Remember Every Moment With Asian Wedding Photography & Cinematography

Wedding videos are one of the main aspects of any wedding, with the ability for the bride, groom, family and friends to cherish each moment of their wedding coming together, forever. Cinematic wedding videography allows you to have a multi-dimensional and multi-sensory experience, which you can show future generations to come.

Many couples are unsure of how cinematography works and what the differences are compared to standard photography and videography. We interviewed Amit from The Director’s Cut, who are a high fashion wedding cinematography company, to answer commonly asked questions related to cinematography and to explain the process of how cinematography works.

The Director’s Cut started off around eight years ago with Amit and his brother, who were both passionate about cinematography from a really young age. Kamal studied film and multimedia communications and began his career at weekends through wedding referrals and friends.

With the vision of discreet talent and natural capture, The Director’s Cut began interviewing in London, Leicester and Birmingham, and trained their team for real life scenarios and working under pressure. The team are trained to become more invisible during recording at wedding celebrations, to receive better and natural reactions.

Now, the team has grown, including head Photographers, head Cinematographers, Logistics Managers and also a Chief Editor. On a typical wedding day, the team usually consists of 2 photographers & 2 cinematographers, however some packages are smaller or larger depending on each couple’s requirement.

Cinematography, or also referred to as cinematic wedding videography, is the art of photography and visual storytelling to produce outstanding wedding videos with creative visual elements to bring the film to life. If you’re looking to create a wedding video that plays at your heartstrings and allows you to relive your day, rather than simply reminiscing, then cinematography should be on your wedding list.

Angles, lighting, narrative storytelling and emotion are the distinguishing features of cinematic filming. Cinematography combines creativity with storytelling to produce a captivating film to display emotions and feelings. Most cinematographers will interlink meaningful soundbites of precious speeches and messages to create a seamless storyline of your special day.

Cinematographers capture magical moments of the day and various angles and perspectives of the day to create a wonderful video that weaves together the special moments of your Asian wedding.

Unlike photographers and videographers, cinematographers usually work as a team with a camera operator and light assistants. Some cinematography techniques focus on camera movement, camera placement, shot composition, shot size, focus and lighting.

Wedding cinematography is very different compared to classic wedding videography. Videography requires skill, patience and creativity, whereas cinematography also requires vision, research, planning and the use of special equipment to produce a cinematic wedding film.

Cinematic wedding videography contains dynamic storylines full of emotion and elevates the traditional wedding video. Videography tends to be very similar for most couples, however, cinematography can be a fun way of making a personalised cinematic film experience unique to a couple on their wedding day.

Both cinematography and videography have their advantages, which solely depend on whether you’d like a unique wedding film with every element of emotion, love, drama, song and dance, or a simple video capturing the moments of your wedding day.

The Director’s Cut uses natural light where possible to replicate a natural and classy feel, which also makes couples feel less conscious that they are being filmed. Where there are harsh shadows indoors, they use specific lighting indoors to light up darker corners. Strobe lighting can be used to light up parts of the room at once. With outdoor shoots, Amit and his team use a light-reflector strobe, ie softboxes or beauty dishes, to reflect light and create more crisp photos.

In the evening of a wedding, additional lighting can be used to capture an intimate and natural ambience, using colour soft gels or even tea lights to add more creativity. If the weather is windy, audio is imperative hence specialist microphones with sound mufflers are used to capture specific details.

With cinematography, there are thousands of editing software out there to choose from. The Director’s Cut uses Adobe Premiere for editing their shots, with it being one of the best and most popular software available on the market. Adobe Premiere can be used to edit the raw footage, create cinematic edits, creative highlights and trailers.

Cinematography involves a long process of planning and preparation. It requires two logistics managers who are professional photographers and cinematographers, but very technically minded and organised. These managers act as the point of contact for a bride and groom.

The Director’s Cut ’s logistics managers are responsible for overlooking the full itinerary and any cinematic requests. Every client has their own dedicated logistics manager, as it is vital to build a rapport and understand the type of schedule and any special moments or surprises, hence these are planned and recorded carefully. Once the logistics manager carries out a final meeting to iron out any details, a detailed call sheet is created for the team to ensure nothing important is missed.

