hey thanks to this site i finnaly bit the bullet and filmed a wedding. It was a good experince and I intend to do it proffesionaly. Weddings seem to have changed alot recently, can someone tell me since when the f***ing photographer was part of the happy couple?

I am aware the photographer has a job, but i gave direction to the couple outside, just kiss nothing to complicated, and the bloody photographer completly got in the way of the shot.

Can any of you share advice on how to handle a annoying photographer, or is there a after effects plugin that removes annoying camera people

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action camera lights

Welcome to the world of wedding videography! Personally, I've had very little
trouble with photographers. Occasionally they'll get in the way, but not for too
long or not during a real important shot. But I do hear the horror stories.

IMO, the best way to deal with them is to meet them early in the day (before it
starts...even the day before) and set the playing field straight.

After exchanging pleasant "hellos"
"Just so that we're clear, we both have a job to do, so if I (throw yourself out
there first) get in your way please let me know. And I'll do the same."

From there you can tell by his reaction if it's going to lead to more problems. In
which case, you need to let the B/G or coordinator know....actually the latter
should probably be your first stop.

Removing them from the footage? Depends how bad. In After Effects you could
mask things out, but again, it depends on how bad it is.

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The DV Artists Lounge

thats good advice thank you for your time. ive been through the footage and spoke to the bride and groom and they said they want more of a documentary feel to it, so thats good.

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action camera lights

Welcome to the word of the videographer.....

As above talk to them on the day or if oyu can get there number before the day give them a call and introduce yourself and have a "what's the plan of attack for the day"

I would recommend that you not direct the couple at all and just stand back and document everything naturally - including getting the photographer directing the couple.

Try not to be too creative (MTV music video style) because the video will look dated quickly. Lots of very slow camera movement only when the people move and framing everything carefully. Try not to use any transitions or visual fx, just clean cuts and you will have a professional looking wedding video.

I filmed a wedding this year (the happy couple were both Police Officers), and their stills photographer was doing a homer. he was by day a professional Scenes of Crime photographer. I started with the usual banter, and agreed that I wouldn't get in his way pre and post vows, pre and post speeches etc, but in between was my time. Well goodness me, it soon became obvious he was a SOC photographer. He was bloody everywhere. At one point I thought he was going to lie the bride and groom on the floor an put white sticky tape round them. Quelque bawbag enorme (as they say in France).

I'd much rather work with real wedding still photographer any day, the simple agreement to agree what part of the day belongs to whom has always worked.

Enjoy

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IBM A51p with 160Gb Boot Disk, 160Gb external Firewire Disk, 2Gb Memory and a super duper sound card, 17\" TFT Monitor etc etc etc
Sony TRV33e : Sony TRV310e : Canon XM2
ULead products mostly including Mediastudio Pro (V8.0), Video Studio 8, Movie Factory 2.0, Premiere Elements

Remember, there is always more to learn than there is to teach.

People, think because the can use any sort of camera be it stills or video, they can do any sort of job, ad this is just not true, I can use a pencil but cannot draw and the same analogy should apply.

The whole wedding craft and skill is different and importantly you require people skills to get things done and get through the day.

I did a wedding this year where both the B&G were police people, I got some of the work friends to some bits that resembled the starting of the "Sweeney" and made a little funny piece.

This might sound a bit silly on hear, but i've only ever had problems with video crews thinking they're running the show. There's nothing worse than turning up at a set-up perfomance for a promo photoshoot, only to find out their managment are trying to kill two birds with one stone, and have hired another video crew to shoot a video at the same time.

I did the whole introducing thing, and the "If I get in your way..." etc, Thought all was going to be fine, but the buggers got up on stage and 'mingled' there with them as the band performed, and they then refused to get out the way, and sometimes seemed to intentionally stand right in front of me. This resulted in lots of individual band member shots with creative framing and a few group shots with camera guys in their faces (I don't think they had heard of zooming).

The annoying thing is that the bands manager knew that I run a Promotional Video and photography business, and we often do both stills and vid at the same time with good planning/arrangements to not get in each others way.

The Moral of this story is to 'team up' with a photographer for this kind of thing - Also a good way to bring in extra business, 'you recomend me, I'll recomend you', and you'll also be able to work better with each other, knowing who wants to do what when.

I am confused with your reply Mosh are you saying a photographer is turning up at a wedding to do a promo shot for the band?

having filmed weddings for about 20 odd years the Photographer has always been running the show and in some cases thinks the wedding revolves around him With new styles of f filming and a break from the traditional video, the video guy needs to get in there and also do his creative stuff and this is probably casing problems for the traditional photographer who is not used to it.
The new "Reportage" photographers are normally OK and the ones I work with are all fine, but there is still the "one more shot then i will be finished" and as we all know with photographers there is no such thing as one more shot, it will always be one more.

Sorry, I'd gone off on a bit of a tangent. There were no weddings involved, just a story about videographers and photographers clashing, different scenario, same problem...