Length of Wedding Video

S

SilverWolf

Veteran
Hello everyone

I was wondering when editing a wedding video how long should the video be? I know whatever the client wants , but I'm shooting a video for my friend who has never seen or had a wedding video before and considering that i've never done one. I have over 4 tapes worth of footage so i'm good in that deparment. Any help would be greatly appreciated. THX
 
I'm cutting a wedding video right now from 4.5 60 minute source tapes. This was a Catholic ceremony, so take my post for what it is worth!

PNW_01 - Bride, Groom, Friends Footage OTS / Church Wild Shots
PNW_02 - Bride Day of Preparations / Groomsmen Preparations
PNW_03 - Ceremony
PNW_04 - Reception
PNW_05 - Reception2

The ceremony was shot single-camera continuous roll for the full one-hour it lasted - that got me wireless single-system audio even when I was pointing at the floor. I shot b-roll the prior day for edit cutaways within the continuous ceremony timeline.

At the top of the finished product will be a music video compilation of footage with a 24 minute ceremony edit to follow. So, thirty minutes on mine.

e
 
Just cut the crap, leave anything good and see how long it is.

The B&G may want to see everything, but most people can bear about 30 mins max.
 
don't ever cut the conception scenes short, people will sit through those...

Oh you said reception! If it were me I'd apply the same standards... cover the BG dance, the garter, the bouquet throw, cutting/sharing the cake, important toasts... and I'd also be sure to get some interview style shots for the end... like a "bloopers reel" because both the Bride and Groom will have friends there who will say really funny things... and for me at least, that's a good reward for sitting through the video.

As to proper length I'll listen for the best answers... I'm learning a lot in this thread too. Thanks guys.


EDIT: I don't know if this is the best place for this plug, but the Sennheiser G2 with a Countryman B6 makes for a totally invisible way to get sound from the Groom and Bride throughout the day... You can't put a mic on the Bride, but it would be invisible on the Groom... and you could fix it right off the (my mind is going... the clip on flower? Wow... too much mercury in the fish) clip it so it sticks out right next to his flower... that way he will be aware of the mic by accident... He won't hug people in such a way as to crush his (corsage?) and so he won't mess up the position of the mic or audio either.
 
I tried to add this by editing my post and the edit "wouldn't take"... odd?

I don't know if this is the best place for this plug, but the Sennheiser G2 with a Countryman B6 makes for a totally invisible way to get sound from the Groom and Bride throughout the day... You can't put a mic on the Bride, but it would be invisible on the Groom... and you could fix it right off the (my mind is going... the clip on flower? Wow... too much mercury in the fish) clip it so it sticks out right next to his flower... that way he will be aware of the mic by accident... He won't hug people in such a way as to crush his (corsage?) and so he won't mess up the position of the mic or audio either.
 
The wedding of my friend I wouldn't call a traditional wedding so it's going to make for an interesting cut. But I'm going to have some fun with it. I'm going to try a make it like a movie.
 
MattinSTL said:
don't ever cut the conception scenes short, people will sit through those...
Click to expand...

LOL!:laugh:

I once offered a client to put his honeymoon video tapes onto the DVD. He was like "Er... no! Noone will want to see those!" :embarasse
 
well I shot about 75-80 minutes, and cut it about 40 mins. but it was a bilangual ceremony, so on the boring part I have made 2 language tracks. (it was hard to cut every 2 sentence)
 
There should be a business opportunity there.

Imagine a wedding video RE-edited after the marriage falls apart. I've also always thought there could be good money in divorce videos.

Although I guess you could just play the wedding video backwards and it's the same difference*.


*They are the same because in both cases at the "end" of the video the guy will be smiling.
 
Pertaining to this topic...what about the ceremony itself? Do many of you cut it up? I think a one cam static shot can be boring, even with pans but part of me thinks that its important for the couple to have a record of the day. They were probably so nervous that they cant remember the actual vow part. So, where does the actual ceremony fit it for many of you?

Thanks!
Rick
 
I don't know anything about it, but on the one wedding I've shot I kept moving the whole time, and never stopped rolling once the ceremony started. The priest would not allow a camera behind the alter, so I had to get creative.

I thought the ceremony was priority one, the reception second and readiness shots with friends and family third.

e
 
Well if you filmed a 20 minute wedding persay, with some mild pans along the wedding party etc....would you just leave the ceremony as is? I am not really sure what to do with the ceremony itself. I have chapters for other things; reception, the dance, the getting ready, etc. I know I can take license with that stuff. But, with the ceremony, I feel less inclined to touch it. Yet, 20 minutes of fairly raw footage is kind of a snooze.

Any suggestions?
 
Honestly you gotta' have 2 cams for the wedding. I'm not saying to go out and get another DVX, but if you can borrow one from a friend that WOULD be cool... if not... where is your old cam? I don't care WHAT it is. Even a freakin' Hi-8 would work... but chances are you have a small miniDV cam that came before the DVX?

I would set that cam up off to the side... set the shot wide enough to cover the couple and priest/minister/pastor... and just leave that baby roll. As long as there is enough light even a 1-chip 1/4" will do okay. Trust me they are not going to over analyze that. This will allow you to move freely about and get close ups and other stuff during the ceremony.

The advice about getting B-Roll at another time is very good. Don't waste time zooming in on a bouquet during the wedding.

So back at the NLE you use the wide safety shot as your foundation (if you want you can even put the DVX there and use the other cam for dynamic shooting).

If you setup white balance on both cams people won't notice if everything wide is softer (from a lesser cam) and everything tight is perfect.

Trust me, if at all possible you want two cams. This way you can cut up the ceremony without cutting up the dialog. In a wedding it's REALLY hard to start trimming stuff if you lose soundtrack... because you will create an insurmountable task if you don't have cam 2 options that were relevant during that dialog!

Even if you shoot a bunch of B-Roll the day before or early in the day... the cut is going to be boring if you just interrupt the same wide stationary shot with bouquet shots or stained glass... or whatever (things you had to get at a seperate time)... sure you can use the dialog over that... but imagine instead a slow crawl in on the Bride's veil? Or uncle Jimmy picking his nose? Or the flower girl coming up the aisle?

This way you can see Betty Sue filled with joy on cam 1 as the flower girl dumps all the rose petals on the little boy ring bearer...

Are you getting my point about cam 2? Don't turn down a free insurance policy.
 
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