I stumbled upon a recent Earl’s comment and asked his permission to use it. Earl graciously agreed.

The comment pushed the same button I tried to approach from the other end - prospects’ ignorance. I don’t mean it in a bad way. By ignorance I mean brides’ unacqauintance  with the concept of the wedding video. And this is clearly the business that needs to acquaint the prospects with the knowledge. But let’s listen to Earl Chessher:

ANOTHER thing it takes, but is grossly overlooked, is the 78+ percent of the wedge of the bridal video pie where prospective customers are NOT sold on video.

It never ceases to amaze me that, given the talent, the tools and the experience, that five percent (maybe 10 percent) AND the other 90-95 percent are all fighting to get a taste of the 22 percent, give or take, of the bridal market where they are already SOLD on having a video of their wedding produced. These guys are competing on creativity, giveaways and price, and sometimes some unique aspect of what THEY do that nobody else does … yet.

Give it time though, every GREAT new creative bent soon becomes a cliché as more and more non-creatives jump on the FEATURE wagon. Started with strobe, went to the color bouquet with everything else black & white, to slow motion, extreme slow motion, love stories, bridal elegance, and now of course EXTREME depth of field with DSLR rigs and multiple lenses for CREATIVE effects.

All well and good. BUT, if ANY PVA, group or other association that professes to “support” the wedding video production industry could wrap its collective minds around the simple fact that there’s a market out there that isn’t even being considered … the 70+ percent who don’t want, don’t think they want, or THINK they couldn’t care less about having video of their wedding ceremony, event, reception or day.

A campaign that somehow would bring in this significant chunk of NON-business for video producers would not only boost the upper scale professionals, perhaps even increase the overall perceived value of video production, but spread a good bit more wealth and business around to the other 90 percent of the wedding videographer base.

Instead, everyone, well nearly everyone, is vying for that small wedge of pie, the EASY targets (in that they already KNOW they want video) but the hard targets because they have a boatload of producers from amateur, hobbyist, cheap or affordable and inexperienced, to well-funded and equipped and extremely capable/creative experienced professional to compete with for a very small taste of what’s possible.

The day the industry-at-large discovers that a campaign like “Got Milk” or “Where’s the Beef?” is started that convinces the unconvinced brides (and their grooms) that video is “all that” AND a bag of chips, is the day the wedding video services industry is going to burst wide open and spread the wealth of a multi-billion-dollar industry to MORE of us.

Could not be put better than that. Many thanks to Earl for sharing!

Earl Chessher is a book writer with a collection of titles on wedding video and other aspects of life (and funerals too). Please click to visit Earl’s online book store.

Earl is an active blogger. His blog EC Come, EC Go is a well of practical day-to-day knowledge for anyone in video production business.

This is how I go about using lights. I never use lights during the Ceremony, and rather increase GAIN (same as ISO, I dare to say) on my camera. But I always set at least one, or more often two Lowell Pro 250 W lights, both diffused, remotely controlled at the reception.

Before the reception I set the lights in such a way that they lit the head table and the podium. Remote power allows for awkward placements: in far corners, behind the guest tables, etc. Key-chain type power controller from the local electronics store in the pocket allows me to switch the lights on and off from any place in the room.

When the time gets closer to the formal dances, I may move my lights near the dance floor. It may take some cooperation from, or cause some inconvenience to the guests. Be super nice.

And I also use my camera light, it’s usually 20 W halogen light balanced to 3200K.

Few members suggested the Sunnheiser ew100. Being a Lectrosonics fan myself, I still couldn’t avoid joining the choir. First of all – I want to see German product badly made. If you see one, please let me know. Secondly, small start up productions are often tight on budget, and that’s where ew100 hits the point – making perfect value-for-money product.

I would add to that little known wonderful gadget – Sunnheiser charging unit L2015. It has two slot, fitting one transmitter and one receiver right in. Both mic units have side contacts allowing to take charge without fiddling with the batteries. Out in the morning, in in the evening, no hassle charge, assuming you don’t mind rechargeable batteries. By the way, you can get Sunnheiser brand AA batteries too.

Buy for Kindle

Great news for the wedding videographers – the Guide has been re-published for Kindle. It is still the same great and useful book, only cheaper, and of course it’s readable on Kindle, or on iPad with a little help of the Kindle app.

“The birde’s dress signals how wealthy she is,” – continues the narration. “But it can also signal how seriously she is taking this marriage.”

OK now. What is the point of putting on a “signal” dress if the ancestors have no chance to see the photo if it’s not been taken or filmed? Does not hiring a videographer signal a seriousness of intentions for both bride and groom, and also the one of their families?

Received the book last week and it is great!  An indispensable guide, has all the information needed for producing a good wedding video.  It’s much like some articles I’ve read online from wedding video sites and Kirk Barber’s book, The Wedding Video Handbook.  His book has more details with photos, but yours is a good size to pack in the camera bag as a handy reference guide.  Here are my responses to your questions for publishing:

What is your experience in the wedding video business?

