New Orleans is an enchanted city that perfectly combines rich culture, history, stunning architecture, and music, making it a great place to have your dream wedding. However, to ensure you capture every cherished moment of your special day in this remarkable city, there is a need to hire a professional New Orleans wedding videographer. However, not all wedding videographers are created equal, and so, to ensure you’re hiring the right person for the job, here are some essential questions you should ask your prospective videographer.
1. "How many years of experience do you have as a New Orleans wedding videographer?" - Experience is crucial when it comes to wedding videography. While it's okay for beginners to get a chance, you don't want your wedding day to be a practice run for them.
At Chad Populis Photography and Videography, we have over 15 years of videography experience and have been filming weddings since 2018.
2. "Can you show us some samples of full wedding films you made?" By asking for full wedding films, you get to see how the videographer documents the entire event, which can help you gauge their skills and style better.
3. "How would you describe your filmmaking style?" Every New Orleans wedding videographer has a unique style that sets them apart from others. Whether it’s documentary, cinematic, or a mix of both, ensure their style matches what you envision.
At Chad Populis Photography and Videography, we lean towards a documentary style of shooting to best capture the raw emotion of the day to tell your wedding story. We edit our footage in a cinematic style to enhance the visual appeal.
4. "Are you familiar with our chosen venue?" This could give the videographer an upper hand as they possibly would know the best locations to get the perfect shots.
We have shot at over 3 dozen separate venues and have visited dozens more in other capacities as guests and vendors.
5. "What type of equipment do you use?" Good-quality equipment contributes to good-quality videography.
We use Full-Frame Sony mirrorless cameras, and various lighting setups to best capture your video
6. "Do you have backup equipment?" Anything can happen during the event, and you want to be sure that they come prepared.
Yes we do. We have a minimum of 2 cameras at every wedding event to ensure all of your most precious moments arent missed. We have several backup batteries as well.
7. "How many cameras do you use during the day?" The more cameras, the more angles covered.
We use at least 2 cameras per event. During the ceremony, we will have upwards of up to 4 cameras recording simultaneously to capture many angles to create variety in your video.
8. "What’s your approach to capturing sound?" High quality sound is equally important as high quality video in your wedding film.
During the ceremony, we use on-camera boom microphones, wireless lapel microphones on the groom and/or bride as well as an external audio recorder to capture all important audio. The captured audio results in a high quality, professional sound.
9. "How do you handle lighting in low light conditions?" Poorly lit venues can be challenging, but a good videographer knows how to work with it.
While we prefer to use as much natural light as possible,. most venues are darkly lit and we will have lighting mounted on our camera rigs and depending on the venue, we may have stationary light sources.
10. "What's the timeline for the delivery of the final product?" It is essential to know how long you have to wait to relive your wedding moments.
We try our best to deliver the final product timely and quickly. We ask that we be allowed 6 weeks to deliver the final product, but oftentimes the video will be delivered within 2 weeks. Each event is different and depends on the amount of footage to be edited, the workload of the editors and other factors such as file sizes, rendering speed, shipping time and upload speed.
11. "Can you explain your package options?" It's good to know what each package includes before making any commitments.
We have several pre-designed packages available tailored from the most common item requests, but we can also negotiate custom packages.
Click here to view our New Orleans Wedding Videography Packages
12. "Do you offer a highlight reel in your package?" Some couples only want a shorter, condensed version of their wedding day.
Our main deliverable is an edited cinematic highlight video, with an unedited full-length ceremony. We can also customize social media clips and we shoot with this type of edit in mind.
13. "Will the video be delivered in high-definition?" In the age of 4K TVs and high-res devices, why compromise on resolution?
We deliver all our Video at 4K resolution on USB drive and upload in 4K to our Wedding Video Youtube Channel.
14. "Will you be the one shooting our wedding?" Some videographers may contract out their work, so it's essential to clarify this.
Unless of for some unseen event, myself and my team will be the ones shooting your wedding. If I am unavailable on your date, you will be notified promptly. I network with many talented wedding videographer who may fill in if, because of an emergency, I am unable to.
15. "How will you work with our photographer?" Teamwork between your photographer and videographer is key.
As a wedding photographer, I understand the challenges of working with videographers. The key is communication, knowing where each other will be as not to ruin each others shots. I will communicate what my needs and delivarables are.
16. "Will the footage be color graded?" This creates a more cinematic look for wedding films.
We capture all of our raw footage in Sony's S-Log 3 Cinema picture profile. this allows for us to capture the best color and contrast range for our editing style. We like brighter shadows and subdued highlights as well as lower saturated colors, with a slight boost in contrast.
17. "Who retains the copyright to our wedding video?" This is essential to clarify upfront.
The videographers own all copyrights to the captured footage but our clients have full usage of all delivered video and may enjoy, share and profit from the video without restriction.
18. "Will there be any additional charges that aren't included in the package?" Nobody likes unexpected charges.
All required fees will be clear and upfront and all charges will include the deliverables agreed upon in the contract and/or within the invoice. Any extras the videographer chooses to include will NOT incur a charge to the customer. Any additions not in the agreement requested by the customer may incur additional charges.
19. "Do you require a deposit?" This will help you in your budget planning.
Most wedding video services will require a deposit. At Chad Populis Photography and Videography, our typical deposit amount is between %25-%40 of the total package price. This ensures that our services are secured on your wedding date and we can offset any incurred expenses (purchase additional equipment, hiring additional contractors, etc.) We can negotiate a lower initial deposit with the agreement of an installment payment plan.
20. "What is your cancellation policy?" Because sometimes, unforeseen circumstances happen.
You can cancel at anytime without additional abligation, but you will forfeit you initial deposit as this is not refundable. We have expenses (new batteries, rent necessary equipment, pay team members) to cover for every event and we pay much of these in advance using the deposit. We also decline several other potential customers after securing your event date and may not be able to secure a new booking.
By asking these questions, you’ll be capable of making a more informed decision when choosing your New Orleans wedding videographer, ensuring your wedding film is everything you have ever dreamed of. So go out there, and find that perfect videographer to capture your New Orleans fairytale!
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