10 Tips to Shooting Cinematic Wedding Videos

our top 10 tips to shooting wedding videos

tip no.1 is buying the right gear Jake

what do you recommend the good people

buy for shooting weddings well first off

we want to emphasize that the brand of

camera you buy isn't nearly as important

as learning how to use whatever you have

to its fullest potential

but that having been said here are our

recommendations for those just starting

out we want to talk about the four basic

pieces of equipment you should be using

as a one-man camera crew a camera body a

lens a stabilizer and a microphone for a

camera our needs are pretty simple we

want a camera that can shoot at least 60

frames per second in at least 1080p

60fps allows for beautiful slow-motion

and for Parker and I style

we love that slow and dreamy look for

our wedding films we also want a camera

that has great auto focus it makes our

lives so much easier and lastly we look

for cameras with great colors for Parker

and I we prefer to get our colors as

beautiful as we can straight out of

camera we then like to enhance and grade

the colors to match our own personal

styles Parker and I both shoot on the

Canon 1dx mark - which can shoot 4k at

60 frames per second has great autofocus

and also awesome in-camera colors I've

also used the 5d Mark 4 which can shoot

1080 at 60 fps and the Sony a7 3 which

does the same Sony is going to do better

in low light but in our opinion not as

well with colors so just pros and cons -

each camera for us personally 4k s60 is

a game-changer so the 1 DX is our weapon

of choice now obviously that is a bit

pricey for most but we do recommend

investing in professional gear so the

cheapest would recommend going is

something like the Canon a DD or Sony a

6500 which will run you about $1,000

my very first wedding that I shot was on

a Canon t3i but could only shoot 720 at

60 frames per second and was super soft

so I'd recommend investing in something

nicer than that if you want to take

wedding seriously

as for lenses if you can only have one

lens I'd recommend getting the 24 274 if

you on an aps-c camera then something

like a sigma 17 to 55 on a full-frame

camera though the 24 to 70 is my go-to

all-purpose lens that allows you to get

great shots wide open for big groups and

establishing locations but also zooms in

for tighter shots to focus in on faces

and other details I'd say 80% of my

footage for weddings comes from this

lens and you can definitely get by with

just this one lens at a wedding and if

you're gonna pick up a second lens I'd

probably get something like a 50

millimeter 1.4 so that you can have a

lens that shoots better in low light and

allows for that extra shallow depth of

field

Jake's primary lens that he uses for

most of his wedding footage is either

the Canon 50mm meter 1.2 or the Canon 35

millimeter 1.4 as for stabilizers Jake

and I both love and use the glidecam the

glidecam HD pro series is probably the

best when we recommend getting right now

as for motorized gimbals we've tested

out quite a few but our favorite for

weddings would have to be the Ronin s

it's easy to balance easy to learn and

much easier to get smooth shot straight

out of the box than a glide cam again we

still both agree the glide cam looks

more natural and it is more versatile so

we do use that over a motorized gimbal

but the glide cam does take a lot more

practice to get good and inside the

course we show you how to master the

glide cam and give you our favorite

settings for using the Ronin s and

smooth footage is going to separate you

from most of the amateurs out there so

investing in a good stabilizer and

learning how to use it is very important

and for microphones my favorite

microphone to capture audio at weddings

is the tascam dr-05

these things are so small and they come

in black and white they're super easy to

put on and basically invisible there's

obviously other accessories you'll want

to pick up like ND filters maybe some

lights for the reception venue camera

bags

memory cards hard drives but we won't go

into too much detail on all the

knickknacks in this video you can visit

our KITT pages links in the description

to see a full list of all of our camera

recommendations moving on to

our second tip to shooting weddings is to plan

ahead set expectations I see so many

horror stories of clients getting upset

their videographers and vice versa and

all of those issues could have been

resolved if they would have just

communicated when a bride is interested

in booking your services it's so

important to make sure you're both on

the same page about what to expect on

that big day they should know when

you'll be there what the final product

will look like how long it's gonna take

for you to edit it what you will and

won't be shooting during the day and so

on talk to your clients be personable

they're not just hiring you for a video

they are hiring you to spend their whole

wedding day with them they want to know

and be assured that you're going to be a

pleasure to work with they don't want to

stress the whole day about whether

you're going to do your job correctly

and/or being bugged about how intrusive

or passive you are some Brides will want

you to be in the action getting as close

up as you can and everything and others

will want you to be on the outskirts and

invisible you have to communicate these

things beforehand ask if they have any

special requests or details they want to

make sure in the video some weddings

