Can we have all the raw wedding footage?

A common question we get asked by enquiring couples is ‘can we have all the raw wedding footage you film?’. Our answer is a most resounding yes. We love it when our couples take advantage of all the types of service we offer and letting you have the raw footage is another of them. Not all wedding videographers will allow you the option to get it but we feel it’s an important part of a wedding video package to offer. We aren’t afraid of you seeing the test shots that there will be included. Just because a shot doesn’t look good to us from an aesthetic or storytelling perspective doesn’t mean it can’t add value to you personally.

We’ve broken down this FAQ itself of having wedding footage into what raw footage is, what it isn’t and why you might want to add it in through the sections below:

What Raw Footage is

 

Our definition of raw wedding video footage is: all the footage from the wedding day captured by all of our video cameras. It can be delivered to you after you have the finished edited films. 

What it is in practice

 

• An external hard drive with all the footage on will normally include MP4 files, depending on what camera being used at the time these can sometimes be differing types. It can be a mix of filetypes on the hard drive you will receive to account for the different camera systems we use. For example, the drone camera films different file types than our main camera.
• Raw wedding footage video files can be from 1 second long through to usually 7 seconds long. That’s how long it usually takes to ensure we have a useable clip of what we have been trying to film on the day that would have potential to make it into the edited film
• The footage is from the video cameras, not the audio recorders we use. As such the raw footage files use the audio on the camera. In practice this means that for example during the ceremony: the spoken words will be at a volume not the same as what you hear on our finished films. In our edited films audio is taken from external audio recording mics and synced over the camera audio recording.

What Raw footage is not

 

• An edited film. You will need to do some manual selections on the clips themselves to watch them through. The best example of this will be during ceremony and speech filming. Each camera angle will be in full, however, there may not be any action happening in one of the frames for some time. There’s a reason it will have been setup like this to capture something that may have made it into the edited wedding film ,so it may not appear to make complete sense when viewed as a standalone clip.
• Something to sit and watch through and then decide you like a particular shot more than one that made it into the final edited film we provided. There are many reasons why we choose each shot that make your final film, some may not be immediately obvious and require a full understanding of the editing process. 
• Actual RAW file types, RAW images are what most photographers use and is a standard, much like you will have heard of JPEG. To shoot RAW file types your wedding films would take up huge amounts of data that would be impractical. This would create camera issues on the wedding day and in post production and storage. We use the word raw in our definition as above to highlight that the footage is not edited and in it’s native format straight from the cameras.
• Edited in any way. Clips may appear shaky, or with different colours. These are the type of things our wedding film editing works with and around and a reality of filming any live event. This would have been corrected in editing and so will be why we deemed it acceptable to film in that way on the day itself. We shoot with the edited films in mind and Raw footage is created as part of that process.

Why we don’t include it as standard, since we filmed it anyway

 

Raw footage is a product and therefore has a cost. Our modular pricing structure reflects our time on the day and the editing time afterwards as per the cost breakdowns you can see on our pricing page here. The cost of raw footage is not added in to either time on the day nor editing time to keep these parts as low as possible and to be fair to all couples.

What you get if you opt for it

 

• A hard drive with all the camera video files on it to connect to your computer. From here you can duplicate and backup the files, we recommend doing so as soon as possible.
• A camera clip of absolutely every time we press record during the day. It has all the best shots on it, but equally there will be all the test shots such as working out an exposure setting or several pans of an object until we get the perfect one.

Why would you want it

• Prosperity- you want to keep your wedding footage forever we assume. As a business, we simply can’t keep all our past client’s raw data due to storage considerations. We keep raw footage for 6 months after the wedding date and then delete it. We do confirm if you would like to purchase the raw clips before we delete it though so do not worry. If you opt to take a copy of the footage, should something somehow happen, you will have the building block ingredients to remake your wedding film in the same way as before.
• If you take a copy of all your raw wedding video footage, then you have ultimate security that it will never be deleted without you having taken the decision to do so. 
• As well as purchasing the raw footage files themselves you also get the right to make your own versions of the wedding video using the clips how you want. This can be great if you’re a hobbyist- why not have a try at editing professionally filmed footage, your other half with no doubt love you more for trying, even if it doesn’t have the same polished feel as our version.
• You get the complete picture, if you want to see footage of a particular friend or family member then this is why you may want it. You’ll see things you didn’t or weren’t present for on the day that didn’t make it into the final edited films most likely.

 

If you want to find out more about our raw footage option and how to get it contact us here and we’ll happily take you through the steps.