See what I did there? Now you have landed on this page, let's go beyond the inuendo and straight to my point!
Does length really matter, or is it the emotion in the ocean that counts? ;-)
This is a subject I want to discuss exclusively, as I have a few brides that email me with the question: "Do we get a longer edit because Tom Dick and Harry do a 20 minute version as well as a 4 minute version"
Here is the thing, when you are paying over a thousand pounds for this type of service, it's easy to slip into the mind set that with a longer edit, you get more 'bang for your buck'. But, is this really the case?
Here's what I think!
If you are a fan of my work, you have probably already seen my 6-8 minute signature films, and sure enough shed a little tear too. That's ok, we all have a little cry from time to time too lads... So what was it about the film that made you so emotional watching it?
Speed, interest and emotion Have you ever watched a movie, and it gets to a point where you are still sat there thinking "blimey this is a slow film" or when you're talking about a movie you watched and say "well, it was pretty good but it just took forever to get going"... Well, with that in mind, lets compare that to a wedding film.
6 to 8 minutes is the optimal time to tell a story. There is enough time there to tell the day's story, but not too much to risk it not moving at an appealing pace, whilst keeping it interesting and emotional. I split my films in to two parts, a cinematic introduction, then the whole days events edited to lovely music, with the latter part edited in a slower motion to add romance. You won't ever get to the end of one of my films and wish there was more, you will only want to play it again and again. One person said to me once, "I would much rather watch a 6 minute film six times than watch a 20 minute film twice. How true is that! As beautiful as your wedding day was, I can guarantee if you hired a videographer who did a longer edit, the odds are you will prefer to watch the shorter film over and over than you would the longer version. It's like getting your 400 images back from the photographer, and printing the best 40 of them to share because they are your favorites. The other 360 pictures are fine, but them 40 you chose for the album are a true reflection of your day and make the emotions come back wonderfully. They are just enough to look at over and over.
On top of that, it allows my creativity to peak. I know what works for me and what I am best at. It can become very difficult to keep a longer edit interesting for the viewer, so it is even harder for the editor to keep an interest in it. Think of it like this: with the optimal sized canvas, an artist can splash all sorts of colour and detail on there, if the canvas is too big he may run out of colour, or use too much of one colour that the canvas looks too repetitive, and the details become lost.
Sometimes "the bigger the better" doesn't always have a place. I much prefer "short and sweet" or "quality over quantity".
Ask your self this: If you went to watch a great movie at the cinema and it was a little shorter than most movies, would you feel out of pocket?
JB //