I have 14 years experience–have been in business for 16, beginning with school memory and sports videos, expanded into wedding video two years later.  Have produced 17 wedding videos, looking to do many more in the near future, keeping up with the new trends in wedding videography.

Was the book helpful, and if yes in what way?

It was (is) very helpful–has detailed step-by-step instructions on what to cover on the wedding day,  ways to make the video interesting–using different angles, lighting techniques, etc.  For different kinds of weddings, good advice on what to cover there.  Whether just beginning or having been in the business, it’s a good basic guide.

What topics have been left uncovered, or was there anything wrong or confusing?

None left uncovered that I noticed, but some of the techincal details could have been expanded–for instance, what kind of wireless and shotgun mics to use, light kits and on-camera lights, etc.  Also, a short chapter on using tapeless cameras or SDLRS (could be included in a revised/updated edition), etc.  Otherwise, an excellent book, highly recommended.

I look forward to using it on all upcoming wedding video sessions, may also download the E-book to use for reference here in my studio.  Photos are attached to use along with the above information, pick the one you think works best.  Look forward to reading it on your site and/or wherever it is published.  Thanks again and look forward to hearing from you.

Jason J. Young

Executive Producer, J-NIC Video Productions

Thank you Jason. In my book I tried to stay away from technical details of working on the wedding. It was addressed to the wedding videographers using all kinds of cameras. Approach that I offer may be similarly applied to anyone working with MiniDV,  BetacamSP or P2 cameras. Lighting is a similar issue, and I touched on that in the book. I will try to elaborate on that topic more here and at the Videomaker forum. All the best to you and to all who purchased my book. I wish you well in your uneasy but rewarding endeavor.

Here is in my opinion typical aftermath conclusion, borrowed from the Brides.com forum:

“I spent $10,000 on flowers and event design – all my own money because my mother thought I was insane (I probably was insane). Looking back at it later, I am acutely aware that my wedding would have been just as beautiful, just as memorable, just as fun for my family and friends if I’d spent $1,000 on the flowers. I’m ok with having spent it because I didn’t go into debt to pay for it and learned a valuable lesson about needing to say “do I really need that??”, but if I had it to do over again I’d have cut it back and put that money to better use. This is why I said to really think about whether you NEED a videographer – that’s $1500 you could save just to have another layer of permanent memories on top of the photos, which you’ve already paid for (and will probably look at a billion times more often). “

And there is also very interesting response to that entry:

“When I heard the videographer was going to be $1900 extra I said HECK NO. I hate my voice on video and I hate seeing myself on video too. I wasn’t going to pay thousands knowing I’d never watch it.”

I’ve heard similar words said right into my face. It seems to be just fact of life – people hate seeing themselves on the photo, never mind the video. Is there more self conscious brides nowadays then 10 years ago?

What do you think?

Nevertheless, this is what I’ve got -

• from Derek Sine: “The book is awesome!”
• from Karen Irvine: “The suggested shoot pieces were very helpful. Overall it was very helpful.”
• and my favourite from Mary Howald: “Honestly, I think that the book is great!  I’ve been looking for information all over the internet about the process of shooting a wedding, and this was definitely the most clear cut guide that I found.  The thing I liked best about it was that it’s easy for me to understand.  I’m not extremely technical, so this was great!  Most information I find deals with the technical side, but this was the first time I found a real guide…how to shoot a wedding…what to do…what to shoot…when/where/how to do it.  It was great!”

I would like to thank all the participants from the bottom of my heart. Stuff that I have not put in this posting means even more for me than all the good words.

And for you, who unfortunately fell out of the lucky ten, there is a chance to get a signed copy, shipping and taxes included, at the price of the ebook, that is $14.95.

The wedding season is still picking up the speed. Purchase your own signed copy of the Shoot-It-Yourself Wedding Video Guide before it’s over. Offer valid until June 31, 2010, or until quantities last.

/A\ Morning Ottawa has performed another live on-air wedding – this time for Heather and Robert, who had never managed to get married for last 13 years.

The building was turned upside down to accommodate for all the sponsors, contests and of course for the bride and the groom and their two daughters.

At the photo’s bottom right you may see two digital frames – one on the left played video, the other one on the right played slide show of the sample wedding photos. While the photos attracted good lot of future brides, the videos – not so much. The indifference at some point turned into full ignorance – I have been asked, what is the point of wedding videos:
“Do people watch it again after they got married? Really?”

I replied that of course they do, and I know it for a fact. And not only they watch their wedding videos again. They watch the videos with their friends and their children. And I hope many of my customers will enjoy watching their wedding videos with their grandchildren. Is not that fun?

Something is fundamentally wrong with the marketing of the wedding videos since we’ve got asked such a question. Is it not?