Video On the Cheap

Video On the Cheap

September 15th, 2010 @ 11:41 am by Mrs. Meerkat
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We love the artistic- and photojournalist-style wedding videos we have seen. Originally we were going to hire one of these amazing videographers at…wait, how much?

Not only is that way over our budget, we would only be able to afford two hours of video. So basically, we would get part of us getting ready and the ceremony.

What’s a tech-savvy couple on a budget who own video- and photo-editing software and a hi-def video camera to do??

A DIY documentary-style wedding video!! (I am sure most of you can hear Mr. Meerkat’s sobs as he realizes that another project has been added to the DIY list.)

The plan—take a video camera with us for Mr. Meerkat to shoot everything that happens during our trip (which he would have done anyway). Then, to make sure we catch all the action on our wedding day, we hired videographer Winnie Vallejro to shoot raw footage. By having the unedited footage, we are able to have full control over the video-editing process, along with having the full wedding day on video from getting ready through the reception, while still saving money.

I know, I know. It’s a big undertaking, but if we merge our professional wedding photos with video clips and add some effects, we just might come out of this with something amazing. Here is our inspiration, from del Sol Photography, for the style of video we are trying to achieve:

Al Cielo Hotel from del Sol Photography on Vimeo

Now this plan may not be for everyone. To be able to make a week-long, documentary-style video, we had to ask ourselves these questions:

Do most of our videos turn out to be of our own shoes or a lens cap?
Do the people we might be handing the camera off to have enough experience not to video their own shoes?
Do we know our way around a computer?

Since our videos are shoe and lens-cap free, along with our families’, and we for sure know our way around a computer, we knew this was the plan for us!

Anyone else found a way to make a wedding video on the cheap?

Tags: riviera-maya, videography |

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9 Responses to “Video On the Cheap”

Bee

Miss Glasses (message) 2,741 posts, Sugar bee

Very big undertaking but I’m sure you guys know what you’re doing. My BFF is doing our videography for free and she should know how to use a camera since she graduated from USC School of Film Can’t wait to see how your video turns out!

9/15/10 @ 11:55 am (reply)

Member

Elena Henry (message) 112 posts, Blushing bee

Hi,
Sol Tamargo and Matt are my Fav photographers and they do a lot of destination weddings in the riviera maya.

This video come from people with a lot experience in photo and video.

(Their Photo prices i think starts at 10,000.)

The video comes from a Canon 5 D HD which sol’s uses for photography. This camera cost around $ 3,500 ( with no lenses) a good lense can be $ 2,500 and up.

$800 for an hour? they might be filiming with real HD which cameras prices are appx $ 30,000 or just real film which is expensive.

You can find a professional videographer/editor in your area for a good $3000 for a Cinematic style for 8 hours of coverage for your wedding day

documentary appx $ 2000 or just an essential

video appx $ 1,200 ( 8 hours)

+ you can ask for the raw footage and then do recaps of highlights of 3 to 4 mntes mixing photo and video of your wedding for fun

I am an editor / videographer and its not easy , its a lot of time downloading, post production thinking and also getting to know the client in order to deliver a good video. ahhh also we shoot the wedding in a way that we know we will use at the time of editing.( very important)

now ….

If you are in a budget, You can get the raw footage and then after the wedding send it to a professional editor.

Its your wedding, its only 1 day of event and if you dont get quality of film then you will regret it.

Hire a professional

Video + Photos are very important in a wedding day.

Happy Planning!

Elena Henry

9/15/10 @ 12:27 pm (reply)

Member

sapphirebride (message) 1,747 posts, Bumble bee

I think people have a lot of different goals with videography, and I think if your goal is to get lots of footage, to get the whole wedding on camera, and make a fun video out of it, this will totally capture that. Plus, you’ll have a lot of fun compiling all the video!

9/15/10 @ 12:35 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Meerkat (message) 3,216 posts, Sugar bee

@Miss Glasses:We both hit the film editing jackpot I think! Sister-In-Law Meerkat is finishing up dual degrees in digital media (aka film editing) and photography. Plus Mr. M. spent a lot of time doing film editing a couple years ago. Yay for loved ones with talent! LOL

@sapphirebride: Its totally true. We didn’t really want a full video of just clips of the wedding. We want to capture more of a “hey heres what happened during the week and a half we were gone”.

9/15/10 @ 1:06 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Brooch (message) 1,721 posts, Bumble bee

That’s what we wanna do too!!

9/15/10 @ 1:07 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Meerkat (message) 3,216 posts, Sugar bee

@Elena Henry: Thanks for the post. Actually we booked Del Sol as our photographer and their prices are no where near 10K.

@Miss Brooch: *squeel*!!! Have you decided on how you are doing the video? Did you hire someone? What software are you going to be using for editing?

9/15/10 @ 1:14 pm (reply)

Guest

april ziegler

Not on the topic of video, but I love Sol + Matt! They were our wedding photogs… We were married at El Dorado Royale in Mexico. I highly recommend them!! They rock!

9/15/10 @ 1:15 pm (reply)

Member

LittlestBirds (message) 2,605 posts, Sugar bee

Great idea!

9/15/10 @ 4:12 pm (reply)

Member

photographernico (message) 527 posts, Busy bee

The plan is to use Flip video cameras (or otherwise inexpensive disposables) for a few guests to capture candid moments. A good friend has volunteered to shoot the ceremony with his HD cam. Getting the ceremony on video is the only thing I’m really set on.

9/15/10 @ 6:39 pm (reply)