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Episode #50: Where to find creativity for your wedding videos

September 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment
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wedding video creativity tips

If you’ve been doing wedding videos for very long, chances are that you’ve used a lot of the same tricks and techniques.  This can make your videos seem canned or like a basic template.  How can you get out of the “wedding video creative rut”?  In this episode, I’ll share several things that I do to keep myself creative and excited about what I do.

What do you do to continue to innovate and get creative ideas?  Share some ideas in the comments below!

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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What video editing software to use for wedding videos?

September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

People ask about which video editing platform they should use when editing their wedding videos.  Does one platform make it easier to edit a ceremony and reception, and does one help you grow your wedding video business better than the other?

I believe that the software isn’t as important as your creativity and the quality of your videos.  You can have the most expensive video editing platform to edit your bride and groom’s special day, but if you don’t use creativity and have good equipment, then it will worthless.  Most wedding videographers love being creative and constantly look at industry trends as well as other sources such as: music videos, movies, vimeo, Youtube and other areas for inspiration.  But, creativity is also flowing out of us, which is why we love filming weddings.  Even though most weddings follow a similar format, we are able to put our individual touch on the video.

Having the right equipment is also very important.  If you don’t have at the very least an HD camera (or two) to film your weddings, than you should look into upgrading.  I would also recommend a decent tripod that will cost over $100.  This will give you smooth shots and will avoid the shaky camera of being handheld.  You’ll also need a lapel mic to place on the groom and/or pastor.  This will give you clean audio.  Having  quality video camera, tripod and audio equipment will enable you to create the wedding video masterpiece that you have dreamed about.

But back to the editing platform.  I’ve been an Apple fan for almost 10 years and have used Final Cut Pro to edit my wedding videos.  But I actually started on a $100 PC video editing platform.  The software was horrible, but I was able to edit some nice wedding videos together.  It just shows you that it really doesn’t matter how expensive your video editing software is.  Recently Apple announce a new “upgrade”, called Final Cut Pro 10 (FCPX).  You can listen to my thoughts on FCPX for wedding videographers here and what the announcement of FCPX meant for wedding video companies here. I’m actually thinking of switching to Adobe Premier for my wedding video editing since it seems that Adobe has some high end features in their software that Apple is leaving out.  However, if you’re just getting started with wedding videos, than I would recommend buying FCPX.  FCPX is a great video editor and would do an amazing job.  I’ll even buy it sometime i the future.  It really boils down to how you use the software.  I really don’t think  it matter what you edit your wedding videos on.  As long as they look amazing.

What do you edit with?  Are you going to switch to something new to edit your wedding videos?  Share your thoughts in the comments.

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

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March 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Checklist for Filming a Wedding like a ProProduct #6 “Checklist for Filming a Wedding like a Pro” “Your checklist for filming a wedding like a pro” is now available. It’s packed with important information if you want to film a wedding like a pro. Print it out and take it with you while you film your weddings. I created this because I see a lot of inexperienced videographers wanting more info on what to expect during the wedding and how to make money by filming wedding. This product will save you time, stress and frustration by simply telling you what you need to film and where you need to be. More money, less stress…a good mix.

$14.95

Filed Under: Wedding Video
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Just joined Twitter

December 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

I just added Twitter to this website.  Feel free to reTweet my posts and connect with me @ImproveMyIdea.  I would love to get to know you better.

Filed Under: Wedding Video
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Episode #5: How to film a wedding with one camera

July 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

In this episode I talk about how to film a wedding with one video camera. It’s not something I like to do professionally but I know that many people will film a wedding with their consumer camera. I talk about how to best film a wedding with one camera, regardless if you use a high end professional camera, or a consumer camera bought at Best Buy.

This episode is now a part of the “audio bundle series”.  You can find it by clicking here

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Filed Under: Blog, podcast, Wedding Video
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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How to dress like a video pro to earn like a video pro

April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chances are that if you are just starting you video career or are filming a wedding for a friend or family member that you may overlook something very important. The way you dress as a professional says a lot about yourself. Even if you are filming a wedding for free, you still want to be respectful and dress appropriately for the job.

