Last July our videographers Dishad and David set off to Berkshire to film Natalie and Andrew’s wedding. It was the kind of sunny day that all couples who book summer weddings hope for. Their ceremony took place in a beautiful school church which I imagine had personal connections. The reception afterwards was held in a marquee in the grounds of Natalie’s parent’s house. I think it is very special to have a wedding reception at one home, not least of all because the wedding videography and photography then creates a portrait of somewhere you know and care about!
In making this film we covered the grooms preparations as well as the brides. This is fairly unusual as bride preparations tend to look more visually impressive, although I think it is very nice to provide a behind-the-scenes portrait for both of them. As you can see in the trailer we used black & white for highlight parts of the church service. This is because we had extraordinarily beautiful light flooding though the arch windows, which gave it a photographic quality that I was very keen to represent. I think the video came out very well for Natalie and Andrew and I hope they enjoy looking back on it for years to come.
In the meantime, we filmed the wedding of Natalie’s sister Jessica a few weeks ago in early January. Having seen what a wonderfully frosty backdrop the landscape provided in the raw footage, I anticipate this having an equally strong visual quality to it.
Ever since creating our first wedding films, I have wanted to bring elements of my interests in feature film production to the table. One of these elements is trailers - I love watching them at the cinema as they don’t just advertise, but build the sense of expectation and excitement around a film release. Similarly after months of work in the production and editing of a client’s wedding film, we create a short wedding video trailer for them.
These are extremely popular and get watched hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of times. The trailers are presented in a unique website created for our client. Some examples include:
Our trailers are uploaded about 7-10 days before the wedding DVD is delivered. To give you an idea of their popularity, the least any of these has been watched is 50 times and the most is over 1000 times! I consider this to be a very significant because the full length wedding video is unlikely to achieve such audience figures ever!
Many of our older trailers have attracted even bigger viewing figures as clients pass on their site to family, friends and work colleagues. For example we have a Sikh wedding video that has attracted 5000 hits over the last 6 months and we have one Bengali wedding video reaching over 20000! Surely that must make these box office hits within the wedding video world? Of course, not all our wedding videos appear on our You Tube channel (a few clients anxiously avoid it) but those that do are very glad of the opportunity to share a small part of their video with so many others. At around 3 minutes in length it is digestible enough for everyone and saves either lending DVDs or imposing on less enthusiastic family and friends.
To me some of the most exciting projects we undertake are Asian Wedding Videos. I remember how excited I was when we received our first two Asian wedding video bookings in early 2007 - the same weekend Aatish & Amita booked us for their Hindu Wedding Video at the Hare Krishna temple in Watford and Sohit & Vandana booked us for their Indian Wedding Video at the Four Seasons in Hampshire.
I remember meeting Sohit for coffee a week earlier to discuss the possibility of us filming his wedding and him saying “so I guess you know I’ll be coming in on a white horse?” Not sure whether it was a trick question to test my knowledge of Indian wedding videos, I cautiously shrugged in manner suggesting ‘yes of course!’. As soon as I got back to my partner that evening I shrieked out my disbelief at the idea of a groom appearing on a white horse! After looking up the facts online to check I hadn’t inadvertently blown my cover, I was thrilled at the prospect of a wedding video with something REALLY filmic!
To make the most of the opportunity, I decided to hire in a Glidecam 200 crane at my own expense and to shoot the whole wedding in super widescreen. We were lucky with the mid-April weather and I was able to create my first Asian wedding video in a way that evoked the cinematic qualities I wanted to offer. As soon as the film was edited and online, it had an instant impact on our business with several other Asian couples booking us to film their wedding with a similar aesthetic.
The peak of this rise came in Autumn 2007 we went to Newcastle to film what is still the grandest wedding I have ever done - Surita & Sumita’s double wedding celebration at the Sage centre. During 2007 we produced many other Asian wedding videos including Amrita and Benjis Sikh wedding video which was the first to use three cameras. Needed for the sheer scale of the wedding, this enabled us to film multiple perspectives and simultaneous action. Personally I think you need at least 2-3 videographers for any type of live event filming.
Meanwhile Aatish & Amita’s wedding in July 2007 offered similar spectacle, hosted as it was in the grounds of Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford. I remember meeting the couple at the venue a few months before their wedding and being struck by two huge bullocks transporting visitors around by cart. The venue features a beautiful temple in the main house and one of my favourite moments in the film is ‘Feeding the Holy Cows’. For me, this was something I never expected to see in a wedding video! Raising the bar from the Asian groom entering on a horse, I was delighted to film something that was as visual and interesting as I had hoped.
During the course of 2007-2009 we have filmed many Asian weddings - many of these amazed me for the sheer scale, spectacle and sense of occasion. I have also been very touched by how important they are to the families and the wider Asian community that is frequently invited to participate. I hope that as more couples see our Asian wedding films that we have produced for our clients, we will be invited to film many others - as I have come to love creating Asian wedding videos!
