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.

The Top 10 Films that Influenced My Childhood

I was born in 1987.  As one of the oldest members of Generation Y, I do remember a time before everyone used the internet, had smart phones, and used social media.

These are the top 10 films that influenced my child hood.  I'm only counting films that I saw before age 12, as I feel that really encompasses that "magic years" of a person's childhood.

1. Return of the Jedi

My favorite Star Wars movie as a kid.  Now that I'm older, I appreciate Empire Strikes Back much more.  As a kid, Empire was dark, intense, and left the viewer with a heavy cliffhanger.



2. Aladdin
The music, the vocal talents of Robin Williams, and the epic animation still put this in my top 3 favorite Disney movies.





3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
I saw this by age 5 or 6.  The action scenes were captivating, the melting Nazis' faces scared the crap out of me, and I would sing and hum the music themes.




4. Back to the Future
One of my favorite adventure movies.  I could watch this over and over and still enjoy it.




5. Three Ninjas
My favorite actual kid movie during my childhood.  The antics, karate, and "wisdom" were great entertainment as a 6 or 7 year old.



Most kids who were in elementary school in the early 90's saw this movie.  Sadly it's been lost on the new generation of young kids.

6. The Three Musketeers
One of my favorite adventure movies as a kid.  I loved the swashbuckling adventure, comedy, Tim Curry as the villain, and the swordplay.



7. The Lion King
One of the quintessential Disney movies of the 90's.




8. The Rescuers Down Under
For it's time, much of the animation was groundbreaking and featured visual styles that were rare in Disney films.





9. Dances With Wolves
I loved the music, love story, sweeping landscapes, and the action sequences, even at a very young age. The movie really pulled at my heartstrings, and even as an adult, I feel a strong resonance with the morality tale and love story.

 



10. The Rocketeer





Top Films that shaped my budding love of filmmaking in adolescence:

1. The Matrix

2. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

3. The Patriot (1999)

Minority Report
Traffic
Gladiator
Good Will Hunting
Run Lola Run
Nowhere in Africa
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy

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

How to use C-Stands on your video productions

C-Stands are used for holding:

Lights
Reflectors
Flags (light blockers)
Microphones
Diffusion panels
Green screen

What to know about using C-Stands:

• If you're extending your the arm on your C-Stand, be aware that you probably want sandbags to stabilize the stand to prevent lights or gear from falling on your actors or your set.
• They are one of the most versatile pieces of grip equipment and most film industry professionals will recommend having your own if you do your own freelance video production.
• Hold microphones without extra hands.  Suspending microphones should be relatively easy with C-Stands as long as you remember to bring long enough audio cables.
•  Position reflectors.  Keep reflectors in the exact spot that you want them by attaching them with a clamp.
• Suspend overhead lights.  Suspending softboxes or other lights above your talent (actors) can mean achieving the lighting setup that you want.

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

Sriracha Documentary from Griffon Hammond

Griffon Hammond produced, filmed, and edited his own documentary about Sriracha sauce. Using a Kickstarter campaign, he raised $21,000 and his project goal was just $5,000. Over 1,300 people backed his project.

Griffon Hammond's Youtube Channel