They will also need to understand the layout of each room in the venue, the timings and how long the team is needed for during the wedding celebrations.

Cinematography packages vary depending on the budget. However, the typical cinematography package with The Director’s Cut includes unlimited high-resolution photos, cinematic trailer and full movie.

So that photos can be shared with friends, family and loved ones, a private online portal allows couples to view content instantly, which makes it much easier to create your own personalised album. Included in the package is also a large, luxury leather-bound album, which is otherwise very expensive with other cinematography companies.

The typical package includes a full movie with special features such as pre wedding events, and a trailer. With video it has an interface like a Netflix film, with a beautiful menu system, which is perfect for presenting them to friends and family. Copies of the videos and photos can be downloaded as many times as you wish.

Whilst Asian wedding videos typically last between 1-3 hours, Amit & Kamal aim for their team to capture as much detail as possible - giving more, rather than less. This includes footage capturing the decor, group photos, the civil ceremony, etc.

More recently, clients are requesting a 20 minute cut, as well as a longer version. Around 80% of people choose the longer video for the trailer, whereas 20% prefer the short video. The cinematic trailer is often a ‘song length’ highlight of the movie itself.

The average package takes around 12-18 weeks to edit and produce, ready for sending to the married couple. Last year, Amit & Kamal’s team achieved an average of 12 weeks for their customers to receive all photos and videos.

Each wedding is unique and every couple will have their own requests, so discussing your vision with your cinematographer will help them make your vision come to life for that beautiful fairytale wedding film. It’s important to speak to your chosen photographer or videographer to understand the type of capture you are looking for.

With many wedding videographer and cinematographer companies varying in cost, style and quality, it can seem like a lot to choose from. Similar to many services you use for your special day, you’ll most likely get what you pay for, so it’s well worth doing some thorough research before committing to your chosen companies.

Some cinematographers tend to have additional cameramen with them on the day so that no footage is left uncaptured, so it’s worth taking this into account when planning the budget for your wedding cinematographer, as this can reflect in the cost.

When planning a wedding, most couples tend to plan a budget for four main components, including their photographer, venue, dress and decor, so usually, videographers and cinematographers tend to be an afterthought. This is why it’s recommended to not leave the booking of your videographer until last minute, as it can sometimes be costly.

If you’re figuring out whether videography or cinematography is the best approach for you, you should think about the feel and tone you envision for your wedding film and whether you’d like it to feel like a cinematic film or a home movie, as a cinematic film is more likely to be memorable and enjoyable to watch. You will also need to discuss with videographers and cinematographers on your vision and how they can make it come to life.

After consulting with your chosen cinematographer, it’s recommended to go away, look at their reviews and their previous portfolio. Consult with your cinematographer to discuss a pre-wedding shoot. This is a great opportunity for any bride and groom to feel relaxed and comfortable around the camera. It also provides more guidance in creating an itinerary and a plan before committing to the consultation.

At Ladywood Estate, we understand that perfection is the main ingredient, which is why our Asian wedding venue is always photogenic and ready for any event. The team at Ladywood always ensures that we surpass your expectations.

Our Leicestershire Asian wedding venue is nestled in the lush countryside, making it ideal for drone cinematography and private wedding cinematography films.

With years of experience in Asian weddings, we have cooperated with many photographers, videographers and cinematographers to create a magical fairytale wedding day that surpasses all expectations and is the perfect setting for your wedding cinematography film.

Externally, the parkland, lakes and flower gardens are regularly maintained by The Estates’ two gardeners. Internally, the high quality of décor, furnishing and equipment, all are maintained to the very highest standard.

Ladywood Estate is a leading Asian wedding venue in Leicestershire and has a wealth of experience in hosting lavish weddings. The team at Ladywood will ensure that we surpass your expectations. Working with a choice of Ladywood’s approved interior designers, the happy couple is able to create their own personal, unique wedding.