I was reminded of the importance of wedding video music this week whilst finalising the edit for several different clients. Last year ago I remember Bobby enthusing over the director Mira Nair whose film Monsoon Wedding contains some wonderful music for wedding videos. I enjoy her work too and went to the cinema to see The Namesake as soon as it came out in 2007. What impresses me about much Indian music is the way that films are such a driving force behind the creation of it. Unlike a lot of Western music, from the outset many Indian artists aim to tell a story with their music as part of a film. My perception is their music is less abstract and chart driven than the UK & US with the lyrics possessing a much greater significance (although anyone reading this is welcome to correct me!).
Consequently whilst many ‘western’ wedding video clients might be happy with music that simply suits the ‘mood’ of their spectacle, many Indian wedding video clients will be more sensitive to its lyrics. This happened with Bobby & Sejal who provided many music suggestions for their film including ‘Aaj Mera Jee Karda’ (Today My Heart Desires) from Monsoon Wedding. Another track they suggested was ‘Tera Bina’ (Without You) from Guru which I think is beautiful. I often find myself scanning the search engines for translations of lyrics both out of curiosity and a fearful wish to avoid embarrassment!
Probably no job was more challenging to me in the last year than Amrita and Benji’s film - see my previous blog Epic Sikh Wedding Video. This is because it contains not less than 33 tracks, which proved a real challenge for a non-Indian language speaker like myself! Fortunately Amrita and Benji like a lot of Western music too, so it contains a bit of both. However I am very proud of the film not just because of the music, but also because of its epic proportions! One thing is for sure, I will think twice next time before agreeing to take on a 5 day wedding in the middle of the peak season! Nevertheless putting together the film score for Amrita and Benji was a useful experience for me, it made me appreciate Bollywood films a lot more than I did and greatly increased my awareness of good Indian music.
Nothing however quite scared me recently as much as Chloe & Martin’s wedding video. Yes they are an English couple, but Chloe is a music lawyer and her father owns a well-known record label! As part of their wedding celebrations they had Gospel singers, a performance by native Indian tribesmen and a live gig by a newly signed artist. With such a strong musical heritage, you can imagine how concerned I was about hitting the right note (okay, pun intended). Like the others, they did provide a few hints and I also paid attention to music used on the day to garner more suggestions. Fingers crossed they will like what we’ve done!
As part of the development of our new website we’ve recently added some help and advice pages. We hope it will prompt clients who are less confident about commissioning a wedding video to contribute to their music score. I strongly believe that the films we make for our clients should feel personal and relevant. Music in my opinion is one of the strongest ways of making this connection!
I’m currently reviewing raw footage from from several wedding videos we filmed last Autumn - Dawn & Jason who were married at Bickley Manor, Kent and Nikki & Steve who married at Frimley Hall, Surrey. Both were on the same day, a day when we also filmed our first civil partnership (so called “gay wedding video“) at Goodwood House, in West Sussex. I have to admit that purely from an editing perspective I prefer civil weddings; the ceremonies are much shorter and are more digestible to watch. Nevertheless, I’ve always believed a good wedding video is not about coverage of a ceremony, but a documentary capturing all the events of the day. Whatever religious or non-religious values prevail over the proceedings, I believe people are the most important part of our couple’s wedding day, and for this reason I ensure Bloomsbury Films’ work has an engaging and personal quality.
When Dawn & Jason booked us, I remember Dawn saying that one of the main reasons she wanted a wedding video was for her children. She and Jason have three youngsters and so had saved up for some years to get married. I can tell from the raw footage how much the children were an important part of their day and I am sure that the finished film will as much family documentary as wedding video. I think this is exactly what distinguishes wedding videography from wedding photography – the ability to capture people’s character and not just their smiles. At one point, Dawn & Jason’s son Bradley picked up the DJ’s microphone and began to give a gurgling speech – it took everyone by surprise and was a priceless moment!
As a wedding video director, I often wonder what will people think when they see their wedding video in 10 years, 25 years or 50 years. A good wedding film will not only entertain us in the present, but will also shape the way we remember things later. Consequently, I make an effort to produce work that has an enduring and truthful quality, that captures the rich tapestry of the day and the beauty of people’s spirit. It is partly for this reason, I do not favour over use of visual effects - these may dazzle viewers, but in the long run leave us empty of what is really precious.
It is often said that movies are made in the editing suite. I agree, the time and skill involved in editing a film has the single greatest impact on whether the film will be good or not. Sure, the planning and filming are essential, but with the editing you have the opportunity to turn mediocre footage into something great (or if you aren’t careful great footage into something mediocre!). I also think the industry adage that films are made or broken in the edit suite, couldn’t be more true for the wedding video industry.
