Brides: Make Your Wedding DVD Even Better

This is the first part of a series in articles about how to make the perfect wedding DVD. However, unlike other wedding DVD articles, this is not directed at the person shooting the wedding DVD, but rather the bride. As the producer of your wedding DVD, your satisfaction is the only thing that matters.

With ten years in the business, I have shot a lot of weddings. Outside of one or two, the experience has been fun. As a filmmaker, I love filming happy occasions and as an editor, I enjoy thinking that I will be the one that recreates your memories of that day. However, to often, I find that weddings are not staged so that a wedding DVD can be made that showcases the whole event. What this creates is a situation where the camera person simply cannot get the shot he needs. In that rush of the moment, the last thing you want is your audience distracted by a camera man trying to get some angle just to see the action. The number one key is to plan all the action in your ceremony to face front.

There are a number of key scenes in the ceremony that if they are not captured, the emotional satisfaction with the video is hampered. The sequences in order are:

• The outside of the church
• The empty inside of the church
• Guests arriving
• Groom and groomsmen arriving
• Groom thanking groomsmen
• Fully seated church
• Bride arriving
• Bride exiting car
• Bridesmaids and parents walking down the aisle
• Bride walking down aisle
• The hand over
• ceremony
• The walk out
• The best wishes outside
• family photos

The hardest time for any camera man is the actual ceremony because of it's intimate nature. Most celebrants understand that you will want a good DVD and will arrange you so that you are on a 3/4th angle to the audience (the people that have traveled far to see you) for most of the ceremony.

Consider your wedding DVD as a film in the theatre, note how you never see the backs of actors unless there is a specific reason for it. That's because the audience wants to see your face, your emotion, everything about film is in the eyes. If the audience cannot see your eyes, they cannot feel your emotion. The only time you should turn to face each other is the actual reading of the vows. As you plan your ceremony, take a moment to ask yourself "Where will the camera man be?". The camera man is not like a photographer who can jump around, get in for the quick shot and then get out. You want a camera man that takes the steady shot that shows the movement and dialogue in the scene. Most camera men will in fact, choose not to move, rather than risk having a bad shot. Experience camera men can move at a moment's notice but that does not make for a good wedding DVD.

The walk up the aisle is another important moment in the wedding DVD and one that is often complicated by over anxious relatives trying to get the shot of the bride walking up the aisles. In order for this shot to work well on DVD, your camera man should be positioned dead center on the aisle, slightly to the side of the groom. The bridesmaids will walk up and around the camera man. When the bride is half way up the walkway, that is when the camera man will pull back to film the exchange. Best advice here is to walk slow. What you want is a side on shot as you are handed over to your groom. Once the exchange is made, the camera man will pull back to a respectable distance and reposition himself on the aisle you just walked down.

Understand that while this may block or two down the back, having this type of position is crucial to getting a proper shot for the DVD. Anything that is side on will not allow the camera person to get both you and the groom in the shot without a multiple camera shoot. Multiple cameras have their own headache and you multiply by four the things that can go wrong. Better not to risk it and get the shot right the first time.

During the ceremony, if you move locations, the camera man most likely will move as well to reframe you in the shot. Let your celebrant know this because some get upset or bothered if there is activity. In ten years, I have never moved while someone was talking, a camera man gets experience in knowing the right time to move. However, this is why your camera man should come to your rehearsals. If he is unable to come out, pay attention so you can tell him how you will be standing and moving.

I hope this helps you prepare for your wedding DVD. The next part of the series will be about how to capture the best audio during your ceremony. Any wedding DVD of value will allow you to hear the vows properly, sound is 40% of any film. I'll be listing the possible ways that your sound could be hindered from being captured well. In addition, I will be listing ways you can avoid such sound traps to get perfect audio.