The Making of a Wedding Film
So you’ve been watching the films in our portfolio, falling in love with them and wondering how all the magic happens? At least that’s what we’d like to think … so here’s a behind-the-scenes peek at what goes into making your wedding video.
To start with, we like to meet all of our couples before the wedding day if we can — if not in person then at least over Skype — to get to know you a little as a couple and to make sure you are comfortable with us.
On the day of the wedding, we are there with you for all the major moments — from your preparations through your ceremony to the dancing. You’ll barely even notice we are there! We shoot our films documentary style, which means we are capturing the day as it unfolds, not controlling events too much or asking you to be anyone but yourself.
There will be occasions where we get a little more involved with giving direction — such as the first look and during your couples photo session — to ensure we capture genuine, beautiful and cinematic moments.
The backbone of our films is the audio from the day — the ceremony, your vows, speeches and any other special moments.
To capture the cleanest audio we can, we put small lavalier microphones on our couples. The small microphone is hidden either beneath a tie or collar or taped inside the top of a dress. The mic pack is usually worn in a pocket or in a small holster around your leg. We always work with you and your wedding outfit to find the best, most comfortable place to put the mic and make sure it won’t be showing.
As well as the audio we get from the lavalier mics, we also record the audio from the sound board used for the ceremony and speeches, which is often the best source for audio. We bring every possible audio cable we might need to be able hook up to the audio out on your DJ’s system.
Of course not every wedding has a sound system, and not every wedding dress can hide a microphone (we’re looking at you, crop tops)—that’s part of the fun and challenge of making wedding films. Every wedding presents unique situations that we adapt to. One thing we can say for sure is that making wedding films is never, ever boring!
When we are ready to start the edit, we begin watching the footage more seriously. With multiple cameras, each shooting for up to 10 hours during the day … there is a LOT to watch. We watch everything, and pick out the best moments.
Then we listen to all the audio we got and pick out the sweetest and funniest parts. We can safely say that by the end of the edit we will be extremely familiar with all the details of your wedding!
At this point we know the general vibe of the wedding day and the feeling of the film and we spend some time searching for the perfect song, or songs, for your video — ones that fit the mood of your wedding, that are approximately the right length (or easy to shorten or loop), and build cinematically at about the right time … sometimes this process takes a while. Sometimes it happens right away!
We only use legally licensed music in our videos. Our favorite sites for finding songs are the The Music Bed, and Tracks Music.
Usually we’ll pick out the music and send a shortlist of songs over to you to choose your favorites from. But if you prefer, you can pick the songs out yourself from one of these sites and send us a playlist of a few to choose from.
Once we have the song, or songs, depending on the length of the video, we start the rough edit, taking the best parts of the audio, the best video clips and assembling them all in a timeline.
After the rough edit is assembled we make the final pass, tweaking shots and adjusting them so the timing is perfect. Then we color correct and grade the film, export it, upload it and watch it one last time to make sure it’s perfect. To make sure that even after seeing it hundreds of times it still makes us smile, still makes us tear up, still feels magical.
Then we send you the link. And hope that it’s magical for you too.