Wedding Cinematography for intentional filmmakers

What distinguishes cookie cutter Wedding Cinematography from intentional and more meaningful storytelling?

Deep Storytelling
Creating compelling storytelling through interviews and/or letter reading. Most wedding videographers will just string together a bunch of pretty clips on a timeline set to some dramatic music.  What story is that telling? Yes, wedding vows are a nice addition to begin to tell a story, but where else can the couple's story be found?

By simply adding an interview or two, a videographer's work will have more meaningful, elevated storytelling than 90 percent of the videographers running around who are making a music video and not a documentary.

Who can tell the couple's story?

Parents, siblings, maid of honor and best man, grandparents, or a best friend are great options to capture short interviews during the wedding day.

Intentional Technique

Some videographers get lazy and do things like crank up the shutter speed multiple stops faster than than the 180 degree rule.  The footage will not only look choppy (like an action film), but it can look more similar to phone or camcorder footage because there is less intentional control over the cinematic image. High shutter speeds are intended for very specific things, and they should be avoided most of the time. Using a proper ND filter will avoid the choppy look of high shutter speeds.

Cinematic Look

Filming at 24 frames per second for 90 percent of the wedding day will yield a more cinematic look. Intentional storytelling does not rely too heavily on slow motion to elevate the story. Slow motion has become kitschy and overused in wedding videography. It's trendy and will probably look outdated and ridiculous in 20 or 30 years. It won't be timeless and will be obvious that the wedding was filmed during a certain time period

Building suspense

Telling things out of sequence and utilizing the power of voice over can help build suspense for the couple's unique story. 

How to get Smooth Handheld Video Footage

To get smooth video footage from DSLR's there are a few techniques that don't require any additional money.

• Use in-camera stabilization. Many cameras (not Canon and Nikon), including Sony and Panasonic mirror-less DSLR's have in-body stabilization that can really improve hand-held footage without any additional editing or software
• Walking like a ninja. Step on your toes and heels lightly to avoid getting excessive up and down shake in your footage.
• Process footage with Warp Stabilizer. Use the Warp Stabilizer effect in Premiere Pro set to 5-20% to make your regular footage smoother.

Negative Fill | Cinematography lighting technique

Negative fill uses non-reflective material like black cloth or Duvetyne to reduce the amount of light hitting one part of the subject. See another video example of how negative fill works to add more contrast to a subject.

Learn How Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO Work Together in Photography

A Pocket Guide to Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO in action.



Using Manual Mode: Exposure Lesson #4
- why manual mode is important for landscape photography and long-exposure photography

Getting off Auto - Manual, Aperture and Shutter Priority modes explained

• what each of the A (Av), S (Tv) and M modes are, a definition of each
• what types of situations I would choose each of them and why
• some advantages of A (Av) and S (Tv) over manual
• some advantages of Manual and when it’s the only choice

