Videographers Could Learn A Thing From Photography

Wedding photographers and videographers are often the center of a love/hate relationship. Perhaps it’s their shooting mentality, ego, or business interests. As a videographer I find this unfortunate because photography is a very powerful medium that can be used for video production. Some of my best work resulted from a combination of photographs and video. In fact, I don’t even need to be a great photographer to still come up with a great edit. Let me explain …

First of all, a great wedding video incorporates a compelling and entertaining story. After all, this is why they hired you. Pictures are a very powerful tool for a professionally edited video.

This past month, I filmed a bridal shower for a dear friend. Now I could’ve taken the easy way and layered down a track of music and some simple editing. No thanks. While I was shooting, I gathered as many of her closest friends/family as possible and sat them down for quick interviews. This was all part of my game plan for creating a masterful edit. Once I had all my assets digitized, it was time to get to work. First step, I carefully selected music that fit her personality without dominating my interview audio tracks. Attention is required that your music choices do not conflict with the freq range of your voiceovers or your resulting mix will sound mushy.

For the opening of my video, I began with wide angle establishing shot . As I transitioned into the first interview I cut away to photographs that depict what my subject was talking about. In other words, the photographs followed the context of the interview. This creates a seamless edit that is coherent yet emotional and interesting. Most importantly, our goal is achieved and we‘ve created a great video.

This approach is often seen in documentaries and is an established form of filmmaking. Now, I could’ve had cut to b-roll footage instead. However, for the sake of weddings there is something more magical and emotional when your looking at a great photograph. For the videographer, photographs are a great tool to add to your editing and production arsenal.