After reading the thread about the "45min wedding short", it sparked my interest in how long most of you guys' wedding videos typically last.

I may be completely and totally off here, but as I stated in that other thread, keeping someone's attention span to a wedding video (IMO) isn't exactly easy. I personally haven't seen too many wedding videos that didn't feel like watching an agonizing slide show of a family vacation or something.

I will discuss with clients what they want, but then they also understand that I have a way that I shoot and cover things. If they wanted something different, then they wouldn't have contacted me in the first place. The entire length of my first wedding video was just under 16 minutes and the clients were thrilled with it.

Video duration.....discuss.

'Typical wedding'? As I include the speeches in full, the participants themselves get a large say in determining how long their film lasts.

20 mins up to 2 hrs 20. What may seem like an agonizing slide show to you might well be poured over frame by frame by the sniffing bride.

What ?
Most ceremonies are longer than 15-20 mins, so how can you get the whole day into 15-20 mins ? Are you going to cut down the ceremony ? You can't do that, it's the most important day of their lives.
I don't cut the ceremony or speeches, even if they are boring, if the client gets fed up with watching those parts then they can easliy fast forward to the next chapter.
It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

Paul.

I don't understand this mindset and this is why I offer something different. I don't want my clients "fed up" with anything. I want them glued the whole time.

Besides....they cut corners so badly that the DJ was ridiculously horrible and the audio from the reception was useless. Literally useless. Plus, the MoH and Best Man's speeches were dumb, and hardly heartfelt. Everyone was like..?? I wouldn't have wanted it in my OWN wedding video. It was borderline laughable and I don't mean in the "haha" way. The clients paid nothing for my video, and she loved the end product (cried). I don't see where the problem is.

Anyway, we don't need to discuss this here anymore, I started a thread for it. This thread is for Gino.

'Typical wedding'? As I include the speeches in full, the participants themselves get a large say in determining how long their film lasts.

20 mins up to 2 hrs 20. What may seem like an agonizing slide show to you might well be poured over frame by frame by the sniffing bride.

And I understand that. I have a way of doing things and if clients like it, great! If they don't then there are several different people they can go with. I guess what it boils down to is artistic impression and useable content. I sell what I sell. If the client wants the raw footage, they can have that too. I don't want my videos to have long boring sections. It's not the way I operate.

Hi Brad,

The entire length of my first wedding video was just under 16 minutes and the clients were thrilled with it.
Video duration.....discuss.

I took a look at your work - I think it was the wedding you're talking about - on vimeo. You've got to realize that a wedding video is as long as it has be. There is no absolute limit to the amount of time a person will be interested in a movie. Take into account that someone can do this for a long time and build up a set of skills that allows them to keep people entertained for a lot longer than 15 minutes. And that's without the photographer's images as you integrated into the wedding you cut. Its about real audio, substantially more coverage, multiple angles, backstory, time-shifting and q and a with the people involved to add a story-telling element. To say after editing one wedding that 15 minutes is longest it should be just isn't fair to yourself. As your shooting and storytelling improve I think you'll see that as a limitation.

Hi Brad,



I took a look at your work - I think it was the wedding you're talking about - on vimeo. You've got to realize that a wedding video is as long as it has be. There is no absolute limit to the amount of time a person will be interested in a movie. Take into account that someone can do this for a long time and build up a set of skills that allows them to keep people entertained for a lot longer than 15 minutes. And that's without the photographer's images as you integrated into the wedding you cut. Its about real audio, substantially more coverage, multiple angles, backstory, time-shifting and q and a with the people involved to add a story-telling element. To say after editing one wedding that 15 minutes is longest it should be just isn't fair to yourself. As your shooting and storytelling improve I think you'll see that as a limitation.

Joel, thanks for the response and it makes a lot of sense. I guess I shouldn't look at it as a "set" duration. I get the question from clients already though, so what would I tell them? "I don't know, it depends on how much footage I get or how I feel like piecing it together"?

I'm definitely not telling anyone here how videos should go. No way. I'm just stating that it's all in how I feel it should go. There is no set formula for this industry in my mind, and if there is, I just refuse to follow it. I will take all advice into consideration and I appreciate all of it. I'm looking for all the help and ideas offered. I grew up being a very artistic person, and I hated being graded in school for my personal artwork because either it did or it didn't fit what the teacher thought I should be doing.

I did learn something from your post though.

My wedding videos typically run about 2 hours and up to 3 hours.

My wedding videos typically run about 2 hours and up to 3 hours.

...wow...

Is there a lot of rolling footage? How long does it take you to do an edit?

I've been doing wedding videos for only a few years, so I'm still learning.

What i'm finding is that many (not all, but many) of my customers want more footage, not less.

Initially my videos were about 45 minutes. But I'm in a price range ($1500) where many brides believe more is more. I am not a high-end cinematic videographer, obviously. that is where I was originally headed, but I like the middle to low end better, I'm more comfortable there.

