Love Story Ideas Please?

[Lisa Maxwell]

Anyone interested in sharing some ideas for Love Story questions and shots/links. I have a list made up from watching some others, but the samples out there of these types of videos seem to be few and far between.

Here are some of my thoughts:

All asked separately:
How did you meet?
What is your favorite thing about him/her?
What is your pet peeve about him/her?
What does he/she do that makes you laugh?
What did you think when you first laid eyes on him/her?
What is he/she best at?
What is he/she worst at?
Describe your proposal.
Describe him/her to someone who has never met him/her.
Give me 6-7 adjectives to describe him/her.
How did you know that he/she was the one?
Why will you make it?

I'm doing my first shoot for this kind of thing on Wednesday...SO excited! I hope I don't screw it up.

[Michael Gruich]

Lisa,

Here are my suggestions:

The proposal and how they met will be a "Big" chunk of the edit. I always try to keep anything "Negative" out of the questions for sure that can be taken out of context.

How did you meet?
What is your favorite thing about him/her?
How did you meet?
Describe your first date?
How did you know that he/she was the one?
Describe your proposal. (grooms usually mess this one up)
Describe him/her to someone who has never met him/her.
Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
Any special message you wish to send? (this can be a nice add on that is unexpected by the other spouse and get them a little emotional)

This or something similar will give you more than enough on the audio side for sure.

Best of luck!

Michael

[Lisa Maxwell]

Hey thanks Michael!

I'm hoping for some humor out of the negative stuff...this first one's with my good friend's daughter, so...yeah, I can see how I might need to tailor those kinds of q's to each couple.

[Michael Gruich]

Sounds good, the Groom will mess up a lot of the details most of the time like a bad witness on the stand at a trial. The Brides have this stuff engraved in their brains (somehow?,lol) and provide the real story. Very nice when you put them together and see reactions, what the gentleman remember is about a mile off and provides some good humor.

[Michael Kenney]

Might be too late, but as far as the shooting of the love story goes, the ones I've been involved with that have had the greatest response from everyone are where we didn't have the bride and groom at a static location like an office or one of their homes.. we've gone to locations that are important to them. Where they met, where they proposed, first date, etc..

For example, last year we did one for a couple who had known each other since they were kids but started dating in high school while he was a basketball player and she was a cheerleader. We went to their school one weekend and managed to get footage of them talking about things on an activity bus, in the stands and on the sign in front of their school. We used two cameras and got some great footage of each of them watching the other talk about things, them laughing and playing around at the school. There were some special moments like the bride mentioning when she first knew the groom was the one - something he hadn't known at the time, as well as him talking about the thought process behind how he proposed and the help he got from her family.

The day of the wedding (outdoors at a winery), the video was playing in one of the cabins pretty much the entire time before the wedding and after. We got tons of compliments on it and had both moms tearing up watching it and thanking us for making it special.

I think whenever possible, this is the way to go. The interview stuff tends to come off a bit stale and at times you just don't get that emotional experience. Especially when both the bride and groom are interviewed separately. This isn't the Dating Game.. it's a love story. Nothing says that like a shot where you can see the bride gazing at her future husband while he talks about the proposal, first date, whatever and you see that slight, knowing smile that tells you know where her heart is at.

[Ken Diewert]

Hey Lisa,

I realize it's too late but here is something I did with a couple. We were just scouting scouting the locale for a wedding to be shot in June, but I wanted to bring my camera along and create a mini love story to try out.

The wedding will have a medieval fantasy theme, so I put this together. The couple are members of the SCA (society for creative anachronism), so the piece has a medieval theme.

I wasn't going to post it here, but like you say, there is a shortage of 'love story' type material out there.

Serena & Brenden - Once upon a Time... on Vimeo

[Lisa Maxwell]

Very cool Ken. What a beautiful location to have the privilege to shoot at! Cool ideas portrayed in your piece. Thanks for sharing.

