped market offering a lucrative potential. You might offer a variety of packages, beginning with an entry level that basically gives them a simple edit. The middle of the road product (which salesman always package attractively for the majority of their sales) would convert the footage from a linear chronological no-frills show to a thoughtfully edited story based on several megathemes, including complementary music. On the high-end package where money is no object you would include an animated photo montage of about 50 pictures (more $$$ by the picture) using cuts, disolves, pans, and zooms; and of course you'd offer to include interviews of other family members and friends (charging by the hour). On the high end, let's say you or a colleague are great with Photoshop, After Effects, etc. - you could even layer the elements on still pictures to make them become awesome 3D movies! In the Los Angeles area, David Robin is the #1 wedding videographer (in price at least, doing weddings for all the rich and famous) - check out his excellent montages here (click on Services/Photo Montages):

http://www.boulevardvideo.com/

Anyway, that's just one example of alternative markets to the wedding industry which you might find a lot easier to enter without all the complexities and actually not lose your freedom and weekends. You might also consider filming short sales promotionals/training/how-to tutorials for small businesses. A typical shoot might be a few hours, another few more for basic editing, generate DVDs or upload streaming Flash files to customer's server (you give them the necessary code for a player like DynamicMediaPlayer). As an example, see these (select Artistic Achivement Awards, Corporate Productions):

http://www.4evergroup.org/artisticachievementawards.shtml

And while you're there at the 4evergroup website, check out the fantastic work by other leading wedding videographters. In summary, don't limit yourself to the wedding industry; continue your quest to survey other opportunities. Just remember the famous words by Deep Throat in Watergate: always follow the money...

Regards, Michael
 
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Is every single wedding really that horrible? It sounds like you have to be a god to do wedding videos :/
 
frmain said:
Is every single wedding really that horrible? It sounds like you have to be a god to do wedding videos :/
Click to expand...

"Trust in Allah...but tie up your camel !" It's not all that bad...you just need to be properly prepared. I would not confine myself to just wedding videos though. Also, if you want to charge decent money you need to have the proper skills and equipment.
 
Hi I'm in Singapore and have been dived into the wedding-videography biz right here for the past months.

I'm kinda worn down right here as most of the market here is filled with random people with a random videocam charging at a low cost.

The amature range of videographers here are so desperate that they can charge US$200 for a full 12hours wedding including post.

I must admit that was where I came from, I had to start charging low to gain experience.
As of now I feel like I should move on to focus on something niche and different.
I wonder if there is a market for Good Cinematic-like Pre-Wedding videos out there?
 
Wedding Products

Wedding Products

Hobbes00 said:
Hi I'm in Singapore and have been dived into the wedding-videography biz right here for the past months.
<clip>
I wonder if there is a market for Good Cinematic-like Pre-Wedding videos out there?
Click to expand...

Hi again Hobbes,

Yes, there are many non-ceremony products to consider, depending on your client. Here's 10 to consider:

Love Story
Music Video
Photo Montage
Interview (future B&G, perhaps wedding party & parents)
Concept Video
Same Day Edit (played at reception)
"Sound bites" overlays on wedding ceremony and reception
Movie Trailer ("Prequeal"), mostly to promote buzz through viral advertising
Web hightlights
iPod highlights

Regards, Michael
 
A wedding can be done with one cam if your allowed to roam around and put your tripod on a dolly so you can roll around and ped up and down with out a prob and give the illusion of more than one cam, also this helps cuz if you do them alone you dont have to watch your other cam cuz as soon as you look away it gets stolen. get a audio recorder so you can plug into the audio system so you can record the audio direct and that way you have a wireless, shotgun and recording device giving you audio.
 
Only one camera? Oh-oh, then don't get a contract or let the B&G know your real name, get paid in cash, so when the camera goes belly-up you flee-flee-flee and don't end up on the TV show "Judge Judy"... or worse! <wink>

Seriously, if you only have one shooter and are in a high risk area, lash up a locking cable to the second camera and kindly ask the guests to keep an eye on it.

Good luck, Michael
 
well said moonlitnite,
you seem to know these sort of things inside out,
whats your profession?

any website?

regards
david
 
Hi David,

Thanks - PM sent. My videographer website isn't online but you can see one of my other sites at http://www.BridgeHands.com

Regarding my profession, my career was at AT&T and Lucent Tech before retiring at 50. I've worked in broadband communication including satellite earth stations, minicomputer equipment maintenance in the 1980s, software engineering in Bell Labs, sales planning, global marketing, fundamental planning engineering, regulatory/legal/contracts, business modeling, corporate education/training, and lots of odd jobs. I was fortunate to be able to continue moving to interesting new jobs and broaden my career skill sets.

I didn't emerse myself into audio and video until a year ago, so like you, I've spent a lot of time studying the best-in-class. Having the luxury of time (and my marketing background), I've visited every conceivable event videographer website within 100 miles, checking out their demos and indexing their top/bottom packages in a master spreadsheet. For the best-in-class national/international video demos, I've downloaded local copies (via Camtasia) and rendered on my iPod for further study and share with prospective clients (offer various styles). So my "modus operandi" is to get a handle on customer needs assessment and market segmentation before diving into the deep water.

Anyway, I've started doing audiocasts/podcasts and blogs as well as online instruction for my other company. Once I got into the slide-driven online instructions (PowerPoint to Flash via Articulate), I decided I wanted to incorporate "talking head" video. One thing led to another and I figured I might as well start a videographer business, too.

In addition to all the excellent forums here and elsewhere, there's thousands of videographer websites, a few notable wedding videographer audiocasts/podcasts, dozens of video contest award winners - almost all of this is free. There are also a few dozen training DVDs for event videographers, normally about $75/video and some other notables for shooting video, lighting, etc. And there's a few great manuals by some leading videographers for about the same price.

So if you have the time, interest/dedication, and variety of talents required, it's all out there. Probably the trickiest part for the techie video-type is the critical skills required in sales/marketing, business and project management, as well as interpersonal skills (customer and wedding vendor "team").

BTW, in response to one of our forums outspoken audiophiles, several months ago I did add a private link refuting the assertion that Sennheiser G2 Evolution did not get good reception. If you're interested in listening to various field tests, click here.

Regards, Michael
 
[SIZE=+0]"Regarding my profession, my career was at AT&T and Lucent Tech before retiring at 50."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=+0]Congrats on your move. I still work for ATT (36 years). I've been hooked on video every since my wife gave me a camcorder for my birthday. You're right, there are plenty of great resources out there (this forum being one of the best!). [/SIZE]
 
Hi SafariJoe,

Wow, 36 years and now in the sunny south - congratulations! I began in AT&T Long Lines in Tucson, moved to Northern California and except for lots of headquarters trip to New Jersey, I did my entire stint here on the "left coast." At one point I had the opportunity to move to your neck of the woods in "Hot-lanta" when all of AT&T's Engineering was consolidated but I opted for Lucent Sales/Marketing at the time.

So your darling wife bought you a nice toy? Oh, if she only knew that the purchase was simply a down payment on all the goodies to follow! Still, all and all it's fairly cheap "entertainment" and keeps one off the streets...

Warm Regards, Michael
 
"So your darling wife bought you a nice toy? Oh, if she only knew that the purchase was simply a down payment on all the goodies to follow! Still, all and all it's fairly cheap "entertainment" and keeps one off the streets..."

Not too cheap unfortunately. Still it is fun... I'm still trying different things and wedding videos can be fun. I've been lucky and haven't had to deal with a bridezilla yet. My ultimate goal is to produce and shoot a feature length project but for now I work on what pays.
 
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