2nd Generations Video Production

Your wedding will be unique. There will never be another ceremony and reception precisely like yours. Your wedding video will also be unique, but not solely because of the uniqueness of your wedding and reception. You have significant versatility in designing your video, both in content and style. There are many options for to you choose from today for your video that were not available just a few years ago. By making a few decisions in advance regarding what is important to you for your video, you will be able to select the videographer and video options that will give you the video that’s right for you.

Many bride magazines and wedding planning books have lists of questions to ask your videographer. Those are all important questions and should definitely be asked. But for the most part, those questions relate to the business and production of the video. The questions here relate to what will ultimately be on the video… the content, and the style.

The questions fall into three categories:

a) Onsite Coverage (hours onsite, number of videographers, high definition, etc.)

b) Video Content (length, production style, extra segments, etc.)

c) Video Delivery (DVD, BluRay, Web, podcast, hard drive, tape, video books, etc.)

In the next few articles, I’ll discuss each of these decisions and our offerings related to these decisions.

— Jerry Malcolm, Owner/CEO, 2nd Generation Wedding Films

The videographer is typically onsite from an hour or more prior to the ceremony through the departure. However, some brides will stage a departure early to capture it on the video in order to reduce the number of hours the videographer is onsite.  Or the bride may choose to not have the videographer stay to cover the departure.

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Should I have a 2nd videographer, and if so, for how many hours?

When you turn to face each other to say your vows, the videographer will typically be in a position to get a closeup of your face. With one videographer from that position, it is not possible to get a similar closeup shot of the groom’s face. A second videographer would be positioned on the opposite side facing the groom in order to get a simultaneous closeup of the groom’s face during the vows. Also, a second videographer would be dedicated to coverage of the bridal preparation during the pre-ceremony time. For the reception, a second videographer is beneficial for first dance, parent dances, etc. Our 2nd videographer is on a tripod for the special dances, enabling stable romantic, emotional closeup shots. For the toasts and cake cutting, a second videographer will provide shots from a different angle in the event some guests step into the 1st videographer’s shot. Finally, for dancing, depending upon the size of the crowd, a 2nd videographer can be covering a different side of the dance floor.

Is a 2nd videographer mandatory for the entire evening? In many cases the answer is ‘no’. We strongly encourage a 2nd videographer for pre-ceremony and ceremony. We also recommend a 2nd videographer for the special dances and toasts when possible. After that, it depends on the size of the crowd.

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Should I Get My Wedding Filmed in High Definition?

Where more and more people are now purchasing High Definition TVs, a smaller number have purchased BluRay players. If you do not have a BluRay player, why should you pay for High Definition for your wedding video? The decision is still up to you. However, consider the probablility that sometime in the future, you will have high definition capability in your home entertainment center. When a wedding is filmed in High Definition, it can still be produced and delivered in standard DVD format. If you do not yet have HD capability, consider having your wedding filmed in High Definition, but delivered in standard DVD with an option to get a high definition BluRay disc of your wedding at a later time.

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We film everything that is relevant that occurs during the hours we are onsite.  Once we have captured everything, you can then choose from several different options for length and style for producing your video based on your desires and your budget.

I will discuss the production of your video in the next article.

— Jerry Malcolm, 2nd Generation Wedding Films

Once the wedding and reception have been filmed, the next decision is what you want your main video to look like.   The term “wedding video” has a huge range of definitions for length, content, and style. Videographers vary greatly in what they deliver. It is very important to choose a videographer that delivers the style, content, and length you are envisioning for your video.

First, there are two basic styles for video: Documentary style and Cinematic style.

Documentary style can best be described as “no frills, as-it-happened” style. The sole objective with this style is to simply document the event. Real audio is typically used. Documentary style is used for complete ceremony coverage, complete toasts, etc. Some videographers also use documentary style for their highlights video as well. Music may be added to documentary style in a highlights video. However the video is not synchronized to the highs and lows in the music.

Cinematic style is more creative and artistic, using video, audio, and music to tell a story. Slow motion, fast motion, quick cuts edited to the beat of the song, black and white, soft focus, fades, and other film style techniques are employed to create a film story.  Cinematic style is typically shorter than documentary style since the videographer will tightly edit the “best of the best” shots.

Some videographers are strictly documentary style and typically deliver longer, but ‘no frills’ videos.  Others are strictly cinematic style and typically delivery short, very artistic video. And other videographers, such as 2nd Generation Video, offer both styles.

Which style is right for you?  First, consider who will be watching your video, both now and in the future.  We have found that there are three types of audiences that will be watching your video:

1) You and your spouse, your parents, your grandparents, your children, your grandchildren, your great grandchildren.

2) Your bridesmaids, your groomsmen, your close friends

3) Your “Facebook friends”, co-workers, etc.

The first audience most often will want the main events of the day documented in their entirety, including the complete ceremony, complete toasts, all of the speeches at the rehearsal dinner, etc.

The second audience would like to relive the day, but in an abbreviated form.  Usually a 20-25 minute video is a good length to truly experience everything that happened during the day.

The third audience wants to see a short 3-4 minute “YouTube” style highlights of your wedding.

So you first decision is to determine which of these audiences, some or all, apply to you.  Once you know that, then choose a videographer that offers production videos that address these audiences.

In the next article, I will cover the specific production videos that 2nd Generation offers to address these three audiences.

— Jerry Malcolm, 2nd Generation Wedding Films

This article is a continuation of the previous article: What Do I Want My “Main Video” to Look Like?.

We have found that most brides would like a video that addresses all three of the audiences discussed in the previous article.  2nd Generation Films offers production videos that address each of these audiences.  Since our offerings are a la carte, you can choose the production videos that fit your needs.

Following is a description of our most popular production videos, the style, length, and the audience category it’s intended to address.  Each of these videos will be a separate menu item on your DVD/BluRay disc.

“Remember The Day” Video

Our “Remember the Day” video is our most popular video.  It runs ~20-25 minutes in length.  I describe it as “Enough of everything, but not all of anything”.  It contains a mix of cinematic style and documentary style.  It fits in the “bridesmaids, groomsmen, close friends” audience group.  The audience can truly feel like they have relived the day with this video.

“Reflections” Video

Our Reflections video is a shorter highlights of the day.  It runs ~6-7 minutes in length.  It is purely cinematic style.  We usually use two songs for a Reflections… a slower, more romantic song (often the 1st dance song) for the pre-ceremony, ceremony, and special dances portion, and then a faster song for the dancing/party portion.  Even though it’s much shorter than the Remember the Day video, this video can still fit the “bridesmaids, groomsmen, close friends” audience.  However, it is short enough that it could also fit the “Facebook friends” audience.

“RtD Rewind” Video (Remember the Day — Rewind)

Most of our brides purchase a Remember the Day video to truly relive the entire day.  But many of these brides also would like to have a Facebook/iPhone video.  Our “RtD Rewind” video is a highly cinematic style video, 1-song in length, usually very upbeat and fun highlights of the day directly targeted at the “facebook crowd”.

These are our three most popular videos. We also offer several documentary style videos, such as Complete Ceremony, Complete Toasts, etc. I’ll discuss those in the next article.

— Jerry Malcolm, 2nd Generation Video Productions