This page describes a few frequently asked questions and gives you a bit more in depth information.
What is a Preview Film?
The first stage of our editing is to comb through the footage and pick out the best of the best clips for editing. We like to create a very short and fun little film that is the one you will probably watch over and over and over again. This edit is more like a mini-highlight film and is around 3-5 minutes in length.
What is a Highlight Film?
Your Short Form Highlight is about 8-12 minutes or so in length. It is edited cinematically and includes the main highlights of your day set to a song or two of your choosing. This is our most popular product as our clients enjoy being able to show off their video to their family and friends in a more condensed format that isn’t too long. It includes more than the teaser/trailer, but not too much to make it too long. Typically, this edit includes about 2 songs, but it could include up to 3 songs.
Can I get the raw footage?
If you want the raw footage, you are more than welcome to, just ask! Although it isn’t automatically included with our packages, if you ask, we would be more than happy to do this for you! We record on SD cards and in Quicktime movie format encoded at h.264. It’s important to note that getting the raw footage does not result in a continuous 4-6 hour movie type of thing. We record many, many clips, so the footage will be a number of folders with a number of small individual movie files inside of the folders. A typical Wedding will take up to around 100 (or more) Gigabytes of space. We would be happy to copy the files for you at no charge (for Mac users) as long as you provide us with either an external hard drive or external USB flash drives for this purpose. If you are accessing the footage via PC, we charge a nominal charge of $50. This is because we need to format your hard drive (if you send one directly to us from Amazon for example) into a PC format, or if you send us an already formatted drive, we need to use a PC to transfer the files. Since we are all Mac around here, this takes some extra time and effort, and therefore we have to charge for that. If you would like it on BluRay discs, there is a flat $300 charge to burn and transfer these files to disc for you.
How long does it take before I receive the final product?
It typically takes 4 weeks to complete production. We have carefully streamlined our production process to where we get your preview film edited the week following your wedding, followed by the highlight film the week after that. The next two weeks we complete the ceremony, toast, special dances, and other relevant edits as well as author and encode your discs. ALL of this is 100% dependent upon whether or not you have your music chosen BEFORE your wedding. If there are delays with the music, your films production will be delayed because once it falls “out” of our strict production timeline due to not have music to edit it to, then it will have to be squeezed in later among our other wedding films. This could potentially delay your films up to 16 weeks or even longer.
How is your billing process, and do you accept credit cards?
We know you have lots of other vendors to pay for and it can get to feel overwhelming. If you want to pay it all at once, you certainly can, however we give you the option to have 2 payments. The first is your non-refundable deposit in the amount of 1/3 of your total package. This is due upon booking and reserving your date. The next and final payment is due one week before your Wedding. This is due one week before so that the funds have time to clear before we arrive to film. You also have the option of choosing to do a payment plan. With our payment plans, everything must be paid in full no later than 1 week before the wedding. We accept all major forms of credit cards through PayPal. We also accept cash or check.
Can I see a sample contract?
Sure! Contact us and we can send you a sample contract.
What is your dinner policy?
We require to be fed a warm meal at the reception. If you are having a buffet, you must include us in the head count of your buffet total. If you are having a plated dinner, we require to be provided either a plate or a vendor meal. For most weddings, this is 2 people. At travel weddings, this may or may not be 3 people. We need to eat first or with the guests so that we can be available to film any important events that take place during your reception. We need to go through the buffet line at the beginning of the meal and/or be served our meal at the beginning so that we can get back to work immediately.
Can I get extra copies of the final video?
Of course you can! Additional copies are $20 for DVD copies, $30 for BluRay, and $45 for the BluRay-DVD double disc set. This might be a bit more if your Wedding takes up more than one disc (for example, a super long Catholic Ceremony just might go over the 80 minute disc limit when all is said and done!), then those copies will be priced accordingly depending upon the situation.
Can I see my video and provide feedback while you are working on it?
