General Videography Questions

You may have heard these stories:"my brother's friend set the camera on the altar during the ceremony and walked away! During the ceremony footage all you can see is the back of one of the groomsmen!"

Or, "I was getting ready to walk down the aisle and what do I see but my cousin running to the parking lot to grab the video camera for the videotaping he had promised to do for us. He missed the whole processional!"

You only get one shot at filming your wedding and filming it right. Of course, you can have an invited guest run your home video camera for you and that is better than nothing. Chances are though, they haven't been to enough weddings to know what to anticipate nor do they know how to pace themselves for a physically demanding job: being ready at a second's notice at any time during the day to immediately capture those spontaneous moments. Instead, your volunteer gets wrapped up in a conversation with a cousin they haven't seen in years and completely miss you cutting the cake or have a video filled predominantly with people they know and not the major participants of the day.

The other likelihood is that your volunteer help doesn't have the right equipment. They probably don't have cordless mics to record good audio in an echoing church sanctuary or high quality cameras that deliver good shots in dim or dark settings. At one wedding we were chatting with an inquisitive wedding guest who expressed regret that he had been asked to film his niece's wedding. He went on to reveal that he had forgot to bring the tripod to the wedding and then because he was diabetic, had difficulty holding the camera steady as the event progressed, his blood sugar dropped, and he became more tired. The result was shaky footage that made even the viewer with the strongest stomach queasy. He felt terrible letting this family member down.

All of the examples listed above happened not out of maliciousness, but as a result of a lack of experience and planning in the performance of a very important task. Hiring a professional videographer ensures that you will have someone experienced, properly equipped, and single-minded about their responsibility to record one of the most important days of your life. And the final, edited product will be something you will enjoy watching over and over rather than a home video you may watch all the way through only once before tossing it in a drawer or box to be forgotten.

What determines the cost of a videographer's services?
There are several factors affecting the cost of videography services. The first and perhaps most obvious is the tremendous cost of the equipment and software involved in providing a quality product. Changes in technology quickly make components obsolete so to offer the best quality end-product requires a significant capital investment on the part of the videographer.

Another significant factor contributing to the cost of videography is the sheer time involved. The wedding day itself only represents a fraction of the overall time we put into producing your wedding video. In the days after the wedding we digitize all the footage to the computer, spend hours poring over the footage for the best shots and editing them into highlights sequences, exporting them into a format that can be burned to DVD, and then creating custom DVD menus, labels & cases. All in all, we estimate that we easily spend between 25-40 hours in post-production work.

Finally, videography, like photography, is an art. There are varying degrees of ability and experience and just plain intuition to antcipate the best moments from the best perspective. That's why there can be a wide range in fees from videographer to videographer. Take a look at their samples and generally you will be able to see why various videographers charge what they do. The better videographers are usually in higher demand and will charge the rate the market deems their skills are worth.

How do I know which videographer is right for me?
What we would suggest is that you evaluate the work of a variety of videographers. Determine which ones generate the kind of product you are looking for and then meet with them to see with which ones you feel the most comfortable. Let's face it, if you're not comfortable with the people around you on your wedding day, it will show in your photos and video. If you can't meet with them all personally, ask for references from previous clients or other vendors in the industry. In the end, it's a personal decision only you can make based on your research, budget and priority level.