What Style Do You Want For Your Dallas Wedding Video?

Teaser, Trailer, Highlight or What?

Brides spend a lot of time trying to decide which style of dress will best suit them, but often they hire a videographer based solely on price.  There’s a lot more to a Dallas Wedding Video than most people realize.

All wedding videos are not created equal.  The term “wedding video” can be used for a wide variety of products, from a one minute teaser to a full length disc with chapters.  Some people even put a montage of photographs together, add some music and call it a wedding video.  Before a bride accepts the free wedding video offered by one of her vendors, she should be very careful that what they are offering for free is what she wants.  When the free three-minute trailer is delivered, it’s too late to go back and re-shoot.

Cinematic or Documentary?

Most of the wedding videos on our site are actually highlight videos, a short video to be shared with family and friends.  This highlight film is included in all of our packages and is provided in a downloadable format and on the final wedding video disc.  Most brides like a highlight video that includes bits and pieces of the whole day, including vows and toasts edited into a timeline that follows the events of the day.  These videos run 8-10 minutes, but it’s really a matter of taste.  If the bride prefers a musical montage of 1-3 minutes or something in-between, we have the ability and the equipment needed to produce it.

Cinematic Style is sort of a buzzword in the industry right now.  If you read descriptions of it from ten different websites, then you could get ten different ideas about it.  Generally, the cinematic wedding video is designed to be fun and entertaining, without being married to the timeline of the day.  Videographers who prefer the Cinematic Style will often emphasize their close-ups and their editing ability.  They’ll actually step into the wedding day, setting up vignettes to be performed.  They will most likely use handheld cameras of some sort and follow the bride very closely.

Though it may sound like something from your high school science class or what’s being shown at the art cinema around the corner, Documentary Style is a lot sexier than its name, at least when it comes to our wedding videos.  Documentary Style simply means the entire wedding is included in the video and it is presented in a timeline reflecting the day of the wedding.  For sure, an unedited video of your wedding ceremony, shot by your uncle, with a video camera on a tripod, from the back of the church, could be called a Documentary Style wedding video, but as much as most “Cinematic Style” Videographers might try to convince you otherwise there’s more to it than that.  A professionally recorded and produced video in the Documentary Style can be just as much fun and even more entertaining than a Cinematic Style video.

Why Not Both?

At LeniCam Video Productions we bring the best of both wedding video styles to your wedding video.  In documentary fashion, we will film the whole day and the final video will follow the day’s timeline.  We will interact with you on your wedding day, but won’t get in the way.  For instance, we usually interview the groom about how he met his intended and how they fell in love, but we’ve learned most couples don’t need yet another vendor or coordinator shouting orders at them.  We cooperate with the people the bride has hired to manage the day and get plenty of entertaining footage without having to intrude.

Some “Cinematic Style” videographers shun the use of tripods, but because we use tripods to hold the same professional grade HD videocameras used to shoot Hollywood movies, we can zoom in for close-ups as tight as someone filming with a smaller camera.  All the while our camera is out of your guests’ line of sight – not preceding the bride down the aisle.  The lack of movement assured by the tripod leads to a better quality video.  Current hand-held cameras to have automatic stabilization to compensate for movement, but as good as the technology is, it cannot compensate completely.   In addition to better quality video, many venues have rules that keep some videographers from filming during the ceremony – that’s why we say we get the shots that other videographers have to miss.

What we share with the “Cinematic Style” videographer is extensive editing.  Though we might record all the sights and sounds of your wedding day with our videocameras and microphones, we do not deliver it to you raw.  Just like much of the filming in a Hollywood movie ends up on the cutting room floor, we also heavily edit your wedding video.  We tell our brides, no matter what happens on your wedding day, good or bad, you’re going to love your wedding video – and they do.

When we’re through you’ll have multiple copies of a great video, in DVD or BluRay – and just like a Hollywood movie, you can watch as little or as much as you want, because there are chapters and menus – even alternate tracks, if you want them.  Our couples are always surprised the first time they watch our videos, because so much was going on that they didn’t even know about.

What About the Future?

Understandably, most brides are focused on right now – loving their wedding day and having a great highlight video to share with family and friends.  We think that’s great, but in the days to come we know your Documentary Style video is going to grow in value.  Entertainment is only one aspect of a great wedding video.  Another is preserving your memories for your life and for the generations to come.  There are sweet, wonderful moments that will happen in your wedding that might not be as entertaining as others, but in the years to come will be the ones you love best.

Though listening to your vows a few weeks after your wedding might not be as entertaining right now as a watching your choreographed First Dance, on your twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, when you watch with your kids, those vows will mean a lot to you and to your kids.  An awkward toast from a beloved older relative might seem out of place in some videos, but someday, when you’ve lost that relative to time, that awkward toast will be invaluable.

To be sure that your wedding video is all that you want it to be, both today and for all of your tomorrows, call us today at 972-378-0446 to set up an appointment.  We’re eager to hear about your plans.