The all-important edit

"When filming a wedding, I lean towards authenticity and cinematic representation of the day at hand. But filming a wedding is only half the battle. Editing is truly where it all comes together, and where I often see other wedding films fall behind. Editing is essentially writing. So if a filmmaker struggles with writing, then he or she may have a difficult time making the best video possible.

  I approach editing differently than some filmmakers, and want to explain the value of that process. In my estimation, music, tone, and pacing are three of the hugest elements in any successful film.

Music

A wedding captured on camera can be many things. It can be narrative or story driven. It can be a stop-action masterpiece, carefully assembled shot by shot. But no matter the style, compelling images paired with the right music drive the video forward. So to misunderstand music is to misunderstand the medium entirely, I think.    

I was recently watching a wedding video in which a beautiful song was used. Only, halfway through the film, the energy of the music started to build in an epic way. Sadly, the images and actions in the video itself did not rise to the same energy of the music. The filmmaker was essentially trying to raise the energy of the images by using powerful music. Thus, instead of complementing one another, one element was dragging the other along. The tail was wagging the dog.   

Music is so important to me that I sometimes spend two to three hours looking for the song that will go in the film. I think about the wedding and how it went. I think about the weather. I think about the couple's energy. I even look for a song that may compliment the couple's own journey. To me, music is that important, and has the ability to be a very powerful layer of a film.  

As a side note, in any work for which I'm paid, I do not use copyrighted music for which I don't have a license. Musicians are geniuses, and whether rich or poor, they do something I can't do, not to mention that they add value to a product for which I'm being paid. And so I always pay for the music licenses from a reputable source so that the artist gets compensated for his or her work. Many couples think that if we don't use their favorite song, then nothing suitable can be found. But this couldn't be further from the truth. There are many websites that connect extremely talented indie musicians to film professionals for a very small fee. So don't worry. I have a good ear and will select something right for the film.   

Tone

When I talk about tone in a video, I'm talking about the feeling. The consistent vibe. The overall emotive quality of the piece. I did a video once where it rained during the wedding. The light was buried beneath the clouds and was mostly flat and very undynamic. Many filmmakers would flip out. Weddings are supposed to be beautiful and sunny, right? I didn't think anything of it. I thought it was a beautiful day throughout, just in a different way. And that tone was reflected in the edit.

The couple itself gave off a certain vibe, and that directed the tone as well. So tone is often created by the people, the environment, and the action on screen. And instead of trying to force that tone to change, I try to listen to is as it's happening, so that your final edit will feel as authentic to the day as is possible.    

Pacing

Pace is the flow. Is a video fast? Is it slow? What shots go into the edit next to each other, and why? It's easy as an editor to get into a stale groove when you're cutting a lot of videos from a similar genre. The fear of assembly line editing with something like a wedding film is a real risk. And so I avoid it at all costs. 

The way I see it, every event is unique. Every couple is different. Every day is singular. Pacing is personal to an editor.  But it's also personal to the wedding event itself. And just like with tone, I don't ignore it. I've got my ear to the ground the entire day, and as I watch the footage, I see something emerge that informs the whole edit."

-Brian