Too Much Dancing

[Chris Brown]

Just watched a wedding video and there was almost an hour of the guest dancing after the dj opened up the floor and all the special dances were over. Is this the norm, it seemed a whole lot boring to me. I am new to video so I am wondering.

Chris

[Adrian Tan]

Everyone does it differently. Here's three options:

1. Include just the special dances (bridal waltz, mother/daughter, father/son, "flashmob" dances)
2. Include special dances + 1-3 dances in full. Often the dance floor gets empty after the first two or three dances after the first dance, and then it's the same people dancing. But then, in some cultures, the dance floor is full all night.
3. Apart from the special dances, mix up the best bits of all the dancing throughout the night into a montage set to music.

[Chris Harding]

Hey Chris

I do the first dance and then normally 3 songs after that and then I'm out of there!! Obviously if they do a father/daughter dance or either the bride or groom dancing with someone special like a grandparent. I will include that. My DVD's last menu item will be the first dance and dancing and seldom last more than 7 odd minutes!! You are talking Western weddings of course?? Cultural wedding might be nearly all dancing.

Chris

[Chris Brown]

Im liking number 3. Probably will be what I do. Thanks.

[Chris Brown]

As a photog I usually stay for 30 minutes after last coordinated event. I always ask bride if she needs anything else and then im gone. That much video of dancing was just boring to me.
Thanks

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Bear in mind that the human brain has a attention span of under 20 minutes. (that's why you have commercial TV segments of 23 minutes with a commercial break in the middle) The brain needs a mental "reset" so an hour of dancing would have the viewer get very bored very soon!! If a bride does want big segments of dancing I still break it up into smaller clips. Even with long Anglican and Catholic ceremonies I will split those into 3 segments so the viewer doesn't lose attention. I just fade out the video at an appropriate spot and drop in a 5 second title and then start the next bit on long segments and it tends to go down better!

Chris

[Noa Put]

Depends which culture you are shooting, did a Kurdish wedding once and only had to shoot the dancing part for 4 hours non stop.

[George Kilroy]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Bear in mind that the human brain has a attention span of under 20 minutes.
Chris

20 seconds is more like it Chris:)

[Noa Put]

Can someone explain in a few words what this thread is about? It takes me too long to read it all. :)

Well, a good movie can have me on the edge of my seat for 2 hours while I fall asleep after 10 minutes with a boring one. I think for internet display 2 minutes wedding trailers are your best bet, especially if you have several demo's but for a finished wedding 20 minutes is a nice length to summarize it all, but it all depends on the content and what happens throughout the day, to fill an hour you need to have a lot going on to keep it interesting. It's about finding the right balance without looking at the length, some weddings you can summarize in 10 minutes, other maybe in 30 to 40 minutes.

[Danny O'Neill]

Normal? Possibly.

We do the short, 3 minute montage of the best bits and thats it. Evening done!

Some like to play it safe and give hours and hours. All depends on what your clients want. Some think having an hour of evneing is great value, some do not.

Do things however you want. If your doing the same as everyone else then you are competing directly with them. Thats not to say the way they do it is right. we only do shortform edits and some wonder how we can do that when all their clients want are the longer edits. The answer? Your clients wouldnt come to us and ours wouldnt go to you.

find your own style.

[Peter Riding]

the human brain has a attention span of under 20 minutes. (that's why you have commercial TV segments of 23 minutes with a commercial break in the middle) The brain needs a mental "reset"

No-one seems to have told the BBC that :- )

Apart from the special dances, mix up the best bits of all the dancing throughout the night into a montage set to music

I've found that very hard to do because so many tracks have moments that prompt particular actions from the dancers such as joining in a chorus or cheering with their arms in the air etc. It just comes out looking wrong to me. Popular wedding tracks like Bruno Mars Marry You and Black Eyed Peas Tonights Going To Be A Good Night come to mind, not to mention the golden oldies from the likes of Status Quo and Chubby Checker mixed in with Amy Winehouse belting out Valerie.

Pete

[Roger Gunkel]

I always shoot first dance, and other special dances, then some compiled highlights of the next 20 mins or so cut down to a few minutes, unless it is an ethnic wedding where dancing is a set part of the wedding rather than just a party at the end.

I go back to a point that I often make, which is that it is vital to discuss with the client at the time of booking what they want and what they will get. I always tell them that I will only be shooting samples after the formal dances unless they have specifically asked for more in advance.

Roger

[David Barnett]

I too create a 'highlights' montage of dance floor footage put to music. Typically I find it hard to edit it any longer than 2 songs, usually only 1 so about 4-7 minutes. After that its just random, unexciting footage I'm using. Can't believe you saw one with about an hour, unless it was that they asked for or were give raw footage. Not sure I even shoot an hour of raw, myb 30-40 minutes on better dance floor weddings.

[Rob Cantwell]

my normal rate goes up to and including the first dance, usually thats it, I've not been asked yet to cover an other dancing. Apart from one bride asking would I be around at 2:30 am or something.
As for a short highlights type video I try and keep it under 15/16 minutes

R.

[Chris Brown]

No the bride was not happy about that much dancing. She wanted more guest at the table type video.