First Time Shoot Weddings

Alan Certeza · March 24, 2009

So, I am a student of the Art Institute of Seattle trying to get my hands on some experience. So, a friend and I posted an ad on Craigslist and got two gigs for April.

So, I was hoping to get some advise and some pointers on the sequence of events?

Any suggested b-roll to look out for?

Any suggestions on additional equipment?

We will be using Final Cut Pro 6 & Pro Tools 8 in post.

The couples who agreed to hire us understand that we are students and willing to take a huge risk hiring us. Very thankful for the experience.

Our equipment list:

Panasonic DVX100B

4 CGP-D28 batteries

Canon XL1 16x Zoom lens & 3x wide Zoom

2 BP-930 batteries

Canon VL-10Li II

Frezzi Sun Gun light kit

2 bogen tripods w/ fluid heads

2 Glidecam 4000 pro

2 large Silver/White reflectors

8 Mini-Dv tapes

1 Shure SM-58

1 Sennheiser ME66 Short Shotgun Microphone

2 XLR cables

Do you guys think I should bring along a Fostex FR2 field recorder for some reception interviews?

Also, Any suggestion for any additional equipment that may be needed?

Thanks for looking and hope to get some great feedback.

-Alan

andy oliver · March 25, 2009

take more tapes, if you can attend other weddings to get an idea on how the day pans out, surf online samples, take an umbrella, and food supplies... aww, if you have access to, take a radio mike for the vows... best of luck

Ross Neugeboren · March 25, 2009

So, I am a student of the Art Institute of Seattle trying to get my hands on some experience. So, a friend and I posted an ad on Craigslist and got two gigs for April.

So, I was hoping to get some advise and some pointers on the sequence of events?

Any suggested b-roll to look out for?

Any suggestions on additional equipment?

We will be using Final Cut Pro 6 & Pro Tools 8 in post.

The couples who agreed to hire us understand that we are students and willing to take a huge risk hiring us. Very thankful for the experience.

Do you guys think I should bring along a Fostex FR2 field recorder for some reception interviews?

Also, Any suggestion for any additional equipment that may be needed?

Thanks for looking and hope to get some great feedback.

-Alan

Wedding video is all about run and gun shooting and being unobtrusive, which we all know. Audio is a huge part of this, and in most cases you're going to want to keep audio on camera. If you were to get a Sennheiser G2 UHF system for each camera, you could run a wireless cube for taps and your wired handheld, and either a wireless bodypack and lavalier or a handheld. The cube is useful during the ceremony for tapping into a PA system, and can be plugged into your SM58 for an additional handheld during the reception. You could also try miking the priest/rabbi with a bodypack and omnidirectional mic to try to pickup the vows, like Andy said. If you're using UHF wireless during the reception, make sure you check with the DJ or wedding band for conflicting frequencies. Your camera support and on-camera lighting seems good.

In terms of B-roll, I usually see videographers grabbing shots of the tablesettings before the reception, the cake, setting etc. I haven't actually shot a wedding (I've done a few bar-mitzvahs, ceremonies and such) ; but I'm just going off the basics of event video.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Ross Neugeboren

Jeff Clegg · March 25, 2009

I haven't shot a wedding, but have spent some time recently getting some on the job training for event video, here are a few suggestions:

I second the wireless mic, two if you can get them. The shotgun mic will be ok for anything up close or general ambient sound, but it can start to sound horrible with anything either far away or with the kind of echo you may get.

Also, make sure you go over the day with the clients, if they have anything special planned or any particular activity that they really want taped, you want to know about it, well before the moment it starts. Along with that I would suggest getting to the location early, probably earlier than you may think, as there is almost always some little problem that will crop up and you want to make sure you have it handled. It is better to be set up early and take a breather than to be fidgeting with something as everything starts.

Try to play with the settings on the cameras beforehand to match them as closely as you can. It can be a pain to attempt to make everything cut together visually in post if the two cameras are getting different looks.

