Quick Summary: Wedding Cinematographers in Bengaluru and worldwide today employ a variety of wedding videography styles to shoot wedding films. Some make a certain style their signature. While some blend different styles. And some will change their style depending on what the couple want. Here’s a primer into what the current trending wedding cinematography styles are.
Cinematic Wedding Videography style
Cinematic style of shooting wedding homes itself in cinema. It has all the elements of a theatrical film – swooping cinematic camera moves and grand film scores. The production value is high and entails detailed planning of shots. The videographer is basically the director of the film and the clients are the actors. It’s highly advisable to hire someone with filmmaking experience and background to shoot this kind of a wedding film.
On the wedding day, the videographer will direct and stage the couple with a certain film aesthetic in mind. Videographers who shoot cinematically will use different tools like the gimbal, drone and sliders. This is to give a sort of dream-like film look to the wedding film. The editing, color grading and audio will also involve industry standard tools used in the filmmaking industry. Adobe Premiere Pro or Final cut pro for editing, DaVinci Resolve for color grading and Avid Pro tools for audio editing are some of the widely used editing software in high-end wedding productions.
Documentary Wedding Videography style or VideoJournalism
A documentary videographer is someone who is practically invisible. You won’t know they’re around till you actually go looking for them. They stay in the background capturing the wedding as it unfolds. They do this without any direction/staging, no requesting people to pose or interrupting any ceremony to announce their existence. Their work might seem less polished and more real-life. But their USP is in capturing moments that would go unnoticed by a more ‘cinematic’ videographer. They prioritize capturing authentic emotions of the couple and their families without any staging or scripted scenes.
The editing also reflects a more documentary style of editing popularly known as FOMO – fear of missing out edits. This is great as an heirloom to pass onto future generations. What is captured is the most important people in the couple’s lives and the moments shared between and amongst them. You will have the sound of their voices, the jokes. Sometimes ridiculous moments, sometimes angry outbursts, the sometimes hidden tears all make into the edit. Precious moments for the couple to watch and relive them for years to come.
Traditional Wedding Videography style
Traditional wedding videography is more like what your parents had. A videographer and his light assistant holding a light high above his head. There will be a lot of directing couples to pose. Sometimes in the form of interruptions in ceremonies to get their shot. Such as asking the couple to look at the camera while tying the mangalsutra or exchanging rings. They film everything and edit in order of events happening.
Videographers employing this style of shooting will focus primarily on the ceremony and reception. There will hardly be any focus on behind-the-scenes or the intimate moments between couples and their loved ones. None of the cinematic tools like gimbals and drones are used. The editing is quite simple and straightforward with few frills. Still, there’s an antiquated vibe that many find appealing.
Vintage Wedding Videography style
Vintage style videography is quite a trend abroad but not so much in India. Super 8 film captures memories with a distinct grainy texture and warm tones, evoking a nostalgic aesthetic reminiscent of classic films from the past. Having said that it takes expertise to shoot on super 8mm/16mm cameras. And working with film is a whole other ball game from shooting to editing to film processing.
With film the videographer is limited to a cannister of film yielding 2-3 minutes each at most so planning ahead is of utmost importance. Film has its limitations such as low-light capability and lack of audio capture. But incorporating some 8mm/16mm footage to your wedding video along with digital cameras will add that touch of nostalgia. A callback to the videos of a bygone era. I personally love the look of super 8mm and one of my favourite wedding filmmaker Anna Lord shoots primarily on super 8mm.
Editorial Wedding Videography Style
Editorial Wedding Videography draws its aesthetics from high-value fashion shoots, luxury magazines and art. These videos are carefully curated to capture not only the emotions of the day bit also the setting and wedding details worthy of lifestyle magazines. The involvement of the videographer on the day of the wedding is immense and expect a lot of deliberation from the videography team prior to the wedding day. This intentional and artistic approach sometimes has the propensity to upstage what really matters which is the authenticity of raw emotions but the work that is created is of timeless elegance and stylized moments.
The Knot In Frames style of Wedding Videography
Coming from a film background I’m personally drawn to the cinematic and editorial styles of shooting. But in practice I follow a cinematic/documentary style of shooting because at its kernel a wedding is a lived experience with real emotions and real people and directing/staging can never stand in for the real thing, the artificiality will seep in. You can see the work of women who influence my filmmaking.
My involvement in the wedding ceremonies are minimal. I do not direct or stage the couple. I work around the place as it is without disturbing any of the wedding décor. Even though I blend into the background trust that me or my second shooter has you in focus all the time.
I do indulge in the cinematic/editorial style for couple shoots where I have the couple all to myself to set up and compose shots. Couples are more then willing to reserve the golden hour – the hour before the sun sets, the most stunning and romantic time of day – for the couple shoot.
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