[Lisa Maxwell]

Originally Posted by Michael Kenney

Might be too late, but as far as the shooting of the love story goes, the ones I've been involved with that have had the greatest response from everyone are where we didn't have the bride and groom at a static location like an office or one of their homes.. we've gone to locations that are important to them. Where they met, where they proposed, first date, etc..

For example, last year we did one for a couple who had known each other since they were kids but started dating in high school while he was a basketball player and she was a cheerleader. We went to their school one weekend and managed to get footage of them talking about things on an activity bus, in the stands and on the sign in front of their school. We used two cameras and got some great footage of each of them watching the other talk about things, them laughing and playing around at the school. There were some special moments like the bride mentioning when she first knew the groom was the one - something he hadn't known at the time, as well as him talking about the thought process behind how he proposed and the help he got from her family.

The day of the wedding (outdoors at a winery), the video was playing in one of the cabins pretty much the entire time before the wedding and after. We got tons of compliments on it and had both moms tearing up watching it and thanking us for making it special.

I think whenever possible, this is the way to go. The interview stuff tends to come off a bit stale and at times you just don't get that emotional experience. Especially when both the bride and groom are interviewed separately. This isn't the Dating Game.. it's a love story. Nothing says that like a shot where you can see the bride gazing at her future husband while he talks about the proposal, first date, whatever and you see that slight, knowing smile that tells you know where her heart is at.

I love your ideas!!! Thank you for sharing this. This couple has agreed to meet with me again, so perhaps I can use some of these ideas! Hmm, yeah, now I kinda wish I would've had them both there with a camera on each one...oh well. Great idea for next time! I can still get some more footage though like you say of them at places that mean something to them. What a great idea!

Say, you don't have that footage you' mention here, would you? I'd love to see it!

[Sigmund Reboquio]

Hi Lisa,

Those are good questions. If it is your first time doing it, then it is good to have all of those questions included. But it is a lot already, plus you have to prepare for the shots in between. It is a lot of work in post as well.
Once you get used to doing Love stories, I suggest maybe to keep the questions to a minimum of 3-4 questions only.
Hope it helps on your prep

[Patrick Janka]

Hey, I'm not the authority on this because I'm just getting into wedding videography, but here's one I did recently. Some things could have been improved. I should have filmed each of them in different locations to avoid the jump cuts. Anyhow, I hope this helps in some way =)

YouTube - EloquentVideo's Channel

[Michael Kenney]

Lisa,

As soon as it is available online, I will. I'm just a cameraman.. the boss/editor doesn't want to put it up on his webpage just yet.

Hope the shoot goes well for you!

[Lisa Maxwell]

Patrick,

I think you lie when you say you're new at this! ; ) I love the work you did. Great job! I like the shadows behind the interviewees from the tree and the speed change during the glidecam shot. Very cool.

[Michael Kenney]

Lisa,

As soon as it is available online, I will. I'm just a cameraman.. the boss/editor doesn't want to put it up on his webpage just yet.

Hope the shoot goes well for you!

Patrick,

Your video clip demonstrates what I was talking about earlier. Look at your footage of the two of them when they are together out and about.. they look great! We see them interacting with each other, they are obviously in love and very happy. Contrast that with the static interview shots. What they are saying is nice, but the 'look' isn't quite there to me. I'd probably have done the video with their interviews be a voice over of the other footage if it was me. I just think a love story has more power and resonance when we get to see the couple together like that. We have to remember these people aren't actors usually..putting them in an interview situation usually isn't visually interesting.. but putting them in an environment they are comfortable in like you did for the other shots is where the magic happens in my opinion.

[Lisa Maxwell]

Ah Michael, I see your point. Good thoughts. Oh I hope I do a good job! So many other projects are in my way this next week or so before I can start working on my Love Story more! So anxious and excited to make it right!

[Steve Bleasdale]

Hey Lisa good luck, i wish in england we could do this, they think its corny ive tried it!!1 steve