What does your wedding assistant do?

modus

modus

Well-known member
All the weddings I shoot are with one, two or sometimes three cameras with operators. I was just hired to shoot a wedding with one camera (and me, as the operator) and one assistant. The company hiring me is a photography studio trying to expand into video.

While I will gladly recommend one of my local video friends to hire as an assistant, I'm not sure what his duties (other than carrying my stuff) should be.

I don't want to be wasting time ordering him around all night and I certainly don't want to run out of things for him to do because I'm so used to doing it myself.

What do your assistants do at weddings?
 
I have been filming weddings for 7 years now, and I have never had an assistant. There are times that I wish I had one. If I did have one, I would make him carry all the gear, lights, mics, tripods, and extra cameras, or have him help you shoot. Instead of using 1 camera why not use 2 if you have them and go above and beyond and really bring something to the table for these people. Don't look at the assistant being a setback, but if you have one then really make it easy on yourself to really get the shots you want.
 
jsvideoworx said:
I have been filming weddings for 7 years now, and I have never had an assistant. There are times that I wish I had one. If I did have one, I would make him carry all the gear, lights, mics, tripods, and extra cameras, or have him help you shoot. Instead of using 1 camera why not use 2 if you have them and go above and beyond and really bring something to the table for these people. Don't look at the assistant being a setback, but if you have one then really make it easy on yourself to really get the shots you want.
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I took your advice and hired an assistant who was looking for wedding experience. I had him shoot reverse angle shots of family members and their reactions. However, I found that the biggest advantage was that he was able to give me some great off-camera lighting with my 50W lowel iLight.

He also carried my stuff. :)
 
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After doing a 3-camera wedding solo, I decided I would never go it alone again... I recently shot a wedding with a good friend of mine as the assistant. His work helped tremendously throughout the day. He was there to help carry all the equipment in in one load, start setting up tripods and wireless in the balcony while I shot B-Roll of the church, guestbook, prep, etc. During the ceremony he operated the second cam and then afterwards was able to pack everything up while I shot some more. Knowing he was up there ready to roll as soon as things started meant I could grab last-minute b-roll before the ceremony without stressing that I'd miss the first steps of the processional. Having this saved my butt since a train halted our journey to the church, leaving me with a much smaller window to get everything in I usually like to shoot.

During the reception, again, he helped carry equipment and set up for the bridal party entrance, while I shot the couple driving up in the limo. During toasts, I could tell him to stay on the speaker while I got reaction shots from the couple and other people mentioned. The rest of the night, I just had him shoot to his heart's content until the HMC150's card was full, giving him plenty of practice, and me plenty of extra shots to work with in post. Having a competent assistant there to help deal with all the frustrating and time consuming parts of the day made all the difference in my stress level, and allowed me to focus more on capturing every moment as perfect as possible, not having to sacrifice creativity for time.

Hope that helps!
 
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