ANGELA AND MAX'S BACKYARD WEDDING

I'm not one to pick favorites but I do love a backyard wedding. The videos always have such a personal touch because there has never been a wedding there before and there probably won't be one after. It's a one of kind thing (much like a marriage) and this wedding truly was one of a kind. A beautiful celebration of cultures and traditions from the vows to the food, they both put everything they love about each other into their wedding day. Also, these two couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day and a better team to work with. The wedding was designed by the ladies at Double G Events and they did an incredible job. Aside from making a ceremony site and reception hall in limited space happen the design itself was stunning. I particularly loved the custom napkins from Minted. 

Angela and Max were adorable together all day, sneaking in dance moves wherever they could and they both showed a charming display of affection by speaking in each others first language for the ceremony. Cheers to Angela and Max!

JADE AND MALCOLM WADSWORTH WEDDING

Fun back story, my daughter Adylae (Addy) loves watching my wedding videos. I don't know why but I can only assume it's because a wedding often combines her three favorite things, pretty dresses, big parties and cake. With that in mind Jade is my daughters pre-school teacher and Addy adores her. After watching this video I think most will understand her sentiment. Jade is truly a delightful person to be around, always providing a smile and a lighthearted approach to any situation. As I predicted since completion of this video to this moment in time of blogging I have heard Jade and Malcolm's video in the background of our home dozens of times so far! 

The wedding itself was absolutely stunning! An earthy color palette of cream tones, cool greens with natural wood made for gorgeous details throughout the Wadsworth mansion. Their ceremony was a heartfelt exchange of personally crafted vows for one another in Wadsworth's rose garden which is one of my favorite ceremony cites in Connecticut. There was some nervousness from the wedding party about the weather but I swear to you once the ceremony started the clouds broke and the sun came out. It was incredible, it went from feeling rain on our skin to a mild temperature, beautiful sunny evening. I've done enough yapping, hit play and enjoy Jade and Malcolm's beautiful, rain free wedding at the Wadsworth Mansion! 

Cheers,
Will 

B FOR BETTER! A COUPLE TIPS TO CAPTURE BETTER WEDDING B-ROLL

So what is B- Roll exactly? It is all the alternative footage that isn't the main shot. Lets break down some moments from my latest wedding video to show you some b-roll examples and tips to improve your story telling with b-roll. I mean when you deconstruct a modern wedding video they are all basically meditations in b-roll. Even those key moments of the day, like the bride and groom preps are basically b-roll since the ceremony is usually the background audio source making the imagery the main focus but the message secondary. So lets begin.

So in the case of Lauren and Marshal I almost immediately introduce the actual wedding ceremony. So this becomes the main shot, it is the only moment that incorporates the audio with the visuals so by default, no matter how significant other imagery is, until we as viewers leave the ceremony, everything else is b-roll. 

Now this is what we are using to tell our story in a literal sense, this is where they will talk about their history, their love, their future etc. That's our paint and canvas but we need to start painting over here so lets start painting with our b-roll baby!

So in almost every ceremony they discuss the idea of "before." Before the ceremony, the dress, the reception there were two people that fell in love. So we take our viewer back to the before, but in our case its the beginning of the day. Now we introduce some b-roll of everyone getting ready. This is how we really tell the story of the day and display the emotions leading up to our main event, the ceremony. Below are two images only seconds apart but one immediately tells a better story.

Both are flattering shots of our bride, but notice the dress in the bottom one. It's not a huge difference image wise but the story it tells is infinitely better.  So...

TIP 1. USE YOUR ENVIRONMENT TO TELL A BETTER STORY WITH YOUR B-ROLL

The story went from "a woman getting her makeup done" to a "bride getting her makeup done anticipating walking down the isle in her dress."  Be aware of your surroundings, use the architecture, the lines, the symmetry, the "props" (I don't mean to call a wedding dress a prop but it's working as one here). Move stuff around, make the environment the way you want it to look. Clean the room if you have to, It's easy to feel like you are being intrusive when you are starting out but just politely explain that bottles of water everywhere, plastic cups, Starbucks coffee cups all over the place looks terrible. Which leads us to tip 2...