It seems the higher you go in the market, the less they need/want volume wise. That is a generalization, of course, but it is what I seem to see.

Working stiffs with small lives and low paying jobs who have relatively few interests outside of their home could sit through ten hours of nothing but movies of themselves. The higher income folks seem to be somewhat less enthralled with watching themselves for more than an hour. Again, these are generalizations based on my observations, and not true in all cases.

In the end you need to know your customer base and what they want. People in Cincinnati are extremely family oriented. It is also a blue-collar town with deep German blue collar roots. Family is everything to many people here, so there videos are very important, and the more footage the better they like it. I have a friend who has given six single layer discs to a bride for one wedding. His wedding videos are typically 3-5 hours long. He is the largest wedding videographer in the area and does hundreds a year.

I have a friend who has given six single layer discs to a bride for one wedding. His wedding videos are typically 3-5 hours long. He is the largest wedding videographer in the area and does hundreds a year.

Unreal. Wow.

I don't want anybody here to get the wrong impression of me like I'm a rebel or that I like to cause trouble or go against the grain "just because". I just refuse to put that kind of time/work into a wedding video unless I really felt led to create a masterpiece of epic proportions for myself. My attention span isn't that great. haha Seriously though if bride is looking for someone to make a video that long, she won't find it in me and I will kindly suggest someone else. If I lose a client, I lose a client. Each videographer has their own thing. I'm not saying I'm stuck to 20 minutes, but I'm also not going to make a 3 hour long video just because thats what the client wants. I guess I won't make it very far in this profession if that's the case.

Yes you said it. If you don't want to give the client what they want, you won't get very far. To be in any business and to not want to give the customers what they want doesn't even sound right.

Even the phrase "just because that's what the client wants" is hilarious. Sounds like you are doing them a real favor by serving them. Your customers are lucky indeed.

I hate to be sarcastic, but I don't know how else to respond to your post, other than not respond.

You'll find your calling eventually. It sounds like wedding video may not be it, but who knows, maybe you'll find a niche.

I have a friend who has given six single layer discs to a bride for one wedding. His wedding videos are typically 3-5 hours long. He is the largest wedding videographer in the area and does hundreds a year.

Jeff, It makes sense that your friend is the largest wedding videographer in your area doing hundreds wedding a year, because clearly he is not spending much time editing the weddings he shoots. 3-5 hours of output from a single day event is way too much in my opinion.

I come from a market (south asian) which primarily has the mentality of "more the better". In the past, I've given DVDs which runs up to 3 hours. But from last season, with applying much tighter/cinematic edits (without loosing content), I managed to cut down the output to approx. 1.5-2 hrs. Although, I feel there is still room for improvement; considering the longer (hindu) ceremonies and the expectation of 'wanting to see more' of the parents of the couple, I feel that 2 hrs mark is pretty reasonable at this point.

One of the great things about DVDs is its ability to chapter and separate clips from each other. This way I'm able to produce my main feature in a more tight/cinematic way yet still be able to provide the things that are appealing to the parents in a separate chapter. This helps me keep the main feature more clean and story oriented.

It all depends -
Having shot a 15-20 minute ceremony and under 1 hour reception... it was hard to make that last TOO long...

On the other hand, some weddings/wedding days are a longish affair, with many out of town relatives, and lots of interesting people... not to mention interesting traditions. To say that one could do justice to that in 15 minutes is to disparage and do great injustice to the client.

Sure the ceremony is the same blah-blah that you've heard too many times if you shoot weddings (unless something interesting and out of the ordinary happens), but it's THEIR day, and for them it's a special deal.

I find that one of the most important things is to get friends and relatives on tape - it's all too often one or more of those older relatives will pass on, and the memories or words they shared on that video may mean more than anything else that happened.



If you'e talking about a short ceremony and reception, MAYBE the final product would be short, just because of the lack of content, but to say 15 minutes... nope, you're not trying hard enough.

I usually shoot for around an hour plus or minus of tightly edited high points - fit on one DVD with chapters and menus so it's easy to jump around or find the part you want.

Ok, I think I'm getting off on the wrong foot here. Not my intention. Especially to you Jeff.

I'm already learning from you guys and I want to get something from this. Obviously I can't have much of a solid foundation for an opinion because I have ONE wedding video to my credit. I don't really think I could turn someone down, so I would have to learn to adapt.

I can honestly tell you though, that 16 minutes was the MOST I could get out of that first wedding. There really wasn't much content to deal with. It was a very quick ceremony and reception.

Playing large parts of it would have really killed the mood of the video (which I may remind you was loved by the recipients). I made it more like an extended music video. I let the music carry mood and the pace of the video. You can see the link in my other thread. I think I have it stuck in my head that all my videos should be that way, and I'm realizing that they won't be.

Again, sorry for being stubborn headed. All I know is I worked hard on that 16 minute video, so maybe it's hard to fathom 3 hours! haha.

