Weddings with a single camera?

J

Jason Finnigan

Active member
It is feasible (I know it's possible) to shoot wedding videos with a single camera. I have an hvx200 (which i will record to the firestore fs 100 for weddings). I do have lavs shotguns, fluid heads etc, just only one camera. It's probably important to note that I hate the event video style that a lot of local wedding video companies do, I like a more cinematic feel to it if you know what I mean, not just locking down a tripod a letting the camera record, I would want to move around with the camera, as well as get some per-ceremony shots.
 
My thoughts... Someone moving all about during a wedding is very distracting.
As far as a more cinematic feel? It's a wedding not a feature movie. Find out what shots the wedding party wants to capture and provide them. You may have a vision of how a wedding video should be, but so does the couple getting married. Find out their vision and provide it.

Just my thoughts.
 
I have to agree in principle with David. The focus of the day isn't to make the wedding video look great -- it's to have a wedding for two people joining their lives together. In essence, you're just the documentarian. The last thing you want is for audience members to become intrigued with what YOU are doing.

That being said, I also agree with your desire to not use locked down shots. I don't think of it as being more 'cinematic'. I think of it as giving the viewer more of a sense of presence -- of actually being there.

Shooting a wedding with one camera is hard. Doing so while not being intrusive is even harder. I have done the one-camera wedding shoot once, but it was a locked-down shot.

I would first discuss your ideas with the bride and groom -- especially the bride. If possible, show them some examples of similar work. Be upfront with them about the possible distractions you might cause in trying to shoot this way. If they agree with your ideas, then go for it. But let the decision be theirs, not yours.

If it were me, I'd keep it simple. I'd keep the camera on the groom's side, because when they face each other to do their vows, you're going to want to see the bride's face, not the back of her head. Then I would put the camera on a simple tripod dolly and do sloooow, smoooooth movements during the actual ceremony. I wouldn't try to cross over and get on the bride's side at any point. Face it -- the wedding is the bride's day. Her family paid for it. She is the star. The groom is just a supporting player.

The thing about moving the camera around is that there is the potential for a minor bump -- accidentally kicking a tripod leg, hitting an unexpected lump in the floor, etc. Such a thing will ruin the shot, and with what you're doing the whole thing will be one shot. So be very, very careful, and practice all your camera moves as much as you can beforehand.

If you can get a second camera, even a simple consumer cam, then put it on a tripod and have it shooting the front rows of the congregation -- in other words, the families. Shooting with one cam, it will be almost impossible to get any of their reactions. It's always nice to have something of the families' reactions to cut into the ceremony footage, regardless of the quality.

You realize you're taking quite a chance. One slip-up and the happy couple won't have a decent video of the most important day of their lives. No do-overs.
 
Ive been doing it for a good year and with great success. As long as the clients dont want hours and hours of boring footage, its perfectly doable.
You need experience though, to know what to look out for and where to be. Because if you miss the all important moments, there is no backup cam.
I usually provide a 5min trailer, and around 20-30mins wedding summary. I place a Zoom H4 near the bride and groom, or if there is a mic setup, im plugged into that for my audio.
I run through about 3 - 16G SD cards with my GH2 (I use 16 Gig cards because if I have an error, I dont lose too much)
I use an 800 lumen LED cam light
Glide Track
Steady Cam Rig
Monopod, I have a tripod, but have never really used it. (Possibly would be useful for long speeches during the dinner.)
 
Daihard, I'm glad you've had success with that setup. But if you're just placing an H4N near the bride and groom, then you're taking a huge risk. You have no way of knowing if the sound is decent or not until it's all over.

Personally, I'd put a wireless lav on the minister, or whoever is conducting the ceremony. Put the receiver on the cam and monitor the sound constantly with headphones. Then, if I also had an H4N, I would use it near the couple as a backup, just in case.

As you and I have both said, this is a one-time-only event. No room for error. Redundancy is vital. If the videographer screws up, then for him or her, it's just a blown gig -- for the couple getting married, it's a devastating loss of an irreplaceable record of the most important day in their lives. I wouldn't take risks with that.
 
Yes, if you have the gear then lavs are better. I've always had good enough results with my H4 recorder, and my cam is close enough to grab passable audio.
If there is a mic then I'm plugged into that.
Frankly audio isn't my biggest problem with weddings. Besides the vows and a dinner speech or two, I don't have much more audio I need to worry about.

Yes, I'm am doing high end weddings so I know the importance of quality audio and video.
I guess it really comes down to experience and expectations between the client and the videographer.
If the bride and groom need high end audio it's in the contract to provide inputs or who and when someone needs to be mic'ed. It's a 1 man show, they want more coverage it's in my contract for another paid camera man.
 
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I saw a one man show pull a neat little trick at a wedding a few weeks back. He was running his main cam on a tripod/dolly setup. In addition to that he carried a little handheld consumer cam (HV20ish) in a belt pack. Whenever the main cam was locked down for a few minutes, he would pull out the second camera for audience shots, close-ups, etc. Throw a locked down wide angle shot in the mix, and you've got a ghetto 3-cam gig.
 
