Vertical sequence setup, export settings and the bitrate that actually decides how your video looks. Written for IGTV in 2018; the Premiere half still applies.
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One of the reasons Rachel and I love filming weddings is that we get to witness the collision of planning and reality, and whatever emotions come out of it.
Couples plan for months, sometimes years. Then the day arrives and the plan changes anyway, because of things nobody controls. That collision gives you a glimpse of who somebody actually is, and it produces some of the most real and raw moments we’ve ever captured.
Emily and Mike planned an outdoor ceremony. In the days leading up to the wedding, the forecast turned to clouds and rain.
Ten minutes before the ceremony, with a fine mist falling over the perfectly aligned chairs, Emily made the call: they were going ahead outdoors. Rainy reality and all. And with a smile on her face, she walked toward her groom.
At the end of the aisle stood Mike, dealing with expectations of his own. There was banter going between him, the officiant, and his best man, including a whispered discussion about whether he was going to start crying the moment he saw Emily.
Mike’s expectation of having a tough time watching her walk down the aisle was, pun fully intended, shattered by the reality of Emily knocking over and very loudly breaking a large glass vase on her way toward him.
They both immediately started laughing. Because regardless of how any part of that day went, they were together.
These weren’t isolated incidents, either. Plenty of things across that day didn’t go the way anybody drew them up. Emily and Mike’s response was the same every single time: a smile and a laugh.
Plans, even ones you’ve been building for over a year, rarely land the way you think they will. It’s in those moments that who you actually are shows up. If we all met reality the way Emily and Mike met theirs, we’d be alright.
Rain is not a disaster for a wedding film. It’s a gift you didn’t ask for.
Overcast turns the entire sky into one enormous softbox, so faces are lit evenly and nobody is squinting into hard sun. Wet stone and wet grass hold color and reflect light. Umbrellas give you something to shoot through. And every single guest is more present, because weather makes people pay attention.
What it costs you is caution. Keep a cloth on you at all times, keep a bag over the body between setups, and get your wide establishing shots in early, because you won’t be able to leave the couple later.
📷 My favorite wedding filmmaking gear, and my Sony a7S II wedding setup specifically. Color graded with my LUTs.
Rain or shine, as long as you’re okay with things maybe not happening exactly as you planned, we would love to film it. 🎥 Please get in touch.
And if you’re the one holding the camera: 🎬 my wedding film editing course, ►► my free guide to booking more wedding clients, and ✌ the Learn Wedding Filmmaking Facebook Group.
Fifteen Soundstripe tracks split into ambient, epic and dance, with notes on exactly where each one goes in a wedding edit.
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Facebook throttled business page reach, so stop uploading your films there first. Hand the couple a ready-to-post file instead, and let the platform do the work for you.
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Clarissa and Andy have spent many mornings of their relationship watching the sunrise together over the Atlantic Ocean, so it makes sense that we wanted to fly up to Virginia to meet them at 5am to film the sunrise on their wedding day. None of us got much sleep, but we were treated to one of the best moments ever when Andy brought out his guitar and sang a song he wrote for Clarissa. She cried. Rachel cried. I didn’t cry. Okay, maybe I did a little bit.
Regardless, this was one of the most special times we’ve had with a couple, and Rachel and I loved every second of it. Keep an eye out for Clarissa and Andy’s full wedding film coming soon. 🙂
Getting married? We would love to film your wedding, and will even get up at 5am if you wanna watch the sunrise. Get in touch!