There are not nearly as many Hawaii wedding
videographers to choose from as there are photographers, which makes your decision-making
easier in some ways but harder in others.Here are some of the main things you
should look for when choosing one.
- Does the videographer work for the same company
as the photographer? Most Hawaii wedding
videographers work for video-only companies, so your photographer may not
be used to working with your videographer. This can create problems, such
as your photographer frequently getting into the videographer's shots, or
not allowing the vidographer enough time to get his or her shots during the
formal photography session. The vidoegrapher's style can also be jarringly
different from the photographer's. A Special Moment is one of the few companies
that does both video and photography, so if you choose us for both you will
know that your photographer and videographer will be working well together.
- Does the videographer use a "three-chip,"
professional video camera and a high-quality wireless microphone?
Many of the "low-end" videographers use non-professional cameras
that produce a substantially more contrasty image with muddy-looking colors,
and use a cheap "UHF" wireless microphone or even rely solely on
the camera's built-in microphone. A good-quality wireless mike is absolutely
essential if your wedding ceremony will take place outdoors, because in Hawaii
the trade winds are almost constantly present, and wind noise on a microphone
can easily drown out all other sound. You need the microphone to be very close
to the speakers and protected from the wind. Here at A Special Moment we are
very careful to minimize wind noise with careful placement of our top-of-the-line
Sennheiser wireless microphone, and we use top-of-the-line cameras such as
the Panasonic AG-DVX100a for a sharp image with rich colors and great shadow
detail.
- Does the videographer include shots of the bridal
party getting ready and interviews with guests at no extra charge?
At A Special Moment we include these shots with our deluxe package, while
many other Hawaii wedding videographers charge hundreds extra for those shots.
We also include coverage of the formal photography in both our standard and
deluxe package, while many videographers also charge extra for that.
- Does the videographer use a tripod? You
might be surprised at how many do not. Sometimes it is a good decision to
use a hand-held camera, because you can be more mobile and get angles you
might otherwise miss, so in some situations we do take the camera off the
tripod. Or we may even shoot an entire ceremony and reception hand-held if
the customer wants a very fluid style and doesn't mind some inevitable "jerkiness."
However most of the time you want a tripod to be used for a rock-steady, professional-looking
video.
- Does the videographer shoot digital video, or
some non-digital format such as S-VHS? Nowadays the great majority
of Hawaii wedding videographers use digital, but there are some who still
use older formats like S-VHS. These formats do not allow for many of the slick
effects and extensive manipulation of color and exposure that you can get
from editing digital video on a computer, so unless you want a very simply
edited video, you should make sure your videographer uses a digital format.
We use digital and this enables us to edit with Final Cut Pro and use a wide
variety of effects and manipulations if desired.
- What is the videographer's style?
Every videographer has a certain style they favor, with the variation mostly
involving how much camera movement is used, what camera angles are used, how
much the videographer uses direction to have people do things specifcally
for the video, and how the video is edited. At A Special Moment, for the most
part we tend to use a fairly straightforward documentary, story-telling style,
capturing what happens without editing out a lof of things, or calling attention
to the camera with a lot of movement or unusual camera angles, and without
a lot of quick cutting between shots or extensive use of effects in the editing.
For the formals we do use a more "fluffy" style, with more camera
movement, unusual angles, and editing effects such as slow motion and sepia
and fancy transitions between shots. This is because the formals are more
about the "look" of the video than about storytelling. Other videographers
use a very "fluffy" style throughout, with a very mobile camera,
cutting out a lot of things, and a lot of direction and effects.There is no
"correct" style of course. You need to ask to see samples of the
videographer's work to get a sense of their style, and find out how much they
are willing to change it to suit your needs.
- How much experience does the videographer have
in Hawaii? At A Special Moment, we have 17 years of experience with
Hawaii weddings. Many Hawaii wedding videographers are new to the islands
and are unfamiliar with the special challenges of shooting in Hawaii with
the rapidly changing lighting conditions and wind problems.
- Does the vidographer rely solely on "automatic"
camera settings for focus and exposure? A lot of Hawaii wedding videographers
on the lower end of the price scale, and even many of the more expensive ones,
never focus manually or set the exposure manually, and the result can look
very amateurish, with the image constantly getting brighter or darker, people
being silhouettes when they are back-lit, people going in and out of focus
if someone passes in front of them, and so on. There are many situations where
using the automatic settings is best, but a good videographer will use manual
settings if the situation calls for it.
We hope you have found this guide to choosing Hawaii wedding
videographers helpful!
Click
here to view a demo of our video work.
A Special Moment Wedding
Photography and Video
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