The key for knowing what to wear at a wedding, is to match the type of wedding that you are filming. Know if you are filming a wedding that is: at a beach, very formal, relaxed, has a theme or some variation.

Here are 4 tips on how to dress like a professional.
1. Ask the bride what type of wedding it will be. The fastest way to look like a professional is to give her examples such as, “will the attenders all be in tuxedos or is it more casual?”
2. Notice what time of day the wedding takes place. Most weddings will be a bit more dressy if it’s an evening wedding rather than an afternoon wedding.
3. Ask where the wedding and reception will be held. If the wedding is at the nicest banquet all in town and everyone is drinking fine wine and eating delicious steaks, then it will probably be a format wedding.
4. Verify what many guests will be wearing. By asking the bride or groom about your guests, you can determine how they might be dressed and base your decision on that. If most of the attenders are going to be coming off the farms, then they probably won’t dress up much. If they are all getting out of their luxury cars, it might be a high end, formal wedding.

The most important thing about knowing how to dress as a wedding videographer is to not draw attention to yourself in any way. I usually wear dress pants, dress shirt with a tie (and sometimes jacket) and nice dress shoes. The standard color for photographers and videographers is black which lets you not stand out while you are running around getting footage. If you have wrinkled clothes or unshaved face (hopefully just for the guys), then you will be making yourself look bad. Remember, everyone there could use your video services at one time or another and you are to look as professional as possible. This isn’t the time to show that you are an individual and never dress up. Throw away your attitude and know that in the professional world, people wear dress pants, take a shower and shave daily. If you don’t do that every day, at least do it on the day of the wedding.

Go out and buy some nice clothes, and notice how the amount of weddings you film will go up. People respect others that look nice and “look” professional. Michael Jordan once said something like, “people treat you based on how you are dressed”. The better you dress, the better people will treat you. So kick of those sandals and get some dress shoes on because you’re a professional.

Filed Under: Wedding Video
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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How to Film a Wedding

April 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

With the economy going down, more and more people are wanting to get some money on the side and filming weddings are a great way to go. It is one of the ways a lot of people enter the video market is to start by filming friends and family weddings. This is something you shouldn’t take lightly since a wedding is a very important day for more than just the bride and groom. On one hand, it can be easy but it does take some skill and experience to anticipate what happens next. Please keep in mind, that if you are diving into this field, then please do your homework. Talk to the bride and groom about the order or service, what they expect, what they want on the DVD and when you’ll give them the final product…and stick to it. I’ve heard from a lot of couples that waited a year or more to get the DVD from their friend who filmed it, but never “got around to it”.

If you are wanting to get experience by filming your family members wedding and then go on to film people you don’t know, you better get your prices together and a system to make each wedding easy on yourself. You don’t want to spend 40+ hours editing a wedding when it should take you around 20 hours to edit.

I’ve developed some products to help beginners dive into the wedding market. Don’t risk this important day for the family by assuming you can film and edit a wedding. Get some tool kits that will help you. I love helping people and developed them with the beginner in mind.

Click on the “products” page to find out more.

Filed Under: Wedding Video
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Color Correction

November 6, 2008 By Leave a Comment

It’s easy when you first start out in the video production field to focus on the simple things like: hitting the record button when you want to start so you get the bride walking down the aisle and hitting the record button a second time when you want to stop so you don’t film your feet for ten minutes.  It’s also easy to think about how to show your client that you are knowledgeable and have experience (even if your only experience is filming Christmas morning for you family).

