Tips on Shooting a Wedding on the Cheap
OTech reader Albrawy recently sent me an email seeking very common advice. How can I shoot an event, not spend a ton of money, capture clean audio AND possibly throw a jib into my bag of tricks?
“Please help
Hey Olivia, I am a beginner and willing to film a family wedding coming up soon. I need some help with what lights I should use that are not overly bright and disturb the guest’s vision. I’m looking for a great camcorder which has “background unfocused”. I do have a small Sony HDR-CX150 which is great but doesn’t have external mic 
I am looking for a better audio, and an unfocused background feature. I also want a cheap Crane or Jib if I could find one. Can you suggest some for me?
Someone suggested the Canon DSLR 5D Mark3 but it is very expensive. I need to spend less than $1200. Plz help, I have only 2 weeks left to the event. Help… 
Thanks,
Albrawy”
That sounds like quite the pickle you’re in there, Albrawy. I’ll offer up my expertise on this matter the best I can:
1) First, “background unfocused” is also called a shallow depth of field. The reason DSLR’s are able to achieve this look that they are oh, so popular and widely known for is due to the aperture control. When the aperture is closed down you will obtain a large depth of field. This means that your focus plane will be greater and in effect, more of your shot will be in focus. When the aperture is wide open, a small or shallow depth of field is achieved. This means that only a portion of the picture will be focused and the rest will fall out of focus or become de-focused.
When a lens is able to go REALLY wide open (f/1.4 or lower) the Bokeh, or the aesthetic quality of the blur that makes up the out of focus points of light in an image, looks very creamy. Depending on the aperture shape and setting, your lens will produce different bokeh styles. This buttery look is highly sought after. The ability that DSLR camera’s have to produce this look is one of the main reasons why they are extraordinary for shooting video.
2) If you want to invest in a DSLR for the wedding, keep in mind that you will need appropriate lenses, or since you’re a baller on a budget, at least one solid zoom option to achieve a variety of focal lengths. Tricking a camcorder into acting like a DSLR is a bit tricky. You can always get as close to your subject and zoom in as possible and the background should look slightly out of focus. Try something like the Sony VG10 (used on eBay HERE for a reasonable price, lens included). This has an E mount and you can swap out lenses. You can record audio in via a 3.5mm mini jack with a Rode VideoMic Pro
and monitor your levels. Or you can buy a Zoom H1 Portable Digital Audio Recorder
3) Lighting can be tricky. For your budget and in order to be as courteous as possible, I’d suggest shooting with one or two on-camera LED lights like the 312 Bi-Color Changing Dimmable LED Video Light. These can be dimmed, you can change the color temperature and they won’t junk up the wedding space that the bride and groom paid so much to beautify. If needed these can be thrown onto a simple light stand as well.
4) As for the jib, if you have time to build your own, I have a video tutorial on how to Build Your Own DIY JIB with step-by-step instructions on my blog post. Light Craft Workshop also has the Trapezist Jib that I recently reviewed.
5) Additionally, be sure to meet with the bride and groom prior to the ceremony. Be clear on what they want, when things are happening and check to see if you can get any of the behind the scenes action. Whatever you do, DON’T miss the vows and kiss! Be sure to have a shot list, test everything (get your workflow down) prior to the actual wedding day, be sure to have sufficient memory and power and finally.. enjoy yourself.
Well, that’s all I’ve got, but I’d love to hear some advice from all of you out there too! Can anyone throw in some advice, tips, tricks, anything to help our buddy, Albrawy out? Thank you!
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I just watched this about wedding audio. Might be helpful. CLICK HERE
I have videoed weddings for many years now and the advice I always give to those working with me is to get the shot first and then, if you have time, make it arty. It’s no use getting a wonderful 3 second jib shot if you miss the bride walking up the aisle or a similar critical moment.
Videoing a wedding is more like news gathering if you are expected to cover all the seminal moments. If that’s not critical and the couple are happy with a 10 minute highlights video, then work away – be Luc Besson!
And good luck.
Great tip Sinclair
If your budget is under $1200, then I highly recommend looking at rental options. For that amount you can get just enough gear to produce a decent quality wedding and still have some change left over. Try Borrow Lenses.