Here's one question for you:
If bride-to-be's have seen my work and like what they see and want to hire me...knowing that the whole video was 16 minutes long....then what do I do with that? Am I to assume that I'm doing something right because they like it, or am I wrong because "16 minutes isn't near long enough for a wedding video" like some have stated here? It seems contradictory in a sense.

Take care,
-Brad

I believe that length of dvd depends on the event itself.

I.e. if you have full ceremony in church which lasts full hour (or more), and B&G wants most of it, then you will end up with 45mins of ceremony on dvd (that's from my experience).

Then there is reception - sometimes the party simply sucks, and there is nothing to show in the video. But sometimes the reception is so great that guest and B&G are not getting off the dance floor till 2am. It would be a shame to eliminate such an interesting and colorful footage. Most of my customers also do not want to give up on anything from the reception. Sometimes they ask my for tapes with raw footage - I have to tell them that there is no need for because I'm not cutting anything out during the edit.

That's how I end up with 3hrs dvd's - for me it's simply booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooring, but customers wants as much as possible for the money they pay - they do not understand that shorter dvd's would be much more interesting, better crafted and more artsy (since I could devote more time into visual effects).

I started offering such option (for shorter dvd's) at lower price but still - nobody is interested in my area.

P.S. My customers are mostly Polish folks.

Intro,trailer,baby pictures,toghether pictures,family pictures
ceremony,reception,hight lights.............60 minutes..more video
go like bonus at the DVD menu!!!

Intro,trailer,baby pictures,toghether pictures,family pictures
ceremony,reception,hight lights.............60 minutes..more video
go like bonus at the DVD menu!!!

how long is the bonus?

Ok, I think I'm getting off on the wrong foot here. Not my intention. Especially to you Jeff.

If bride-to-be's have seen my work and like what they see and want to hire me...knowing that the whole video was 16 minutes long....then what do I do with that? Am I to assume that I'm doing something right because they like it, or am I wrong because "16 minutes isn't near long enough for a wedding video" like some have stated here? It seems contradictory in a sense.


Brad- If you showed your prospect a 16 minute video and they understood thats what they're getting, then great- go out and sell as many 16 minute videos as you can. I think what you'll find though over time are clients who want more than that. At least in my market they do and in fact a few have even asked for the raw footage. They loved the edit but they just want to see more. Here's how my deliverable breaks down.

Main Edit - 30-40 minutes
Extras (unedited ceremony, more dances, etc) 45-60 minutes
Highlight - 4 minutes
Trailer - 1 minute

after doing long form for many many years some going on 3 plus hours back in the late 90s I decided to do a shorter edit. over the last few years it's become short form. Now to different people that means different thing but here is a typical layout. First keep in mind that I'm talking about Catholic mass ceremonys that are generally about 45 to 55 minutes. Also keep in mind thet in my area receptions can run 4 hours of events not talking about dinner time (sit down plated service-not a buffet) I will typically have 4 to 5 hours of footage-from prep to goodbye. Can't edit what you don't have. My typical edit is 45 to 55 minutes. The ceremony which in long form is 45 to 55 minutes is cut to 10 to 12 the reception is edited to about 25 to 35 the prep photo session highlight andcredits are whatever they are depending on the footage and music. 3 to 5 minutes. Add it up and you get 45 to 55 minutes. Now I don't care if it goes 40 or 65 it really doesn't matter. I also give them the RAW footage on DVD of the uncut ceremony and the reception in real time from intros on. This way they have everything but 99% of the time they only watch the 1 bowler (of pop corn that is). IMO the 15 minute piece is a highlight and not the whole day BUT if the client is good with it great.
Everything is dependent on 1) how you sell what you do and 2) how well you do it
If the 15 minute day works for you, keep doing it

My bonus go between 3 to 5 minutes!!.
I think I video after 60 minutes gets BORING for
the people that are looking the wedding video..

My opinion....

after doing long form for many many years some going on 3 plus hours back in the late 90s I decided to do a shorter edit. over the last few years it's become short form. Now to different people that means different thing but here is a typical layout. First keep in mind that I'm talking about Catholic mass ceremonys that are generally about 45 to 55 minutes. Also keep in mind thet in my area receptions can run 4 hours of events not talking about dinner time (sit down plated service-not a buffet) I will typically have 4 to 5 hours of footage-from prep to goodbye. Can't edit what you don't have. My typical edit is 45 to 55 minutes. The ceremony which in long form is 45 to 55 minutes is cut to 10 to 12 the reception is edited to about 25 to 35 the prep photo session highlight andcredits are whatever they are depending on the footage and music. 3 to 5 minutes. Add it up and you get 45 to 55 minutes. Now I don't care if it goes 40 or 65 it really doesn't matter. I also give them the RAW footage on DVD of the uncut ceremony and the reception in real time from intros on. This way they have everything but 99% of the time they only watch the 1 bowler (of pop corn that is). IMO the 15 minute piece is a highlight and not the whole day BUT if the client is good with it great.
Everything is dependent on 1) how you sell what you do and 2) how well you do it
If the 15 minute day works for you, keep doing it

VERY insightful post. Thank you very much.

