Posted on

Ceremony Live Streaming

So, what about Live Streaming your wedding ceremony in a Covid 19 world?

– Maybe your wedding day celebration will be a little smaller than originally planed due to various State and local guidelines but you still want to have all of your important family and friends be able to participate with you during your ceremony.
– Or maybe, you’ll choose to postpone the big celebration, but still want to get married on your scheduled day and share your ceremony with all of your family and friends.
– Or yet another maybe, you’re just going to do a simple, midweek, small, elopement style wedding ceremony.

So, whatever YOU choose to do, I’m here to support you with your Live Streaming needs.

So what are the options?

There are several ways to Live Stream your wedding ceremony. Below are a few of the options we can provide you with.

DIY – For any booked wedding, I’m happy to provide a tripod and smartphone / tablet adapter at no charge. Requires a strong enough cell signal or a venue that has strong enough WiFi. Of course you’ll need a smartphone or tablet with Cellular / WiFi capabilities and Facebook or YouTube installed and previously tested for live broadcast.

Recommended placement would be with a family member in the front row. That way they can hold the device during entrance, and then attach to tripod in front of them set at a height of about 3 feet for the remainder of the ceremony. This way you have un-obstructed view and are close enough to pick up officiate and couple audio.

Dependable Basic Streaming – I can set up a single camera with the officiate on a wireless mic using a PRO level Live Stream system. If your venue has WiFi great, but it’s not required. This system uses up to 3 cellular modems on 3 different cellular networks / carriers. The signals are then all “Bonded” together so we have multiple connections to the internet at the same time providing a stable connection. This allows for ceremonies at the beach, vineyards, etc. Live Streams can be broadcast to Facebook, YouTube, or, we can host on a private web page on our website, or yours! Your live stream can also be saved for later viewing.

Streaming Goodness – I can set up a multi camera Pro Level Live Stream System. Starting with the single camera system described above, we can add additional cameras, additional audio, and then do switching between cameras during the ceremony. Your ceremony then becomes a true live event to be shared.

So How Much?

*For all new 2020 – 2021 scheduled wedding bookings:
– Our single camera / audio ceremony system can be added to our Highlight, Short Story or Feature Collections for just $300.
– A mid-week stand alone single camera ceremony system is just $600.
… $800 for Fri, Sat or Sun.
– If you need to postpone any 2020 – 2021 wedding, and booked the live stream option, we can still do your ceremony live stream on your original date.
– Interested in a multi (3) camera system? Pricing starts at $1,800.

* Dependent on Federal / State / Local restrictions.

So, in this unusual time, I hope these options can provide you with a sense of confidence regarding the ability to share your wedding with family and friends just in case changes must be made. ~ Ken

Posted on

Capturing Wedding Audio

Maid of Honor Speech vineyards

Someone once said… audio is 80% of a film… Have you ever watched a TV show where the “synch” was off? Even in the beginning days of films… someone played a piano or organ in the theater. On your wedding day, your audio is what allows us to tell your story, and it’s what takes you back in time 20 years from now.

Now for the scoop…

So… what’s the deal with fear of microphones? I get the whole speaking in public thing, and maybe people think that when we put a mic on them it’s going to blast thru the PA system. Well, the good news is that the mic’s we use when recording your wedding ceremony video will not go into the PA and will only be used during your film.

Maybe we should think of microphones as our friends. Have you ever watched a movie, video, or something on your smart phone and couldn’t understand the words? or was scratchy? or maybe even a WINDY day? Often the film work can be beautiful, but if the audio “sucks” (a technical term) the complete experience is not so great. Creatively, I feel that audio is probably a little more important than the filming, especially during a wedding.

Since we are (hopefully) only going to film your wedding day once. We tend be overly cautious about using multiple microphones / recorders as we don’t get a second take or do over. Our typical wedding ceremonies are recorded with several audio systems.

  • on the officiate
  • on the groom / partner
  • sometimes on the bride / partner
  • thru the sound board if a system is used for additional speaker / readings
  • in front of live musicians if they are a part of the ceremony

When combining great audio with our multi camera approach, we feel our wedding ceremony films are pretty amazing to watch.