Once you get settled in to producing wedding videos, you’ll find the importance of color correction.  I always make sure the cameras are white balanced to the correct setting, but at times I notice that when I’m editing, they still need a hint of color correction.  Sometimes worse than others but you can still see a huge difference in the brides dress when you color correct and when you don’t.  It separates the amateurs from the pros.  Most editing programs have some type of color correcting.  Final Cut Express, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, Magix Movie Edit 10, Pinnacle Studio, and Ulead VideoStudio all support color correction in some form.

Original frame but white balanced in camera from a recent wedding

This is a view of the couple without color correction.  Notice how the bride’s dress appears dingy and not crisp and pure white?  If the entire wedding is like this, then you might be able to get away with it but I would never recommend that. The skin tones are also a bit off and appear dirty and not true to life.

Color Corrected frame from a recent wedding

AHHHH…much better.  Doesn’t that look a lot better?

The Bride’s dress look a lot more pure white and the skin tones seem more natural.  This process only took me a few seconds but makes a world of difference.  Most programs allow you to adjust the colors and even let’s you determine what is true white and then adjusts the footage accordingly.

So the next time you shoot a wedding video, make sure you white balance your camera (or you’ll have results worse than those above) and spend the extra time while editing to white balance.  The Product will look better and you will look more professional.

That’s how to Improve Your Video.

Filed Under: Learning Video, Wedding Video Tagged With: ,
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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New Toolkit available

November 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I have been working hard the last few weeks to produce a toolkit that will help from start to finish of getting a wedding video to filming the ceremony and reception.

These comprehensive topics will give details on each topic and how to film like a professional. You’ll learn things like:

1)  The Basics of Filming a Wedding
2)  7 Keys to Determine your Pricing
3)  Sample price sheet of how much to charge and what to include
4)  14 ways to market yourself for free
5)  Checklist on meeting with the couple
6)  16 things you should never leave at home when filming a wedding
7)  Checklist on filming the wedding day like a pro.


Find where to get this toolkit by clicking here

This product is great for anyone who wants to learn more, earn more and make the process of filming a wedding video a lot more smooth.  Spread the word.

Filed Under: ebooks, Learning Video, Wedding Video Tagged With: , ,
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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3 Ways to ensure success with your video company.

October 15, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Last Friday I had the privilege of filming a wedding.  This time, it was for a close friend.  It means so much to me when I get to capture a wedding on video for a friend.  This couple is so encouraging and with God’s help will continue to encourage people for decades to come.  Even though I work hard when filming anything, I put an extra touch into weddings where I know the couple, family or situation.  It becomes more than a job when I have a relationship with the couple.

Most people that get into the “wedding video biz” start by filming friends and family weddings.  Since you know the couple and you are trying to get started, go the extra mile.  Don’t get picky with staying an extra 15 minutes, even though it says in your contract that you won’t stay past 10pm.  The little you do for free, will come back to you in referrals.  Here are 3 ways to insure succes with your video company.

1. Network: Tell as many people what you do and find common services that can recommend your video services.  You have to get your name and company out there for people to pay you.  Set up a basic website, use Facebook, talk to friends and family, go to networking meetings in your area.  Go to the “products” page and in the coming weeks I’ll have some info to purchase on how to market yourself (for free).  Don’t forget to think about areas that other videographers won’t (see my ebook on the products page).  If you are sitting at home wondering why people aren’t calling you with work, then you need to get out and talk to some businesses.  People do business with people they know and trust.

2. Go the extra mile: Don’t be lazy, overly picky or rude when starting your business (or once you are successful!).  Remember, your clients are making you successful and you need them to refer you to anyone.  You can be picky about the weddings you film (especially if you only film beach weddings, high end weddings or any other niche) but don’t be picky and tell the couple all the things you don’t do (“I don’t go to the rehearsal. I don’t go to film the bride getting ready.  I don’t stay longer than 2 hours for the reception.”)  I’ve heard some crazy things the videographer tells the couple.  Go the extra mile and it will come back to you.