I have to agree with the raw footage aspect of this. I believe one of the brides asking about us is already requesting raw footage, which I don't have a problem with. I can cut out the directing and chit chat between filmer and client etc. and just give them all keepable stuff throughout the day. (regardless if it made it in the edit or not). I can handle that.

Let me ask some of you a question again:

After doing this for so long, do you feel as if you've compromised your artistic side in doing some of these videos just to keep customers happy? I get the feeling it could be akin to an up and coming artist who once did it for the love and passion and now is selling out to corporate marketing just to get sales. I guess the minute I start doing this just for them is the day I stop doing it, because this is how I'm expressing myself artistically through capturing their day. In the end, if I have felt like I have put out a "booooooring" video (as quoted from someone else), then I'm not satisfied.

I've definitely established myself as the black sheep here. =P

roughly 45 min for me. I charged based on play time & cameras, so more play time must mean a longer more involved wedding (usually the bigger church weddings). The shortest I've done was a ceremony that was 10 minutes and I was pushing hard to come up with material to fill 35 minutes play time (client requested 45). Longest I did was 2hrs and it was boring as all get out, but the client had a massive church wedding, a massive reception (just the intros took 10 minutes!).

The length of dvd depends on the event itself as others here have mentioned. My typical edited length is from 50 min to 1 hour and 20 min. I also include 7-10 min highlights, but it all depends on what material you have. When I edit my do it in a way that I like. It has been said that if a filmmaker is boring with his work it will show through his work. So if I get bored looking at the resaults of my edit then I have work on it better. I do include on a seperate DVD full length of the seremoni and speaches but in edited form, that is guests response, so that will also be not too boring to sit trough.

In the highlights I use my artistic element to convey the feel and mood of the weeding day.

Let me ask some of you a question again:

After doing this for so long, do you feel as if you've compromised your artistic side in doing some of these videos just to keep customers happy? I get the feeling it could be akin to an up and coming artist who once did it for the love and passion and now is selling out to corporate marketing just to get sales. I guess the minute I start doing this just for them is the day I stop doing it, because this is how I'm expressing myself artistically through capturing their day. In the end, if I have felt like I have put out a "booooooring" video (as quoted from someone else), then I'm not satisfied.

I've definitely established myself as the black sheep here. =P

For me, I don't feel as if I've comprimised my "artistic side"-nor do I feel as if I gave in and am doing things just to make the client happy. I hate to say it but since 1983 when I started with video I've ALWAYS done what needed to be done to keep the client happy because without happpy clients you've got no business. Artistic? Sure, I do what I can to make it an artistic creative video but they hire me to document their day, not make it something it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I like the atristic,creative stuff as much as anyone but I have never felt like I am "selling out". My job is to give my client a piece of work that has stable well exposed properly framed footage with quality audio in a format they can watch with their friends and family for years and years.
BTW, what YOU might consider boring they might and probably don't. Remember it's THEIR wedding, not yours so to them everytime they watch they see something new and most important they see themselves on the most important day of their live (up to that point) so to them-it's not boring. If you feel that your work is boring then you either need to change your style or your profession. Talk to me after you've done about 1600 weddings then we'll talk boring. :-)

Please note that what we consider as boring is a treasure to the Bride & Groom. No matter how good the wedding film is you can't expect people to watch the video like it's Transformers 2 and ask for a re-run; but the Bride would certainly watch it over & over again.

My wedding video is 1:30 on the average, I don't cut the speeches, ceremony.

My 2 cents

brad

i noticed what you wrote in the other thread and even though I didn't really take the time to go through word for word on this thread. I totally agree with you. My edit is usually 20 to 30 min. I tell the B&G this when I meet them.
They receive a smooth flowing, action packed video of all the days events.. Then on another DVD the entire ceremony and reception with a very slight edit (basically me taking out all of the shots with me running with the camera).
Best of both worlds in my opinion. They'll have their "short" to show to friends and family and then they'll have the extended version for them.

my thoughts....

