Great insight, George. Most of my business is thru referral and thru the search term cinematography but I definitely understand business and SEO wise the need to be relatable to what people are "looking for" if most of your revenue comes from video search terms. Thanks for sharing!

It's a very simple matter to find what keywords are being used to find your site using Google Analytics. If I use the word cinematography in my name and throughout the text on my website and brides are searching for "wedding video" or "videographer", I'm just shooting myself in the foot if I want to be ranked high in search engines. So, much to my dismay, I feel the need to talk about wedding videography in my website and blog to increase "keyword density."

Great discussion so far. I guess the answer to the OP's question is whatever works for you in terms of branding your business. For me as long as I get my bookings, deliver a professional product at the end of the day that is all that matters.

There's always a Ying and Yang in the universe, the wedding photographers discussion now a days is should you call yourselves Photo Journalist because you only shoot candid shots? Somehow this discussion is similar to this.

Most wedding planners calls me the Video Guy,

" Are you the video guy?"
"Yes I am. Do you have the check for the video guy"
" Yes. "

For me that is all that matters.

And besides when the Bride & Groom does their speech they always say, I would like to thank our photographer & videographer who has been with us since this morning...., not I would like to thank our Photo Journalistic photographer & Our wedding cinematographer.

PS. This is not unique to our business. Rachel Ray has been accused of not properly dicing onions, carrots , etc by the Cordon Blue educated Chefs. But she makes millions more than the chefs. " I never claimed to be a Chef, just a home maker who loves to cook". Which one would you rather be? Walmart or Harrods?

My 2 cents.

Travis, the problem is that many videographers are starting to call themselves cinematographers just because they shoot with a DSLR. It won't take long for the word "cinematographer" to become watered down.

How about DSLRtist, or DSLRtographer.

How about "Compact Flashographer"

And when cinematographer becomes watered-down and no longer applies to our studio the way I want it to, I will start using something else. Those who stay in one place don't usually get ahead.

Not to be contradictory, but I actually HAVE had several brides use this term while thanking us. I've even had a few brides who took it upon themselves to correct family members on the day of the wedding on our behalf. I understand this might not be the case for everyone, but if you make a point of things with your couples they WILL remember and it WILL have an impact.

Noel hits a couple great points:

#1 - I don't care WHAT you call me, just CALL me... or "pay" me for my service/talent.

#2 - As noted, there are two "styles" generally in photography when you read discussions on the topic - photojournalist or "casual" and "formal". I don't know that these are anythng other than labels to try to define and differentiate.

When it comes to "video", you also see two "styles", mirroring the photography to some degree. You often see "documentary" and "cinematic" used to describe a shooting/editing style. I lean towards "documenting", but am inspired by the cinematic creations, and at least experiment with various forms/formats...


Travis makes the point of defining and differentiating YOUR shooting style and technique and marketing THAT, not trying to be something or someone else.

The "fusion" of stills and video more and more presents a challenge in trying to define exactly what "media assets" you will be providing - and how they will be delivered... I think more and more brides are taking their "wedding albums" around with them on an iPad or iPhone and showing off (as brides should do!) that way to all their friends. OR, posting on Facebook... You want to tell them they need a heavy leather-bound album and a videotape, 'cause "that's how you roll"? Or maybe it'd be wiser to make sure your "deliverables" are in accessable formats for whatever is "hip"...

Point being that I doubt many of us want to deliver video on a VHS cassette (UGH), or shoot on a Hi8 camera, nor do we edit on a Pentium II - times they are a changin', as the saying goes.


WHATEVER term we use to describe what we do...

Goal #1 is to create and deliver a product/service with a sustainable business model/profit.

Goal #2 is to try to stay current/"trendy" enough to not get left behind the technology wave or be wiped out by the democratization/commoditization of "the technology" or "the product".

Lots of places sell burgers, from McDonalds to "?" (insert favorite fancy burger joint here), with varying prices, qualities, and business models, and they do it successfully. Or you can make your own burger at home. Replace "burger" with "wedding video", figure out what is UNIQUE (Google "USP") about what you offer, and promote it, whatever you decide to call yourself...


We could always just call ourselves "wedding movie makers"... not pretentious, but a tribute to the "movies"!