Thursday, April 19, 2007

Lights, Camera, Action!







Recently Nicole D'Ambra Wedding Consulting took a first hand approach to creating a promotional video for the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants with a lot of help and guidance from one of Northern California's top videographers Mark Shepherd of Shepherd Video Productions! This project was part of my final certification project for the association, and with Mark's help it was also a fantastic learning experience, and I now appreciate videography more than ever before! I learned that much like an event, before starting to produce a video, there is a whole bunch of pre-planning involved! First I took tons of footage from videos and photos and recorded what I wanted to use from them on a worksheet called a final edit decision log. Then Mark's loaded all of the media onto the computer we would use to edit it together into one cohesive video. Mark then used state of the art software to fuse the bits and pieces of video and photography together to make our first draft of the video. After several meetings, and many hours of work, we finally had our first draft of the video. The final test was to run it by the Board of Directions for the association. After finding out their desired changes, it was back to gathering more information to make the changes, then Mark and I met one last time to finalize the video. It was recently unveiled at the last Speaker's Day for the association where over 30 members and students viewed it for the first time. This video will be shown at all new ACPWC classes, including our next class in Texas, and will serve as a tool for marketing at all trade shows and conferences we attend.

Brides and Grooms who don't think they need or want a videographer, LISTEN UP! According to a national study, one of the top three things that couples most regret after their Wedding, is not hiring a videographer to capture those precious moments. Wedding videography today is modern and creative. No more of Uncle Bob's shaky home videos for your Wedding, this is the real thing! When a couple tells me they aren't having a videographer I always make sure to ask them to consider how nice it would be to have a video of them getting married to show their future children, and how important it would be to have an audio visual record of how they looked and sounded on that day! My husband and I often watch our video to remember loved ones who have passed, that we were lucky enough to have join us on our special day. We have toasts from our parents on this video, as well as from our dear friends. My favorite part is the incrimiating clips of my best friends busting a move on the dance floor, gotcha! Your Wedding day is only once, and after your honeymoon when all you can remember are faint glimpses of what you just experienced, you will be able to look back at your video and see the whole Wedding unfold before your very eyes! The Groom gets to see you walk down the aisle ladies, but don't you want to see how fabulous you looked!? Of course! So, don't worry so much about the cost of the videography, because your video will be priceless, and is worth every penny. There are videographers to match all budgets, and your Wedding Consultant can help you plan the appropriate budget for one, and direct you to the right videographer for your personality, lifestyle, and budget needs!

I would personally like to thank Mark Shepherd of Shepherd Video Productions for all of his dedication and hard work for our association! He is amazing and kind, and I highly recommend him to everyone who needs a videographer (notice I said everyone!)

Find out more about Mark Shepherd and Shepherd Video Productions at:
www.go-svp.com/weddings

To see our video and learn more about the ACPWC go to:
http://www.go-svp.com/weddings/wed_samples2.htm

And click on the first link.

You can also go to www.acpwc.com to learn more about our association.


Happy Planning, Many Huggs,


Nicole