Steve

Artistic? Sure, I do what I can to make it an artistic creative video but they hire me to document their day, not make it something it wasn't. Don't get me wrong, I like the atristic,creative stuff as much as anyone but I have never felt like I am "selling out". My job is to give my client a piece of work that has stable well exposed properly framed footage with quality audio in a format they can watch with their friends and family for years and years.
BTW, what YOU might consider boring they might and probably don't. Remember it's THEIR wedding, not yours so to them everytime they watch they see something new and most important they see themselves on the most important day of their live (up to that point) so to them-it's not boring. If you feel that your work is boring then you either need to change your style or your profession. Talk to me after you've done about 1600 weddings then we'll talk boring. :-)

Brad - I think I know where you're going with the artistic thing. When I first started doing this, my idea of a great wedding video was a short composition of the best footage of the day scored to some cool music, little to no natural audio - basically a long highlight clip. I did it this way because I thought it felt creative and artsy and all that. I had no interest in the long form because to me it wasn't very exciting. At some point though based on customer feedback, I started delivering more of a documentary style product. Lots of natural audio, sound bytes, family interviews, etc, intermixed with cinematic segments here and there. What I've come to find is that editing documentary style takes as much ( if not more) skill and creativity to make it an engaging production. For me, the response to this format has been great so it's what I'm sticking with for now. With that said, the product I deliver today is totally different from what I used to deliver and is priced accordingly. I'm sure there is a market for the 16 minute video and hey, in today's economy it could become a hot seller if it's priced right.

Art

Hello Everyone,

Since it was my thread that sparked this one I would like to offer my 2 cents. I personally am drawn to the short artistic edit and if I encourage clients to take that route then I feel I am doing my job by offering them something they haven't seen or experienced before or in most cases not aware of. At least not in our region anyway. Our Feature Presentation is the Short, but I by no means cut or leave anything out, you can't, its all important. Its just not defined in the main feature. Thats the beauty of the DVD platform and we use it to its limits. Secondary or Bonus DVD's are provided that provide full long form documentary edits of the Ceremony, Toasts and Speeches, First Dances and any other special activity that occurred. We also include things like out-takes, gag reels, deleted footage.

Please don't misunderstand, long form can be just as involved as Art Varga has pointed out. But when we give clients the opportunity to investigate both formats they have always overwhelmingly picked the short form.

We are supposed to be the experts, we spend countless hours investigating trends, reviewing all the great works of our peers on sites like this, investing in the tools that give us the ability just to do some unique shots and continually work to hone our skills. I think that gives us the insight to properly guide our clients.

Best Regards

GMan

I personally feel that even if some agree or some don't agree with anything that has been said thus far, some great stuff has come out of this thread.

I've learned a ton already and I thank each and every one of you for your responses. It's definitely giving me a new perspective on things. I really have to tweak my mindset a little bit, and listen to my gut instinct as well as make the customer happy. My first wedding experience left me a little jaded. My future wedding experiences will not go anything like the first....at all. I know it will be more involved and more difficult, from capture to final burn.

Why am I doing this again? haha

On a side note: it's interesting because being a newcomer to the game, I've only recently heard of who Joe Simon is and how influential he has been in wedding videography. What's also interesting is how he feels about wedding videos and how it somewhat aligns with what I'm feeling and expressing.....(I am not comparing myself to Joe)....

http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=52906
(Scroll down to the video and click on 1:1 and the dialogue between 5:00 - 6:55)

Thanks for the link Brad - I watched all three vids. Love his camera movements but rigging a nearby tree for a swing shot? On the wedding day? And loving 4:3? Not if the couple stretch it to fill their new plasma.

I personally feel that even if some agree or some don't agree with anything that has been said thus far, some great stuff has come out of this thread.

I've learned a ton already and I thank each and every one of you for your responses. It's definitely giving me a new perspective on things. I really have to tweak my mindset a little bit, and listen to my gut instinct as well as make the customer happy. My first wedding experience left me a little jaded. My future wedding experiences will not go anything like the first....at all. I know it will be more involved and more difficult, from capture to final burn.

Why am I doing this again? haha

On a side note: it's interesting because being a newcomer to the game, I've only recently heard of who Joe Simon is and how influential he has been in wedding videography. What's also interesting is how he feels about wedding videos and how it somewhat aligns with what I'm feeling and expressing.....(I am not comparing myself to Joe)....

EventDV.net: Studio Time | Joe Simon Productions: Weddings, Super 8, and the BMX Factor (http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=52906)
(Scroll down to the video and click on 1:1 and the dialogue between 5:00 - 6:55)

Brad,

Good link, thanks very much. Its very nice to see how close Joe's sentiments hit close to home. We feel the same way about the short form and how it can become greater than the whole. Our couples express the same too us as well, they love the short version, so much so that they can't help replaying it over and over again, which is a very great compliment for us.

Thanks Again

Gino

Brad:

I don't think there is any right or wrong way to shoot a wedding video. There are obviously lots of opinions and styles to choose from.

There are also no two weddings or couples exactly alike either.

I believe the age of the videographer dictates what the videographer offers or percieves should be offered, just as the age of the couple dictates their expectations of the videos coverage. Older couples and videographers tend to be more interested in the attendees than themselves, and the opposite is true for younger couples.

I bet the younger (35 & less) and unmarried videographers shoot much different video than the older married guys. Not better or worse, they just have a different life perspective.

