Las Caletas Videographer - Yeah or Nay?

Trying to decide if I even want a videographer for my LC wedding....any positive (or negative) feedback on having/not having one.

 

Tell me what you think....I'd appreciate the insight!

hi erin! i can't give you any positive/neg feedback on the videographer, but what i can tell you is what we have chosen to do for our LC wedding...maybe it'll help to inspire?

 

we're bringing along 3 video cameras (2 little flip HD cams for about $200ea) and 1 nice HD handheld video camera. The nice camera will be used to film the ceremony, speeches at the welcome party, etc...the flips are going to be sitting around waiting to be picked up by anyone and everyone at the wedding (a few people will be notified that they are in charge of making sure lots of footage is taken ). when we get home we'll just watch everything and edit all the footage ourselves on sony vegas or something like that. i am by no means an expert at that, but i've made a couple short vids in the past and it's pretty simple. we figured that for the price we'd pay the videographer, we'll be able to keep the cameras we buy and the style of video will be exactly what we want so why not!

 

good luck! kelley sent me some links of the vids that the videographer they recommend has done - you might really like it. for us, it just was not the style we were looking for.

That's a great idea that I hadn't even considered......I originally didn't see the point in video, just something to put on the shelf, then i saw the you tube video on the new adventure weddings website and got a bug....

Do you mind posting those links of the vids that you mention the Caletas videographers have done? I'd love to see some examples!

The videographer that you can add to your Caletas package is totally worth it! He captured almost every moment and the video was over an hour. The only part he cut out was my vows, which I was pretty bummed about, but overall it was totally worth the extra $500

this is the one that kelley sent me, that i believe she found online somewhere. funny enough, it is ann from the forum...she has a link to it on her siggy. (ann - if you read this, i hope you don't mind me posting it!!)

Our Las Caletas Wedding: 06.08.2007 at One True Media - share slideshows, slide shows, MySpace slideshows, MySpace codes, free video sharing, video montages.

Here's some advice for DIY videos. Multiple cameras is a great idea, by all means get a tripod. Put one camera on a tripod and put it next to the speaker (if there is a microphone system) or as close to the minister as you can without being intrusive if there is no microphone. Then with the other cameras give them to people who will get close ups and different interesting shots Don't forget to turn around and shoot all the guests. It's very difficult to watch a lot of handheld footage so you will want to cut to the tripod camera often. It will also help if you point all the cameras at each other before the ceremony to synch them up later (make a loud clap when you do this for an audio synch point as well). Then DO NO STOP filming with the cameras until the ceremony is over. This will make editing much easier later but it is not essential. Watch the wind, do what you can to block the wind from the microphone on the tripod camera. You will see the built in mic on the camera. Use the speaker to block the wind if possible. I have fashioned wind blocks from the wedding programs. Wind noise will wipe out all of the sound and render it unwatchable, so be aware. Oddly enough I've found that wind noise is canceled out when the camera is pointed directly into the wind, but don't try this without headphones in the camera to monitor the sound.

 

Trust me, having one camera on a tripod, getting one steady shot of everything and recording good sound will make the difference between something you watch once or twice and something you watch over and over. Lastly, don't underestimate the amount of time it takes to edit this together. It's been a year and a half and I still haven't finished our own wedding video.

thanks, paul! that is a lot of terrific advice!! will definitely bring along a tripod. you've given me a reality check about the amount of time it will take to cut it all together - i wasn't thinking about the HOURS of footage (from multiple cameras) we'll have to deal with!! yikes. it'll be something to keep me busy for months, that's for sure!!

 

thanks again for the great things to keep in mind when planning for this project!

This is all GREAT feedback which has left me a bit undecided....still!!!! Any more ideas are definitely welcome!!!

Thanks so much for posting this! I was hoping that I would find something like this. I am using the videographer for my wedding, I was hoping that it will be worth the money. But I can't IMAGINE not having a video of my wedding. You miss so much of it when you are running around greeting everyone and all that. And it goes by so far I am sure. I cant wait to see all aspects of it.