Technical Difficulties
Please remain seated and don't panic.
My feet were hurting. I had been standing at the back of the church for a little over an hour, looking through a viewfinder, hand poised on the handle of the tripod. The mass was almost over. Soon, the Priest would wave the bride and groom back up onto the stage to make his final remarks and to pronounce them husband and wife.
I had definitely been thrown into the deep end on what was my very first attempt at shooting and producing a wedding video. I was still a college undergrad and a woman at the ad agency where I had my summer internship asked if I would be interested in filming her wedding. When she told me how much she was willing to pay I couldn’t say “yes!” fast enough.
Nevermind that I didn’t really know what I was doing.
Nevermind that I really didn’t have the right equipment.
Nevermind that I really didn’t actually have a good way to edit the thing.
Nevermind that…
Ok you get it.*
As I stood at the back of the church waiting for the nuptials to conclude, I had already been on my feet for several hours, shooting a lot of pre-ceremony interviews and b-roll. I felt like things had gone pretty well, albeit chaotic and rushed. I was eager to wrap up this portion of the day and get on to the reception. Finally the priest called the bride and groom back up onto the stage and started his final prayers.
That’s when it happened.
Suddenly, the lights in the entire church building went out; the sanctuary now lit only by the soft, warm glow of the wedding candles.
At first I thought it was all part of the show; a romantic conclusion to the wedding proceedings. But then I noticed my second shooter who was signaling to me that her camera had gone out. She had no power.
In what I thought to be a wise move earlier in the evening, I had plugged one camera into A/C power in order to save my limited camera batteries for the reception. The problem was that I never anticipated that the church building would lose power completely, rendering one of my camera angles useless.
That’s a sinking feeling, because you know that when it comes to live events like weddings, you only have one shot to get it right.
As enthusiastic and eager as I was to take on this job, I naively thought that shooting a wedding would be a pretty straightforward affair.
Lesson Learned: Seek out more experienced professionals in your specific area of video production and get their advice on what to expect during the shoot, how to prepare ahead of time, and tips for a smooth production and post-production workflow.
Had I done my due diligence and spent the time talking to long-time wedding videographers I might have gained some valuable insights about why it probably isn’t a good idea to run your cameras on A/C power. After all, there were probably others out there who also experienced a power failure while shooting a wedding.** I could’ve gotten some tips on how best to approach each aspect of the wedding day to reduce stress and increase confidence.
If you find a community of people who can advise you, and a talented group of professionals to support you, that will make you better, your product better, and your business better.
After all, when you’re trying to build a video production business, you don’t want the lights to go out.
*I’m sure she knew exactly what she would be getting by asking an inexperienced college kid to film her wedding (at least I hope she did) and I’m forever grateful for the opportunity. Because before that moment, producing wedding videos was never on my radar as a viable business venture for myself. After the offer, however, I started thinking that I could make a good little side gig from wedding videos. Especially because, as a college student, many of my friends were getting engaged at that point.
**Have you ever heard wedding photographer and videographer stories? If not, you definitely should, because weird and wild things have definitely happened.