Videographer - intrusive?

Hi and welcome

We went to a wedding earlier this year where the videographer was very 'in your face'. He didn't have much equipment, no wires or anything but he was often filming only a foot or so from your face, even during the meal!!

That said, we have still booked one for our wedding next year. After a couple of meetings with him and viewing a lot of his films we are very happy that he will give everyone space (that's what a zoom is for!) and he also doesn't film during the meal, just the drinks reception and then from the speeches onwards. He was very reasonable £650 (which OHs dad is paying for as our wedding present), filming up to the end of the first dance and including 3 dvds. From all the samples of his work we are happy with the quality. We did look at a few different ones and a lot of the dvds were very disappointing (shaking, blurry and poor sound quality) and the quotes we had ranged between £500 and £2000!!

HTH

Check around and ask how the prospective videographer works. Like photographers, we all have differing styles.

Regarding the zoom comment........just like a stills camera, a video camera gets increasingly difficult to hold steady the more the zoom is used. Sadly, its the law of physics.?. The greater the zoom, the more magnified are the effects of camera shake. This is why many news cameramen have the maxim, "keep it wide and get in close".....

There are options to overcome this such as tripods(which may slow the shooter down), image stabilising lenses, steadicam or glidecam. Realistically though, only a few use the last two.

Edited to add that in my experiences, the vast majority of videographers that I have worked with over the years are non intrusive.

Peter

Thanks Peter. The images we have seen so far are very stable but he never got in too close to anyone. Even panning round there were no wobbles. tbh I don't know how he does it but the images were all clear as well, I did expect fuzzines!

? I'm a videographer, and as Peter says each has their own style but I for one would never film during a meal. I try and stay in the background as much as possible and never direct any shots on the day unless it's strictly necessary.

Just make sure you chat to any videograhers beforehand and try and get a feel for their styles of shooting. I don't have any wires or lights and only use a tripod during the service and speeches, the rest of the time it's just me and the camera on my shoulder.

HTH ?

I think the professionals have given you the best advice - check 'em out, and make sure they know what YOU want. I've heard people say they regret not having on/they are glad they did so I think it's def something to require. However, some of them seem to do a load of cheesy/intrusive stuff - at my friend's they were buzzing around when people were getting ready for example.

Just a wee point here, if you mean the bride's preparations this is something we are usually specifically requested to do, and it's usually in quite a cramped space so it's difficult to stay completely in the background ?

We are having a videographer who is a friend of our photographer and they often work together. They are both friends of OH and so are only charging £300 each (they usually charge at least (£900).

I think in terms of how intrusive they are, it's important that you meet them a few times, see some of their work and go from recommendations if you can. I definitely wouldn't settle for the cheapest in this situation as you could end up wasting your money altogther....

One piece of advice - ask for examples of previous work. I see that you are taking this route and hopefully asking the right questions when meeting potential service providers.

Stress your concerns to them. If they are good professionals they wont might at all and will be able to show you how they work and explain their set up on the day.

Its likely that no matter who you hire you wont notice them on the day. You will be so caught up in everything that's going on that the professional doing their job will be one of the last things on your mind.

Video cameras do often feature a zoom lens so having to get within 1ft is often unlikely although as Peter says there are issues with things being steady when zoomed in but also light loss. the more we zoom, the darker things get and in the winter months this can pose a challenge... not a problem. a challenge.

How much you pay depends on what style you want and the final product you are after. As with many things in this world you generally get what you pay for. If you just want somone to film your day and put it onto a DVD then you can pick this up for around £800 for a good quality video. As you pay more you get better production quality as well as a memory which will be watchable over and over. Would it not be worth more money to have something you can enjoy time after time?

A good place to look is www.visualbride.co.uk as well as the directory here on hitched.

I feel quite strongly on the wedding dvd thing because I treasure my dvd so much and can't imagine not having it to look back on. I was worried what kind of dvd we would end up with because we never saw the camera AT ALL! Seriously we never noticed him until the end of the night when he said bye to us and it was only then I remembered we had hired him!

Even at the house I didn't really notice him and couldn't believe all the little things captured. My favourite part is seeing my H before the ceremony as, obviously, that is something I wouldn't have seen otherwise. He was so nervous and I don't think I would have believed it without seeing for myself.

We only paid £350 and I would have paid double that for what we ended up with.

I have to totally agree with PurrfectGems on this one. My DVD is so precious to me. Its true what they say, the day goes go so fast and there is so much going on that you really do loose whole chunks of it!

Until I saw our DVD, I had forgotten the tender little moment when H stroked my hand during the wedding photo's or my Dad's face when I walked down the stairs. Seeing it on DVD brought those special moments straight back to me. If it were not for the DVD I may never have remembered it!

Ours was not intrusive, he was brilliant, but I did hunt far and wide for him as I was a fussy moo with a huge list of do's and dont's! It was very reasonably priced too (about £800 with a few add ons that we wanted) considering the time he was there and the quality of the film and editing but like PurrfectGems said, I would have also paid double I love it so much.

I would have one again in a heartbeat!

Just in case you want a nose, here is a little clip of ours: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEvOdzisyWQ

I recognise that venue mrskitty - is it in Alloa? I filmed a wedding there a few weeks ago - gorgeous ?

Thats the one Ebee! It is a lovely venue for smaller weddings. We all spent the whole weekend there, which was lovely. Hope your couple had a wonderful day too! x

Thanks all! this has been really helpful - literally erased all my doubts. it's reassuring to know how treasured the DVDs are once it's all over. I know how much my siblings and I enjoyed watching our parents' video (VHS!!) am definitely going to go all out and pay for a good quality one. need to start looking now!

PS. thanks for the highlights vid - looks like an amazing day! it really does capture the essence of the day in a way photos sometimes can't.