The wedding season is well and truly upon us once again! Despite some initial uncertainty about how the credit crunch would affect wedding & event filming, we are set for another bumper year with bookings on the rise. Perhaps a notable trend however amongst clients has been a tendency to increasingly leave bookings to the last minute. Of course you might expect this amongst businesses who are driven by a reactive market-orientated agenda. [We keep a tally of the most extreme 'last minute' bookings - the current record holder is Citibank who wanted an event filmed in central London in 45 minutes time. And yes, we made it!]
However it is also increasingly common to receive bookings for weddings only a week, and in some cases, only a day beforehand! Why on earth would someone leave it so late you might ask? Have we reached the inevitable outcome for our lastminute.com lifestyles? Well no, not entirely. The answer lies in an inherent issue in the wedding filming market – that the value of a wedding video is only appreciated after the event. Before their nuptials couples are busy focussing on plans for the big day and often don’t think so much about what happens afterwards (apart from being married of course!). Wedding videos are frequently overshadowed by photography, which as an established convention, tends to be booked earlier – to the detriment of their videography budget.
A combination of oversight and financial constraints means that wedding videos get put off to the last minute. Panic sets in just a week or two before the wedding as the couple suddenly realise how much they’d like it captured and the value of what is essential a family documentary will have in the future. The result can be a reluctant parent digging even deeper into their pockets and a last minute scrabble to find someone available.
However like the websites that specialise in finding you ‘last minute bargains’, leaving it to the last minute doesn’t necessary provide the best choice or opportunity to get what you really want. Unfortunately we can’t change this pitfall, but at Bloomsbury Films we do our best to help by ensuring that every client who books with us, last minute or otherwise, never regrets their choice.
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.
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!
With Christmas only a few weeks away, it is great to see how many couples have booked us to film their wedding during the festive season. One thing is for sure, couples who resist the conventional Summer season tend to have a greater choice of venues and services on offer. I know how stretched we get during the Summer, which means our attention and enthusiasm is inevitably higher in the Winter when have more time to spend with clients.
From a visual perspective also Christmas has a lot to offer couples, providing a combination of dramatic landscapes, unique Winter light and attractively decorated and candlelit rooms. Looking back at last year, several wedding videos come to mind. One of my favourites is Leila & Carlton’s wedding, which you can see a clip from below.
Leila & Carlton married in mid-December, and as you can see from the video, Leila looked fabulous in her winter fur-topped outfit. The couple also had great light for their wedding photography and enjoyed a Christmassy feel at the attractive Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury.
Similarly, Vivek & Anneka held their wedding reception just a couple of days before Christmas at Addington Palace in Surrey. They had married three months earlier, but delayed the wedding reception to Christmas so they could go to India in the meantime. Around 400 guests descended upon the gardens of Addington Palace which were attractively lit with fairy lights. Inside the marquee wedding spirit combined with the spirit of Christmas to provide a very warm and festive atmosphere.
Kerrie & Martin choose to hold their wedding just after Christmas enjoying the Wintry setting of their local church and followed by the warm hospitality of the Blue Check Restaurant. Kerrie was keen to include some of the magic associated with Christmas in her wedding video, including allusions to The Wizard of Oz, and asked for one or two Christmas carols to be included in their wedding video sound track. You can see highlights from their post-Christmas wedding below.
With several more weddings around the corner this Christmas, I look forward to seeing the special spirit this time of year brings to these too!
In July our videographers set off to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire to film Melissa and Brett’s wedding at Stapleford Park. When I saw the raw footage afterwards I was immediately struck by how well Melissa came across on film, she appears very animated and expressive. However the expressiveness didn’t end with her, indeed it seemed that everybody was openly brimming with feelings and emotions that day! I found this very rewarding as I don’t want clients to be inhibited by our videographers so the material we capture is purely natural and spontaneous. This discretion is something we go to great lengths to achieve, both in our training and preparations, but also technical issues such as the cameras and microphones we use.
Looking at the finished wedding video, one of the most amusing parts is the Surprise Sopranos who entertained everyone during dinner. Disguised as hotel staff, two sopranos and a tenor perform a seemingly improvised act for the guests. You can see it was a big hit with the audience and it was great to watch on video too. You can see highlights from Melissa & Brett’s wedding video below:
On a fine day in mid-June we had the pleasure of filming the wedding of a premier league footballer and his lovely partner. It was hosted at Four Seasons Hampshire under the supervision of VIP wedding planner & designer Mark Niemierko.
