This clip is from the current wedding I am working on, Allison’s, which I just started editing yesterday.  It takes place in the bridal suite prior to the photo shoot and how the video will start.

I get bored easily of doing the same thing over and over again and really want to do something different with weddings.  Instead of starting out with the usual exteriors of the location and music to establish everything, I just decided to get right into it.  I am just going to show the location throughout the video instead so you get a sense of it as you go along rather than just getting it all in the first minute or so. Again, I just want to do something different and not just cut and paste everything.  I have an idea for how to do something different with the reception, but I have to see how it works first.  If it does then I will put it up to show, if not then it will be back to the drawing board. When someone watches something I do, I want them to like it so much that even if they’re not getting married and looking for a videographer, they are impressed by it enough to still find out who did it.

Anyway, the wedding was at Fresh Meadow Country Club in Long Island.  I do a lot of country clubs for some reason.  As usual, rather than just stand around and wait for the photo session to start, I went to the bridal suite and just started shooting what was going on there. I want the video to be as good as possible, more so then the brides who book me, and including prep stuff is going to accomplish that.

Here is the clip…

This was actually not easy to shoot or edit.  Lots of people in the room and not too many places to get a good shot from.  This was a lot like Caroline’s wedding which I just did.  Also, there is music playing in the background which you can not get rid of, so if you want to shorten what someone is saying, a lot of times you can’t because the music in back will be all cut up and sound really bad, so you have to use a lot of tricks to make stuff like that work.

People think that effects and a lot of music are impressive, but just doing straight cuts and letting the footage speak for itself is much more difficult.  I find something more impressive if it’s done like that.  

Effects just cover mistakes. Anyone who charges you more to put in extra effects is just ripping you off. If they are making it better by putting in more effects, then aren’t they saying that if you don’t have a lot of effects that they won’t do as good a job on your wedding? I mean, think about it.

I think it will probably wind up staying this way in the final cut, but whenever I go back and watch something, I always find something that can be changed, so a shot or two may be different. I really like the stuff of her dancing in the beginning and the one of her looking in the mirror, think it’s nicely framed. There is still a lot to do with this part before I move past the suite.

I also like the Bon Jovi music playing in the background when it begins for no other reason then the fact I would never include anything like that in a video voluntarily, so it’s kind of funny to me to start it off like that. I did not add it, it’s just what was playing at the moment she was speaking. The song also just cuts off in the middle at one point, that’s because someone turned the radio off. Normally I would not do something like that myself to music I added, but since it happened naturally and it’s in the moment, it’s OK.