subject: The History Of Wedding Videography [print this page] Wedding videography, or documenting a wedding and the events related to the wedding ceremony itself through video, started before the introduction of the modern digital videocam or video camera to the consumer market. The first analog wedding videos were captured on film, specifically on 16 and 8mm films. In the decades before digital video camera technology emerged, household 8mm cameras were used by non-professional individuals to capture the events surrounding a wedding and the actual wedding ceremonies of family and friends.
These pre-digital cameras were difficult to use in comparison to the relatively user-friendly video technology of today. One of the main problems was the limitation of the four-minute load, wherein camera operators would need to load new film after 4 minutes of shooting. Most of these cameras were unable to record audio, and required expensive professional processing before the film could be viewed on projectors. However, it was the expense and complexity of the filming, processing, and editing that enabled some individuals to establish their own wedding videography businesses without much competition at the onset.
Fast forward a few decades to the 1980s, where the initial range of consumer video cameras were introduced by Sony and other manufacturers. The emergence of these camcorders turned wedding videography into something that the masses could access. Individuals who started taking wedding videos at this stage were no longer hampered by as much difficulty as the earlier set of wedding filmmakers, which enabled them to take amateur wedding videos and then move on to hiring out their services as professional wedding videographers.
Professional wedding videos were of comparatively low quality due to the nature of the technology and equipment available at that time. In addition, these cameras usually needed bulky lighting systems, only to produce lo-fi video that had poorly-colored and fuzzy images coupled with low-quality, mono sound. Although the video cameras of this era were less expensive and slightly more compact than decades earlier, they were still heavy and bulky. These videocams also required connection to separate video recording systems via cable. This, plus the required extension cord to connect to a power outlet, substantially limited the movement of the operator. The finished product was also primitive, by the standards of today, as editing was usually an afterthought, if practiced at all. Also, the nature of the analog tape caused the video quality to deteriorate soon after the actual wedding.
Today, wedding videos are no longer difficult or expensive to produce. Digital technology has made wedding videography faster and easier, with tools and software that allow professional results that can last a lifetime, and at reasonable cost.
by: Katherine Smith
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