Beginning To Forever | Wedding Documentary Film
The Suitable Wedding Videographer?
When searching for your wedding videographer, it’s vital to understand what you’re looking for in the final production of the wedding video, whether it’s a Wedding Documentary or a Cinematic Wedding Film. When couples typically begin their search, they’re often surprised to find out there’s more than one style of film and many different terms used by videographers to describe the work that they’ve produced.
Once you can discern what those labels mean and recognize the various forms of wedding videos, it will be easier to choose the type of video that you most want to own, share with your family, and watch again and again as a lasting memento of one of the most memorable days in your life. And in turn, it will be easier to narrow your list of potential cinematographers or videographers to only those who offer films and packages that focus on the style you like best.
The Different Styles
Wedding Documentary Videography
Although there are additional “sub-categories” for styles, wedding videos are created and edited in two primary forms: Documentary and Cinematic styles.
A documentary style (or journalistic) wedding video, or a “documentary edit,” is essentially a play-by-play video of your wedding day’s events from start to finish, professionally edited to engage the audience. It’s the traditional approach to wedding videos – a chronological exhibition of your wedding event, with all of those crucial moments seamlessly pieced together from the viewpoints of the different cameras used to record the day. Only raw audio is used throughout the film, making you feel as though you’re a guest watching and hearing the events just as they happened.
Cinematic Wedding Videography
A cinematic-style wedding video displays a more artistic approach to filmmaking. It’s a movie about your wedding day, complete with a well-chosen musical soundtrack. It can easily rival a Hollywood short film when done correctly and in a well-organized format. It’s not edited in completely sequential order, instead moving from scene to scene to tell a captivating, broader story of your day.
For example, the film might start with a recitation of a reception toast, then move on to quiet scenes during morning preparations, then to heartwarming shots of the bride and groom repeating their vows. Then with the music’s tempo building, show the exciting grand entrance into the reception ballroom. Enthusiastic guest dancing as the music continues to escalate before ending with a romantic kiss during sunset photos. Importance is placed on the wedding day’s overarching theme, feeling, and emotion.
Our New Approach To Wedding Documentary
With everything that you’ve learned about the different styles of wedding videography, we are here to say that we want to change the way everything is typically done. It would be best if you didn’t have to pick between the traditional documentary and cinematic styles. We want to create a style where it’s not only a mixture of the cinematic style but primarily focuses on the documentary style. Why be forced to pick one or the other? When do you have both?
Our Process
Our process would be to go from start to finish, not just for the wedding day. We want to start everything from your soon-to-be spouse picking out the ring, to getting down on one knee, then to the bride picking out the perfect dress to picking out the wedding party to picking the ideal venue, cater, florist to the wedding rehearsal and then to the wedding day itself. But we don’t want to stop there. We also want to interview the couple and their close family members, friends, and associates.
Now I know that this sounds like a lot of different things. You are probably trying to figure out how much it will cost, how long it will take, and how you will make time to complete everything yourself. We have laid a base timeline to help you understand precisely what we are trying to achieve.
Steps to the perfect Wedding documentary film
First, we want to be with you recording the process of picking out the ring for your future fiance. Now we understand sometimes this has already been done, or it’s even done spur of the moment. So we know we may not be able to capture this, but if we can, it would be great.
With the proposal, we want to make sure to have you mic’ed so we can hear every word said while you’re down on one knee. We will have the video cameras hidden, so your loved one won’t know what is going on exactly. Or we can make it a little fun and do it as a photography session, and then you can pop the question mid-shoot if you would like.
Picking out the venue can be one of the most challenging choices as a couple, right next to picking out the perfect wedding dress. We want to follow you through the process of picking out all of the vendors and the venue itself.
This part may have already been in your head before popping the question. Most people would call or text the person they picked to be in their wedding party. We want to be there to hear and witness their response to the question.
The best thing about this entire process is that the engagement photos and videos are included in this Wedding Documentary package. Because we want to ensure everything is of the best quality, we will already be there to capture the process. But if you would rather have the photographer you’ve picked handle the engagement photo, for some reason. We would still like the be there to capture the Behind Scenes to add to the Wedding Documentary film.
This is where the real magic begins, we would want to interview the bride and groom, of course, but we would also like to interview between five and eight people closest to the couple. This portion of the steps is one of the most fundamental, as this will be the middle ground of the film, and this will determine the mood and flow of the remainder of the Wedding Documentary film.
The day before the wedding is usually the most relaxed and stressful day of the entire process. But this is usually when people really let loose and be themselves. This is what we would like to capture, the natural emotions of the day before the wedding.
The wedding day will go by so fast that you won’t remember most parts. You’re so into everything around you that you typically won’t have a second to sit back and relax to enjoy the moment. This is where the Wedding Documentary film shines, as we are capturing everything using multiple cameras to capture everything so that you can relive the entire day.
After the wedding, we would love to interview you to talk about the experience and also look over the wedding documentary we just completed for you.
Why are we giving this away?
We aren’t technically giving this away, but at the same time, we are. Confusing right? Well, let me explain exactly what we mean by this statement. Over the past few years, we have had the privilege to watch one of our favorite fellow cinematographers create incredible wedding movies. Watching him grow in his craft and show different ways to capture the day for the wedding couple has inspired us to do something on similar lines.
Instead of copying his style and going about it like most people. We’ve wanted to expand on this by not only making a wedding seem like a movie but also want to emphasize the process and emotions that are felt from day one. If we could tell the future, we would start with when the couple first met and on their first date. When their kids and their kids ask how mom and dad met, they would be able to see their entire story unfold. But since we can’t tell the future, that would be a little creepy to do, so we will start with the proposal. If you’re interested in viewing some of Justin Porter’s work, feel free to look at his website or YouTube. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed.
We’re will take the cost of all the travel, and the only portion you would be responsible for would be the wedding day itself. Not only would you get the Wedding Documentary film for free, but you would also get a shorter highlight film that you could share on social media and or Youtube. Theirs only two stipulations that we are putting into this Wedding Documentary package.
Wedding Film Packages
- True Essence Photography would have complete creative freedom for the Wedding Documentary Film. You are welcome to add input or special requests, but we would have the final say in the final product.
- We are only looking for three couples to participate in this special after we have fulfilled the three films and released them to the public. A package like this would range from $8,000 to $12,000 due to everything it entails, so much travel and time to complete the project.
If you’re interested in being considered for this package, please fill the form out below. We will pick the couples out when we reach fifteen participants. We can’t wait to hear back from you regarding our Wedding Documentary Package.