John Freeman's Guide to Slow Shutter Speeds

Metering Modes Explained

5 Tips for shooting better Beauty Videos - Boom Video

10 Things to Know About Videography with DSLR Cameras

1. Most DSLRs can only record for 20-30 minutes per clip.  Nikon, Canon, Sony, and most major DSLR makers have set a maximum clip limit at 29 minutes and 59 seconds to avoid a European tax on cameras that record for more than 30 minutes continuously. The only DSLR cameras on the (2015) market that shoot longer than 30 minutes are the Panasonic GH2, GH3, and GH4.
2. Focusing (pulling focus) on a DSLR can be very difficult on the fly.  Focusing using your camera's viewfinder for photography is easy, but constantly changing focus using a tiny 3" LCD is very difficult .  Shoot at f/4-5.6 to still get shallow depth of field with your telephoto zoom lenses, but give yourself a wider target to hit.
3. Video will be unacceptably shaky unless you use some kind of camera support.  Wedding and event videographers typically use monopods or shoulder mounts to quickly move from shot to shot.  Turning on image stabilization in your lenses will also help smooth out camera shake when not using a tripod.
4. Older DSLRs do not shoot full 1080 HD at 60 frames per second.  Only specific models of DSLR cameras (and the 2015 models from Nikon and Canon) can shoot slow motion at 1080p.  Many professional camcorders offer 1080p at 60 frames per second, but most DSLRs on the market today only shoot 60 frames per second at 720p.
5. Be prepared for extra audio equipment.  External audio recorders are essential if you want to capture professional quality audio.  Some DSLRS do not have a headphone jack to monitor your audio, but you can solve this problem by using a splitter cable on your audio recorder.  One end of the splitter would feed into your DSLR so your audio can be pre-synced and the other end would allow you to monitor the audio with headphones.
6. ND filters are not built into DSLRs.  If you're shooting in sunny or partly sunny conditions, you'll need an ND (neutral density) filter to reduce how much light is reaching the lens.  This will allow you to keep the cinematic look.  Without an ND filter, you'll have so much in focus that it will look like you filmed with a camcorder.  Look for a variable ND filter that can give you 2 to 6 to 2 to 8 stops of light reduction.  Lenses can have different filter thread sizes (measured in mm).  Most professional Canon lenses use a 77mm filter thread, so you may be able to get away with buying only one or two ND filters.
7. Have lots of batteries on hand.  If you're shooting live events where the camera cannot be plugged into the wall for power, ensure you have lots of extra batteries.  When recording video, DSLRs drain batteries very quickly.  I recommend having a minimum of three batteries for each camera if you want to film weddings or other long events.  Bring your battery chargers with you just in case you need to recharge them on location.
8. Always use full manual exposure.  Even mid-range DSLRs that shoot video should allow you to have full manual control over your Aperture (F-stop), shutter speed, and ISO settings.
9. Focusing will be even more difficult in low-light situations.  Modern DSLRs can produce fantastic images at high ISOs, but because the camera sensor is doing extra processing for low-light settings, the image on your Live View LCD will be less sharp than when you're shooting in daylight.  It will be more difficult to tell if your focus is set correctly.  Use an on-camera LED light or another light strategically positioned and "gelled" to give your camera more light to work with so you get sharper and less noisy footage.
10. Faster memory cards will save you time.  Ensure you purchase CLASS 10 or faster SD/Compact Flash memory cards for your camera.  If you invest extra in faster cards, you'll save time transferring footage from long shooting days.  Mid-range cards will transfer at about 60 MB/s over a USB 3 connection and high end cards will transfer at 80-100+ MB/s.

Gear to Capture Stunning Wedding Videos

New cameras come out every year, but any DSLR made since the Canon 7D released in 2009 or the Canon 5D Mark II from 2008 can capture amazing cinematic video when paired with the right lenses.

Invest the most in your lenses

Cameras come and go, but your lenses will be capturing incredible footage for years to come.  Spend money on the fastest (widest aperture) lenses you can afford. You won't regret it, and every good lens you purchase will benefit your projects in different ways.

Some great lenses for video:

Fast Standard lens
50mm f/1.4 made by Canon or Nikon.
* Great for isolating your subjects against a beautifully soft and blurry background.
* The most cost-effective way to capture tons of light.  Critically for anything indoors after sundown when you can't use lights.

Telephoto Zoom
70-200mm f/2.8
Perfect for keeping a more comfortable distance from your subjects when filming weddings.  Use a tripod when using this lens to keep your shots stable.

Wide Zoom
16-35mm f/2.8
An excellent wide-angle zoom to capture landscapes, or to pair with a GlideCam.

85mm f/1.8

Use Neutral Density filters during daylight hours

Video cameras are capturing much more light by shooting at a slow shutter speed (1/50th of a second, or 1/125 of a second for slow-motion), you can only get the exposure right by stopping down on your lens.  The problem with stopping down to f/8, f/11, or lower is that the image looks less cinematic and more like video coming from a consumer camcorder.  The more you can shoot between f/2.8 and f/5.6, the better.  Your shots will look more cinematic with beautifully blurred backgrounds.

Days of Heaven and Natural Light Cinematography

Days of Heaven (1978) was filmed almost entirely with natural light.  Here are some DVD freeze frames from the film to help study the placement of the subjects in relation to the light source.

Click an individual image to see a full-size version.

Learn more:
Four Lessons in Cinematography from Nestor Almendros | Filmmaker Magazine

Shooting Days of Heaven with Terrence Malick | A-BitterSweet-Life

Side light during the magic hour.

side light using the setting sun and capturing a golden glow (magic hour)

indoor scene, one of the only scenes in the film to use artificial light

Was probably filmed during sunset. This low angle is one of the only ones used in the film.

The beauty of natural light

interesting framing and juxtaposition showing the character and what he sees

Many of the film's scenes were shot during the magic hour and darker scenes were filmed after sunset.

Most likely late afternoon light, probably using a bounce card to fill in the actress' face naturally.

Cinematography With Natural Light

Natural light can provide everything you need for exterior scenes, especially if you live in the Northern Hemisphere.  In places like Canada, and Montana, USA., the twilight hour is much longer than if you live further south.  This also means that the "golden hour" that provides cinematographers with beautiful, dramatic light is also longer.

