Do we have to film accessories?
 

Don't know if I'm the only one (I probably am), but I tend to find shooting accessories (groom accessories, bride accessories, even shoes and rings and dress) kind of fiddly and ridiculously time-consuming and annoying.

Trying to do something creative under pressure, with constant interruptions, just knowing that you're missing interesting events in other parts of the house. Hear the bridesmaids laughing next door, or hear the doorbell ringing downstairs to announce a close relative arriving? That's the sound of fleeting moments running away from you while you're stuck in a room trying to perfect the focus on a slider shot or fiddling with the arrangement of inanimate objects on a table.

Inanimate objects that the photographer will come in and shoot anyway.

Ages spent on shots that will take mere seconds in the video.

Everyone seems to pride themselves on "story" these days, whatever that means. -- Do shots of accessories really add much to story?

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

some people spend huge money on that, so they want show or see it in their movie.
Possibly it could be also part of your script, so you will need it.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

To save time I'd try and shoot some of this prior to the day, in adv. we call 'em the beauty shots.

One handy trick is, after the congregation leaves the church, go back into the vestry open the register and video the new entry by the bridal couple.
Set it up surrounded by flowers, shoot dutch angles, closeups etc.

It has to be arranged in advance with the minister so time is not lost, and we do it partly because the couple may never see their entry again.

Where it's placed in the video can be different each time, it can be repeated supered as a theme. A variation of this can be to include them signing invitations in advance of the day and swing those in. Fun stuff is dad signing a cheque for the reception etc .. but don't show the costs :)

Cheers.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

These inanimate shots are basically B roll footage to co-incide with the rest of the day isn't it ??? How boring would it look just to see faces talking with no 'fillers' ?

Plus they add value to the trailer if you ask me ...

I got a Asian wedding shoot this weekend, and i've already asked an indian friend of mine how I should lay out the brides shoes etc for some good slider shots etc.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Count me in as well :) I'd love to have a second shooter with me that would deal with this kind of stuff through out the day so I could focus on what really matters but since that's not the case I have to squeeze in time to get these shots anyway as I do find them important enough to include in the final edit. It might look unimportant but these small details like earrings, shoes and other 'trivial' stuff are an important factor as they are a part of their day even if you hardly see it and I see it as my task to capture any detail. If I could I would set up such shots properly with some added light, a slider and so on but I don't have that time so I just use a macrolens and get some quick static shots, that works fast enough for me to make time available for the more interesting events. I try to do this as soon as I arrive at the brides house.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

it'a actually a great question - we seem to get sucked into the need to cover the things that the tog rates as important. it is just B roll footage nothing more nothing less
If I get it fine, but I've bever had a bride say - where's the rack focus on the ring?

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

On the girls prep I do the dress and flowers period! On the guys I do no accessories ...I leave it to the photog to shoot the rings, shoes etc etc. Video is motion pictures so the emphasis should be off in-animate objects really . Yeah it certainly wouldn't break my heart not to do the dress and bouquets!!

However getting a shot of the chief bridesmaid handing the bride her bouquet is a video moment!!

Chris

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Yep same as Chris, get there at the house straight to the dress, slide and glides, shoe slides, if flowers there then those as well, then downstairs for fun arrivals but then again if she says be there at 10am im there at 9.30 because i know it goes so quick. If there is no time i try to just take 5 second shots of dress and shoes and rack focus...

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

That's exactly the right word....fiddly! But it is expected now more then ever....the devil is in the detail. I've found over time I'm getting faster at setting these bits and pieces up. I arrive at the house usually with an extra half hour so I can relax and concentrate on getting all the detail shots. I prefer if I have one room alone. Once the detail shots are complete I can relax and shoot the atmosphere.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Yes we do. Just as with table settings or decorations & swatches of coloured material on chairs etc Somebody (usually the bride & her mother) has spent an immense amount of time & trouble choosing all this stuff so they definitely will want them all recorded as part of their memories of the day.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Random anecdote.

I was in Fiji last week, Mana Island. The photographer borrowed the bride's dress, drove to the other side of the island, spoke to security, borrowed a golf cart, climbed on top of the golf cart, and somehow hung the dress from the "Welcome to Mana Island" sign. We then took long steadicam shots, walking down the wharf to the dress.

Total operation time: about 60 minutes. Total time in video: probably about 2 seconds.

But, perhaps, that bride, and her children, and her children's children, will love and remember the shot.

(And if the dress was blown into the ocean or covered in sand... maybe they'd have even more reason to remember the shot.)

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

The general rule of thumb is that if it doesn't support your story, don't shoot it.

