How to Make Processional or Full Ceremony Less Boring?

[Zhong Cheung]

The full ceremony itself might be acceptable, but a full processional just seems excessively boring. Yet, my client wants this, saying that her mom is the type to watch such things over and over again.

I'm wondering if you guys who do long form edits edit chronologically? I would imagine sitting through a full processional in one go in the video would be treacherously boring. But if letting a few people walk past, then cutting to a different scene for awhile, then coming back to the processional and repeating this process over and over until by the end of the entire video, then the full processional would be indeed shown in full...just that the wedding day's events may not have been edited/viewed chronologically.

[Jim Greene]

Of course the bride will most likely only watch the highlight and/or the short-form version of her wedding. This is the creative edit they will share with everyone. But having the full version of ceremony & major moments of the reception is simply a documentary of the entire day. Not every studio provides this, but I think it is important to provide. It's a record of their day. They will probably only watch it two times 1) when they first get it, and 2) when their kids want to watch it years later. For me this is a big reason to have it. Honestly, I'm not sure what the big fuss over this topic is. I rarely watch any movie from Hollywood more than once, and they are usually far more interesting and hopefully more finely edited. And if you are like most editors, you are going to assemble the multi-cam timeline and synchronize the audio anyway.

[Noel Lising]

IMHO, it maybe boring for us, but for the Bride & Groom and their future generation watching it 20, 30 years it is priceless.

I still watch my son's 1st birthday ( he is now 20 years old), it is 1.5 hours long but it takes us back to that time, I'm sure a guest would be bored to death if let them see it but for us parents it brings back memories.

My 2 cents.

[Zhong Cheung]

Jim, I don't think it's a question of whether or not to include the long form edit. I agree with you about its inclusion, and I have always intended to include it. And while most people would not watch it time and time again, this client claims her mom would and requested that we make it as un-boring as possible. So I'm just trying to collect some ideas on how to make that possible. A pure documentary style is pretty boring for the slow parts of a wedding. Even real documentaries will cut around - to interviews, to pickup shots, to different scenes, and most importantly, they don't stay on one stagnate subject/event for too long. I feel a processional would definitely be too long, so I was thinking of splicing other parts of the wedding events in to spice things up. The full processional would be shown, eventually, by the end of the video...just not in one continuous video segment.

Noel, I definitely feel you on the personal investment point. That said, wouldn't it be awesome if we could spice up our shots, editing, etc. while still providing the full long form edit? That's all I'm looking for - ideas on how to go beyond pure documentary style and various cuts to different angles. I'm thinking a well executed mini jib or dolly slider shot or steadicam would be nice. Though I can't figure out how I'd use the steadicam because walking into the line in the middle of the processional to get a following shot would seem socially awkward.

[George Kilroy]

If asked to do this I'd fix a camera at a suitable point where everyone will walk past it, put a big smiley face above the lens so that people look at it and most will smile at it. I'd then put that as a separate item on the DVD with a link from the menu. It will then not slow even a well edited long form video, yet it is there if/whenever the bride's mum, or anyone else wants to view it.

[Jim Greene]

For the very long parts like processional, especially with a long catholic church aisle, I will edit this down. With two or three cameras I cut between them and only show each person coming down for part of the "real" time, maybe 10 seconds, then cut to the next person. The key is to edit the background music to fit the edit. I would say that even the mother who says she wants everything included will not notice that the 10 minute processional was cut down to 3 minutes. Same goes for some of the singing, which is usually out of key, I cut it down. And the communion offering is cut. It's all still going to be boring to most people, but it is what it is.

[Noel Lising]

Originally Posted by Zhong Cheung

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Noel, I definitely feel you on the personal investment point. That said, wouldn't it be awesome if we could spice up our shots, editing, etc. while still providing the full long form edit? That's all I'm looking for - ideas on how to go beyond pure documentary style and various cuts to different angles. I'm thinking a well executed mini jib or dolly slider shot or steadicam would be nice. Though I can't figure out how I'd use the steadicam because walking into the line in the middle of the processional to get a following shot would seem socially awkward.

Hi Zhong, I agree with you a 100%. I saw Lamar Odom's wedding with one of the Kardashian sisters, what's interesting watching the edit was they cut into different angles every 5 seconds. It wasn't boring to the viewers to sum it up. Maybe with your 3 camera you can pull it off.