If you are planning your wedding and looking at studios that will be shooting your wedding, you will find the mention of both “cinematography” and “videography” in the catalogues of these studios. Studios which offer both the services might have a significant difference in the pricing of both. So, how will you decide whether you want cinematography or videography?

To understand which is what, first of all, get hold of a wedding video of your parents or elderly couples in your family. Check out how it has been shot – the video probably starts with mug shots of the couple zooming in and out to some romantic Bollywood song of the time the video was shot in. And then it goes on to the main event of the wedding in it shows the wedding guests singing and dancing, the rituals with the bride and groom, guests eating and finally bidding farewell to the bride. It shows events exactly in the order they happened.

Now, look at any good cinematic wedding video. You will notice that it actually unfolds like a “film”. There is sophisticated music, the shots are good quality, the angles are varied and dramatic, and the film progresses like a story. You will find a 3-second shot of the bride and groom stealing a glance at each other while the priest chants mantras, or a shot of a child clapping while the bride and groom are dancing, or the father wiping his tears with his handkerchief when the bride is getting ready to leave. There will be slow shots and there will be fast-paced shots; there will be zoom shots and pan movement shots. There will be wide-angle shots and there will be close-up shots. What you will not find in the cinematic wedding video is a long, continuous shot of the bride and groom sitting on the thrones and receiving “shagun” from the thousands of guests present at the wedding, or of the queues at the food stalls. A cinematic wedding video will only focus on what’s most important in the wedding – your story and the people you shared it with. 

Simply put, a wedding video is just video coverage of the event without much focus on storytelling or art. The equipment that cinematographers and videographers use may be the same, but the main factor that differentiates the two is how they tell your love story. A videographer will simply put all the shots together without giving much thought to the music or the story in the video. A cinematographer, on the other hand, will take dramatic shots, vary his/her angles, choose the right music and edit the video in a manner that it looks like a Hollywood film. His/her focus will not be on covering as much as possible from the wedding but making sure that the most important moments of the wedding are captured beautifully. 

Wedding cinematographers are more expensive than wedding videographers because they often have better equipment and of course, their skills are highly sought-after. So, if your budget allows, choose a good wedding cinematographer so that you get the best of your wedding in a beautiful film. 

Would you like to get a beautifully made cinematic wedding film? Then get in touch with us here.