However, for live events, you can never tell 100% ahead of time if a shot could be useful later on or not so if you actually have spare time and have nothing to do, then it wouldn't hurt to just shoot random objects instead of just standing there and do nothing.

I have to say though that most of the time, there's always something happening that is more interesting to shoot than a pair of shoes and flowers on a table.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

I'm usually, if not always, early at the bride's house so the bridesmaids and bride are in not condition to be filmed with spiky hair and no makeup so I then will do the dress and bouquets just to keep me busy until the girls are at a presentable stage ...if you don't have to use it it's no big deal but I do think that bride's do like a dress shot hanging on the back of a door prior to seeing them in it.

No, I'm not going to take the dress Adrian and travel half way across an island but I must admit it does sound quite innovative!

Chris

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

So true.

Just shoot it. Don't stand around ... You just never know how that clip may help when it comes to post-production.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

I do have to specify that accessories, flowers, shoes, and other inanimate objects are at the bottom of my priority list.

I usually hunt for stories and actions to capture so there is normally always something better to shoot like the mother preparing coffee & breakfast in the kitchen, the father washing the car on the driveway, the sister walking the dog, the brother ironing his shirt, the best man writing his speech, the bridesmaids decorating the house, the grandmother watching TV, the kids running around in the backyard, etc.

Even after I'm done capturing all the safe and essential shots, there is always more creative ways to shoot the same thing so you can definitely never run out of things to do at a wedding. I notice that the only time I find myself standing around and do nothing is because I chose to be lazy and take a little break.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Now we ask about what is important to them. We know about their something borrowed... et al, and (hopefully) anything else relevant. Examples:
grandma's hankerchief
the semi truck a groom had just bought that the B&G left the church in
next week: the restored camaro with his 1st working speedometer that he got working because of the bride

These are distinct to them and will be filmed. IF we film other things, it will because we're ahead of schedule, and never know if we will need some establishing shots.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

if I have a questionnaire that asks the bride to tick the items she specifically wants me to get footage of - dress, ring, garter etc etc - I'm sure she'll mark them all.

If I tell her that I'm assuming it's the tog's job to get those and my job to document the day which may or may not include specific shots of itmes that the tog has covered anyway - I'm sure sh'ed say - fine!

Don't get me wrong, I usually get slider shots of the dress and shoes because I like to have those sorts of images to cut away to - I just think we need to shed ourselves of the 'need' to shoot them just because it's somehow traditional..

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Hey Paul

I don't ask I just do ...I had a situation where the photog had hung the dress on a bright window (there was no-where else to hang it) and the bride was almost ready to get into it so I shot it where it was ...it was horribily underexposed of course since the photog used flash to combat the harsh back lighting so I simply didn't use that clip in the end.

I still think it's up to you to decide what to film that will fit into your concept .. unless the bride asks for something specifically!

Chris

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

And now Magic Lantern's HDR video could fix that for us Canon DSLR folk.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

I'm surprised by the number of people who think that they have to conform to a list of particular shots as though there's a statutory prescribed 'Wedding Video' and that to present anything less will result in the film-maker being sued or reported to some authority. Surely as an independent film-maker what you shoot is up to you. In all of the 20+ years I shot weddings I rarely went to the brides' homes before and even rarer to a groom's, though I started to offer it in the latter years if they wanted it. I never once had anyone complain about not having shots of the dress hanging limp on a hanger or shoes or flowers arranged in an artistic manner. Shots of things such as those were all taken during the natural course of the day when they were being worn. I'd always find a few minutes to get close-up details which I'd sequence together at some point during the video.

I'm not saying that is the right thing to do, just that as an independent creative what goes into any production is up to that person. Obviously if shooting the accessories forms key elements of if what you want to produce, or has been promised, then they should be shot.

I had the benefit (or disadvantage) of starting out when there was no means of comparing my work with others so I developed my own style and comfort naturally. Through feed-back from clients or discussions with potential clients, I found what was important to clients and what they didn't bother with. Now it's so easy to see thousands of examples and too easy to attempt to emulate others way of working which lead to questions such as the one that started this discussion.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Hey George

Nice to see you chip in!! Now you and I both shoot documentary style and that's pretty much as old as when wedding videos first started and yes, we simply record the day as it unfolds and add in what we feel is part of the day...Much later on in the industry DSLR's and the wedding film was created and followers of that regime didn't really have a lot to go on so before developing their unique style of wedding film they probably had to "see what the others guys are doing" to make a doc into a wedding film and I suspect that photogs played a big part in this ..the first "cinematic" wedding films I ever saw did contain a lot of photo shots like dresses, rings, flowers and table centre pieces, artistic, creatively composed and shot on still cameras and these probably found their way into cinematic adaptations so became essentials if you wanted an artistic wedding film. Let's face it if you are creating a wedding film as opposed to a simple run 'n gun documentary then to make it into a wedding film means shooting differently and much more creatively so shooting inanimate objects on a slider needs to be part of the process.