The 1978 Terrance Malik film Days of Heaven was shot almost entirely with natural light.  The crew lit interior scenes and buildings with set lights, but the majority of their exterior scenes were filmed with natural light.  The Spanish cinematographer Nestor Almendros was often at odds with the Hollywood lighting crew because when the equipment truck was be opened, the lights were left behind.  Almendros went on to win Best Cinematography for 1979.

White bounce cards were used for fill light during some exterior scenes, but this is still a form of natural light.  Back lighting was also one of the key techniques used on Days of Heaven. 

Here are some examples of natural light taken during the golden hour. The first three images show light that is very similar to the look of many scenes in Days of Heaven.

Natural light at sunset in Paradise Valley, Montana.

Days of Heaven - lighting style

Sunset light in Livingston, Montana.

Dramatic natural light during a cloudy day, Bozeman, Montana

Sunset along a rural road, Bozeman, Montana

The Gritty, Cinema Verite Look of Black Swan

Momentum: Black Swan shot on Super 16mm, ARRI, Canon 7D & 1D mark IV

Planning shots with DSLR cameras:
I shot all of that rehearsal footage with the Canon 5D Mark II, which gave me references for the shots we wanted to make. I also figured out a lot of the mirror shots during prep, because we were rehearsing in a room with a three-sided mirror. 
~ Matthew Libatique, Cinematographer

Black Swan was a 40 day shoot.  The film is 108 minutes long.  The budget was $12 million and the film grossed $106 million in the U.S.  Total worldwide box office was $222 million.

On working with Director Darren Aronofsky:
A beautiful thing about working with Darren is that he has a visual style in mind, and he’s very clear about what he’s trying to do — there’s no coverage ambiguity. In fact, I wouldn’t even call what he does coverage. His style is more like the European style: you only have a few bites of the apple, so you make them all count.

How 16mm fit into the visual style of Black Swan
Darren likes 16mm because it’s small, he can do handheld, and he doesn’t have to wait around for camera setups. We were using real locations, so it helped in that regard, too. The apartment Nina shares with her mother was right next to Prospect Park, and we moved the camera in as though we were documenting real people’s lives. We made it a point to travel from kitchen to hallway to foyer to bedroom to bathroom, but the space really dictated the kinds of moves we could make. I think 16mm creates interesting texture, especially if you expose it correctly.


Matthew Libatique was nominated for best cinematography for Black Swan, but has also filmed:

Noah

Requiem for a Dream

Everything is Illuminated

The Fountain

Iron Man

Iron Man 2

Phone Booth

Inside Man

20 Cinematography Tips by Roger Deakins

One of the modern masters of cinematography, Roger Deakins, shares his tips on cinematography.

Deakins is best known for The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, The Assassination of Jesse James, and Skyfall.  Sadly, he has been nominated for 10 Cinematography Oscars and not won a single Oscar award yet.

He has worked on 11 movies with Joel and Ethan Cohen and five of his Oscar nominations were for Cohen brothers' films.

Below are my favorite tips from him, and you can find the full list at the link below:
20 Tips by Roger Deakins - Burak Oguz Saguner - Blog

You Must Discover Your Own Style

Work Inside Your Practical Limits

I think the most important aspect of shooting documentary is to make use of what light is available simply through your positioning of the camera - and the subject if you are controlling what you are shooting. For me, using extra equipment, whether it was a tripod or a reflector, was usually a distraction and counterproductive.”

"Cinematography is More Than a Camera"

There is No "Right Way" or Expected Career Path

“If you work your way up you might find it easier financially. Also, you will have time to learn your craft and become confident in what you do. On the other hand you may well find youself stuck for some time at one level and find it hard to make the jump from an assistant to an operator for instance. If you try to start shooting right away you may find yourself waiting a long time between pay days. Have you a showreel? Friends that might give you a break? A family that you need to support?

I never assisted. I went to film school and started shooting right away after that. Well, to be honest I couldn’t get work as an assistant so I called myself a cameraman. I found it no easier to get work as a cameraman but at least I felt better about myself. It was probably 6 months before I got my first paying work but it built quickly after that.”

Internships Are Scarce, Learn By Discovery

Know What You’re Talking About

“I think you need to be very familiar with grip equipment just as you need to be familiar with the range of lighting units available; otherwise you might ask for something that is really impractical or might not produce the right result. It is a Key Grip’s job to come up with a technical solution to a task and also the most efficient way of achieving it but it is the cinematographer’s responsibility to know if the concept will work in the first place. I think this requires a general understanding of the equipment to hand and it’s various usage.”

Plan Ahead with Your Crew

It’s Your Job to Find a Way to Work with Others