What We Mean by Raw Footage
Some couples request raw footage of their wedding, but not all of them understand exactly what raw footage is. We’d like to try to explain as best we can what raw footage is and why it may not be necessary for most of our wedding videography clients.
First of all, raw footage is unedited and untouched video files, which in our case are usually in the .mov or .mp4 file formats. They will be delivered as folders full of files. When delivering these files, we won’t remove unnecessary footage, and the colors will often appear dull, because no color correction has been performed.
It is important to understand that some of the cameras Festivity Films uses to capture weddings split footage into multiple files. This means that even consecutive footage of a longer event like the ceremony may be split up into multiple files, where the action will cut abruptly at the end of one file and pick up at the same place on the next file.
Additionally, we use 2, 3 or more cameras to film weddings (depending on whether there are one or two videographers), so that we can capture different angles. Some cameras are moving, and those shots will sometimes be unstable. Other cameras are on tripods, and those will sometimes get blocked by someone standing in front of it.
When we edit the wedding footage, we choose among these different angles to create a seamless whole.
Another critical piece to understand is that in order to ensure the best quality sound, audio is recorded separately with external recorders during all major events of the wedding day. Festivity Films later syncs this audio to the video during the editing process. You will still have audio with your raw video files, but the quality of it won’t be great. You will also have separate audio tracks that will sound great, but there won’t be any visual.
Because of these aspects of how we shoot, the technology we use, and the length of the wedding day, raw footage is not something you can just sit back, relax and watch.
You will end up with hundreds of files. An average wedding day with 2-3 cameras coverage is usually around 200-300GB of raw footage.
Keep in mind that wedding videographer Festivity Films offers a full-feature documentary film from the wedding day, which is edited, color corrected, sound synced, and pieced together to create a work that is easy and enjoyable to watch.
Festivity Films creates your wedding video according to your preferences, including just the most important moments, or absolutely everything from the getting ready to the last song. Full films generally run from 40 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on the length of the day and your requirements.
If you are excited to get into the editing room and decide to order the raw footage from your day, we offer it as an add-on service. We provide an external hard drive, which we will mail to you with all the audio and raw footage after the wedding.