Chris

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Quote from Still Motion: "There are some weddings where we don’t even show the ceremony — if it doesn’t fit in with the best story we can tell, it doesn’t need to be in the film." -- This One’s DifferentBecause It’s Us – stillmotion

I think there's two sides to this accessories coin.

The first is "videographer tradition", passed from person to person (like a virus). I've basically sohot accessories because I was taught to shoot accessories -- in a sort of checklist of must-get shots. And everyone around me also shoots accessories -- photographers, videographers -- so it's catchy.

The other side of the coin is bridal expectation. Brides see lots of videos online, they see the "epic" shots of dresses; and, frankly, they like them. When I watch videos with my partner, she does comment that, despite my beliefs about inanimate objects, she does enjoy seeing these sequences in videos.

Being a typical guy, I'm quite uninterested in clothing; but I can appreciate that things look very different from a bride's point of view, and that the very careful choices she's made about each piece of clothing or jewellery are rich with meaning and significance.

But does there need to be video of this as well as photo? Am I going to keep including accessories in videos after the discussion in this thread? Not sure...

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

What does this mean? I get a little ticked off by this kind of sales talk about the 'story'. The story is a wedding day. On the wedding day, the bide wears things. She paid big money for them most likely. She most likely adores these items. She will want to remember them as much as anything I'd imagine.

In fairness, it depends on what your finished product looks like. My time at the brides house goes only into my highlights trailer and so I don't need any extensive clips. As long as a get 10-15 short creative clips of hair/makeup, champagne and accessories I'm happy enough. I guess if you are wanting more extensive footage of the interactions, then it would seem a distraction.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Clive, storytelling is not a catchy sales gimmick but a universal language.

A wedding day is not a story, it is an event. The story is what you decide to tell from that event through your language, which is the film you make. The way you shoot the event, the content you decide to include or exclude, the way you colour grade your piece, the music you choose, etc. are all ingredients that will affect what people will know from that story.

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Definitely an entry for Pseuds Corner in Private Eye. (For those outside the UK just Google or ask a Brit to explain.)

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Many subjects, particularly detail such as flowers dress shoes, rings, greeting cards, rooms dressed for wedding breakfasts etc, work far better as stills than they ever will as movies. So if you have a dSLR with you why not use it for these sorts of subjects. You WILL need to use fill flash especially for backlit subjects so make sure you also have a suitable gun. This can be on camera but it MUST be bounced or your results will look amateurish.

Guns don't need to cost much at all. Check out the Chinese ones reviewed on Lighting Rumours. I can't recommend any as at this point I still only use my five Canon speedlites but colleagues do think highly of them.

When you do the edit don't cut corners with single images per screen - especially if they are portrait aspect - and silly ken burns type effects. For example try bringing in 3 x portrait aspect images one after the other starting left then middle then right, or a landscape aspect one on one side followed by a portrait aspect one on the other side (both the same height), and gently fade to the next screen.

These sorts of subjects are the ones that brides are likely to want to study for more than the few seconds that they would remain on screen as video footage. If she pauses video the image will not be nearly as nice as if she pauses a sparklingly detailed still.

As for SM not even including any parts of the ceremony. Well what can anyone say other than is this the point where SM peak and then get found out :- )

Pete

Re: Do we have to film accessories?
 

Re SM not showing ceremony -- I've no idea, but have got a feeling, though, that they'd probably still supply a video of ceremony and of reception speeches. Maybe ceremony is just occasionally excluded from the main short film.

Another random thought re accessories: one thing that video can give accessories is more 3D-ness. So, if you're doing a slider + pan on a pair of shoes, or if you have at them with a steadicam, you get more dimensionality than from a single frame.

I'd love to be able to say to a bride, "Give me some time before the wedding to shoot inanimate objects, to arrange your dress on a mannequin or in a tree, so I don't have to worry about them on the big day itself." But, very often, the travel time involved, etc is prohibitive. Only has so far happened for destination weddings.

Random gimmick I'm going to use on the next wedding: static shot on a table, then place all the accessories on there one by one. In the edit, cut and dissolve, and if nothing else in the frame changes except each object you palce, then you can create the appearance of accessories magically appearing from nowhere. (Bob Nicolas has done a version of this with a motion-controlled rotating camera doing a panorama of the room as objects fade into view.) The main point of this gimmick, which I'm sure a lot of people have used in the past: hopefully it'll save time.