One of our Short Wedding Films - Warning 45 min.
 

Hello Everyone,

I am planning on putting a series of our Short Wedding features up on Vimeo. I've seen many, many trailers, demos, recap edits but I don't think anyone has ever posted an entire Short Form Wedding. Many of these trailers are absolutely breathtaking. I've made the decision that we will start making trailers of our work as well as it seems to heighten the visual impact for clients that may only get a chance at a brief glimpse our work and if that happens at a lull then they don't get the true picture of the short form. Clients that have sat thru an entire short however want nothing else but same for their wedding. Thats why I want to also post entire Shorts as well. We take the candid approach to filming a wedding and film a ton of stuff without trying to interfere with anything. I hope to introduce perhaps more staged sequences as we grow. I've actually never seen anyone else's short form video so this is our own perspective. We hope that you will like what we do.

Thank you

GMan

Angele & Mike - A Wedding Short Film on Vimeo

I didn't sit through the whole thing, but the different parts that I saw looked very good! Well done.

45min is a "short"?

I guess it's a good thing my clients won't be paying very high dollar for my videos, because I tell them that a "full video" is 15-20min. in length. I can get all the content from the day that I shot and need into that time frame. I tell my clients that keeping the attention span of anyone for much longer than that is a chore and most of them agree. This seems more like a full feature than a short to me. But then again, I'm new to all of this so I'm pretty jaded. haha

I'm sure your clients from this wedding were very happy with the end product though!

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.

There is no right or wrong way, each style is unique and acceptable.

For example, our new style is the main feature being 30 mins long, including a cut down ceremony, speeches and the rest of the day. Its quite difficult doing it this way. This is something people will want to watch over and over without skipping through the boring bits. If there are boring bits something is wrong.

Then we give them the bonus disk, which contains all the boring bits. Ceremony, speeches and all the rest, watch it once, in the drawer it goes.

Hi Gino,

I watched the beginning part and thought on the whole there was some nice shots there.

A few wobbles! but what struck me the most was there was no live sound. I cannot comment on later, as my attention span is not good for 45min!

As for wedding films, whilst we prefer the shorter edit, we give the customer what they want. I have yet to convince an italian, nigerian, asian that I will be presenting them with a 25min wedding video!

My best work would be within that time span. The longer the wedding, the harder it will be to keep anyones attention. Yet I am here to please the customer. I do convince them they also need a condensed version, and make more money!

I just shot my first full solo wedding yesterday, will start editing probably Wednesday. My plan is to give them a cinematic 20 min or so summary of the entire event (including highlights from the rehearsal dinner) and a complete video of the ceremony, which lasted just over 30 min, then short, complete shots of the main events of the reception.

Hi Brad,

It's the upper limit of a Short but I still regard this as a short considering our full documentary styles are almost usually 2 hrs long. I sometimes ask clients how long they think the video was, most guess much less than actual so I don't think keeping the attention span is a problem. Thanks for the nice comments, its appreciated.

Hi Danny,

Its funny you call it the bonus disk as that is what we call ours as well. It has the long form edits of the Ceremony, Toasts, First Dances and sometimes a gag reel or deleted scenes reel.

Thanks for your reply

GMan

Hi John.

Thanks for the reply.

A few wobbles? . . . just kidding, I'm sure there were. (glide track some day).

I do get the occasional up-brow when I try to explain the short form. Some even comment that "shouldn't it be cheaper then". It is a tough sell sometimes, especially to the parents. The only way to describe it to them is to show them a completed one, it sort of sells itself then. I also reassure them that the Bonus DVD has the long form edits of everything else.

Our opinion is that the short form it the best expression of their wedding day. Its my job too convince them of that. Every couple in every case has been grateful that I did.

Done properly 45 minutes will seem like 20 minutes which is the average that my clients think how long their wedding film is so I'm not convinced 45 minutes is too long.

Thanks again John.

GMan

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the reply.

You have to realize that most Editors that do Short Forms provide an alternate method of giving the clients proper edits of everything else. As an editor you provide them a greater service if you give them a cinematic piece and take out what's not essential. Its an artistic expression that captures the spirit of the day and is greater than the whole.

Thanks Again

GMan

Hi Gino, I totally agree with all that you have said. Next time I go and see a client, your coming with me! ha....lol..

Cheers.

Gino, now all you have to do is get better at white balance, exposure, framing your shots, transitions, music selection, story telling, avoid repetitive shots, glidecam,audio and general editing skills.

Sounds cruel to say these things, but hey...Iknow you wanted and needed to hear this too!

I think that applies to a lot of us.

Thanks Gino I enjoyed watching and learned a few things

Tom,

Ouch! You said a mouthful without saying much at all. I'm not sure this is helpful criticism or outright bashing. I don't want to take your tone in this reply so I'll just say that I think your mistaking creative intent as perceived errors. Do you really think we don't know how to set white balance or control exposure . . . come on. Have you watched any movies lately white balance is all over the place and expsosure (under or over) is used to set the tone or mood or place people in a specific environment. We strive to do the same. How about glidecam, some of our shots are handheld and thats not a bad word. I don't think you get it, we don't want everything perfect, we want texture, creativity, mood, expression a sense of pace using musical crescendos to reach out and heighten the adventure. Our shots are framed cinematically try it sometimes. We are not perfect at it but I'm not afraid to try. At least our piece envokes emotion which is our main intent. And we get an enormous show of gratitude from our clients which means everything to us.

I've had a chance to review your video's and while I'm no Mayad or Still motion, neither are you. Its confusing because a lot of what you list applies to your work, sometimes even to a greater degree. You have a relatively weak story flow and your shots seam to be all over the place with little or no connection. Timing, though, seams to be your greatest achilles heal, try working on that a bit. Oh and on a final note, try to be original, copying Still Motion won't make you Still Motion.

Please don't feel embarrassed and I hope you take this as a light hearted guide to put you on track. Hopefully one day you will open your mind and recongnize a more creative workflow. So detract from the mundane and allow yourself to grow. . . . I do really think needed to hear this.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll get there . . . . peace ;-).




Hello Paul,

Thanks for defending me, and thanks for your kind words..

GMan