Why Hiring an Experienced Indian Wedding Videographer Matters
Getting married in Auckland, New Zealand means there are plenty of videographers around who are well familiar with videoing western style weddings and the traditions that go along with them. But hiring a talented Auckland wedding videographer doesn’t always translate when it comes to videoing Indian Weddings.
I’ll get straight to the point:
Indian weddings are a completely different ball game and to capture them properly, a videographer needs to have a good understanding of the various Indian traditions, when they happen and how quickly they happen. There’s no shortcuts here. Experience matters.
To highlight this point in real, tangible terms, here are 7 situations that a western videographer probably won’t know about Indian weddings that will genuinely impact your budget, your experience and the resulting wedding video they will make for you.
1: big Indian weddings don’t necessarily mean you need multiple videographers
Many of the different Indian traditions repeat themselves over and over again. The Haldi ceremony is a classic example of turmeric being pasted all over you again and again and again by each of your guests. An efficient solo videographer can get many different angles by leveraging the repetition that’s involved. The same goes with the pooja ceremonies. Understanding how long each ceremony goes for allows the videographer to get adequate coverage without needing multiple videographers.
More guests also doesn’t necessarily translate into needing a 2nd or 3rd videographer either. It takes no extra effort to get one shot of 50 people in one frame, as it does getting 300 people in one frame.
Hiring a 2nd or 3rd videographer is however important if you need to capture simultaneous events happening at different places, or if you want comprehensive minute-by-minute coverage of particular events.
Having a videographer who understands Indian weddings can make sure you only use 2nd or 3rd videographers when you actually need them, thereby keeping the costs down.
THE TAKE AWAY: Ask your videographer when a second videographer is actually needed. Don’t just assume a big wedding needs multiple Indian wedding videographers capturing every moment.
2: Getting inside word on the Joota Chupai tradition (and other Indian wedding rituals)
Stealing the grooms shoes happens pretty quickly and can be easily be missed if a videographer is napping. But secretly talking to the cousins and brides family before the Baraat occurs can often result in know exactly when this tradition is planned to go down. This means your videographer can proactively film events, staying ahead of what’s actually happening and being in the right spot at the right time.
This experience in videoing Indian weddings applies to many other rituals and traditions that happen during an Indian ceremony.
The Dhol players at the Baraat can be pretty loud and can cause a videographers microphone to blow out if they don’t manage their audio levels properly.
Rituals like breaking the coconut on the ground, the garland exchange or the bride and groom throwing rice at each other can happen very quickly. Having a videographer who knows where to position themselves can be very helpful to capturing these moments more effectively.
THE TAKE AWAY: Knowing when and how rituals occur helps an experienced videographer keep ahead of the action
3: Capturing audio inside a Mandap is a different ball game altogether
Indian Pujaris (Priests) often need both hands free throughout much of the Indian ceremony. Therefore they don’t use the provided handheld mic as much as a western videographer might rely on them to. A priests garments also provide a challenge in getting a lav mic to stay put. There are ways around this, but without having the right audio equipment and an understanding of an Indian Pujaris’ needs, this can be challenging.
THE TAKE AWAY: Capturing audio in and around a Mandup is different for Indian weddings. Your videographer needs to know this.
4: GETTING THE MONEY SHOT, WITHOUT GETTING NOTICED
Being close to the action during an Indian wedding ceremony results in highly emotive and engaging shots. But it can also be quite offensive and awkward for everyone else if the videographer is under the mandap at the wrong time. But by using ‘a human sheild’ (family who come up onto the stage) an Indian wedding videographer can leverage this ‘smoke screen’ to capture intimate moments without been noticed at all.
Knowing when the meaningful moments of the ceremony occur (which changes for each bride and groom) means the videographer can move with confidence and intention to get those important shots, but then step back for other less important moments to give the bride and groom more space. This means you wont have an overzealous videographer right in the moment for the duration of the entire ceremony. You, your priest and your guests will appreciate this.
THE TAKE AWAY: An experienced videographer knows how to capture intimate moments without getting noticed.
5: Key ‘structural editing moments’ are different at Indian weddings
Western videographers will often rely on the bride and groom’s personal vows to give them an ‘audio bed’ that they can overlay a lot of their footage too. However, these more ‘western’ vows don’t always happen at an Indian wedding. Or if they do, they’re very informal and done ‘off to the side’ after the cultural formalities are over. Experienced Indian wedding videographers know this and make sure to find structural storytelling moments throughout other parts of the wedding celebrations to help give their wedding edit the bones it needs.
THE TAKE AWAY: Indian weddings edit together differently. An experienced videographer knows how to find audio moments in different places than they’re used to with western weddings.
6: MAKING LARGE SPACES MORE CINEMATIC AND INTIMATE
Many pre-wedding Indian events happen in large halls with commercial grid lighting blanketing the entire ceiling. This light can be quite unflattering on people as it provides no shape or shadows to work with. It also highlights what you don’t want to see… plain white walls and large empty spaces.
Experienced videographers can proactively overcome these challenges by working with the couple (and venue) to turn some of these lights off. The videographer can then provide their own mood lighting to spot light the mandap or stage giving shape and mood and at the same time conveniently hiding all that which you don’t want to see into the relative shadows.
Intentional and selective lighting of large bare spaces can go a long way to making your own experience much richer here too.
THE TAKEAWAY: Many pre-wedding Indian events happen in large community halls with flat, boring lighting. An experienced videographer knows how overcome this and create atmosphere and intimacy.
7: An experienced Indian wedding videographer can be a great wealth of knowledge through the entire wedding
Of all the wedding venders that will come and go throughout your multi-day wedding, the videographer (and photographer) are some of the only professionals who will stay with you throughout the entire event. Given Indian wedding videographers are familiar with Indian weddings and traditions, they’re great people to have around to make sure the little logistical things come together and everyone’s singing from the same song sheet.
THE TAKEAWAY: You’ll have someone who knows how Indian weddings work with you throughout your entire wedding celebrations.
BONUS TIP #1
Your Indian wedding videographer doesn’t actually need to be of Indian descent! It’s just really helpful for them to have experience videoing Indian weddings and to have a good understanding of the various traditions that occur.
In fact, if you’re wanting a wedding video that’s fresh and feels unique to you, try and find a videographer with a diverse portfolio of wedding work. Someone who’s filmed many different cultures and styles of wedding. This means they’ll bring fresh eyes and inspiration to your wedding celebrations, giving you a film that captures what’s culturally important, but in a fresh, new way.
The proof is often in the pudding here. Go to their website and check out the videographers work. If they have a good portfolio of recent Indian weddings, and you like their style of filmmaking and how they capture moments, then chances are, they’ll be a pretty good fit for you.
KEY TAKEAWAY: Choose a videographer base off their Indian wedding portfolio, not their ethnicity.
Bonus Tip #2
There’s 3 different filming genres that Indian videographers generally fall into. What your videographer ‘thinks’ they need to capture will significantly influence what your final wedding video will look like.
Knowing your videographers underlying motivations and how they see your wedding celebrations through their camera will give you much more confidence in the final product you’ll receive.
This blog post, Guide to Hiring the Right Indian Wedding Videographer talks about the 3 questions brides don’t know they need to be asking (of their videographer) and how to use that to guide to hire the right videographer to film their wedding day.
KEY TAKEAWAY: This link here will help you find an Indian Wedding Videographer who’s style you’re looking for.