3.  Quick turn around: It’s easy to get lazy once the wedding is done and you’ve gotten paid.  But, you still have the editing to do.  Make it a goal to get the DVD back to the couple by the time they get back from the honeymoon.  That’s my goal.  When I first started I would wait a few weeks but then I would procrastinate and never “feel” like finishing the wedding.  It’s best to just get it done and into the hands of the anxious couple.  Most wedding photographers aren’t able to offer quick turn around so if you can hand the DVD to the couple a few days after they get back from the honeymoon, you will look like the best business person EVER!  They will tell all their friends/family about you and your video services.

So there you have it.  Get people to know who you are, your work ethic and that you offer quick turn around and you will have customers lining up.

Tell me what you think in the comments…

This site is loaded with helpfull tips and updated frequently with new products and ideas.  Subscribe to this blog so you can improve your video.

Filed Under: Video business, Wedding Video Tagged With: , ,
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Start it up!

September 19, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I keep hearing from people how bad the economy is as well as the job market, home market and lending market. From all the reports I would agree, it does look pretty bleak. What if I had a built in market that will never stop and will continue to come back. Sounds pretty good eh?

One of the many things about video production is that their is a built in market. Wedding videos. There are a little over 2.2 million wedding a year…and ya know what? Most of them will want their wedding filmed. They may choose a friend or family member or they may chose a big, expensive company to film their wedding. Either way, you have a market that is reoccurring. No matter what the economy, there will be people that want someone to film the wedding. Doesn’t that sound great. It doesn’t matter if you film weddings full time, part time or are just getting into the “biz”, wedding videography is a great place to be…whatever the market looks like.

Follow me over the coming months as we talk about wedding videography and how to make the most of it. My goal is that you will improve your video, no matter what your current skill and knowledge leve.

Filed Under: Wedding Video Tagged With:
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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How to price your video…and make the money you want.

September 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Pricing is the best part of the job. You can literally make what you want to make regardless of where you live. I would say, if you’ve never filmed a wedding, to keep it under $1000 (at least for your first wedding). Search online around your area to see what others are charging. Remember, their will always be “cheap” and “discounted” wedding videographers in the area but they will always stay in those price ranges. Once you set a price and the word gets out, it’s hard to up your fees. The best time to do that is when weddings are slow which is usually around January through February. I have met people who filmed weddings at under $500 and have never been able to raise their rates because they attract the kind of people who will only pay for a $500 wedding video. Your prices reflect your clients pockets. Are they the type of client who will pay anything for the wedding or are scraping by and trying to find the cheapest deal. If you have a couple who complains about your price, remind them that they will be able to watch this forever and you can’t put a price on the memory (don’t get too cheesy or they won’t book you).
If your plan is to get into the market with cheaper prices ALWAYS put the full price (let’s say $800) and give them a 50% discount. That way, if anyone asks you can tell them that you charge $800. Like I said before, it’s hard to bump up your prices once you are labeled a “discount” videographer. Your reputation follows you.
So, it’s up to you…what do you want to make and what type of clients do you want to work with? Look for future posts about finding Clients (which are good) and Grinders (which will waste your life away).

Filed Under: Video business, Wedding Video Tagged With: , ,
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

______________________________________________________________

Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

________________________________________________________________________

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Confidence

August 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

In wedding videos there is one thing that separates the people who make money and those that don’t. It’s confidence. Most wedding videographers create the same product but one charges well under $1000 and the other starts his basic package at $1000. Confidence will put money in your pocket. I have seen almost exact wedding packages, demos, and websites yet one will charge double or triple what the competitor charges. Is it because of experience, equipment, location, length of editing, or some other mystery? I say, it all boils down to confidence.

Agree or disagree?  How does experience fit into this equation?

Filed Under: Wedding Video Tagged With: ,
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Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

________________________________________________________________________

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Tell me what you think!  What do you do to insure the wedding video looks AND sounds great while shooting outside?  Leave your comments below.  

______________________________________________________________

Do you want to learn how to grow your wedding video business?

Check out these audio tutorials:

________________________________________________________________________

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