involve very sentimental details and

only the family knows what they are

great communication ensures that those

details however small or big make it in

the final edit on the topic of

communication this also applies to

working with photographer communicate

with them I've worked with countless

photographers some with great

personalities and others with

not-so-great personalities but I've

never had any issues working with one

why because I communicate when you

arrive at the wedding find the

photographer introduce yourself and then

talk about the schedule for the day

discuss where you want to be to capture

important shots like the bride walking

down the aisle the first kiss etc

discuss where you both can be without

being in each other's way this gets you

on the same page and ensures that

neither of you will butt into the other

shot and if you become great friends

with the photographer then they'll start

sending you client referrals but they

definitely won't send work your way if

you're a pain to work with so plan ahead

set expectations and be a pleasure to

work with tip number three is choosing

the best focal lengths your job is to make

the bride and groom look as attractive

as possible a lot of that depends on

what focal length to use a huge sign of

an amateur videographer is one who puts

a

wide-angle close-up to the bride's face

the most flattering focal length for the

human face has been said to be between

70 and 100 millimeter for example take a

look at my buddy Tanner here look how

distorted his face looks at 24

millimeter versus how natural it looks

at 70 millimeter so the only time I use

24 millimeter is for group shots where

I'm trying to fit a lot of things into

the frame and then i zoom in a 70

millimeter when I'm going tight on the

couples faces wide-angle lenses are for

wide shots and tighter focal lengths are

for faces people and details tip number

four is to create depth when I see a

detail that I like or I'm posing my

couple I look for opportunities to

create depth meaning I want something as

foreground to my subject and something

in the background of my subject this

creates depth in my image by creating

layers and making this scene feel more

three-dimensional thus making my subject

pop off the screen and come to life

another great way to create depth is to

look for leading lines like in fences or

pillars or pathways anything that makes

your image like it has depth will turn

on not so cinematic image into something

beautiful tip number five is to capture

the details the couple spent a ton of

money on details for their wedding the

flowers the cake the tables the chairs

the bride's dress the groom's outfit the

venue as a whole the lights the decor

hanging around everything was handpicked

by the bride to be at that wedding so

film all of it details are also a great

thing to help set the mood of the final

video they can be used to transition

between scenes or set the tone of the

whole film and carry the aesthetic

details are also great b-roll to put

overtop of people talking so make sure

to capture more than you think you're

going to need for your edits and in

order to have time to film all of those

details make sure to show up about an

hour early to the venue so you have

plenty of time to capture as much as you

need without people walking in and out

of your shots tip number six is lighting

wedding ceremonies typically are lit

pretty well and there's usually not much

you can do to change the lighting so you

just have to do the best you can with

the lighting situations that you're

given and document everything as it

plays out but receptions typically are

not lit very well they're usually in the

evening when the Sun Goes Down and the

mood is supposed to be intimate and dark

which usually means very low lighting

and even with a low aperture lens and a

great low-light camera sometimes the

venue is just too dark to shoot and if

you bump up your ISO too much your image

will just start to fall apart

in some situations that may be all you

can do but where possible we recommend

setting up some of your own lighting

lighting up a reception is a

game-changer you'll not only be able to

make your subject more visible but

you'll turn the whole scene into a much

more cinematic image and the

photographer's would probably love you

I didn't invest in lights the first year

of my business and I have many regrets I

personally love and use the core swx

torch LED lights I bought three of these

things and I couldn't be happier with

the results they can mount right to your

camera or to a light stand they're

bright dimmable and bicolored and when

you're lighting up a scene ideally

you'll have at least two lights one

light as your key light to light up the

front of your subject and another light

as the back light to make sure your

subject doesn't disappear into the

background and having by colored lights

is important as well as it gives you the

freedom to master light temperature with

the temperature of the venue lights it

would look horrible if your lights were

cool and blue while the reception lights

were orange and warm so where possible

set up some artificial lights and match

the color temperature to blend in with

the venue tip number seven is called

right place right time

weddings are busy and there are so many

things happening at once and the last

thing you want to do is miss a moment

that only happens once so whenever

someone deems me and asked hey any

advice my first wedding my answer is

always be in the right place at the