Each one of our clients will view the preview and the short highlight film before final delivery on Vimeo. We ask that you view BOTH the preview film AND the highlight film before you request changes. Often when you see both, you have a better idea of any changes you might like to have made. The longer film we do NOT post online, however, it is pretty much the SAME edit as the short highlight, with only minor modifications for timing purposes and the addition of the full ceremony, toasts, and dances. When you view the short highlight, you are pretty much viewing the long highlight.
Will you be doing my Wedding, or do you have someone else that will be there?
I personally (Cheryl) film and edit every Wedding booked with AWC Films. I do have additional shooters and assistants that work alongside of myself, but I will be the main person at every Wedding. These shooters are also available in case of any emergency situation where either myself or Steve would not be able to make it. It would have to be a dire emergency to keep me away from your Wedding! It’s good to know that we do have back-up options worst case scenario.
How many Weddings do you do a year?
We like to shoot and edit no more than 20 per year. Once we reach 20, we consider the year fully booked. We do, however, make exceptions for clients who are referred to us from other clients (for example, you get married this year, and your brother is getting married next year and we already have our 20 for the year, we will make an exception up to no more than about 25 total). Other interested parties can ask to be placed on a wait list and we can accommodate on a per case basis depending upon our editing workload.
Why do you only do 20 per year?
We want to take more time and energy on each one of our clients so we can make the best film possible. When we started doing this almost 10 years ago, we were like everyone else and booked as many as we could. After doing about 50 or more Weddings per year, we found that we weren’t able to focus on our clients as much as we can now that we stop at 20. Our main goal is quality, not quantity, and we are happy to offer this kind of exceptional service to our clients.
If you only do 20 Weddings, is this not your full time business?
This is Cheryl’s full time business. Steve does have a Monday through Friday, 8-5 outside of AWC Films.
What is the difference between Videography and Cinematography?
Simply put, Cinematography does NOT use video cameras. Cinematographers use HD DSLR cameras – these are the same cameras professional photographers use to take photographs. Canon pretty much started the Cinematography art form by incorporating high quality HD video capturing capabilities to their still photography cameras with the release of their famous Canon 5D Mark II camera. Unlike video cameras, these cameras have huge image sensors, and allows the ability to change out lenses, something afforded only by the Hollywood Studios making films with $300,000+ video film cameras. With the release of this camera, Canon enabled Cinematographers to achieve the SAME beautiful footage with a camera in the price point of around $5,000. This has had, to put it mildly, a mind-boggling HUGE impact on Wedding Videography. We can now enjoy a gorgeous amount of creative flexibility and control over our shots than we ever had with our video cameras. This results in absolutely stunning imagery – the difference is obvious.
What kind of equipment do you use?
In order to deliver the finest in Atlanta Wedding Cinema, you need the highest quality equipment. Here at Artworks Wedding Cinema, we use only the best! We prefer the Canon line of HD DSLR cameras and lenses. Canon has, in our opinion, the best optics in the world. No other brand has come close to the clarity and quality of their lenses and sensors within their cameras. We place non-wireless lav microphones on the groom and officiant to capture the sound of the vows and ring exchange. Wireless mics usually create static and interference, which is why we use audio recording devices that are NOT wireless. We capture the live, ambient sound using an audio capture device known as the Zoom H4n. We also use Zoom’s H2 as a backup audio capture source. We edit the audio together in post so it is seamless. For stabilization and creative motion shots, we use Manfrotto tripods and monopods. We use a dolly slider, a mini-crane, and use a steadicam for fluid walking shots. Finally, we use a variety of software to achieve our desired outcome. We edit using Final Cut on a Mac. Depending upon our needs, we also use After Effects and Premiere Pro.
Do you film same-sex weddings?
We film love in any way, shape, or form, so if you are in love and getting married, we would be happy to film and edit your wedding regardless of any sexual orientation and preferences.
If you have any questions that are not listed on this page – please feel free to call us or send us an email. We are happy to help!