What are the current styles of wedding films?

Planning your wedding is overwhelming.  There are so many decisions you have to make!  If you’re considering wedding videography, deciding what style is right for you is one of them.

There are more or less 3 broad categories of wedding videography that you could consider, and none of them are better or worse than the others.  And some wedding filmmakers don’t necessarily stick to one style. The ones we distinguish are:

• Cinematic
• Documentary
• Vintage/Home-movie

We’ll describe in brief what those are like below.

Cinematic

Cinematic film-style is for the couple that wants very smooth and clean shots, wants to make it look like a movie/beautifully captured. For a comprehensive video that tells the story of your relationship—not just your wedding day, but in a smooth and polished style.  It might be slightly more directed (still including candids), and would highlight the details of all the things you’ve spent time planning for your wedding day. You spent a lot of time and money for your wedding day so you want to show it all off.

An example of the cinematic style can be found here.

Some techniques or kinds of shots you might see in a film of this style are:

• Smooth moving shots of details of your dress
• ‘Slider’-like images of the details of your decor
• A lot more stabilized, and even static, shots of every part of your wedding day
• In terms of audio, mostly using the scripted or thought out parts of ceremony and speech
• Song selection is more cinematic

Documentary

This style is for the couple that wants their film to be very genuine, including a lot of raw moments, and not necessarily all of the perfect ones. Sometimes the most memorable moments are the bloopers! So that the people watching really get to hear and see what it was like on your day, a lot more audio from the day would be included – and it’s not always super polished or refined! This is a more ‘in-the-moment’ approach – we will still direct you for certain poses here and there, but we want to keep the video as natural as possible.  This may be for the couple that doesn’t place as high a value on the ‘stuff’ of the wedding, and more value on the people around them.

Some example moments could be

• Mini karaoke sessions with your wedding party while your getting ready
• Raw reactions during the first look(s)
• Brides nervous comments before she walks down the asile
• People singing on the dance floor

The shooting for a documentary style film could be

• A much bigger focus on capturing audio throughout the day
• More handheld shots, or use of a monopod – a bit more shakiness is a-ok
• A lot more mobility and short snippets, to capture lots of small moments

Shots of the key accessories and details are most likely still taken (at least, we still do so at Studio Lumen), but in many cases they won’t be the focus of the story.

Here are some examples

• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3
• Example 4

Home-Video Vintage/retro Style

In this style of video, a lot of old technology tends to be used.  Film-makers will often use a Super 8 Video camera – the technology dates back to 1965!  Or they may use VHS cameras.  This gives the videos a more “home movie” look, and can look super cool!  It is a nostalgic style, reminiscent of what our parents made when we were kids – or even our parents parents!

There isn’t usually audio captured with Super 8, so many wedding film-makers will augment that with either some audio capture or some modern digital video equipment.

This style tends to be very expensive.  This is because the film costs a lot, as well as the process to bring the film into the digital world before you can even start editing.  I don’t think anyone is editing these films manually anymore – splicing bits of film together is a very time-consuming and difficult process!

What parts of the day are captured

Any wedding day video story includes, not necessarily in this order,

• Getting Ready (Videographers split up to capture coverage for each person)
• Ceremony
• Bridal Party Coverage
• Bride & Groom Session
• Reception
  • Grand Entrance (if applicable)
  • Speeches
  • Games (if applicable)
  • First Dance(s)
  • Party time

Studio Lumen’s Approach

At Studio Lumen, we have a lot of experience shooting not just weddings, but also commercial and documentary films.  So we are well-practised in both the cinematic and documentary styles.  That means we can offer all of these styles!

We don’t have the vintage equipment, but we have colleagues who do that we can bring on for your wedding day, if that is important to you.  Our process is designed to get to know you and your wedding so that our films will really reflect what matters to you.  Our process to do that is as follows:

1. Discovery Call