What do you get from a videographer?

Well the answer is obviously a wedding video. Thanks for reading the blog and goodbye …

… Well not so fast! Firstly, I prefer the term wedding film (theres is most definitely a difference). Investing in a wedding video is a relatively long-standing tradition and has always been one with a huge consideration of budget. A “traditional” wedding video from the past (in a time when phones didn’t exists and Jesus walked the earth with the dinosaurs) might conjure up images of a big man with a large mass of grey hair, stood with a huge camera the size of a rocket launcher and a light that can be seen for the international space station!. Well times have changed and thankfully so. A wedding film should be exactly that, a beautiful, creative piece of memorabilia of the best (and most expensive) day of your life. I would go as far to say that all of my couples have been so glad that they made the investment in a wedding film as it means they can relive the memories over and over. It encapsulates the relatives we loose, the children who grow up too fast and is a freeze frame from the best day of your life!

But this isn’t a blog about what a wedding video or film is, it’s about what you are paying for and understanding what goes into that bill you get from your trusty neighbourhood wedding videographer.

Firstly, lets go back to school. Well this isn’t always the case, and honestly it doesn’t make a huge difference, but a videographer may have been through college and university and specialised in an expensive and highly time-consuming course to learn and master the arts of the video. I did college and university (BA Hons in Television production, professional practice) but again I stress this does NOT make a wedding videogrpaher great. What is does though, is just show where the cost starts to come into play behind the scenes. I’m not suggesting you pull out the worlds smallest violin and start showing your videographer pity for spending a fortune at Uni on a mickey mouse (yeah, I said it) degree, I just mean it’s all part of the package. It shows the videographer is invested, and hopefully, knows what they are doing!

Moving on from there - here is the biggie - equipment. Those cameras ain’t cheap people and most videographers have more than one. Tech and glass aren’t cheap. Then there’s batteries, bags, memory cards, cleaning products, software, replacement costs, insurance, public liability cover, transport costs, fuel, electricity bills etc etc. My point here is that theres a lot of cost to the videographer, especially in the early days when a business is in its inception. But again, I totally understand any customer thinking “well that’s not my problem” and it’s thier choice to buy this kit etc. I simply mean to highlight this only to raise the point that it’s another factor to consider.

Then there’s the marketing, the client meetings, the adverts paid for, the countless hours spend trying to add magic words to a website to make google go “oh hello, this person is actually relevant” and not get lost amongst everyone else. This costs time and money and brain cells, many, many creative brain cells, causing many, many headaches.

After equipment, you then get to the art. The time, the research and the practice that the videographer puts in to get better and better. The continuous learning, development and betterment comes at a cost again of time and often money (courses, seminars, training etc). Again, I hear you, I do “well that’s your job”. Ill stress again i’m not asking for any pity or sympathy but just adding another layer of weddingy based thought into what goes into that cost.

The big day – so you get your videographer for the day. They film all day long, week in and week out, and although they are almost always doing what they love thyere still working nonetheless – but they enjoy it (yeah, I agree and hear that too)

The edit – The film doesn’t put itself together all by itself. This takes time. Lots of time. Buttons are pressed, mousesis dragged around at a frantic pace and numerous versions are created. Music will change, pacing, shot length and styles will change. Colour correcting happens to make it all look right, colour grading then happens to make it all look like a style and countless hours are spent over “should the contrast be 11 or 13” – it doesn’t matter to you the customer but your videographer will want it to be bang on and the best version they can give you. This takes time. Time, in the self-employed world is money.

Finally, the video is done. Time to upload it. Time indeed. And cost – you cant put your lovely wedding video into the cloud for free (well not many of them anyway). My videos are then put into a physical format, put in specially made boxes and sent via the post (costs) or if within a certain milage delivered (fuel, magic tree costs)

AND AFTER ALL THAT – Theres time spent on social media, following up leads, marketing strategies, client call backs, doing the books, pens, paper ink and buying Haribo’s and coffee, mountains of coffee.

My point from all of that is just to show and highlight that a wedding film might seem expensive (and let be honest, they are) and I truly understand that budget is one of the main things in planning a wedding. The cost of a wedding film might be out of your budget and that’s totally fine – we all have budgets. All I would like is for my clients and those searching for quality wedding suppliers to just appreciate what goes into that film and by seeing that cost understanding and believing that what they are getting will be a truly bespoke and personal experience and service for that couple and that couple only. Come the wedding day and the edit, a videogrpaher is all about their couple and making sure that the film is done to the best of their ability and with the only aim of pleasing their couple (and hopefully making them cry – I love a good cry from my couples – in a good way obviously – i’m not a sicko). This also applies to every wedding supplier – your photographer, planner, venue, make-up artist, hairdresser, florist, entertainment, magician etc etc.

I hope this didn’t come across as patronising, a go or anything other than I intend it – just to raise awareness of what goes on behind the scenes and behind the cost.

As, usual – Have a jolly good day peoples x