How to get started Filming Weddings and Events

J

Jackson Miller

Well-known member
My friend and I are interested in getting jobs such as filming weddings, events, and music videos. I am 17 years old and have a fair amount of experience filming and editing. I own a DVX and my friend has both a DVX and an HVX. So my question is, how do we get started? How do we promote ourselves and get jobs? Filming a wedding seems scary because you are responsible for documenting the most important day of two peoples lives and something could go wrong. Still, I am set on utilizing my camera to generate income to spend on more equipment.

Also, I imagine there are important technical details involved in filming an event or wedding. What angles and shot sizes should be filmed with a two camera setup?

One more thing. What equipment is needed as far as audio. At this point the only audio equipment I have is a rode ntg2. Would you use a shotgun to film such an event? And how/where would it be positioned?

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just new to this.

Thanks a lot.
 
send word out through your and his families, and friends families, to find a couple weddings to do for free. it'll get you familiar with what goes down, the people you need to associate yourself with at the event. especially the hired photographer.

go to the photographer and introduce yourselves, and talk to them about where they will be, and where you will be. if you can get that relationship started in a positive directive at the beginning of the event, the rest of the day will go alot better.

at the church, or whatever, talk to the priest or whichever person is leading the ceremony. find out where you are and aren't allowed to be. figure out the best spots where you won't have to move once it has started.

as much as they suck, get on camera lights for all the cameras you will shoot with. receptions can get really dark. and we all know how the DVX does not like low light.
if you can afford it, get led lights. if you can't don't waste your time with those lights that run on AA batteries. in the least get the ones that run off camera batteries. I have the bescor lights and those huge brick batteries. they suck so bad. you have to remember to keep them charged when not in use, and charge them often. if you let them lie around with being charged or used for more than a couple weeks, the life of the battery dies significantly.

research other videographers wedding contracts. once you are up and running getting paid jobs, have your contract require deposits, make the deposit non-refundable when you get within a certain window of time from the event.

research what forms you will have to file for taxes. some customers who pay with cheques will file their stuff the legal way, and it could come back to bite you if you don't claim those jobs properly.

in your contract, detail the amount of time you will deliver the finished product. whether you decide 30 or 45 or 60 or whatever days, STICK TO IT!!!! the sooner the better for getting done. capture that footage immediately. make sure your clients have all info and materials that they are responsible to get you by the event date. you don't want a project on the back burner because you are waiting on photos from the client. it's good to have your deadline window start from the time you receive everything, because sometimes you might be waiting on photos from their photographer if you are including a montage on the DVD. but complete as much of the project that you can.

make sure your clients understand that there are consumer DVD players out there that might not play the DVDs that you build. this is a compatibility issue, and usually to players that are a few years old or more. test your DVDs in multiple machines, PS2s, computers, whatever you can, this way you know when a client comes saying their disc doesn't work, you most likely know why.

wireless lavalier for the vows!!! speaking of audio, you will have to get use to your audio levels to never be out of your site while shooting since there is no auto setting on the DVX. besides my own footage, I edit event video full time, and have to deal with other shooter's footage with distorted audio, and audio that's too quiet. it can be a nightmare.

as much as gain sucks, you will have to use it quite a bit at receptions. even with the slower shutter speeds like 1/30th in 30p, and 1/24th in 24p. just don't boost it higher than +9. and watch out for bald guys and white shirts. lethal combinations with your cam light and gain on.

one of the biggest problems I see when people post wedding footage on here from the DVX, master ped setting too far in the negatives. the shadows become this black muddy mess, and just way to under exposed. get a good exposure at the job, and crush your blacks a bit when you are editing. I usually keep mine at 0 up to +3 depending on how low the lights go. and stay away from the cinelike gammas, far too noisy. I like black press, it seems to work well balancing out with the higher master ped setting.

make sure all cameras share the same settings, white balance them together religiously. match exposure.

look at as many wedding video sites as you can find. look at tons of samples. find styles that you like, that you hate, whatever. it's a good place to start figuring out how you will shoot and edit.

stay simple at first. tripods during the ceremony, and atleast one camera on a tripod for the important parts of the party. proper exposure. match camera settings. good audio levels. pay attention to who the most important people are. learn their faces.

always pack headphones, mainly for the service, on all shooters.
 
at your age, you have to have friends of friends who have a band. find one. talk to them. pick a song, and go. depending on what you can afford right now equipment wise, look through all the projects in the DIY section. maybe you can get the band to help build things like DIY fig rigs, cranes, dolly, in trade for making a video for them.
 