I've been doing weddings for over a year now (on the side) and really....it depends on what the customer wants. My videos are crap compared to the overused cinematic slider/dolly/jib videos you see but certain people like my style.

You have to understand that doing cinematic-style weddings is basically impossible with one man/one cam. You need a second guy with a Glidecam/Steadicam etc etc...otherwise, you're going to miss key shots while setting up your slider or messing around with the Glidecam.

At the end of the day, it really depends on what the couple want. I've gotten many compliments because I stay out of the way and people don't even know I'm there and some couples really like the non-cinematic style. The couple gets enough of the "stand over there and do this....hold your head like that" from the photographer; they don't need to hear it again from the videographer, and few people actually want their wedding to be turned into a movie set.

Having said that, there are many people who want a cinematic-style wedding and you need to charge accordingly. You're not going to do a cine-style wedding with sliders/cranes and 3 shooters for $1500 -- there's just no way.

If the couple wants a cine style weddings, they'll have to pay for it.

If they're willing to pay for it, then you'll need at least 1 more guy to help you.

It all comes down to what the couple wants and how much they're willing to pay.
 
I've done a single camera, single operator wedding. It was not easy. What made things worse for me was editing. My style of editing did not coincide with a single camera operation. I am used to shooting with multiple cams and it was difficult for me to capture everything. Like stated before, this take a lot of experience and great knowledge of the events taking place at the wedding being shot.
 
Phil1076 said:
I've been doing weddings for over a year now (on the side) and really....it depends on what the customer wants. My videos are crap compared to the overused cinematic slider/dolly/jib videos you see but certain people like my style.

You have to understand that doing cinematic-style weddings is basically impossible with one man/one cam. You need a second guy with a Glidecam/Steadicam etc etc...otherwise, you're going to miss key shots while setting up your slider or messing around with the Glidecam.

At the end of the day, it really depends on what the couple want. I've gotten many compliments because I stay out of the way and people don't even know I'm there and some couples really like the non-cinematic style. The couple gets enough of the "stand over there and do this....hold your head like that" from the photographer; they don't need to hear it again from the videographer, and few people actually want their wedding to be turned into a movie set.

Having said that, there are many people who want a cinematic-style wedding and you need to charge accordingly. You're not going to do a cine-style wedding with sliders/cranes and 3 shooters for $1500 -- there's just no way.

If the couple wants a cine style weddings, they'll have to pay for it.

If they're willing to pay for it, then you'll need at least 1 more guy to help you.

It all comes down to what the couple wants and how much they're willing to pay.
Click to expand...

Agreed!
 
Have to agree with both David's! It's about the style that the clients want, not the style that you want to push to them. The thing is, if they didn't like what you had been doing, they wouldn't engage you as the videographer. That's what I think.

And with a single camera it is possible to achieve the cine-style, providing the wedding is going on a very slow and controlled pace. But that has never ever happened to me! :D

I once tried to do something like what the man 4100xpb did. I had my first cam on a tripod pointing to the couple while they were giving speeches, while I was walking around with my main to shoot with my second cam, hunting for happy reactions from the friends and family. What I had for my first cam in the end, was the buttock of the bride's uncle. I have no idea how he didn't realise the cam over there, and was able to happily stood in front of the cam to shoot his own version of iphone video. Of course the client weren't happy, but I managed to capture quite a lot of reactions (luckily), so not much of the video was showing the buttock. I have to admit it's my mistake to have assumed people will see the camera and won't obstruct it...and happily wander around without checking on the cam. But it was an experience I'll never forget! and at least it proves that the angle that I've chosen weren't that bad and someone else liked how it looked from the exact same spot.
 
It's quite risky to shoot weddings with just 1 cam. Not only there're time you might miss a shot, you also risk any equipment malfunction, and you don't have a backup cam.

The only way that will work is you offer your package as "Highlights" package. Which means, you deliverable is the highlights style of the event. say like, you won't have the entire ceremony coverage. Or you don't have the entire toasting speech, but just some highlights portion of the clip. Then working with just 1 camera would be possible.
 
I've been doing 1 man 1 camera weddings since I began doing weddings this summer, and I have done four so far. I deliver complete ceremony, toasts, cake cutting, first dance, and garter/bouquet coverage, as well as a 6 to 7 minute highlights montage. Here's how I do it:

-For everything I know I want to deliver in full, I need to have a steady camera for the whole shot. Most of the time I will use my tripod with dolly, and other times where space is an issue I will use my monopod. Having the tripod on the dolly allows you to make small adjustments (such as middle of the aisle at the back to the side when everyone's walking out) smoother than if you were lifting and moving the tripod.
-When I'm not shooting something I need entirely, I will be shooting cinematically - glidecam, monopod with canted or high angle, tripod dolly zooming around (if the floor is a good surface) - and just collecting whatever nice shots I can because I know this is what I will use in the highlights.

