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Friends In Your Head | Forums → Off Topic → P&P: Wedding Shooting
A guy I know does audio for weddings and this year he wants to branch out and do video as well. Since I'm his go to video guy he approached me to do this with him. Our current plan to get several GoPro's and mount them around the ceremony as well as have me walk around with one. This gives us several different angles to work with when editing to keep things more interesting instead of being one looooong ass shot of the whole thing. For the reception we'll do something similar as well as have one set off to the side with a mic for people to leave video messages. Does this make sense? Any suggestions? Are we completely fucking this up? Fourth thing?
I think it's a great idea, one that I'd bring to the reception, too. Put GoPro's on all the tables, and attach them to various adults and children to get pretty much all the perspectives. Just remember to bring 128GB cards, and loads of batteries.
And a rich uncle, of course. That amount of GoPro's isn't cheap.
I've shot a couple of weddings (stills only), and the thing I realized almost immediately is that, two weeks after the event, nobody cares about anything but a couple of formal portraits of the couple. Everything else is barely a curiosity. That's true of most events, really.
But AT THE TIME, specific shots may be of ENORMOUS importance to some people. ![]()
Yes and no. There are a few stills from my own wedding outside of the formals that I love; hell, one of them I use as my standard profile pic on YouTube, Twitter, etc. Granted, you're looking at one shot out of fifty in those cases, a much lower ratio than from the formals, but it's still worth it to me for a photo of the crowded dance floor with my wife's cousin making the silliest face, his daughter on his shoulders; or the random video shot of my dad asking my grandmother for a dance and her face just lighting up.
ShadowDuelist, GoPros are a great "fire-and-forget" tool. As I said, we often use a couple during the ceremony for two reasons. First, the ultra-wide angle can give an impressive view of a majestic cathedral that you can't get on DSLR until you're getting a 14mm lens just for the job. Second, they can be placed relatively inconspicuously. In a church, as long as the pastor has no objections, they can be placed in the sanctuary facing out to get a shot of the gathered guests, in a pergola for a top-down view of the couple and the officiant, and even on light stands to get up ten, twelve, fifteen feet for a unique establishing shot angle. The high establishing shot is also why we have one as a dump shot during the reception. (It'll also double as a guest reaction shot when they're laughing during the toasts.)
I wouldn't use a GoPro, personally, for roving shots, whether intended to be used in motion or just going place to place. If you plan on moving during the ceremony you're better off with something with a nice long lens so that you can get closeups on the couple and maybe their parents in the seats, again for reaction shots. As for video booth messages, a GoPro would be too wide for one or two people talking into a microphone, but if you have a different camera for your main camera there it can provide a neat behind the scenes angle.
Tom's idea of GoPros on tables has merit, but as he said it'd be pretty expensive. If you were to do it at all, I'd place it on the parent tables during toasts, especially if you don't have an assistant videographer getting establishing shots for you. Also as Tom mentioned, battery life is a concern. A GoPro Hero 3 Black lasts for about an hour and a half, plus an hour with a battery pack on the back. Bring spares, especially if you have an hour long ceremony ahead of you. (Your battery should last the ceremony but you'll need to swap if you want to use it during the reception at all.)
GoPros on the wrists of the happy couple for the ring ceremony - a tad invasive but and idea
I've seen video of a GoPro in the bride's bouquet but that's obviously a preproduction thing, designing the bouquet from the ground up to be able to hold it, making sure she's holding it that way forward as she walks down the aisle, and that the maid of honor holds it camera out during the ceremony (or if it's placed on the ground or a table, camera out). Invasive in preproduction and the bride needs to be enthusiastic about it, but not incredibly apparent to guests that it's there.
Another idea: GoPro on the toss bouquet ![]()
Vicar's Hat cam? Just throwing it out there?
Religious officiants are often hesitant enough letting you place a camera on the altar or even get close at all. (My boss shot one this year where he was limited to the balcony. Period.) Awesome if you can do it but asking might just make the priest/pastor/whomever very wary about working with you.
Wait, if jesus was real, he'd be so be down with the gopro - He totally would have captured himself walking on water with GoPros and tweet vid'd it immediately!
Interesting idea but man I would not want to be that editor ![]()
Yeah, low light on the Black series from the 3 on up is great. I haven't used it yet but I'm sure the 4 is even better.
I'm currently in the process of editing my wedding video, the best advice I can give is make sure you get a Norwegian and a frenchman to film it.
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You were obviously in tremendously capable hands. ![]()
Friends In Your Head | Forums → Off Topic → P&P: Wedding Shooting
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