Some of the Audio Gear we bring for a Wedding

What about your reception speeches and toasts? While it seems like should be simple, there are several things that can make the process challenging.  We’ll use various options to capture these amazing moments on video and audio…

The primary and most common way for quality audio and clear speech? We’ll have a microphone on a mic stand. Often taped to it. Why? Here are a few of the things we have experienced during receptions…

  • People… Besides the basic fear of speaking in front of an audience… Most people really have no practical experience holding a microphone, let alone holding a microphone while they are reading from a piece of paper or smart-phone. Sometimes it works well, often the mic ends up too far away to pick up the voice or worse… ends up going up and down like a yo-yo. Other times the mic seems to just fall away and towards everyone else. And the most entertaining… when the speaker talks with their hands, or they start channeling Leonard Bernstein and start waving the microphone like they’re in front of an full orchestra.
  • Pacing… Some people have a hard time in front of a group and staying still, meaning that they will pace, and or walk around. While not in itself a bad thing, depending on the layout, they may walk out of the light, or make it difficult to get a nice stable, close up shot.
  • What’s in the background? We want the person speaking to not have to visually compete with their background. Bad stuff? In front of a window so they look like a shadow in your film. In front of a bunch of exposed DJ equipment… or by a door leading into the kitchen with staff moving about…
  • Lighting… often it’s already getting dark when speeches are occurring, so we like to have the area lighted.

Now we do understand that every venue is unique, and you have a vision of how you want your day to unfold. So, while the above describes the ideal way (and why) for us to capture quality audio, and video, we are happy to work with your vision of your wedding.

In Summary.

While this seems like it could be a lot of things to think about, even overkill, your wedding only happens once. Capturing quality audio is important to your enjoyment of your films for the rest of your lives, and even beyond.

If you would like to know more about how we film and capture your wedding day audio, drop me a note and I’d love to chat about your specific venue and circumstances.  

Have an Amazing Wedding! – Ken

Technical Note: During your ceremony, if you or anyone in the Bridal Party feels the need to have a smart phone in a pocket. Be sure to power off, or at least place in airplane mode. Just imagine during the vows, a bridesmaids phone goes off playing “I can’t get no satisfaction” as her ringtone… what else needs to be said.

Posted on

Why multiple cameras for a wedding film?

Cameras, cameras, cameras… So, with our Essential Collection we film with 2-3 cameras, and with our 4k Signature Series we film with 3-5 and sometimes 6 cameras. Why? When I first started filming weddings, I really became aware of the “there are no do-overs” concept during a wedding. Also, the last thing I wanted to do was be the guy with a camera running thru your wedding with everyone wondering… “What is he doing?”

So, since I can’t be in multiple places at the same time, and didn’t want to bring a “gang” of videographers to a wedding, I started using multiple stationary cameras. We do our best to place them out of the way, with long lenses on tripods. Your guests may notice them when they first arrive, but are soon forgotten about once you start walking down the aisle… we’re all about being invisible.

While having up to 6 cameras is not always required for a highlight film, I strongly believe that the films we create are about the future, not so much today. One of the most popular add on’s I do is the “Live Edit” wedding film. This is where I take the footage of the day and create a complete film of your ceremony, toasts, and first dances. All of it.

So, when you watch your ceremony film, it will have the look and feel of a high end production. With up to 6 cameras filming at once, I can do a few things with the edit… 1) Create a quick paced film compared to a single or even two camera film that may not be all that exciting to watch for 20-30 minutes. 2) Better capture of emotions, reactions and of course the unexpected gems. 3) I can usually edit out your photographers who are also working to create amazing shots for you. Due to the length of these wedding ceremony films you typically do not see them on a videographers website. To help illustrate the idea, here are three 60 second versions of the same part of a ceremony film, just edited based on 1, 3, or 5 cameras.

5 Camera Sample

3 Camera Sample

1 Camera Sample

Now here’s the interesting part… Think about your favorite movie or television show, how many separate clips or how many times does the filming angle change? It’s so common we don’t think about it but here are a few examples of average clip length: The Hunger Games – 3.4 seconds, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – 3.7 seconds, and Silver linings Playbook – 2.1 seconds. A great way to experience this is to watch anything with your smartphone timer set for just 1 minute, then count clips or angle changes… all of a sudden it becomes really clear why more cameras capturing interesting angles makes for an engaging and watchable film.

To summarize… when considering your wedding videos, think about the films you’ll have 10 / 20 years from now. While our highlight and feature films are amazing, priceless overviews of your your wedding. How great would it be to go back in time to experience your full ceremony, toasts and first/family dances with the ability to re-live all of the excitement and emotions of the day? Next time… all about audio.

I would love to chat with you about how we can create an amazing set of films for you and generations to follow.

Full Ceremony Film

Trentadue Winery – Milestone Events Group

Details…

Venue: Trentadue Winery – milestoneeventsgroup.com
Cinematographer: Kenneth Sipes Cinema – kscweddings.com

Filmed with 5 cameras plus a GoPro for entrance