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Last week in our wedding videography myth buster we touched upon a subject that I felt perhaps required some elaboration: choosing the right wedding video soundtrack. Choosing a soundtrack on the face of it may seem quite a simple task but in fact there’s a lot to consider. Music is extraordinarily powerful and can set the tone, emotion, pace and mood of the whole film. Get it right and the viewer will feel a real connection with the film, get it wrong and the magic is completely lost.
Most couples of course want their film to include the music they heard on the day – the first dance song, the song they walked down the aisle to, the music they left the room to for the first time as husband and wife, and perhaps just a few of their personal favourites. Those songs are clearly going to be important to you, and it’s of course natural to want to include them in your wedding film. But before asking your videographer to include them all there’s a few things you should consider…
The music defines so much of the style of the video that it may simply not match the type of work your videographer creates. Just like photographers each videographer will have their own style in the way they capture their footage and edit it together, and it’s on that style that you will presumably have booked their services. Asking them then to edit the film to a piece of music that might not be the one they would choose can seriously impede their ability to create the type of film you’re looking for.
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The thing is that strangely even the music that was actually played on the day doesn’t always sound right when you put it over the video footage. It’s one of those curious things that sometimes happens with sound that doesn’t make any logical sense but somehow you know it’s just wrong. I used to create sound designs for theatre productions and often found that when creating sound effects an actual recording of the genuine sound didn’t sound right, yet something I would artificially create somehow did. I remember once designing a show that needed a roller coaster sound, and after listening to dozens of recordings of actual roller coasters whilst watching the action it just didn’t work. What did work was a recording I made of a wheelie-bin full of sand rolling up and down the drive at various speeds. It makes no logical sense, but sound and music isn’t about logic, it’s about emotion and the way we respond to it.
Think of it in terms of the films you watch at the cinema. Jaws was the most fake-looking shark of all time, but given the right soundtrack it became the most terrifying creature known to man. No-one other than the great John Williams would have thought of a soundtrack made effectively of two notes, but put it together with those subtle glimpses of the shark’s fin and cinema magic was born. Sometimes the obvious choice isn’t the one we most respond to, it’s all about finding the right feeling to go with the right visual, and that’s no mean feat!
If I weren’t a director, I would want to be a film composer.
– Steven Spielberg
When creating a soundtrack many videographers will actually deliberately look for music you’re less likely to have heard before, and there’s a very good reason for that: music is one of the most evocative ways of stimulating memories, and as a result any songs we’ve already heard are likely to have subconscious connotations which will be completely different for each viewer. This can of course be a powerful tool in its ability to bring back memories of the wedding day, but it can also bring back more negative feelings that may later become associated with that song. For example it may be a piece of music that you love at the time but that then gets played so often on the radio or becomes attached to a commercial that you become completely sick of it. That might then lead you to be less keen to watch the video.
Usually, when I do a soundtrack, the music from the movie doesn’t have anything to do with me personally. It’s music to enhance to the film. My own stuff is more introspective and about what’s on going in my head.
– Stanley Clarke
Having a piece of music that you already know well will also mean you will have preconceptions about the video from the second that beat kicks in. It’s important to let the film do the talking rather than let the music lead you down a different path. Using less commercially available music can avoid these problems, and even if it’s not the piece you might have chosen, if the videographer has got it right you will fall in love with it, and that piece of music will always be your wedding video music rather than that song you hear all the time that just also happens to be used in your wedding film. It’s exciting to discover that new piece of music for the first time and want to listen to it again and again and also to experience seeing your wedding day through someone else’s eyes.
Don’t get me wrong, there is definitely a place for music chosen by the bride and groom, and for longer films where a much longer soundtrack is needed songs from the day can blend well with the film and become just a part of it rather than taking over. Some videographers also work with composers who can create something completely original whilst perhaps referencing those songs from the day to really take the soundtrack to another level. The important thing though is to trust your videographer to make the right editorial choices to make your film the best it can be. By all means suggest the type of music you like or provide information about the songs used during the day, but at the end of the day the most effective choice is to trust their judgement and allow their creativity to shine through. It may take them days of listening to music before they find the right piece, but when they do you’ll know you made the right choice.
I feel like soundtrack music is almost like seeing the movie again, but with my ears.
– Dave Attell
