Shoot It Yourself?
On Dragon's Den this week was a new wedding videography company called Shoot It Yourself. It's basically what it says on the tin i.e. they loan you one or two cameras, give you tips on how to operate it then you or your guests film the wedding. The company then edits the result to a short montage of 20-30mins. The real selling point is that they make it look a lot of fun and, because it's done by friends/family you should get good reactions. Well it looks fun on their demo anyway with lots of gurning at camera and cheesy sound bites despite the awful wobbly out of focus shots. Strangely the service isn't much cheaper than a professionally produced film but if that's how couples want their weddng video to look then maybe it's the way to go.
But I was hoping a Dragon would say "I wouldn't want to give any of my family or friends the responsibility of doing this. If it went wrong I'd never forgive them and besides it would ruin their enjoyment of the day, so I'm outta here"
But they didn't.
Filming Online Art Lessons
Most of my filming work is for weddings which I always enjoy but it's refreshing to do other work occasionally. Over the last few years I have been working with local artist Dee Cowell to produce a series of online instructional videos. Dee is renowned internationally for her watercolours, oils and pastel work. She is also a brilliant art tutor and has decided to share her knowledge and experience of art techniques and materials with students around the world.
I was always top in art at school but stupidly never followed it up so it has been great for me to have these lessons while I filmed! The lessons are free so anyone, anywhere can benefit from them on http://www.virtual-artstudent.com .
Working With Photographers
Having filmed over a thousand weddings and actually lost count now I have only had problems with photographers on two occasions, both over ten years ago. I'll spare you the details but on both times I recall the brides complaining about the quality of their photographs. One of them was so obnoxious that I had a nosebleed! Try operating a camcorder among wedding guests while clutching a bloody handkerchief to your face, it's not ideal.
I now know many photographers quite well and it's always great to work with them again. They often tell me horror stories about videographers getting in every shot and generally making life difficult. Hopefully they are more at ease working with someone they know. At every other wedding I seem to meet a new photographer and I start by assuring them that I'll do my best to work around them. Invariably there are no conflicts, we end up having a good chat in the meal break and exchanging cards.
All I ask of the photographer is that my film doesn't end up like this one :- http://www.youtube.com/user/takyc#p/a/u/0/gnsAnPIX_E8. I can feel my nose twitching just watching it.
Awards
Photographers are lucky to have many awards available to them, they have several associations and institutes each showering awards down to local area levels. Awards are hard to come by for videographers because competitions to enter are so few and far between! Currently the Institute of Videography annual wedding category is the only relevant major award that I know of. With my last award in 2002 I'm well aware that it's about time I won something again. So this year c'mon you brides I'm looking to make the best ever films
For the record I was DVD Videographer of the Year 2002. This award was presented by Samron Technologies who at that time were the UK's premier DVD authoring studio. In the early days of DVD wedding videographers sent their tapes to Samron for them to make the DVD versions. It was particularly pleasing because they processed thousands of weddings each year and based the award on consistent performance rather than just one specially prepared one. A bit like winning the league title rather than the cup and I am still very proud of that one!
Then there was the APV Wedding Video of the Year 1999. Organised by the Association of Professional Videographers (now discontinued) there was tough competition at the time from some larger production houses. I have to admit this was as runner up but the winner was from somewhere up in the frozen North so I did claim an unofficial Southern Area title.
Has that video camera got sound on it?
You’d be surprised how often I am asked this question at weddings. I have to stifle what comes to mind and answer “Yes I hope so” as politely as possible. I mean to say doesn’t everybody know that camcorders record sound and vision? Even my very first clockwork video camera had a rudimentary microphone. Now I love weddings and love meeting people but sometimes I have to use my imaginary sniper rifle (with silencer of course) to stay sane.
But nothing is guaranteed to get my trigger finger itching so much as when someone shouts “Oh look, we’re on Candid Camera” just as I’m filming a really good group who are all relaxed and unaware of my presence. This is still quite common despite the fact that Candid Camera was last on black and white BBC TV in the 1960s (so I’m told). As usual I stifle what comes to mind and pretend I’ve never heard anything so witty, before shooting off a few blasts from my imaginary sub-machine gun in the general direction of the perpetrator.
“When I grow up, I still want to be a director.” – Steven Spielberg
OK so SS is in a different league to BW but hey, could he film and edit a wedding any better than I could make Jaws? Would his reaction be the same as mine when asked by extras if his camera had sound on it? For answers to these burning issues and all the latest news from the world according to BW read on!