I think Don Blooms advice is solid, no-nonsense advice that should be listened too. His advice will provide a video that the B&G will watch 10 or 20 years later (if DVDs last that long) and enjoy more than the the first time they saw it. And remember, a bunch of dizzying glide cam shots and cuts every two seconds thrills the kids, but makes the old folks seasick.

Jeff you are certainly correct that no one video or no one videographer is "correct". I felt (at first) that I was getting looked down upon for having the mentality like that of Joe's where you don't have to have the whole ceremony in the final edit, but a more condensed and powerful version.

Age may have something to do with it, but I wouldn't say that it's set in stone. I am 30 with a wife and two kids. Joe (I'm assuming from the video) is in his 30's and married with a kid(s). I think it's more in how you grew up, what you did during those years that influenced you, and what your overall artistic side is. Joe and I are in fact similar in the area of being involved in action sports growing up. I have been a skateboarder for 19 years and I still skate. Maybe it has something to do with it?

Even before seeing some of Joe's filming technics I've already thought about using my skateboard with some larger soft wheels (meant for cruising-quiet and rolls over just about anything) and getting some really smooth dolly style shots. Even at 30, I have better balance and board control than I did at 18. It's unreal. haha

My longest wedding film to date is around the 15 minute mark. If there is extra footage that for some reason didn't fit the story of the main feature I'll include it as an extra.

So far each wedding I've shot has been a totally different edit. For example, one wedding I only wanted to show the bridal prep from the moment the bride was dressed and looking amazing. I don't know why, it just felt right. So, all the footage I shot at the hairdressers and while her makeup was getting done, I edited a nice little 2 minute clip together from that footage and included it as an extra.

I'm only new and my finished product keeps evolving ... but I'd like to get it down to 7-10min for the wedding film - all shot by me with one camera. I'm tired of the stress and workflow of multi-cam edits.

Ultimately, what I'm after is a bride coming to me because they like my style, not because they're after a 'wedding video'.

Cheers,

Matthew.

Hello All!

Seems that this topic is a bit suspended for a while, but I hope I'll get some responses :)

I am about to start a wedding business and would like to get some opinions / thoughts about section's length and duration.
Here in Hungary habits as follows:
1.---> Preparation (3-6h long)
2.---> photographers round (Couple goes to somewhere for shooting some photos) 30-60mins long
3.---> so called "Civil Ceremony", 15-40mins long
4.---> Church Ceremony , 30-80mins long
5.---> and the wedding "fun" itself 4-6h long

I think for optimal length for each part of the whole event shall: 1: 2mins, 2: 2-3mins. 3: 2-3mins. 4:3-8mins. 5:5-10mins Total: 15-25mins as a final edited product. I am about to go with the more cinematic style.(nice shoots good music, ocassionaly original voices)
My questions shall be: of course there will be more "raw" material but would you give that uncutted version to the customer or you edit a bit, and how long this should be?

What do you think about lengths/durations?

Szia Ecker,

I think you're way too short - a vital part of video is sound, the couple want to hear their vows and speeches.

for most couple the ceremony particularly is a blur - it's hard to remember much of it - my videos of the ceremony are as long as the ceremony but that's a documentary style. in the end it's your call, talk to your brides or any bride and find out what they expect, what is the normal offering from competitors in your area

Hi Ecker.
To some extent local expectations will be very different, though it seems the durations that you've given seem very excessive, the traditional one not yours and by contrast yours seems excessively brief. I'd suggest asking around to find out just what is expected, remember that the DVD may have to satisfy the family almost as much as the bride and groom. If they are expecting the full deal, your offering my fall somewhat short.


My suggestion would be a combination of both, the 'cinematic' one you want to do plus a separate full day disc. That of course depends on how much you are expecting to put in to the day to acquire the footage for the short form, will you have enough to cover 6 hours of prep !!!!!.

If it helps my full edit is typically 75-90 minutes with a 3-5 minute highlights. The variation of duration is usually determined by the length of speeches and the actual event on the day.

thanks!

Actually I was just thinking in case of i would be requested of a friend of mine to see his/her wedding video, what would be than the length if i would be still interested. I believe longer than 15-20 mins would be boring for anyone. Of course this 15-20 mins is a highlight of best shots etc.
I agree to have a golden way to give also a longer version, but if you think further what to show, what do they expect to see? how the others talk? how the others eat? camera moving around talking groups? + games+speeches+special guests/productions? of course
I truly believe after a (short9 while even the couple will not watch the longer version
Documentary style 2 hours + movie style 20mins.
what are your expereinces regarding durations? (independtly of geographical/cultural) differences

Ecker,

I don't think by considering what you'd personally like to see in the way of a programme is the right measure. In broadcast terms very few documentaries are longer than 26 minutes but that's for a general broadcast audience, again, the wrong measure.

Your viewers come in two "flavours", a) the bride and groom and their mothers and b) their friends. Actually that's a bit harsh because the first category often includes family and close friends - why? Because with 20+ chapters a 2 hour programme is not necessarily viewed at a single sitting nor even as a single video. However, friends can usually only stomach one song's worth of programme.

