Sometimes it would seem whoever is looking down on us, deals us a good hand on occasion. This was one of theose days! On this one the weather was fantastic and a lovely Bride & Groom. We were with the Bride & Groom from preparation until carriages and got every last minute of the day. Very tiring, but well worth the effort..!
The vicar would not allow the 1st Camera in a suitable position at the front of the church so we were extremely limited on the shots we could get there but nonetheless we captured the ceremony well from the rear of the church, but just not where I would have liked to have been. As always our preferred position and that of the vicars almost always confilct. We want to be as close as comfortable, he rarely wants you in there at all so it is always a compromise and a fine line to tread. Once outside the Wedding Car broke down (it seems to happen a lot!) so extended photos were taken outside and we got some great reportage shots. Once a replacement car was sourced by the car company it was onto Channels Golf Club in Chelmsford.
We experimented with our 4m Jib which is a camera crane. You can see it with the shots of the 'resevoir dogs' style of the groom and groomsmen walking towards camera and the shot of the veranda panning up and right was were we used it. We found that the time taken to set up and operate the jib did not justify the limited shots we got. Plus once set up, it is virtually immobile. Whilst great, with two people required to set up and operate we did not feel it was a good use of the time and decided should the jib be required on another job, then a separate operator would be required for it.
When the sun started setting we went outside for some more photos and two white doves landed on a rooftop. One of those rare moments, the camera is rolling and something just happens in front of you, quite magical.
Unfortunately, the vicar in this particular church did not allow filming of any kind, or even the sound recording of the vows so we were restricted to footage after the ceremony. As we arrived towards the end of the ceremony to capture the outside of the church and get set up we could hear Ave Maria being sung by a truly angelic vocalist. We were both gutted we weren't allowed to capture it. With every wedding there are obstacles to your filming and with experience you learn where they are and how to tackle them. In this case filming was just not allowed and we of course always have to respect the wishes of not only the Bride & Groom but all official involved in the day.
Afterwards, the reception was held at Wentworth Golf Club which was a truly stunning place to film. The weather was perfect and the bride and groom took golf buggies and messed around Wenworth for 30 minutes. The Breakfast room looked like a state banqueting hall and throughout the day we just kept rolling. The band 'Fun Monkies' played well into the wee hours. For us the lighting and sound were perfect and we came away with probably one of our best films. The icing on the cake would have been the ceremony, but you cant win them all!
When capturing the first dance and during the dancing with the band we used a Camera 'Top Light' in this case a PAG C6 to minimise the amoint of 'Gain' we have to use with degrades the quality of your film. In the final few scenes when Steve spins Phillipa around we are using our Steadicam rig for ultra smooth camera movments with the second camera lighting. The Showreel was encoded using a high contrast Black & White 'crunch'.