James Lee
Not trying to be a d-bag, but I’d say two weeks is enough time to find someone else to do it but not enough time to learn how to do it yourself. I think you and the wedding couple would be happier with someone else behind the camera.
Getting high quality audio is super important but also super hard to do on a tight budget.
You might not be happy with a camera mounted shotgun microphone if there is any noise at all (though it’s better than nothing). Speak with the folks who run the venue. You might be allowed to connect to the PA system if they are utilizing one. A patch cable and a Zoom recorder could let you piggy back off of their expensive equipment.
I didn’t start getting good results until I invested in a wireless mic kit. Getting a personal stick mic with a wireless sender paid off for me in a big way too as you can’t always patch into the PA system and shotgun mics are terrible at picking up sounds inside rooms with echos…which is most rooms with a PA system. The stick mic sees more use than the lav for the events I shoot.
Rent.
In all seriousness, if you’re not sure what you want/will enjoy shooting with/need, don’t spend $1200 on gear you’re stuck with.
Most major cities have a few video rental places. And most cities have a high end photography shop that rents DSLRs and accessories.
Renting lets you access higher end gear than you can afford to buy, try and return if you don’t like it.
It’s important to remember that it only makes sense to own gear if it will be doing paid work often enough to pay for itself. This is why most film production companies rent rather than own. There are shops that specialize in rentals: they maintain, prep, repair, and have gear available for you. And them there are production shops, who put their time into producing projects (that’s you in this case).
Get the 5D3, the Canon L glass, and hi end tripod, and still be on budget. Rent.
For starters, the actual ceremony has very different requirements from the reception. Don’t expect to get good results for either in 2 weeks.
You must realize that the actual filming of the event is less than half the work. If you want really good results, you will be spending a lot of time learning to edit.
Also, 2 cameras are really a must. You can’t set up a DSLR and just record the whole thing from one tripod in one location. It will look like Americas Funniest Videos, and many of the DSLR’s only record for 5-30 minutes before they must be restarted. (Some lame European law or something)
Audio is the killer. Even if the video isn’t great, the whole thing will suck if you record dull or distant audio. A lapel mic with an audio recorder is required. Many churches either record the ceremony for you, or allow you to pug into the churches system. This is good for background audio.
You will have a hard time just figuring out how to work the DSLR in 2 weeks, not to mention focusing, lighting, audio, multi-cameras..etc. If their expectations are low, this could be a good learning experience. Otherwise, take Ralph’s advise from above and tell them to hire a pro and save your reputation and friendship.
I’m with James on this one. Renting is likely your best option. My concern with them using a zoom is making sure that it has constant aperture. Also, letting them know hot the lack of back focus will affect their goths during zooms. The shallow DOF may be tricky, but I might suggest using a camcorder with a decent zoom lens instead of a DSLR.
Wow…autocorrect is amazing. “their goths”?! I don’t even remember what I was trying to say! =)
Yeah, for $1,200 hire an experienced freelance videographer who knows what they’re doing and has the gear, do the editing yourself. Most of the work is in editing and if you have horrid shots and unusable audio you’re screwed. At $1,200 you’re not going to make much of a profit if any but you may learn something. Phrases like “unfocused background feature” indicate you may be in way over your head to be using a DSLR. Forget the jib, there’s no time for that nonsense unless your in the high end wedding bracket and can hire crew, you or your freelance shooter needs to get the shot and not be screwing around with elaborate gear.
I agree with the point above that you have to consider editing.
Here is a wedding I shot last weekend with my brother and friend (our first full wedding). We had two cameras, I coordinated the basic ideas.
This is a rough trailer, the audio transistions are OFF and the composition is off for the groom in the beginning.
The Jib is an 8foot one–which is heavy and requires a good tripod
shot with 2 gh2 and 2 recorders. The budget is over $1200—but you can rent the same gear for roughy $120 a day after tax where I live.
Importantly either have a tripod to mount one cam or have someone to operate the other (if they cant operate well then that is an issue–as evidence above). If it’s outside get filters or faders. also get an ITINERARY!