Interview with Esther, by Elizabeth

We had the chance to speak with wedding videographer Esther Andrews about choosing videographers and different wedding video formats.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a shopping site for wedding apparel, receives no form of compensation from this vendor.
 
How would you recommend a bride choose a wedding videographer?
 
Many brides nowadays search on the web for videographers. They look at a number of videographers' web sites, watch the demos on the site, and call the ones they like most. Although booking a videographer over the phone can be a real time saver, I recommend finding the right wedding filmmaker by meeting them personally.
 
There are a few reasons for this:

• Creating an impressive website is a skill on its own that has nothing to do with video production. So having a good site does not reflect on the quality of video the site owner will provide.
• A wedding is a team endeavor and every service provider at your wedding has to be a team player. The videographer has to share the space with the photographer, and has to be considerate of other service providers as well as your guests and most importantly - yourself.
• A wedding video has to reflect both you and your spouse's personalities, as well as your families' characters. If the videographer sees you for the first time at your wedding, he/she will not have enough information to produce the best movie for you. When I show an example of my work, I pay close attention to what they liked about the film, and find out if there is something they rather not have in their own wedding production. This proves to be very useful when I edit the footage and create a film that meets their personal taste.

 Finally, get plenty of information about wedding film production and all that goes into it, so you can make an informed decision about what options -- number of cameras, short form or long form video, etc. -- you would like included in your video.

What's the difference between HD DVD and Blue-Ray? Can you talk a little bit about what each is? With all the different formats for video, is there a best one for preserving wedding memories?
 
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard definition (SD) video. Most commonly it involves display resolutions of 1280×720 pixels (720p) or 1920×1080 pixels. Picture clarity is higher than SD and more detail is visible. Many film makers use HDV cameras, which provides 720p quality, and some also have cameras that provide 1920x1080, which is considered full HD.

The issue is, how does the video get delivered to the client?

If it gets delivered to the client on a common DVD, then the HD footage will be converted to an SD format in order to get authored to DVD. Blue-Ray, on the other hand, is capable of taking full advantage of the High Definition video. However, in order to watch a Blue-Ray disk, the client has to have a Blue-Ray player and also own a HD TV to watch the Blue-Ray disk. While HD TV's are now very common, Blue-Ray players are not as common, and many clients don't own a player or choose not to purchase one. In this case, in addition to watching the wedding film on a DVD, they can get the HD version on a hard drive for future viewing or view it on a media player that will play the HD film from a hard drive directly to TV. Media players are being made by several companies and are quite affordable, and a good example of a media player is the WD TV made by Western Digital.

Continue to Part II.

Esther Andrews is a wedding filmmaker and owner of Newman Media Productions based in San Jose, California. She loves working with people at their happiest time in their lives and being able to preserve their memories in fun and entertaining films.