Finding the Right Type of Video
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Finding a style of wedding video that you really love can be a frustrating and often very difficult process. When searching for a photographer there are clearly identifiable categories that photographers tend to identify themselves as – contemporary, documentary, editorial, fine-art… Whilst there is usually a little crossover between these umbrellas you can at least quickly close down your options with these categories. The same categories, however, are not quite so applicable in the world of video.
Searching for certain very specific terms such as “Super 8 wedding video” or “vintage wedding video” may well take you in a very precise direction, but on the whole these terms don’t mean an awful lot in the video world. Some terms, such as “Documentary” can even provide you with completely opposite results – some being the discrete, unobtrusive style of shooting known as documentary in photography terms, whilst other results may show more of an interview style film closer to what we would term a documentary when flicking through the TV guide. These films are at complete polar opposites in terms of style, yet both could be described as fitting to that term.
The problem is further exacerbated by the relative lack of great videography featured on wedding related sites and blogs. Following a blog aimed squarely at alternative weddings is likely to provide you with a plethora of featured photographers matching that style, yet many blogs choose not to feature video at all. So where can you actually find all the different styles available to you in order to begin to work out which is the right videographer for you?
Firstly think about what it is you’re really looking for. Do you want a film that shows every second as it happens or are you more interested in watching the highlights? Think of it like a football match – do you want to watch the full 90minutes or are you happy to just catch the best bits on Match of the Day? Are you looking for broad event style coverage or do you want to watch something more cinematic and film-like? Whilst there is sometimes crossover between these two styles with some videographers offering both shorter highlights films but with bonus films featuring full coverage of the speeches and ceremony, generally their main focus is on one or the other. Knowing whether you’re looking for highlights of full coverage is the first step to choosing your videographer.
But even armed with that knowledge, where are the best places to look?
Narrowing your google search with terms like “cinematic highlights” or searching specifically for wedding trailers to give you a brief impression of what each videographer offers will certainly bring up plenty of results, but there are one or two other places you can look which you might not know to look for:
- Venues – Searching for your venue, particularly if the venue has a very particular style like a tipi or castle, can sometimes reveal video results of the style you might be looking for as other brides and grooms may have found videographers matching that style already.
- Vimeo – Whilst there are lots of wedding videos available on YouTube, vimeo.com tends to be the principal platform for wedding videographers and therefore generally the best place to find a wide range of wedding videos. If you’re not sure what you’re looking for stick Vimeo into couch mode and you can have a continuous stream of different videos until you find what you’re looking for, or you can try more precise searches whilst knowing that you will only get videos from every search term you try.
- Photographers – Photographers are often good people to ask for recommendations as they tend to connect well with videographers that shoot in a similar style to them and will only recommend true professionals and people they can work well alongside which can make it easier on the day.
- Blog ads – Whilst we’ve already stated that blogs that share many wedding videos are few and far between, some videographers do advertise on blogs that they think fit their style and so sometimes looking at the ads rather than the actual blog content can nudge you in the right direction.
At the end of the day though the only real way to find great videography that you love is to just keep watching. Like any industry there is a mix of standards out there and a wide variety of styles but pretty quickly you’ll find the ones that you really connect with and learn to filter out the ones that don’t appeal. I promise you there are great videographers out there to match every style and if you’re willing to put the work in you will eventually find them. Just keep searching, after all regardless of the style, each and every wedding video that you watch is the most important day in somebody’s life, and that beats just flicking through TV channels every day of the week.