right time know where to be for when the

bride is getting ready which is at her

side know where to be when she walks

down the aisle when they exchange rings

when they exchange vows know where to be

when they cut the cake toss the bouquet

make their grand exit and so on weddings

are full of moments that happen once

that you can't redo plan out where to be

and when knowing where to be takes time

and it takes learning if you're very

inexperienced we have several virtual

job shadows in the course to show you

where we choose to be in different

scenarios to help give you the

confidence to know where you should be

when you shoot your weddings but the

best way to learn is to do it yourself

and learn as you go for example when the

bride is about to walk down the aisle

the right place to be at that time is at

the front of the ceremony shooting down

the aisle if you're off to the side or

maybe even behind her you're in the

wrong place and you're missing the best

angle no one wants to see the back of

her head they want to see her face they

also want to see the groom's reaction so

you'll want to make sure once you've got

a great shot of the bride to turn around

and grab a

quick-reaction shot of the groom but you

can't capture both of their faces unless

you are in the right place at the right

time when in doubt about where you

should be the safest thing to do is

suggest follow the bride nothing

important ever happens at the wedding

without the bride so don't lose her and

you shouldn't miss out on anything too

important tip number eight is audio as I

always say audio is half of the viewing

experience good music choice sound

effects dialog can all enhance the video

and help the story come to life and be

more meaningful in an emotional way on

the other hand horribly captured audio

can ruin a beautiful image or if no

audio is captured at all the video will

end up feeling a little bit empty

admittedly I've done plenty of wedding

highlight films with no talking just

visuals set to music and that can work

but when you compare that to the times

when I've included vows or toasts or

speeches to go over top of the visuals

it can take the video to a whole new

level

so where possible try and capture some

sentimental dialogue now we've already

talked about audio gear to use to

capture audio but it's important to have

the right equipment with you to be able

to love the bride and the groom and

whoever else will be saying anything

important also for ceremonies I

recommend having an audio recorder that

you can plug into the DJ's audio box to

capture audio as it was captured coming

into the microphones which is a great

backup option if you don't have time to

love anyone a great affordable audio

recorder that we recommend is the zoom

h1 which auto adjust the gain levels to

ensure that your audio levels never peak

and we show in the virtual Job Shadow

videos how to effectively set all of

this up but the best most effective way

to capture audio that we recommend is

through lobbying the couple lobbying the

groom is pretty easy there's a lot of

ways you can do it our favorite way is

to stick the live mic under the groom's

chest on either side of where the tie

hangs we use Rycote stickies or you can

use gaff tape to stick it right to his

chest

we then weave the law of cord down

through his shirt and out the back to

plug into the tascam which is clipped to

his belts now loving the bride is a bit

trickier and depends on the dress so we

cover this in more detail on how to do

this with ease and comfort inside the

full course tip number nine is posing

couples there's nothing worse than

watching a wedding video of an

emotionless frozen couple newsflash they

aren't actors they aren't going to look

natural and comfortable all the time

unless you help them feel natural and

comfortable a lot of times it's even up

to you to get them to

express any emotion some couples might

be great at doing that naturally but

other times they don't feel comfortable

with cameras on them so you need to

learn some skills to help them out

posing a couple is actually a lot easier

than you think

there are three things to shoot for when

posing depth movement and emotion so

when I pose my couples my first priority

is emotion I like to have them hold each

other close do something that will make

them laugh or smile genuinely sometimes

I'll have the groom whisper in the

bride's ear or hug her very tight from

behind or maybe as I'm directing them

I'll just say funny jokes or comment on

how great they look which brings out

great emotion in genuine smiles the

point is to help them feel comfortable

second priority is movement I'm obsessed

with movement Parker and I style both

revolves around movement most of my

shots end up with my couple just walking

together or running through a field I

call it the drunk walk I'll have my

couple walk towards the camera and bump

into each other every few steps like

they're drunk

one way that Parker created movement in

a shot was to shake the branches of a

tree so that the flower petals fell from

the tree as they walked through them or

waiting for a wind gust to create

movement in the bride's veil look for

every opportunity to create movement and

lastly depth a few of my favorite poses

involve using either the bride or groom

as foreground to the other a few

examples I'll ask the bride or the groom

to lead the other and use the leader as

foreground I'll tell the bride or groom

as they walk to look up and smile at

