Choosing the Right Videographer 4614 views

More couples are choosing to complement photography with moving images. But there’s more to videography than simply waving a camcorder around, as Tim Earl, executive producer of Ichikoo Films, explains.

The average bride spends months – if not years – dreaming about their wedding day, creating a magical movie in their mind's eye of how their fairytale day will go. Yet when those brides look for a wedding videographer – the person who is going to capture a living record of that remarkable day – most follow a predictable pattern. They search for a videographer along with shopping for other services, such as caterers, florists, and limousine companies. The photographer comes first, and then they might think about finding a videographer. Not much thought is given to how they want their wedding film to actually be like - it just needs to be done with the final deciding factor being the price.

To get the best footage of your big day, hiring a videographer should be a bit more than ticking off a check box somewhere on the prenuptial To Do list. Surveys show that brides who treat videography as a commodity often regret it later. The Wedding and Event Videographers Association (WEVA), commissioned a 2005 study in the US to look at brides’ attitudes about videography both before and after their weddings. The brides were asked to rank videography on a personal “top ten” list of wedding priorities. Prior to their weddings, barely 50 per cent of the brides listed videography as a top ten item. However, after the wedding the emphasis changed dramatically, with a whopping 80 per cent putting it up there. A follow-up survey, checking with brides a year or more after their weddings, showed the percentages climbing even higher.

The wedding film, and the photographs, are the ‘to have and to hold’ parts of the wedding celebration.
They endure long after the bouquets have withered, the cake’s been eaten, and the wedding couple has forgotten whether the crystal decanter was a gift from Auntie Gwen or Cousin Geoff. When looking for a caterer or a florist, you are shopping for an occasion. When choosing a videographer, you are buying something that will last as long as your wedding rings. So don’t leave the filming to Uncle Albert.

Tim’s tips for choosing the right videographer:

1. Look at their website. Does it inspire you? In all probability, an uninspiring website equals an uninspiring video.

2. Ask to see a DVD of their films. If it leaves you cold, chances are so will your own film.

3. Shop around. It’s not essential they are based on your doorstep – a good videographer is worth any additional travel cost.

4. Beware of choosing merely on price. Videographers will usually quote packages in various price brackets so be careful when you are comparing prices, as packages will not be like-for-like.

5. Ask around for referrals. The more research you do, the more confident you will be that you’ve made the right choice.

6. Choose the professionals. Opting for a film production company rather than a standard videographer will guarantee you a much better film.

7. Be Realistic. If your budget is tight and you still want Star Wars, then you may be disappointed.

8. Don’t ask your friend to film it – unless he happens to be Martin Scorcese.

For more information on Ichikoo films click here for their website.

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