And that's what we give them. Up to 2+ hours of documentary programme with 20+ chapters and one of their chosen songs ideally 6+ minutes long of the highlights.

BUT, neither timing is rigid - we've just completed a 1 hour main programme because it was a wedding at which there were no extras, the ceremony was brief, there were no readings, the speeches were brief to the point of non-existent and the first dance was 3 minutes. The highlights were set to a track almost 7 minutes long and the clients were ecstatic and approved the first edit.

Hi Ecker

My DVD's are divided into actual clips so it's easy for the bride to use the menu and see the ceremony from start to finish and no more. She can also just watch the Best Man's speech which could be only 2 minutes or 10 minutes!!

The point is, the longest clip on my disks is a Catholic Ceremony ..around 40 minutes if they want everything included during the service...otherwise clips are no longer than 10 minutes usually...I agree that the average viewer has an attention span of 15 minutes or less so by giving them the option of watching everything sequentially or just watching what they want to watch helps this issue. It's also a know fact that given a few seconds break "resets" the attention span, so my clips each have a beginning and an end and the tiny break in-between allows the viewers brain to "reset" before the next clip begins.

Just for reference I struggle to watch a 100 minute movie on TV, no matter how good it is, BUT I can easily watch 4 x 30 minute sitcoms in a row only because they have breaks!!

For documentary shoots it makes an audience more alert and they enjoy the program a lot more!!

Chris

"I bet the younger (35 & less) and unmarried videographers shoot much different video than the older married guys. Not better or worse, they just have a different life perspective"

Indeed , im 27 , the only reason i got into this business was after seeing a wedding film for a 1 hour and it made me almost tear my eyes out. 2 hours i would run away and if a wedding film was over that id smash the TV.

I think its old hat, its boring and people my age hate it. Its all about short form stories and emotion. I saw a documentary with Ray Roman and he summed it up perfectly, if a hollywood film has 2 years for a movie to film the most interesting bits of a story which last only 1 hour 45 then how in a one day real time event can you get enjoyable, emotional footage to fill an hour, i mean where every-shot tells the story. You cant. You have to educate the clients. People my age are put off wedding films because of the reputation that they are 2 hours long and boring. People are afraid to pay £1500 for my films because of this reputation. They dont realize im not using this old skool technique. Its modern, its fresh, its full emotion, it looks amazing cause its all on 5d, it tells a story and not in the order of the day. My films have gone from 40 mins 2 years ago and now to 10-15 mins. My last one was 11 mins and the clients were in tears of joy. Speeches separate in their entirety. I have more bookings this year than ever before. If someone wants a 2 hour wedding films i tell them why its not advisable and if not then they can move on to find someone who films that way.

luke

I produce documentary style videos (none of that extremely long music video stuff most do where mist of the wedding is cut out) and my Badic Pkg is usually an hour and the Plus Pkg is usually an hour and a half. Never go longer than that.

Hello!

These thougths perspectivity, - you are representing - i am about to build up and follow. Because this is what i like, and feel good. Therefore I CAN make it look good.

On the other hand: this means that you just give them only the edited version, no longer uncut version or something?

Everyone has a differnt slant on the right length a wedding video should be. Years ago in the era of VHS tapes and lineal editing they were long-3 or 4 hours and the only way to skip was the fast forward button.
Today with DVDs and proper chaptering you can still do a long doco style and be OK. Remember these videos aren't for us, we, the video producer for lack of a better term are not the audience. Personally I like something in the 30 to 60 minute range but then I have the attention span of my 3 year old grand-daughter, but again, we aren't the ones who are going to be watching the finished product.
In my own case, my clients want something longer (chaptered out of course) so I keep everything under 2 hours, give or take a little, but that's what they expect and many equate length of video to price. "Why should I pay $X for a 30 minute video when I can pay $Y for something longer". You and I both know that that makes no sense. When I do a short form it takes me a lot longer to edit than a doco style as I'm sure it does for most people. However in my answer to the original question, IMO there is no proper length. It depends on your area and what everyone else does, if for no other reason than to have a benchmark, it depends on your markeiting and how you market yourself, it depends on your clients and as long as they know what to expect from your product whatever length of finished product you deliver is fine.

On the DVD menu they receive the 10-15 min film ( play main feature button ) and full speeches in the entirety unedited ( play speeches button ) . The main film does not run in the order of the day, its edited the same as my trailers ( see one mono pod and one 5d in the films examples ) and painstakingly color graded with music that sweeps the films along for an emotional ride. Music is key and composition I think. Any one with a camera can film a wedding and make a 2 hour wedding film, try and make a 12 min film. The main films are edited in the same way to my trailers. I tell my clients what I do and how i do it before they book, no group shots, no posing for the camera, all natural. Nothing that has been staged by a photographer, cut out all the singing and god worship from the film. I focus on the vows and that is it for the church. Unless there are emotional heart felt readings these will be cut in, and the same with vows, honest and heart felt, but most of the time its all bible readings that you hear over and over, keep it real and honest, the love of the couple.