If you do it this way, the couples can have the best of both worlds, seeing anything important entirely over again, but also having some nice cinematic shots for a highlights montage. I also am able to cut footage from the still shots into the montage pretty seamlessly. It's very nice.

Audio-wise I have an H4n that I use to tap into the microphone / DJ system in use, but I also enable 4 CH recording to use the on board mic as backup. I'm shooting an HMC150 so I use the on board mic there for one channel and an ME66 camera mounted for the other channel. I also use a Zoom H1 with Audio Technica lav that I'll slip in the pocket of and clip on the groom. Using the auto level on the H1 will pick up everything, and later I have 5 sources of audio to choose from in the editing. I also place the H1 somewhere in the reception room where it won't be disturbed and let it record ambient sound as another backup.

In the near future I plan to add another H1 / lav to my arsenal as well as one of these consumer level camcorders to get the crowd reactions during the ceremony. I also plan to build a slider this January to use for future weddings / films. For fun, I also use a GoPro HD that I built a C-stand mount for and raise that up 7 or 8 feet. It's sometimes a cool shot that I can use; I even intercut between that and my HMC for parts of the ceremony on my previous wedding when I had to move the HMC and the ground was bumpy.

For timing, I make sure I'm always there 2 or 3 hours before the ceremony starts. This is early enough that I can go around with my glidecam or tripod dolly (and in the future, slider!!!) and get some cinematic shots of the setting / setup that I can use later in the highlights. But it's not too early that things aren't set up yet and I'm waiting on the wedding coordinator.

Overall I really love keeping it single camera because I don't have a second shooter cutting into my profit, I can still produce a high quality product (I'm still getting better every wedding), and I can keep my rates pretty low since it's just me. I have a complete package at $1299 or a ceremony only + 3 minute highlights at $499. (What do you guys think of those rates by the way????) I plan to bump those up a little more once I get more equipment or a better computer to edit on, maybe in the $1800 / $700 range.

Hope this helps someone! If you have any more questions ask!!!! I'm getting a lot of insight from this thread too.
 
You ever have a plan B if your only camera stop working for no reason? What if you drop the camera by accident during a shoot, or camera stolen?

All these happened to me, and I was glad I have more than 1 camera as backup. One time my GL2 stuck at maximum zoom. Luckily, a camera store was on the same block. I was able to rent one. Another time BOTH of my camera were stolen by the hotel kitchen staff. Luckily, I have a third one in my camera bag. Otherwise, I can't imagine the consequence.
 
You ever have a plan B if your only camera stop working for no reason? What if you drop the camera by accident during a shoot, or camera stolen?

All these happened to me, and I was glad I have more than 1 camera as backup. One time my GL2 stuck at maximum zoom. Luckily, a camera store was on the same block. I was able to rent one. Another time BOTH of my camera were stolen by the hotel kitchen staff. Luckily, I have a third one in my camera bag. Otherwise, I can't imagine the consequence. <br>
 
That's one downside - there is no plan B. All I can do in that respect is try my absolute best to minimize risk that there won't be any equipment malfunctions, and work as if there won't be.

I use all Sandisk SD cards for the HMC, and make sure the camera has at least one eye and one hand on it at all times. If something goes horribly wrong, all I can probably do is apologize and offer a refund. But come to think of it, I think it might be a good idea to add something to my agreement regarding this. I've found from my weddings so far that it's most important to be really up front with people about issues you're facing.

But then again, what do you do if the camera malfunctions on a major commercial or film shoot? Surely they can't just have another RED in the van.
 
I don't think that's a good business model just to apologize and refund. That will ruin their wedding. Reviews will flow to yelp or those bridal forums that further hurt your name and business.

Instead of having no plan B, why don't you just buy another camera put in your bag?

Shooting multiple cams actually makes editing a lot easier. You can have a second cam rolling unmanned for wide shots.

Also, check any your friends who know someone in college need a part time job. College kids would be glad to make $10 to $20 an hour with food and hot bridesmaids. They can be someone help lugging the equpment, or just to monitor the second cam that nobody will trip over it.. or change battery or tape/memory card.

That's the way to grow a business.. IMO, not the way to add more terms in the contract to protect something that can be avoided. =)
 
Another $2000 for an HMC (used) or even an HMC40 is pretty expensive for a poor college student (me) though who barely afforded one :(

But if and when I could afford of those, I will have no problem employing someone to use it. :)

Totally agree that it's not the best business model. But since video isn't something as essential as photography yet, in my opinion, I really frown upon some photographers I've heard of shooting with just one camera. I don't think it's as bad as them! It's just a risk I have to take for now, and part of the risk of shooting a wedding with just one camera, which is what this thread is about. I really depend on my camera, and I know I'll get a backup as soon as it's affordable.
 
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No. you don't have to get another exact model as backup. Get a consumer cam or something capable and affordable. If you shoot multicam, then it's best to use two same models.

I would never tell others or myself wedding videography is not as important as photography. :)
 
Sure, we can tell ourselves and our clients that it's important, but what I'm referring to is that there are very few weddings (if any) that would put video before photo on the list of priorities.
 
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