What makes a REALLY great wedding film? What makes our films different? These are questions we’re asked often, and while the answers are largely subjective, we definitely believe there are a few key elements that work together to take a film from meh to amaaaazing. Here are our top 5!
- Professional Audio
Audio is QUEEN in the wedding film industry. All the most beautiful shots in the world won’t mean a thing if the vows are garbled and unclear, if you can’t understand the officiant, or if the toasts are blown out. By trial and error, research, and backups on backups, we believe we’ve locked down some fool proof practices to ensure we walk away at the end of the night with quality audio.
When you’re looking for a wedding videographer, make sure you pay attention to the audio. This can truly make or break your film.
- Cohesive Storyline
How difficult is it to watch a movie if the plot doesn’t make sense? If the story is jumping all over and the shots don’t seem to flow? While our clients only actually see us working on the actual wedding day, the real work of the storytelling takes place outside of it. In the long hours post wedding, sitting at our computers, culling through every second of footage and carefully piecing them together. Our hope is to draw you in and take you back to the story of your wedding day. We want to to show you shots you had no idea we got; to tell your story in a way that you hadn’t even considered; and to exceed your expectations tenfold. A cohesive storyline is HUGE for this.
- Song Choice
We mentioned above that professional audio can make or break an otherwise great film. That’s true. Song choice is much the same. Many of the most memorable films of our time are largely recalled by their musical score. Think about it – Jaws. Titanic. Star Wars. Incredible imagery complemented by incredible music.
We don’t claim to be Spielberg or Cameron, but we take great care in choosing the perfect songs for every film we create.
We’re often asked whether clients can choose the song for their films. Copyright and licensing laws aside (and there are lots of them), we really love – and spend A LOT of time – choosing the music for our films. Even if it’s not a conscious thing, we firmly believe that a big part of why our clients ultimately end up choosing us is because of the way they feel when they watch our films. The songs we choose greatly impact those strong feelings.
- Use of Quality B-roll
One of our favorite ways to draw viewers into our films is with use of b-roll. Setting the scene for a couples’ day begins with telling the story of where they choose to seal the deal. Environmental shots – a babbling brook; swaying trees; aerial views of the mountains; grass blowing in the wind. These types of shots push the story forward. B-roll helps establish the overall vibe of the day. Finally, they really show off the venue and area that our couples spend so much time choosing. We believe that some well placed b-roll is evvverything in a good wedding film.
- Color-grading
Just as the majority of photographers use a preset at the beginning of their editing process, we use LUTS to set the base color on our films. We’ve developed a select few LUTS that closely matches our photo editing, so when you choose to book us for both, your film and your image gallery will be delivered in the same editing style.
Color is so important!
Of all 5 of our points, this is the most subjective. Personally, we LOVE a consistent photo gallery, so why should we allow a film to be any different? When you’re searching for the perfect storyteller for your wedding or elopement day, pay attention to the coloring from clip to clip. Is it consistent? Does it match with your personal style?
Basecamp Visual is a Colorado based husband and wife photography and videography team run by us, David & Shanna McCann. We place the highest value on storytelling and preserving life’s beautifully fleeting moments, and take great pride in crafting heirloom style galleries and films. We are enthusiastically booking photo & video for beautiful Breckenridge weddings + elopements and would LOVE to join you for your big day – get in touch to learn more and get your date locked down!
