Our Hire a Director packages work because we're not just reportage wedding videographers.
We're a young, fun bunch of TV professionals who pride ourselves on effortlessly mingling with your friends and family, putting them at ease and getting a real sense excitement for a more personalised wedding video - much better than a slow motion black and white montage of pretty shots!
Our Directors will turn up on the morning of the wedding and spend an hour or two with each of the bride and the groom. Whilst one of our director's follows the groom to the venue, the other will be with the bride as she makes her final preparations before heading to the ceremony to get into position for the main event.
After the ceremony one director will film brief chats with your guests, asking them to recount their funniest memory of you or perhaps divulge their advice for a happily married life. The other will be setting up a video diary room at your recpetion that your guests can pop into during the course of the afternoon to leave you their own personal messages in private.
At the reception, the Director can get as involved as you want them to be. They can co-ordinate group running and jumping shots, orchestrate a sing along to your favourite song or just mingle amongst your guests picking up on the best man's nerves before his speech.
The Directors will film all of the speeches and the first dance and spend until 9pm getting the odd dancing shots, kissing shots and maybe the odd drunkard antic before packing up.
Reportage works brilliantly for your photographs but for a video with more personality, let us send you a TV Director and show you what we can really do!
Wedding Videos – What are the options?
In the past there have been two options when it comes to having a wedding video; you could hire a professional wedding videographer OR get your mate to film it for you. A reputable wedding videographer will set you back at least £1,500 and traditionally you'll get a nice wedding DVD of well framed shots edited to music in a “reportage” fashion. However, wedding videographer's are naturally discreet, unobtrusive and subtle in their filming so whilst the wedding video will be very pretty, it is essentially a passive portrayal of THE most emotional day of your whole life! On the other hand, everyone knows at least someone with their own video camera. With the best will in the world, most people don't have the experience or the equipment to shoot and edit a narrative, let alone guarantee audible sound, suitable coverage and a good shot.
Now there's an alternative.
We'll give a couple of your friends the training and the equipment to empower them to film your big day, then give it a professional finish by editing it to music and burning onto chapters on a wedding DVD. With over 10 years experience making programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, let us show you how easy it is with the right direction to make a wedding video that engages with the action on the day and capture the humour and the emotion behind the photographs. Your guests have the power to create the most moving and meaningful record of your day; a wedding video. We just have to show them how.
Why Not a Wedding Videographer?
In order to be a good wedding videographer you need to be discreet, unobtrusive and be able to blend seamlessly into the background, which makes for a lovely "reportage" style of wedding video. The shots therefore will be very similar to those of your photographer's and if you consider that the cameraman will not be interacting or engaging with your guests, its not very representative of what is actually going on!
Traditionally the finished wedding DVD will be a series of beautiful shots edited to music but because the wedding videographer is physically and emotionally removed from the day, there will very rarely be any footage of the camera engaging with the guests or the bride and groom – obviously, because they are strangers! By empowering your guests to film your wedding, the camera is physically and emotionally invested in your big day making the footage more dynamic, absorbing and meaningful to YOU. The finished wedding video is naturally more personal, because the people being filmed are more comfortable and as the bride or groom, you're not going to feel as self-conscious getting changed or sharing your last minute nerves!
Professional Wedding Videos
Have you ever watched a friend's professional wedding video having been a guest on the day? Did it sum up your experience of the day and successfully represent what happened? Probably not because the videographer wasn't a guest and wasn't sat at the tables sharing in on the jokes or on the dance floor busting out the moves with someone's gran.
Compare the wedding video to the photographs that were taken and posted on facebook of the day; the shots of friends having a laugh, posing and having a good time. There are still the pretty shots of the bride and groom, the flowers and the venue, but you'll forever look back and laugh at the photo of your groomsman asleep in the corner and your maid of honour hitching up her beautiful dress and doing the running man – stuff that a professional wedding video would normally miss! Let the professional photographer get the beautiful shots of your day - that's covered. If every time one of your usher's went to take a photograph they took 5 minutes of video footage instead, you'd have the best wedding video you could have ever hoped for.
Filming Your Wedding DVD
One of the most common feedback we get with Shoot It Yourself is that the bride and groom have asked around and none of the guests wants the responsibility of filming the wedding dvd for them. If you are going to hire the video cameras and pay for the editing, you'll have high expectations for the finished wedding video.
Consider that we only recommend filming a maximum of 10 minutes out of ever hour (ceremony and speeches excluded!) its not a huge ask. Also, what were they thinking of getting you for your wedding present anyway? A nice butter dish or a matching set of towels from John Lewis? The guests you chose to shoot your wedding video have the power to create for you the most meaningful reminder of your big day whilst still being able to enjoy themselves, have a few drinks and join in the fun - don't ever underestimate that! Successful television programmes are shot with clear direction, cutting edge equipment and a lot of hard work in the edit. We've got all the technical stuff covered - you just have to point and shoot!
Destination Wedding Videos
The best thing about not having to hire a wedding videographer, is that you can now afford a DVD of your wedding abroad! Shoot it Yourself is a brilliant alternative for those escaping to hotter climes for their big day and for an extra £100, we'll edit a holiday video for you as a separate chapter on your wedding DVD. Prices start from £399 for the video camera hire, delivery and collection from a UK address and all of the editing. The hire period last for 48 hours and additional days are charged at £40 per day so either get a close friend to bring them in their hand luggage for the weekend or keep them for the week, its totally up to you!
Foreign Wedding Videos
Most people assume that because they're getting married abroad, a wedding videographer is completely out of the question. Wrong! Shoot It Yourself is perfect for those who want a wedding video of their big day but don't want the expense of an extra plane ticket! The way it works, is we charge £399 for 48 hour video camera hire, delivery and collection from a UK address and all of the editing. So, depending on where you're getting married, you could ask one of your ushers to bring the cameras in their hang luggage for the weekend or additional days are charged at £40 per day so why not keep them for the whole week!?
