During a bridal consultation I was asked,
“So your package cost $2,500. What exactly will I be getting for my money?”
When you hire a videographer there are many things you are paying for. Creativity, professionalism, high quality video, how many cameras and hours of coverage are some of the first that come to mind.
Today we will talk about video coverage a.k.a. hours
Hours of coverage is one of the main factors that dictates the cost of your video package. When you are looking at wedding video packages pay attention to how they present “hours of shooting.” Some time is set in blocks and some runs from beginning to end. At Big Box Pro Video Productions we found that you can not properly shoot a wedding event with fewer than 4 hours of coverage. This coverage has us spending a half hour of preparations, another half hour for the service and the other three hours documenting the reception.
Block Time vs Running Time
Some videographers allow you to separate your time into two individual blocks while others run from start to completion. Here is how we block our 4 hour package. If your service starts at 2 and it is over at 3 we consider that a one hour block. We then take a break and start coverage of your reception from 6 to 9 completing the rest of your 3 hours in the 2nd block. In other words you are not charged for the time in between your service and reception. This gives you one block of one hour and another block of 3 hours.
Another popular way of booking video coverage is one solid block. Lets take the sample we used with the 2pm wedding service and take the coverage all the way to 9pm. You would be purchasing a block of 7 hours if calculated using the running time method. With this method it looks like you are booking a lot of time when in actuality you are booking dead time. Bu dead time we mean you are booking time with the videographer in which the videographer will not be providing services to you. These times are mostly likely to be used for travel and eating.
The final product of the two packages mentioned above will be the same, and should cost the same price. Please be aware of how your videographer presents coverage in their contracts. So when looking at total hours in a video package we encourage you compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges.
One Camera or Two?
Your first step before booking your videographer is asking your church what the photography and videographer rules are. Most churches will have a printed list that you can ask for when you book your service site. For preparations and wedding services two cameras are a must. A good videographer can cover the reception with one camera.
At the church multiple cameras helps get the best shot at any given time. One camera covers the wide shots and the other gets the closeup emotional footage. If you are on a budget two cameras provides good coverage but three is pretty ideal. In a three camera setup you can have a dedicated shot from the back of the church and then one dedicated to the bride and the other for the groom. After the fourth camera you don’t really gain any more production value per camera. So stick with two to four cameras and you will have great video coverage of your wedding ceremony.
If you have any questions about wedding videography please contact Big Box Pro Wedding Video. 361-883-4227
