Wedding shoot...need suggestion

Robbie Comeau

Robbie Comeau

Como's back. back again
hey guys, a lady wants me to shoot her daughters wedding.......now im 16, i got a dvx, and a crappy tripod, but it will do. i got ONE camera, the built in audio in my dvx, and thats it.......i read the article that (i ferget his name) wrote, but it was good, it was aobut how to shoot the ceremonry and what not. but i got one camera, so any suggestions on how ot shoot this? she doesnt want anything special. Also

im telling her about 100 bucks for the whole thing, if she doesnt like it, she doesnt have to pay me (i dont mind doing this stuff, ill do it for free if i want, but money wud be nice)

any suggestions on wut pay i shud make?

www.robbiecomeau.blip.tv watch some of my shorts, montages, tell me wut u think, thanks guys!
 
Without the proper audio gear and no experience, I would offer to do it for the cost of tape. That way you learn what to do and what NOT to do. Hopefully they understand that its not gonna be spectacular film (or maybe you'll wow them your first time out of the gate).

When I started I'd tell people to watch it when was done and pay what they felt it was worth. I usually got more than I would have choose to charge them.

You will not learn unless you try.
 
i wow anyone, they no nothing about this stuff, so i can show them a noisy ass picture, with a massive blue tint, with interlace, with skippy fotoage, and theyll still love it
 
18 year old same boat

18 year old same boat

Im 18 and I started shooting weddings a few years back. My first wedding was a near disaster I used 5 cameras ( i didnt want to miss anything) editing was the biggest pain in the ass but it all turned out okay. My biggest advice is to use another camera even if its not a dvx, you need a cutaway shot in case your pan gets screwed up or something happens. A static camera in the back is always good to have in case of backup. Also you need to consider that on board microphone is not going to pick up sqaut during the ceromony, you might want to see if the church is using a pa and is recrording the ceromony you can also mesh the audio together later. Just some things you can think about.
 
TheComo said:
i wow anyone, they no nothing about this stuff, so i can show them a noisy ass picture, with a massive blue tint, with interlace, with skippy fotoage, and theyll still love it
Click to expand...

with that attitude....don't expect to make it in this industry.
 
Oh yeah, if you plan on doing any titling....make sure that you get a copy of the wedding program to make sure you spell everything correctly and know everyone's full name. As a backup, I always take a picture of the front and back before I start shooting.

When I first started shooting, I had my wife follow me with extra gear (batteries and still camera) and a checklist of filler shots I needed to get before I started shooting the group. Needless to say that did not last very long as she quickly grew bored of waiting for me, so I had to start making sure I remembered everything on my own.

All that to say, think about how you want to edit the wedding before you get there so you have an idea of the shots you want before you arrive. That way you have more to work with than just the ceremony.

Also, if you don't have a shoulder harness, then make sure you carry your tripod around with the camera on it in the reception. Nothing worse than a shaky cam. Well, there is but you know what I mean.
 
The suggestion in your tripod thread about renting a better tripod is a good one; and I would add to it that you might want to look at renting a wireless lavalier microphone to put on the groom for much better audio. Without this, you'll be lucky to hear anything the bride and groom say during the wedding, and I've always felt that what the bride and groom say is the most important audio of the whole event.
 
TheComo said:
i wow anyone, they no nothing about this stuff, so i can show them a noisy ass picture, with a massive blue tint, with interlace, with skippy fotoage, and theyll still love it
Click to expand...

obviously this person has never had the pleasure of dealing with an unhappy bride or her mother
 
If I were you I would try to rent another DVX or comparable 3ccd camera for the second camera. Have this at a medium to wide shot during the ceremony in the back. Hopefully you have some friends that can help you out on that camera for less then $50 for that one day. You could control that second camera with a remote if you needed to (not sure about distance though). You could also rent a wireless lav. for around that same price $30-50. If you do have a choice make sure it is a "camera mountable" lav microphone. Then the rest of your money might cover the tapes.
 
If no one has mentioned it before but go to the rehearsal the nite before that always helps. also shoot b-roll even when you think you have enough when you go back to edit you can never have enough b-roll. as far as payment the bottom price i go with is a 100 for shooting and 100 for editing. thats a bargain any way you slice it.
 
generic video stuff like the cake presents pics statues paintings. usually static shots on a tripod no audio.
 
B-roll is anything that is not on the A-roll which is the main event. So b roll for a wedding ceremony would be shots of the flowers, religious symbols, crowd reactions, decorations, etc. For the reception this would include people hanging out, dancing, laughing, etc.
 
Yes, but more importantly shots that you can throw on top of your main video in case you kick the tripod, the photographer decides that right in front of your camera is the best place to take her next picture, etc.
 
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