As for B-roll, if you are taping any of the speeches, getting some shots of happy or interested people can help if you do need to cut, otherwise happy dancing people is always nice, cute children doing pretty much anything can also help.

Ross Neugeboren · March 25, 2009

Try to play with the settings on the cameras beforehand to match them as closely as you can. It can be a pain to attempt to make everything cut together visually in post if the two cameras are getting different looks.

I'm pretty sure both those cameras are capable of free-run timecode sync. That will make you (and FCP) very happy cutting multicam.

Jonathan Bowerbank · March 25, 2009

Get in touch with the DJ, or whoever's in charge of the PA/speaker system during the ceremony and reception.

I shot my older sister's wedding last year, and managed to patch one of my cameras into his soundboard, so I got excellent audio for the ceremony. And I just used the onboard mic for capturing ambient & congregation noise.

If you can, try and go to the ceremony rehearsal as well to get an idea for best camera placement.

When the wedding party goes out to take photos at a separate location between the ceremony & reception, I'd recommend you only send one of the cameras along with them, and the other to the reception to set up for the wedding party's entrance. On both occasions that I've shot a strangers wedding, the camera crew hasn't made it back in time for the introductions.

I REALLY hate shooting weddings for people I don't know, I just find it incredibly dull and awkward having to be at a party shooting people who I don't know. I'm currently starting up a small prod. company with a friend, where weddings is going to be one of our services...I just gotta suck it up and do it, even though the money usually isn't too great. It's also a business where really, there aren't any repeat customers, only referrals. So I wouldn't make it the center of any new business.

Steve McBride · March 25, 2009

I've done one wedding by myself with one camera, which sucked, but you seem to have all the right equipment. The only thing I would suggest picking up is one of the Mini LitePanels LED lights for doing interviews during the reception.

For the ceremony, have one of the cameras (probably the XL1 because of the longer zoom) at the back of the location preferably up higher than ground level, if it's at a church it will probably have some sort of balcony which is perfect. Put this on one of the tripods and use it for you overall coverage of the event. Then have the other camera on the Glidecam but make sure you can easily move it to the tripod. Use this camera for your cutaways during the ceremony.

Make sure you hit all of the major parts of the ceremony and that at least one camera is rolling at all times. You can usually talk with the wedding coordinator or whatever they're called and get a list of the events during the ceremony which will help a LOT, especially for your first time.

As the others said, definitely pickup a wireless lav mic. Before the ceremony ask the groom if you can put it in his inner jacket pocket and then clip it onto his lapel. Have this audio recording to whatever camera isn't in the back. If you can't patch into the sound at the location, have the camera in the back setup with the shotgun mic and record audio to this.

That's really all I can think of now. Just make sure to not get lazy or bored when you're there. You will get pretty bored especially since you don't know anyone there, but you want to make sure you have everything you need before you get to editing. And don't forget to eat. Most weddings will have a table set aside for the photographer, DJ, and videographer. It's free, so eat it.

Alan Certeza · March 26, 2009

Thanks Guys for the advise. All very very helpful.

My friend and I are trying to check out equipment from our school to try to get 2 Sony DSR400 locked down for the ceremony. We ere thinking one up top and the other tight on the minister,bride and groom as we both shoot wide and tight shots with the glide-cam.

Once again THANKS A WHOLE LOT.

I'll post the edit piece once we're done.

Rob Vogt · March 26, 2009

Dont forget headphones either. ;) Hope everything goes smoothly. Good luck getting the Sonys

Jonathan Bowerbank · March 27, 2009

... as we both shoot wide and tight shots with the glide-cam.

Just keep in mind it's going to be a long day of constant shooting. And for shooting the ceremony, you don't want to draw ANY attention to yourself, so it's probably best to have all cameras on tripods, rather than roaming around and taking away from the bride & groom's special day.

Last wedding I shot we had 3 cameras, XL2's. The one with the wide zoom was set in the back for a general wide shot. And the other two cameras were set downstage left and upstage right, basically picking up CU's and avoiding the camera at all times. It made for an interesting final edit, having such different perspectives.