Weddings usually end with the couple running out through a line of sparklers or confetti while everybody they love cheers at them. This is how Rachel and I film it, shot at a real wedding, in the ten minutes before it actually happened.
Where I Stand
I’m on a 24mm, on a Glidecam, walking out backwards in front of the couple. That’s the whole trick. Backwards, in front, so you get their faces, because their faces are the entire reason this shot exists.
Rachel is normally at the far end of the line shooting back up over my shoulder, picking them up as they keep walking out toward her. That combination works well for us. Sometimes we’ll mix it up and I’ll drop in behind the couple, or go off to one side, but the version above is the default.
On this particular night we changed it. Rachel followed along behind the couple instead, for a completely different angle, so what you see in the video doesn’t quite match what I’d just finished describing.
Let The Photographer Light It For You
The photographers on this wedding also shot our own wedding, and they are our favorite people to work alongside. One of them walked behind the couple with a light and backlit them the whole way down.
That’s what gives them the glow outline. You get a rim of light around both of them, the sparklers throw their own light in from both sides, and suddenly a pitch black exit at ISO 800 looks like it was designed.
So I had Rachel walk along behind the photographer, which gave me a second angle to cut to that also had the benefit of that backlight. If the photo team is doing something clever with light, get your second camera into it rather than fighting it.
I will say I was honestly kind of terrified of getting burned, walking backwards, with sparklers going off on both sides of my head. It looked so good though.
Settings
Everything is on a Sony a7S II in the MattFlat picture profile, 1080p at 60fps so it can be slowed down.
- The exit itself: Sigma 24mm at f/1.4, ISO 800, climbing to ISO 1,600 once we’re outside and away from the doorway light.
- The getaway car: Sigma 24mm at f/1.4, ISO 8,000, and a Canon 50mm at f/1.4 at ISO 16,000 for the tighter stuff.
ISO 16,000 sounds insane and it is, but a parking lot at night with two street lamps gives you nothing, and a grainy shot of the car pulling away is worth infinitely more than no shot of the car pulling away.
Here’s the camera and lenses I used. And you can watch the full wedding film this exit came from here.
If you want to ask me anything about filming weddings directly, I offer one on one filmmaker consulting.