You're exactly like me man.

I started off with business cards, and I handed some off to my family, and to friends, and also stores like Henrys Video. I'm going to hand some off at Wedding parlors to.

Then I started talking to an older guy at my school who helps out with the Special Needs, and he wanted me to give him a music video, which I would charge him.

I then got asked to be in my friends company (water and oil productions) with him, so that will give me more work.

A website helps also, and a portfolio of all your work is helpful.

I'm trying fairly hard at the moment to try and get my stuff out there, for I want to take this as a career.

I'm not the usual person who goes and applies at Mcdonalds, or Rogers video, or Zellers. I will not work, at all period; but if it involves a camera, then sure!
Im 17 and im jobless, and that's why I am trying to start a business really hard so i can get money, and put it towards my equipment and sadly...college.

I don't want to get a job because I don't enjoy then, I'm always with grouchy people, and it just plain sucks. But when I get a job with my camera, I absolutely love it! So I don't mind it for one bit.

Talk to people, and try and get them to help you out. My friend is recommending me to a whole bunch of people, and I think he even got me a commercial spot out of it.

You and me both bud, are just starting fresh, and hopefully we'll eventually get bigger and bigger, until we have jobs comin' outta our ying-yang.
 
Shibuya Oboya said:
at your age, you have to have friends of friends who have a band. find one. talk to them. pick a song, and go. depending on what you can afford right now equipment wise, look through all the projects in the DIY section. maybe you can get the band to help build things like DIY fig rigs, cranes, dolly, in trade for making a video for them.
Click to expand...

You're right about the band. My first music video was for my friend, and it turned out not to bad. Now I'm making him another one, and I'm charging him this time. Not much, but I'm getting something out of it.

He is a good singer, and good at his beats, and he's coming out with a CD. Don't just pick a random friend, pick a band. They would love to get a video done. Do it for free the first time even, cause I don't think there going to want to give you over 100 bucks.

As I said, I did my friend's first video for me and him, for free. Now I'm only charging him 80.

The reason why I said to do it for free the first time, is so you can get good experience, and then you can show people, and try and get it out there. Put it on YouTube, Blip.tv, Facebook, Myspace, and show people.

If it's good, send it to MTV/Much Music!
 
Ah getting started is oh so hard....especially as young as you are. Getting music videos would probably be pretty easy for you but getting PAID is a whole other story. Bands are usually just as poor as you.

Weddings are great, you can be creative and make some money HOWEVER at 17 I doubt anyone would hire you unless they are family or friends. I'm 26 but i look even younger. I am still working on establishing my business and I've worked with a fair amount of clients....from wedding couples to bands to internet companies to local businesses.

Here's what can set you apart from all of the older, more experienced video dudes out there.... be innovative and work hard. Come up with your own style....something that's good and a little different. Think outside the box. You need to network, search online for video gigs. Look for unpaid stuff, go out and do your job and do it well. Get names and contact info, make friends with everyone you work with. Build up your resume and contacts.

For example, if you wanna go into weddings, call up some of the local wedding videographers and see if you can sit down and talk to them. Get some tips and advice, see if they could use some help with their business...even if it's free help. If you do this even for one season you'll learn a lot and can take the footage that you worked on and use it as a demo to find your own work. Or maybe the people that you've interned for will offer you some paid work down the road.

Basically, it's not easy. You will most likely have to get a real job somewhere so you can make money until your business gets off the ground. I've been working for myself since 2002 and I've had a full time job at the same time. I've been lucky to have full time jobs working in video....but it's still my dream to work for myself full time. So my advice would be to do everything you can to learn and sharpen your skills in video and at the saem time try to learn the business side of things as well. You'll need both to suceed.
 
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Be mature, polite, and try to be funny.

smp,

You made a good point about music videos. I strongly feel he should do a couple for free, and get them really good. Then when he gets them out there, he can show clients and other people his work.
 
for sure Como, the first one for free is a good way to go. He will get good experience and if he can do a really good job on it he can use it as a marketing tool. So he will still get something out of it.

