Deliverables Question

[Sean Seah]

I have heard about folks delivering 20min summary video of the entire wedding day. So do those of you who take this approach deliver the raw footages?

Say a couple takes up the SDE which is 4-5min. After which the final delivery includes a 20min entire day Highlights. Do you had over the raw as well? In my country, we have the chinese gatecrash thingy where the groom and his friends need to do "work" before getting t o the bride. I'm leaned towards providing the raw but a lot of it may be unwatchable (eg: the repeat shots, etc)

The key objective to cut down the editing work and focus on a quality 20min edit which is a lot more enjoyable then watching 1.5hrs of the entire day event.

[Philip Howells]

Sean, I can't answer your specific point directly but I think the market's attitude towards over-long programmes is changing - partly with the changes from videotape to DVD (which with multiple chapters can be viewed in sections) and with public's acceptance of the multi-segment television series consisting of maybe ten 60 minute programmes. No-one would consider going to the cinema to watch a 10 hour film.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Sean

I find that bride's concept of raw footage is the whole day edited to exclude any wobbly bits and dual takes. To me raw footage is your shoot as it comes out of the camera so really, what would a bride do with A and B camera takes and maybe more...I try to totally avoid giving out any true raw footage because as soon as they see bits that you edit out they will assume you are a poor cameraman.

Yes, I supply an edited version of the whole day for them broken up into maybe 10 chapters at least so they are seldom watching more than 20 minutes at a time. My highlights DVD is an optional extra!!! I do quite a few Chinese weddings so the whole day ends up a bit longer than normal but I will often offer them a longer version (again as an extra) if required.

Chris

[Sean Seah]

Yeah and I have been thinking an hour long of edited footage with chapters is the right way but it seems that a more video people have done away with that all together.

I have been thinking of offering just the 20min highlights but I'm sure half of the clients would be asking for the raw stuff...

[Waldemar Winkler]

Originally Posted by Sean Seah

I have heard about folks delivering 20min summary video of the entire wedding day. So do those of you who take this approach deliver the raw footages?

Say a couple takes up the SDE which is 4-5min. After which the final delivery includes a 20min entire day Highlights. Do you had over the raw as well? In my country, we have the chinese gatecrash thingy where the groom and his friends need to do "work" before getting to the bride. I'm leaned towards providing the raw but a lot of it may be unwatchable (eg: the repeat shots, etc)

The key objective to cut down the editing work and focus on a quality 20min edit which is a lot more enjoyable then watching 1.5hrs of the entire day event.

If your question is suggesting a 20 min summary is the ONLY product delivered to the client, then ...
From my perspective the only reason for offering a 20 min summary of the entire wedding day as the only product delivered to the client is post-production efficiency ... less time editing a full length, edited, chaptered video will allow more shooting dates throughout the season which appears to translate to more cash in the bank account.

Watching 1.5 hours as opposed to 20 minutes is the choice of my client, not me. I've done enough transfers of 1950-1980's film weddings to know every second is precious, if for no other reason than memories.

A full-length, chaptered video allows the client to choose. A 20 minute summary does not allow choice. Perhaps not much of a big thing now, but 30 years later, when memories are so important?

Personally, I don't like the idea of providing raw footage. However, for a 20 minute summary, I would definitely provide it. The question is, what format? What format will be easily read 30 years hence?