Style and Substance // Cinematic vs. Documentary Style Wedding Videography

When searching for your wedding videographer, it’s important to first understand what it is that you’re actually looking for in a wedding video.  

When couples begin their search, they’re sometimes surprised to find out there’s more than one style of film and many different terms used by videographers to describe their work.

Once you can discern what those labels mean and recognize the various forms of wedding videos, it will be easier to choose the type of video that you most want to own, to share with your family and to watch again and again as a lasting memento of one of the most special days in your life.  And in turn, it will be easier to narrow down your list of potential videographers to only those who offer films and packages that focus on the style you like best.

Although there are additional “sub-categories” for styles out there, wedding videos are essentially created and edited in two basic forms: the documentary style and the cinematic style. 

A documentary style (or journalistic) wedding video, or a “documentary edit”, is essentially a play-by-play video of your wedding day’s events, professionally edited in a way to engage the audience.  It’s the traditional approach to wedding videos – a chronological exhibition of your wedding event, with all of those important moments seamlessly pieced together from the viewpoints of the different cameras used to record the day.  Only the natural audio is used throughout the film, making you feel as though you’re a guest watching and hearing the events just as they happened.

A cinematic style wedding video presents a more artistic approach to filmmaking.  It’s really a condensed movie of your wedding day, complete with a well-chosen musical soundtrack, which can easily rival a Hollywood short film when done right.  It’s not edited in completely sequential order, instead moving from scene to scene in order to tell a captivating, broader story of your day.  

For example, the film might start with a recitation of a reception toast, then move on to quiet scenes during morning preparations, then to heartwarming shots of the bride and groom reciting their vows.  With the music’s tempo building, it may show the exciting grand entrance into the reception ballroom, then enthusiastic guest dancing as the music continues to escalate before ending with a romantic kiss during sunset photos.  Importance is placed on the overarching theme, feeling and emotion of the day.

Knowing the terms and understanding the differences between the styles of films gives you a great starting point from which to compare packages and choose your wedding videographer.  At Cord 3 Films, our filmmakers are proud to be experts in both documentary and cinematic style film capture and in the entire editing process for both approaches, and we offer package options featuring both styles!

And all of the films we post on our website’s blog are edited in that cinematic style… check out an example of our 7-8 minute feature film to see the gorgeous Mallard Island Yacht Club wedding of Jessica and Doug!

www.cord3films.com