Middleton Lodge Wedding Videographer // Glesni & Scott

Creating Glesni and Scott’s wedding film at Middleton Lodge involved using many of the storytelling techniques used in cinema. Scott, the groom, is a funny and engaging person, and I wanted his personality to shine through, so I opened the film with a misdirect. I like to use this at the beginning of a film because wedding films can sometimes take themselves too seriously. Scott’s opening comments lead you to think the film will follow a familiar path before revealing his comic timing and starting with laughter.

Having set the tone for the wedding in the first 40 seconds, I then needed to build towards the ceremony. Because I was able to film both Scott and Glesni’s preparations, I had plenty of footage to create a sequence using one of my favourite cinematic devices, the match cut. I initially introduce Scott and his groomsmen before we see Glesni and her dress. I then begin a series of subtle match cuts, starting with Glesni framed on the right side of the screen in front of the window, cutting to Scott in the same screen position.

I then cut back from Scott to Glesni using screen space again, before moving into a hand to hand cut, tying items, a shot of the groomsmen getting ready as a group, and the bride and bridesmaids doing the same thing, framed in a similar way. Using screen position again allowed me to move smoothly from Glesni back to Scott.

At this point, I was happy that the morning build up had been established and we moved into the ceremony as the music began to rise in tempo. As the strings started, the guests stood and I showed Scott turning around to see Glesni. I had intentionally held back from showing Glesni in her full dress. I wanted that moment to have maximum impact, so I delayed it further by cutting to one of my favourite shots as Glesni and her father walked across the rear camera.