wedding video duration

[Cody Dulock]

Originally Posted by Philip Howells

Firstly, Cody sneaks in a couple of red herrings, interesting but irrelevant. Commercials are 30 seconds long because that's all the buyer can afford in that format

**These are just my personal thoughts and opinions (as are the posts above)**

Has a commercial ever kept your attention for more than 30 seconds? If so, why? Peoples attention spans are diminishing fast in this day and age with how connected we all are. There is so much information at the click of a mouse we are now "scanning" over things more so than reading full articles, UNLESS it's a good story. Gone With The Wind had an amazing story, that's why 2 hours flew right by watching that movie (I wouldn't say Avatar did, but the 3D/action kept you entertained, IMO).

For me, it's not just about getting paid (although I need it to survive). I don't only want to put food on the table, but I want to engage people, push the limits of our industry, and take risks. Psychology is probably the best free "tool" your business will ever use (assuming you use it).

Sorry I made my first post so confusing, I'm pretty good at doing that :)

[Christopher Figueroa]

The average feature film is between 90 - 120 mins, and so I aim for the same length with my videos. Anything less or more just feels unnatural because as a society that's how long we're use to sitting in front of a television for.

[Kyle Root]

For the most basic ceremony and reception coverage, I try and keep my final video length between 45 and 60 minutes. You can just about always count on 30 minutes for the ceremony, and then depending on "hot active" the reception is, the final edits are between 15-30 minutes.

Other events as follows:

Rehearsal: add 10 minutes
Rehearsal Dinner: add 15 to 60 minutes depending on speeches and such

Pre-Cermeony: add 10-60 minutes depending on how much coverage is purchased (a couple hours or a whole day)

[Jeff Wallace]

I let the clients decide what kind of video they want... either long form/doc style, or short-form/cinematic style. Long forms can be 90 min to 2 hours in length. Short forms can be 30 min - 1hr.

Just this past week, I met with a bride who made it clear she has a short attention span and didn't want a video that's long and boring. She said 30 minutes (with everything edited down to the highlights) would be perfect.

The next day I had a groom call me and said one of his friends hired a videographer a few years ago and he was appauled that he received only a 30 minute video! He said for his video, he wanted everything shown in its entirety.

The point is everyone has different tastes. Some people feel jipped if they get short video, while others can't sit still for more than a half hour.

I actually know some of the "Divas" in the top25 and believe me when I say not all of their clients are satisfied with the final product. If you only do videos one way - Your Way - not the client's, then you're going to wind up with a lot of disappointed clients. That's my 2 cents.

[Cody Dulock]

Originally Posted by Jeff Wallace

I actually know some of the "Divas" in the top25 and believe me when I say not all of their clients are satisfied with the final product. If you only do videos one way - Your Way - not the client's, then you're going to wind up with a lot of disappointed clients. That's my 2 cents.

You are absolutely right! if I was a client and I didn't ask my video producer to show me an example or at the least tell me what the video would entail, then I wouldn't be happy either. The client chooses who they want to shoot their video and should be clearly informed of what they are getting... otherwise, that's a loop hole in your business that needs to be visited (IMO).