each other every few steps and then look

down at their feet every few other I'll

have them start running and shoot it

from a few different angles another pose

I love is when I have the bride wrap her

arms around the groom's neck while

holding her bouquet I'll shoot from

behind the groom to focus on the bride's

face using the flowers as foreground

I'll have the couple look into each

other's eyes smile and laugh or just be

still it's a beautiful shot and another

pose I love is to have the bride and the

groom holding each other belly-to-belly

while they brush past a tree or leaves

or a wall or whatever I can to reveal

them the depth adds some great emotion

to the image ultimately it's your job to

make them look good have them hug have

them kiss have them walk twirl cuddle

laugh look up some poses beforehand and

have a written list or a lifts in your

head of all the different poses you want

to try out throughout the day get

creative with it and do your best to

make them feel natural and comfortable

on camera and moving on to our last and

final tip is to be confident there's

nothing worse than a videographer who

obviously has no idea what's going on

imagine being a bride paying a ton of

money to someone to capture the most

important day of your life and you see

your videographer show up with zero

confidence is your direction and looking

around like a lost puppy fake it till

you make it even if it's just your first

wedding just accept it's your first

wedding and then get over it film

everything make everything look pretty

capture the bride capture the emotion

laugh and joke with a couple and do it

with confidence confidence is what makes

brides want to refer you to their

friends confidence is what will attract

engaged couples attending the wedding

and lead them to hire you and you don't

need to be a bubbly person to be

confident either you can have quiet

confidence but you need to have

confidence so that you have a guy those

are our top ten tips for shooting

weddings obviously we're just skimming

the surface here we could go way more in

depth on each of these subjects and sit

here and talk for days but wedding

videography is an individualized thing

that evolves the more you learn and

practice and we create a wedding video

pro to help you shorten your learning

curve help you know what to practice and

help you find confidence much quicker

and that's exactly what Parker's course

did for me two years ago it was having

him as a mentor to show me how to most

effectively film a wedding instead of

learning from my own mistakes and that's

why we built this new mini course

wedding video pro to focus specifically

on helping you do the same with your

wedding videography business and just to

give you guys a quick idea what's

included in the wedding video pro mini

course for those who'd like to learn

more beyond these 10 free tips we have

another video just like this by covering

our 10 tips to editing wedding videos

where we break down our editing process

and show you some great tips on how to

tell a great wedding video story in the

editing room this mini course in total

has 20 plus videos answering questions

like how do I start lining clients with

zero portfolio how long should the final

video be how do I shoot wedding

ceremonies as a one-man crew what are

the best export settings for delivering

the final video and for Instagram how do

I run paid advertising campaigns on

Instagram to grow my following and land

more clients this is where Jake will

break down his marketing tactics for how

he's run paid promotions on Instagram to

generate leads and new clients and build

an organic following all along the way

we also provide you with in-depth

tutorials on our color grading and

editing process along with raw footage

for you to download and use to follow

along

we provide discounts for a soundtrack

membership

along with tips we use to find the right

music for each wedding video along with

a list of some of my favorite wedding

songs I've used in order to license them

to save you countless of hours of having

to search for your own we also walk you

through business management from setting

up your contact page on your website to

setting up your pricing brochures and

packages we offer a huge discount for

honey book which is the ultimate

business manager for wedding

videographers and vendors alike we walk

you through contracts invoices brochures

payment schedules travel fees packages

package add-ons and so much more and as

mentioned we also include jobs chato's

where you can virtually follow Jake and

I around on our wedding shoots to see

firsthand how we operate in each unique

situation essentially we teach you

everything you guys need to know in

order to start your own six-figure

wedding business so that you can charge

upwards of four to five thousand dollars

per wedding just like we do so there it

is if you want to take your wedding

videography business to the next level

you can sign up today for this five hour

mini course by clicking over here or

links are in the description we have a

30-day money-back guarantee if you

aren't fully satisfied and again yes

this is included inside the full time

filemaker course so if you're already a

member or you plan on joining our

ultimate online film school you will

have access to it in there as well but

that's it folks hope this was helpful

don't forget to subscribe and if you

have any further questions please let us

know

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