But im still learning ive only been in this business 2 years :) But it was the long 2 hour wedding films that got me into it. They were sooooooooooo boring.

I think they should take as long as it takes to look through the photo album. 10-12 mins. Boom.

:)

What YOU want to watch may be very different from what the CLIENT wants. Even a "short" can be so boring and turgid as to make one wish for a fork to poke in one's eye...

Two considerations - first, as one records the events, do you make sure you've got GOOD footage (not just artsy fartsy slider shots of buildings and flower arrangements...)? Did you get PEOPLE doing and saying fun and interesting things - weddings are about the family and friends, most of which the B&G will only get a few brief moments with on that day. Did you get the aging grandmother, the beloved aunt, the slightly wacky groomsmen goofing around, the bridesmaids joking it up? Does anyone really want to watch more than a few seconds of "glamour" shots of plants and buildings?? But put the practical joker best man with the "personality" on screen and let them ham it up, now you might have something... Think about the sorts of videos that go "viral", think about what keeps an "audience" interested (whether it be for 30 seconds or 2 hours...).

OK, so some weddings are about as exciting as a stuffed shirt, and may not give you much to work with... but most people have at least SOME interesting moments, as you shoot, you've got to find them AND get them on your raw material pile. This is while you wear the cameraman/director/producer hat...

The second and more tricky consideration is EDITING - chopping 6-8 (or even 3-4) hours of raw material down to something watchable and that flows is an art - you have to know what to cut and what not to cut, and even big time Hollywood producers struggle with this - I've watched "outtakes" on disks that REALLY should have been in the movie to make things make sense, but were cut for "time", and other clips that seem like they shouldn't even have been shot!

As EDITOR/producer you have to know what goes in and what stays out - and yes, an HOUR of most any "event" on average may have only a few minutes of really compelling and watchable "stuff", but again, how well did you seek out and shoot GOOD footage?? Some events may leave 15 minutes of usable clips, others may leave you struggling with how to pack it onto one or two disks, but much comes down to how well the shooter/director made sure to get things on record.


You can't just put a number on these things, it will vary from event to event, much depending on the participants, but even moreso depending on your skills as a shooter/director.

Job #1 = capturing as much of the special moments and people as humanly possible, keeping cameras rolling and moving as needed to get everything "in the can"

Job #2 = thoughtfully and carefully cutting out all the "dead time" and then molding the best clips into a watchable sequence - chaptering is your friend, and I believe a short "highlight" (or "trailer") that they can show to friends quickly is a good thing to include, BUT you also should include "real time" parts of the event so they can relive it just like they were there (minus any "dead time" of course).

What seems to work for me is: roughly 15 minutes for very edited/more "cinematic" highlights; then running footage, chapterized, of day's events, full ceremony, toasts, etc., totaling 2 hours. They can skip between chapters, etc.

Most of my work goes into the Highlights Montage; and I try to film the running footage as cleanly as possible (so the edit of that gets shorter as I get better). I start by combing through the running footage, labeling, etc., as I edit (so as to create the Highlights and trailer as I go through footage. So, in editing the running footage, I'm also starting to create/envision the highlights.

Bottom line: most videos run around 2.5 hours, with 20 minutes of that being the Highlights.

3-4 minute Trailer
15-20 minute Feature
Full Length Ceremony 10 minutes to 1 hour typically
Live Reception coverage 1-1/2 hours typically.

Its very interesting to hear everyones perspectives on length of a wedding video.

I would like to ask the people delivering 1:30 to 2+ hr productions, how much are you putting on a single dvd and still satisfied with compression quality loss?? I deliver packages with 4-8 dvds and if they were double or triple dvd sets it would be a daunting task.

Steve

Steve, I do not put more than about 1:40 minutes on a DVD, but there are many others that put more. I will lower the bit rate a tad, but very little in order to make a project fit. There are those that claim, maybe rightly so, that lowering bit rates to a certain degree makes little to no difference, but I don't care, I don't like to do it. I go to a lot of trouble to make a nice product (as we all do) and I do not care for the idea of compromise at the last stage of production.

I cannot in good concience deleiver more than 2 DVDs to a client, that is too much. Dual layer discs cost more, but if you or I cannot afford the expense we are likely not getting paid enough.

I have a friend who was blasted by a bride on a review site because he delivered 4 discs. Do we really expect a customer to change discs that often?

Single layer discs for longer presentations are old school and are amateurish to me, but I'm not criticizing anyone that does it.

If we put ourselves in the customers shoes the answer is really a no brainer, we need to use dual layer discs.

Well said Dave B - your post should be required reading by every wedding filmmaker out there.