Many of you have been asking me “how did last weekend’s big wedding go?” and I’ve been promising you I’d blog about it soon… so after a crazy week I’m finally getting around to it. : )
All I can say is WOW. Wow simply describes everything perfectly. The Couple, the millions of stunning details, the Rehearsal Dinner, the Dress, the Flowers, the Band, the Lighting, the Planning and of course the privilege to capture it all on video… WOW. But before I get into the details of my experience, I thought I’d share a quick and very short video of some of the rehearsal dinner. As many of you may have read from Jen’s Blog, we are keeping the identity of the couple private and are only posting detail shots and clips online. So this video is just a small taste of the entire weekend.
I’m sorry that it is so short, but short is sweet… and its always better to leave the viewer wanting more when it comes to video. : ) Hopefully this little teaser does the trick. (Technical Note: all this footage was shot on my new Nikon D90 DSLR camera)
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It’s actually pretty rare to see video this soon after a wedding as it usually takes months to organize and edit together… but with the Nikon D90 I was able to throw a few clips together for this post without to much trouble.
In the end we shot nearly 25 hours of video in 1.5 days, and if you count all the side projects and videos surrounding this weekend that number jumps well above 30 hours of video. Needless to say editing is going to take some time, but will be well worth it in the end.
For me this wedding was fun long before the day began. When you have 5 cameras to coordinate, the pre-production (planning) phase takes a giant leap over the what is required for a traditional wedding. Yes that’s right 5 (five) cameras. I actually had 6 cameras, but only 5 operators. Even when shooting 2 or 3 cameras it can be terribly difficult to stay out of each others shots, let alone blend into the backgound and avoid being a distraction. So for me, planning every last shot and how things would be covered was half the fun. With individual shot lists and schedules for each crew person, and a new 4 person wireless communication system, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the day to put it all in motion.
That is one of the things I love most about videography… the team concept. I think it comes from my film making experience and education. Movies simply can not exist without a group of people each performing their individual part, and each role is equally important. The Director needs actors, who need lights on them, which need to be recorded by a camera crew… accompanied by a sound crew… and the list goes on and on.
I have to give a shout out to Jenn from Modern Day Floral for doing an “out of this world” job on both the rehearsal and the wedding. And of course to Jodi from In Any Event for making this masterpiece flow so smoothly and with so much splendor and magnificance. Kudos to everyone who was involved and a special thank you to the bride and groom for allowing me to share your incredible day with you! The video will be worth the wait… trust me. : )