Another wedding tip for wedding videographers is proper way to do speeches. Well, I won’t say a proper way, I will say my way. Filming speeches in wedding videography is all about composition and lighting.

First thing you need to know is, take control. When I say take control, I don’t mean go up and say this is how we are going to do the speeches. You don’t want to rub anyone the wrong way. Instead of insisting, ask the photographer if they have a preference of how it is set up. You will find most of them have no preference. Remember the speech should be dedicated to the bride and groom. Will Hawkins once told me, when you talk to someone, you talk to them face to face, not side to side. The best man should be facing the bride and groom, not beside them. It allows for clean editing when you can cut between the couple and the speaker.

Screenshot courtesy of Intellect Media

Lighting

Next is lighting. There aren’t enough people who pay attention to lighting in wedding videography. A reception may have uplighting, but you don’t’ want your couple or speaker to have colorful faces. In technical terms, you want to use the lighting you bring to break the subject from the background. You want to create 3 dimensional image verses a 2 dimensional image. It will give a beautiful image that will be pleasing to the client’s eye. You also want to do the same thing for couple for your reaction shot.

Composition

Composition is the quickest way to tell an amateur from a professional. Sometimes composition can be improved by simply moving a couple steps to the left or right. Sometimes composition can be improved by giving a little more head room verses being so close. A major fix in composition is placing the client where you want he or she to stand. I have put down tape to block off where I want them to stand. We block in wedding videography and we don’t even know it. We direct the client and we tell them what we want them to do. Keep that same mentality when blocking the speaker for the speeches. Or you could by a mic stand and place it where you want it to be. There are many ways to create a beautiful image during speeches, but it requires direction. Don’t be scared!

Reviews

I’d like to thank all our clients for the beautiful reviews for the first half of the wedding season. We cannot wait to capture all of the great weddings during the second half.