Today we are in Park City, Utah, to film Kyle Meshna’s wedding. If you do not know who Kyle is, he is an incredibly popular, arguably famous YouTuber. Go and check him out, he is genuinely great.
You can watch the wedding film here. This is everything that went into making it.
The Rehearsal Dinner
The day before, we started by filming downtown Park City, taking Kyle and his fiancée around a few pretty locations. Nothing heavy. Some nice little moments of them mingling around town, shot on an RS4 Mini because I wanted to stay as lightweight as possible.
Then up to the rehearsal dinner, which had seven toasts scheduled.
The Lighting Problem
Interesting situation in that room. A lot of LED point lighting, roughly 5,000 Kelvin, so daylight balanced, which is not bad in itself. The problem was that it was very harsh and coming straight down.
So I worked with what the room gave me. There was a direction I could shoot where the bar sat in the background, which meant nice bokeh behind whoever was speaking, and that solved the backdrop. Then I added a small light for a bit of side kick.
The light I reached for is an old Torch LED that still works great. I own newer Aperture lights, but why buy something new if you do not need to? The perk of these is the throw: for a light this small, the beam is very focused, so I could blast it in from the side and get exactly the edge I wanted.
I brought two light stands and set up one, on the principle that you put up the second only if you need it.
The Audio Problem
The venue said they had audio. Then I looked at the setup and thought, I do not know that you do have audio.
So the backup was a small shotgun mic plus a Tascam DR-10X, which plugs straight into the bottom of the mic. That gives you clean audio of whoever is speaking without needing anything from the house at all.
Establishing Shots, And Why
I do not know how much of a rehearsal dinner will end up in the finished film, but you always cover what you need. So: a couple of establishing shots. The sign, the building, two or three quick things.
Establishing shots exist to tell the audience where they are and what is happening. If you cut back to something later, they orient people instantly instead of leaving them confused.
I had a nice tight corner shot, then crossed the street to get something wider, because you want variety even when nothing about the shot is clever.
Where To Put People
The staging decision that made the whole thing work: put the couple up on a raised spot, with the person giving the toast standing below them.
Most of the guests would be standing anyway, so we were looking slightly down at the couple, and the couple were looking slightly down at whoever was speaking. It reads as attention rather than as a lineup.
Wedding Day: Four Shots Is Enough
On establishing perspective for the wedding day itself, my target was about four usable shots. That is genuinely it. Even if the edit jumps around in the timeline a lot, four give you enough to cut back to.
One thing worth knowing that caught me out here. I had a very strange tilt on one shot, because the building in the background did not look straight, so I kept tilting until it did.
Sometimes a shot will look straight to your eye and then you look at it on the screen and realize it is not straight at all. Check it on the camera, not in your head.
Groom Prep
We were early, which is the whole point of being early. That is what buys you the time to do this properly.
The room was quiet. No loud groomsmen. I am arguably the loudest person here. So the first thing I did was set his home base: this spot is yours, when you finish doing something, come back to it. Once that is established the room films itself.
The sun was high enough that it was not falling directly on him, so I put him where he would get a little reflected side light and some warm brown tones off the room.
And because it was quiet, I asked whether he wanted to read his letter then. He did. I prefer to get as much of the story done as possible early, while it is calm, rather than fighting for it later when the day has sped up.
How To Direct A Letter Reading
This is the bit I would steal if I were you. When someone is about to read a letter on camera, tell them three things:
- Read normally. Do not rush.
- If you make a mistake, go back a sentence and do it again. You are not live.
- When you finish, keep looking at the paper. Otherwise they look straight up at you going, was that good? And you have to cut around it.
Micing A Bride
She was not in the dress yet, so the mic went on with a clip, under a shirt, to get the letter reading recorded.
Then it moved to the dress before the first look, and here is what I was looking for. The dress was quite sheer, but it had good boning down the middle, which hides a mic cable beautifully if you run it right between. Get the mic and cable in first, and it can stay put even if she takes the dress off and puts it back on. Sometimes we double up the stickies as backup. The recorder goes on a thigh strap later.
For the groom, I miked his jacket early, while I still knew exactly where the jacket was. That sounds obvious. It is not, at 4pm.
And one detail that makes first look audio work: set the height of the groom’s mic based on the bride’s height, because his mic has to pick up both of them. Shorter bride, mic goes lower. Taller, higher. These two were about the same height, so it was easy.
First Look
It was the highest of high noon, vertical sun, which is not what you want. We found a spot with shade from the trees and the right background, and that was the winner.
Worth noting that if the bride has to take the dress off and put it back on between the first look and the ceremony, all the mic work you just did has to be redone. The good news is that the second time you know exactly what you are doing and it takes a fraction as long.
A Rented Lens That Was Not Right
Small but useful: I was running a rented Sony 28-70, and its autofocus was squirrely. It wandered, and it was slow to decide something was a face. Is that a face? I don’t know. How about the background? I have never had that happen with my 24mm or any other Sony lens I have used.
The zoom felt a bit rough too, so my guess is somebody dropped it before it got to me. If you rent glass, test it before the day, not on it.
Lunch In A Small Town
The bridesmaids ordered food. The groomsmen went out for food. Rachel and I looked at each other and realised we were starving.
Park City has, it turns out, limited options. No Whataburger. No In-N-Out. You know what it does have? Burger King. Judge away. Flame grilled Whopper. It is happening.
Reception Lighting And Surviving The Noise
For the reception the goal with the lights is subtlety. You want a kick on the face, not a light that overpowers it. And be careful where you put the stand: a corner sounds safe until somebody walks into it.
The other tip, which is not about filmmaking at all: I have started wearing AirPods with noise cancellation on at loud receptions. So much better.
That Is How You Film A YouTuber’s Wedding
Pretty fun. Pretty crazy. Pretty wild. It went very well and it was a super chill day for the most part, aside from a stretch where I thought the ceremony was going to start early.
The audio cables I use for all of this are the pack I made with Kondor Blue, and my Filmmaker Gear Guide is free if you want the rest of the kit.