An interview with a wedding videographer

Inline Film all started with myself when I was around 13 years old. I found a love for “Aggressive” rollerblading. Throwing myself down handrails and stairs for fun. As anyone in this sport will tell you, filming is a huge part of everything you do. So I have had a camera in my hand since an early age. From there I found myself wanting to film a lot more than getting hurt so I created full films for friends instead.

This love continued and guided me through college and university where I studied media and film. When it was time to figure out what I was going to do as a job, me and a friend started a production company in the last year of university and formed Inline Film (Inline being the key reason I got into filming). We decided we would love to film documentaries and short films, but in order to do this we needed funding.

A friends father was filming weddings on the weekends as a hobby/job, and we thought well this is what we “have to do” in order to buy the kit we want. We filmed our first wedding for free, and the rest is history. We fell in love with wedding videography and found it was much more rewarding and challenging than we ever imagined. 

Further down the line, we parted ways due to personal aspects in life and I took full ownership of Inline Film, and I remain the sole director today. Like all others in the industry, we have evolved with the times, and tech to create the films we do today.

You would be shocked to find how many ex skaters/skateboarders now film weddings or are camera operators!

We are based in Essex, but cover the whole of the UK. Mainly spending our time in the South-East, but travelling all over. We have our first destination wedding in 2021, as we decided we would push for this more in order to broaden our horizons.

After 8+ years of filming weddings, destinations never seemed to work out due to other bookings etc. But finally, we will have our first one in the bag and we can’t wait. However, the UK has so much to offer and could never imagine shooting more destination than home weddings.

In our opinion, there are 3 distinct types of wedding videography and then many subcategories of these. The first being “traditional”, a person with a camera, recording hours of footage, long takes, and a lot of movement walking around. This would then be put together as a long-form edit (2-3 hours) with a colourful saturated look (generally). 

The second style is “documentary”, this tends to take a more cinematic approach, covering the whole day but in short clips, with the view to put together montage sections of the day. The speeches and ceremony tend to get cut into the film throughout rather than one big section and the video tells the story of the day/couple. A colour grade is then applied to create the desired “look”, which tends to be what is referred to as the style of filming. 

The third style can be more diverse. But I will call it “short-form storytelling”. This is generally a more abstract view on a wedding day. Shooting minimal during the day, with the view to create a short 10-15 minute film focusing on creative shots and a feeling, rather than a candid view of the day. This tends to focus on the couple a lot, with the portrait sessions featuring more than the guests. 

We tend to let the photographer take the reins. As they have different objectives in some parts of the day. They will often be asked to take group shots and have people openly look at their camera. As soon as someone sees our camera the shot is ruined for our films. So this works well as they are often seen around the venue, whereas we stay hidden away. 

We love meeting new people, and we can honestly say we have worked well with all of the photographers we have met. Some you gel with more than others and make lasting friendships. This is the approach we take when meeting any new photographer, and at the very least it’s great to see the view they took on the day when you see the final result. 

We often get confused for the photographer on the day. However, we couldn’t be further apart in terms of what we bring to the table.

The main difference, apart from the movement, is sound. Images can play the same sort of role in bringing back the memory of a moment, or sections of the day. However sound brings people to life. A laugh, a joke, a voice of someone who is no longer around. These cannot be replicated through an image. Sound is very emotive, and accompanied with music (as we know from feature films) can make you feel a certain way.

Back to the obvious difference; movement. Seeing an image of your ceremony is amazing, and it’s easy to showcase this for everyone to see in your home. However, the closest we currently have to reliving a moment is having a video to view. You can see people in the background, their mannerisms, movements. All these details can only be relived from memories when looking at a still image.

Photography does indeed play a huge role in its own right. There are many things that can be captured more effectively with an image. Group shots are a great example, as it ensures every person present was documented. And of course the couple portraits, these live on forever, being able to easily share these with friends and family. Much easier than video, although this has changed massively in the last few years.

We typically use 3 cameras at each wedding. We have two videographers filming all of our weddings, unless specified otherwise. So two main cameras and a third wide-angle or “cut away” angle. This ensures that if for any reason during the ceremony, speeches or other longer moments, we have multiple angles to choose from if one is obstructed. 

The other reason for this is back up. If a camera was to get damaged we can continue capturing the day with no issues. We also tend to have a camera in our kit that doesn’t come out of the bag as you never know when you might need it!

We shoot all of our weddings with two of us. Obvious situations like preparations in two different locations dictate we have to have two videographers. We took the approach early on that it is much less stressful having two capable videographers there on the day. Simple things like being able to grab the kit from the church while the other captures everything happening outside, through to having those extra angles during key parts – it makes everything more streamlined. What comes with this is double the footage, so we tend to know our roles on each day and keep separate to avoid doubling up on the same shots.

The other key reason we have two is for security. We have a lot of equipment and it’s easier to keep an eye on everything with two of us. Although you would imagine that a wedding would be the last place for things to happen with your equipment, it does happen. Not to mention accidents, children and general wear and tear.

The final most important reason for having two videographers is that someone else can be there if the other is unable to make the day. We both travel separately and have our own full filming kits. All of our videographers run their own businesses, so are capable of shooting the day solo if required.

Our website is full of great examples of our work. The time that we live in makes it so much easier to do quick updates on social media. So our most recent work and posts are on Facebook, followed by Instagram. These are just the most engaging platforms for video, and easily shareable for our couples.