TIP 2. DON'T BE AFRAID TO STAGE SITUATIONS

Who cares if it didn't happen in real time? Don't get caught up with the idea that something is fake if the imagery is believable. You are telling a story, not making a documentary, it's different. Check this out.. 

When the hell would this many grown women sit on a bed smushed in together? Never, thats when. But with a left to right camera movement, a tight lens and a bunch of girls laughing (which I had them do) you have this adorable moment with the bride and her bridesmaids sharing a drink and a laugh...I'm not even sure if anything was in the cups. It's ok to bullshit if the story is good!

or this...

sorry for the blur these are freeze-frames from the video not still images

Cocktail hour isn't very exciting to cover since its mostly people standing, drinking, eating and not wanting to be bothered with a camera since there is probably food in their mouth. I wanted to showcase the food without bothering anybody at the party or do the typical move of waiting until someone grabs something off a tray. So I pulled a server aside and asked if I could follow her into the room but my camera will just focus on the food. It was a great way to showcase the food, the service and to have the video enter the cocktail hour. All planned, all staged, great results. You know whats next folks...third and final tip

TIP 3. SHOOT WITH INTENTION/KNOW WHY YOU ARE HITTING RECORD

This seems simple but it actually takes a good bit of practice to acquire this skill, especially with wedding cinematography.  If someone asked you while you were shooting why you shot something you should always be able to answer them; otherwise you are just wasting hard drive storage. It is so important to collect b-roll with purpose to save storage and the most valuable of all things, time. Why spend hours scrubbing through footage when you can have confidence in the footage acquired because you shot with intention. If you can't picture yourself using it, don't shoot it. I can't tell you how many times a second shooter has given me GB after GB of meaningless garbage that I would never use. Usually all pretty clean, good looking footage but content wise it was useless. Eg. A closeup of a champagne glass or a flower somewhere in the building. Does that tell a story? How does that relate to the couple? It doesn't, so ditch it.  

Alright folks there it is, a couple of tips that hopefully will help spice up your b-roll. Also, I didn't give all my secrets away, within the next month I am doing a workshop based around the idea of creating b-roll to tell a story. Until next time!

-Will 

Also check it out again and keep an eye on the b-roll!

Where should I get married? How about the back yard!

*Disclaimer: I'm an image maker, not a planner. I like making things looks beautiful and telling stories with my camera so take that into consideration when reading anything I write. 

Let's just start with the obvious, not all back yards are created equal, I know, I know. I am being pretty specific here but I think it is worth discussing because a backyard wedding can be something quite spectacular. As an image maker and story teller I love the idea of a backyard wedding, there is just so much history that can be translated by the imagery making for a beautiful wedding day and a gorgeous video. 

Look at this moment... the bride is getting ready in an upstairs room that contains clothing from her childhood years and even her prom dresses. You don't need to know that but you can just sense there is a familiarity in the room. For the viewer it's intimate, it's personal, there is a sense of privilege to be in the room. 

Or this moment, I remember filming this and thinking to myself "I wonder how many times Leslie has looked out that window and how different it is today." 

Which really is one of the greatest attributes to a backyard wedding. That transformation of perspective on an area with so much familiarity. An area that has so many memories gets to add a few more to the list and the normalcy of the location gets a beautiful make over. 

The dress in all its glory!

This is where the imagery does all the talking. I don't need to say anything, look how much story is in that brief moment. 

By no means do I recommend this if you are trying to save money. Hardly, anything that may have been built into the cost of doing business with a venue is lone gone. Everything is now on you and your style but like I've implied before, that is the beauty of it. A backyard wedding can be exactly what you want it to be and is one of the few times I have seen supreme elegance mixed with beach like relaxation. 

You know what? Why don't I stop yapping and showing pictures and just post the video and you can see for yourself. But don't stop there I have one more subject I'd like to discuss. 

Alright so I know what you are thinking? But I don't have a backyard like that and I don't have access to a backyard like that. That's cool, I don't either but if you like the backyard feel check out this next wedding film at Candlelight Farms. It's a gorgeous location thats remote, its intimate its indoor/outdoor and just has that great backyard, feel good. vibe to it.