At Bloomsbury Films, we film nearly 70 weddings and events a year. Despite the considerable preparations we make, filming any live event is very difficult indeed. You have virtually no control over the action and yet must creatively capture footage that is better that most TV documentaries whilst being very discrete. Our crew at Bloomsbury Films are amongst the best in the industry, but the unpredictability of weddings and live events can leave us with plenty to sort out in the editing suite! When we started, I remember being asked by a client if we would provide a copy of the raw footage as an extra. I privately thought ‘absolutely not!’, we’ve just spend weeks editing the film, why do you want that? I was persuaded to grant the request however, but I must admit one motive was so the client could see what an amazing puzzle converting their raw footage to a polished film actually is!
One of my rules for editing our wedding films is that nothing should betray the effort needed to capture the material. Shots are precisely cut so that not even one frame of camera shake, re-focussing or light adjustment appears in the film. The sound is so meticulously edited that clients genuinely believe their epic wedding ceremony really only lasted 20 minutes! They say the best editing, is the editing you don’t notice. This is certainly true for us as we go to great lengths in our wedding films to carry our audience through the story of their day in a way that makes them forget it is actually edited. In short, good editing appears effortless - the truth however is that it is anything but!
At Bloomsbury Films we take a minimum of three months to edit each client’s wedding film. Whilst this may seem slow compared to some other videographers, we know that editing a film, like any piece of art, is a process of careful refinement. At any one time, we have at least six films being edited, each of these are personally reviewed by me at various stages. Like most of the film and TV industry, we believe creating a professional video project shouldn’t be a one man enterprise. Directors like me exist to provide guidance, feedback and a fresh point of view. That’s why we don’t simply hand clients tapes over to editors after a shoot and let them see what they make of it. The rushes from every wedding are reviewed by me before they are handed over to the editor. This is because before starting the edit, I need to decide how we are going to tell the story. A wedding isn’t just a lot of stuff happening, it is a personal story affecting the lives of many people (not just the couple!) that over time will become a significant piece of family history. Therefore the wedding video needs to be properly structured and the storytelling must have the insights necessary to make it interesting to watch time and again. Once the raw footage goes to the editor it usually takes a few weeks to get the first cut done, this goes to me for comment and then subsequently goes through a series of cuts, before it is finally complete.
When clients receive their finished wedding video, they no doubt hungrily devour after excitedly awaiting its arrival. On seeing the quality of the finished video, many subsequently ask is there any more? At this point I feel like Gordon Ramsay after toiling in the kitchen to distill the finest tasting experience. Its a bit like hearing the diner say “I’m still hungry, is there anything else left?” I’m genuinely flattered that clients want more, I’m only sorry the film can’t make itself!
This time last year I remember spending the first days of January reviewing the edit on our first major Sikh wedding video. Created for Amrita & Benji, it covered a five day extravaganza which we had filmed the previous August. This epic project started with the bride’s Mehndi party & Sangeet in London on 1st August, followed by the groom’s Maiya and Jago party in Brighton on 2nd August. On 3rd August, their main day, we had crew in both places from 6am filming the families preparing for the big day and making their journeys to Southall Gurdwara. Its was a very visual wedding day with a baraat and milni outside the steps of one the biggest temples outside India. The main wedding day was followed on 4th August by a grand open-air banquet at Bearwood College in Wokingham and a gala dinner a week later on 11th August in Mayfair.
As you can imagine the film was quite an epic - the first cut weighed in at a hefty 3hrs 30! Since I always meticulously review all our editing work personally, it took quite a while to complete this. My main focus at that stage was to ensure there a clear story arc to their Sikh wedding video. This meant ensuring that individual chapters were coherent and made sense to viewers (a wedding film usually has to make sense of random events!). As always I went through the cuts with fine tooth comb looking at the quality of the shots and editing choices. Indeed, before the raw footage even went to the editor I had already reviewed it and provided notes on dialogue editing and music score. However it is only when you look at a first cut, can one be sure decisions previously made fit the intention. Occasionally I decide to change background music or trim dialogue. Of course, with a wedding film of this length, there is a big music score to decide upon! Clients usually request some tracks and where they fit, I include these, however I often specify around 2/3rds of the music myself, which can involve spending hours listening to Bollywood, Bhangra, Shenai & other Indian music!
We had Amrita & Benji’s Sikh wedding film completed by the end of January and no sooner was it shown online we were inundated with enquiries from other Sikh clients! I must say, looking back at the video, the open-air wedding banquet section looks especially good and I am always a big fan of filming outdoors rather than indoors - the light and sense of spectacle are always much greater! On this job we used a Glidecam 200 jib crane to capture the sense of scale - imagine 500 people sat around tables on a manicured lawn with cedar trees and a Jacobean style mansion providing the backdrop, plus the most wonderful weather anyone could hope for!
Having since made over a dozen more Sikh wedding films, I can honestly say I enjoy making them very much and have had the pleasure of creating some wonderful films. After making Amrita and Benji’s film I no longer find a three and a half hour film quite so daunting!