Four Seasons Hampshire
We received the booking only the day before which meant we were a bit less prepared than usual, however we managed to co-ordinate the filming as we went along. The day started with the groom and his friends clay pigeon shooting whilst the bride and her entourage got ready. The wedding ceremony was held at a nearby church in the village of Dogmersfield. Mark’s team lavishly dressed the church to create a quintessential country feel and it was completely full for the ceremony!
Church nearby Four Seasons Hampshire
Afterwards a drinks reception was held in the hotel’s fabulous Walled Garden. I’ve always believed that outdoor settings look better on film than indoor ones, and this garden really excels as a backdrop. Later on the wedding banquet was hosted inside the hotel with the cake cutting on the terrace accompanied by fireworks. The evening’s partying got off to a swing with a great band and the guests clearly enjoyed themselves. Below are highlights from the event.
Perhaps this a reflection of being based in London, but perhaps also it shows the growing acceptance in our society for marriage based on love and like-mindedness, rather than seeking a cultural safety net. A particularly good example of this is Shahara & Christophers wedding which we filmed at York House, Richmond in early August. Shahara is from a Muslim Bengali family and Christopher from a traditional English one. In marrying Shahara, Christopher not only adopted a new family, but a new (Muslim) name. When I met them both months prior to their wedding, it was clear they were both very much in love and that whilst Christopher may not have have grown up in a Muslim/Bengali lifestyle, he was more than willing to adopt one.
I like their video very much, and the trailer shows their coming together well. They had splendid weather on the day and I am glad that there was a lot of opportunities for filming outdoors – which I always believe looks so much better than filming indoors! We have done several Bengali wedding videos of late including a stunning Bengali wedding in Newcastle, but this is the first mixed Anglo-Bengali marriage I am aware of filming. I therefore wish Christopher and Shahara all the very best in the future! Below are highlights from their day:
One of the privileges of creating wedding videos, is getting to know a couple at one of the most intimate moments in their lives. Whether the videographer on the day or the editor looking at footage in a darkened room weeks later, you can’t help but get involved in the couple’s story. At Bloomsbury we feel a huge responsibility for creating a film that captures our clients personality as well as the people and events surrounding them on their wedding day. It is no exaggeration to say a lot of heart goes into making each film – wedding videography just isn’t something you can do dispassionately! Although we run a studio style operation with many people involved in every film we make, each person is fully invested in each frame of the finished film.
Consequently when a film is completed, the response from our clients is very important to us! A recent example was Helen and Michael whose wedding at Easthampstead Park we filmed back in July. As you can tell from the wedding video, the couple are very popular with family and friends and this warmth was something we wanted to get across. When Helen saw the trailer she was thrilled and made us happy by showing her gratitude. It also made us smile when a week or so later she even commented on her own YouTube video expressing how proud she was; “This is our wedding and we were totally amazed by the fantastic job Bloomsbury did it was amazing!” Believe it or not, these few words meant a great deal to us and it is why we enjoy making really special films for our clients. Please have a look at the trailer for Helen & Michael’s wedding video for yourself below:
Autumn is lovely season and as someone getting married myself in Autumn (next week!!), I was looking back at some wedding videos we did last Autumn. One of these was Dave & Nicola’s wedding, filmed at Hampton Court Golf Club in Surrey. What I liked about their wedding video was the footage of photos taken outdoors amid the autumn trees. In this video we used a mixture of de-saturated and black and white effects to enhance the imagery. I always feel that the outdoors provides a more interesting backdrop to any filming and photography and they were lucky the weather allowed them to make full use of this.
The thing I like about Autumn is the light can be more interesting – longer shadows, touch more orangey, It also tends to be more even than the sharp angles you sometimes get with summer sun. People often make the mistake of thinking that sunlight equals good filming conditions, but what you really need is just consistent and even light. Another favourite video of mine is Davina & Kaysen’sIndian wedding video. As you can see from the opening shots they had a lovely crisp day and being next to Kensington Park Gardens were lucky enough to have a fabulous location for photography.
We filmed this wedding with our friends from Pixcellence Photography and we both agreed the colours were just wonderful! We weren’t the only ones to think so as Davina & Kaysen’s wedding was subsequently featured in The London Paper as an example of Autumn weddings! I’m looking forward to my wedding next week, I just hope we get that special Autumn light too!
Davina & Kaysen's Autumn wedding in The London Paper