I'd say unless you are making videos that a label is paying for, you probably aren't going to make a living from music videos. So just be aware of that.
 
Rubin Whitmore did a couple of music videos for near nothing when he got out of film school, now he's directed videos for DMX and the Temptations. Plus, how many Hollywood directors cut their teeth on music videos?
 
Even in the beginning, only work on projects that you will truly enjoy. Don't bite off more than you can chew.

After filming family and friend weddings, evaluate if they REALLY work into your scheme. Don't do it for the money. I don't know where you live but it's competitive and many times you're fighting for the table scraps.

When you get to a certain level it's not about the equipment, it's not about the education, it's not about the experience. It's about the objectivity from shooter to shooter and editor to editor and how you interface with your client.

It takes a long time. It's a commitment to yourself, your clients and the industry.
 
Never, ever work for nothing!
Not ever.
Even if you're only 17 and working out of your parent's basement.
Don't even entertain the notion of working for nothing.
If you work for nothing that is the value the recipient will attach to your work.
Charge as much as you can, deliver work you're proud of and hold your head high!
That way you won't be ripping bread out of the mouths of videographers who depend on their craft for their llivings!!!
 
peabody,

if he is building a reel, then he's not working for free.... he's learning and crafting skills. Just the same as school, if you have a project you don't ask the instructor how much money he is paying you for this. Sure, you gotta make a living, we all do, but at 17 with pretty much no real world experience there's no way he should expect to get paid.

Heck, I had a degree and was still volunteering for a few months before some steady work came in. During my volunteering time I learned way more than I did in the classroom about the real world of video (television production mainly). I wouldn't have traded that experience for anything because I learned from it and it lead to paying work.

Now if you have been working steady for a while in your profession then I would agree with you, get paid.
 
keynstring said:
When you get to a certain level it's not about the equipment, it's not about the education, it's not about the experience. It's about the objectivity from shooter to shooter and editor to editor and how you interface with your client.

It takes a long time. It's a commitment to yourself, your clients and the industry.
Click to expand...

man, you nailed it. I think I am hitting that point....trying to figure out a good game plan.
 
Shane,---I would say if you've been working steadily in your profession for nothing, it may be time to look at another profession IMHO.
 
I stand corrected, Shane.
Guess the point I'm trying to make is that there are people out their willing to prey on others who will work for nothing or next to nothing to get experience.
That devalues our skills, talent, education and investment in our careers.
Volunteering is something we do to contribute to our community or to help the needy. Not something we do to provide free labour for someone too cheap to pay a fair wage.
That's my point.
So to our 17 year old entrepreneur I say go and do weddings and charge for them and learn from your experience.
And I say the same for the 17 year old flipping bugers,----don't do it for free.
Working at Mickey Deez is going to school too, and learning, and getting paid.
 
You have a good point. I see way too many posting for free work out there. I just ignore it. Although (as a customer) I think that if a 17 year old is offering a free service backed up with no experience I would probably go with someone who has experience who I'd have to pay. I think that most people would.

I wouldn't worry about people doing free video work and taking my business.....cause they aren't taking your business. If someone wants something done for as little as possible it's business I don't want anyway. I want to do business with people who care about the product, not about saving as much as possible. In the end, you'll be glad you didn't end up with those clients. I've had some of them before and you end up doing way too much work to please them and they don't want to pay you for it.

So to those who think working for free is stupid, I'm there with ya, I'd never do it again (unless it's for family or my church). If you have no experience and wonder why you can't get any paying gigs....maybe you should do 1 video job for free or maybe at an insane low rate.
 
I'm trying to do the same thing Entity. Word of mouth seems to work best at our age, so family, friends, teachers, let them know what you can do. Maybe talk to counselors at your school and ask if they could inform any athletes who will be applying to college soon that you can shoot/edit an athlete reel for them. Junior and senior athletes may need to send it to schools they want to go to possibly for scholarships or recruitment, etc.

Get as much experience as you can, help friends with projects, look for local festivals to enter work you've done into, and I think you'll be well on your way to establishing yourself.

Presentation and being professional is important!
This is a good thread to read too --> http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=83958
 
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