A Videographer’s Checklist for Indoor Weddings and Outdoor Weddings is a blog post with a helpful checklist for videographers shooting indoor or outdoor weddings put together as a Guest Post by Helen Clark.
When you’re building a business as a wedding videographer and video editing service, satisfying your clients often revolves around being prepared to capture all the important moments at a wedding, both planned and unplanned. Indoor and outdoor wedding venues present their own particular requirements and challenges, but they also share many common attributes as well.
When you take on the challenge of shooting a wedding, you’ll quickly find that it’s much like directing and filming a small movie, with all of the gear that entails. The wise videographer will ensure great results for his video editing service by always being prepared. And professionals all agree that the best way to be prepared is to put together a checklist that you can refer to before you go “on location.” To make things easier, use our suggestions to put together a wedding day checklist that will ensure you’re ready for whatever the day brings.
Let’s start with the cameras
Talk to three different wedding videographers and you’ll probably find three different preferred camera setups. There’s no right answer to the question “what camera should I use?” But one thing that all videographers who run a wedding video editing service will agree on is that the key decision to make is how many cameras to employ. Most often, pros will use a two-camera system – one camera covering the medium and long shots, and the second covering the close-ups. One other thing to put on your checklist? A backup camera, just in case something goes wrong with one of your primary cameras.
Tripods and stabilization
When the wedding party hires your video editing service, they expect professional results, not the shaky footage that the bride’s uncle would produce. For steady shots, lock your cameras down with good quality tripods. A fluid-head tripod is a wise investment if you want smooth tracking shots. And for some cool effects, consider throwing a slider into the mix too. They’re great for capturing some cool B-roll footage to spice up your video.
When you need flexibility, like at the reception, a handheld stabilizer should be on your list. And a monopod offers an excellent way to move around quickly and still get clean, stable footage.
Capturing the sound
A high-quality wedding video produced by a professional video editing service will feature excellent sound quality. To achieve this, you need the gear to capture high-quality audio that you can sync with the video in the editing room. Your camera’s built-in microphone isn’t going to cut it. Instead, be sure that your checklist includes a good quality portable audio recorder with multiple audio inputs. And complement this with a combination of shotgun and lavalier microphones so you can capture both the details and the overall ambience of the location, be it indoors or outdoors. Don’t forget windscreens if you’re shooting outdoors.
The other essentials
We’ve talked about the big-ticket items, but there are a number of other essentials that need to go into your bags and cases.
Audio cables
You’ll need audio cables to connect to your mics or to the emcee or DJ’s soundboard. Be ready for anything with a variety of cables, including XLR, RCA, ¼” and 3.5 mm cables. A few handy adapters are a smart addition as well.
Portable lighting
A small LED light (preferably battery powered) is an excellent addition to your bag, in case you run into some low-light situations.
And more…
Forgetting these items could ruin your day. So don’t forget to add batteries, memory cards, tape, and tools to the mix as well.
Practice makes perfect
After you’ve put together your checklist, do a dry run with all your gear to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. Then save the list and use it every time – your reputation as a pro videographer and video editing service may depend on it.
Pictures Credit: Pictures submitted by Helen Clark
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