How to Add Interviews to Your Wedding Video

Professional wedding video editing provides a ton of opportunities to enhance and edit the final video.

Some couples like to see the use of filters and the alteration of the footage to their preferences. For others, a properly edited wedding video brings together various elements.

One such element that can be introduced during the video editing stage is a quick and fun interview.

Small interviews with guests, parents and even the wedding officiant can create a nice memento for the couple to enjoy long after the event.

The introduction of such snippets in the video itself should be natural and seamless. Every videographer has their own technique and style but a couple of basic rules can be followed for an optimal outcome every single time.

 

Determine How Many Interviews You’ll Feature in the Video

 

A good wedding video, like any other film, needs to have structure.

Before going into wedding video editing, you need to determine the length of the video and the amount of time dedicated to each individual segment. That includes the length of videos and the number of such video segments you’re going to fit inside the clip.

If the couple is looking for a longer wedding video, you can fit more interviews. It’s a good idea to keep the individual inquiries short and to the point. You don’t have to feature the entire conversation – choose and pick the best moments.

When you have some idea about the base of the video, you’ll find it much easier to edit. You will also have a frame of reference for individual interview duration so that you can breeze through cutting and post-production.

 

Audio Quality: Your Main Priority

 

Most videographers do an excellent job focusing on both sound and video quality.

Even if the audio isn’t perfect, it can be replaced by music and sound effects in many parts of the final clip.

One part of the video that cannot support mediocre audio, however, is an interview.

The things that interviewees are saying should be clearly audible. For the purpose, you will need to utilize an external mic.

Always do a sound check before the actual recording begins. If you need to, choose a more silent spot for interview recording. Asking interviewees to speak up is also a good idea.

When editing, make sure the audio is crystal clear. There are ways to enhance poor audio but you shouldn’t be reliant on such techniques.

In some instances, background noises and the ambiance will get in the way of doing your interviews. You can get creative and turn these sounds into a part of the captured experience. For the purpose of clarity, add subtitles to the part of the interview that aren’t entirely clear.

 

Make Sure You Have Enough Footage to Choose from

 

Good interviews aren’t cookie cutter. This is why you need enough footage in order to extract those precious, authentic moments.

Set up an interview station at the wedding itself and make it easier for guests to participate. Have a list of questions that you want to ask but remember that it’s also OK to go off the script.

The best moments are raw and genuine. You can feature wishes that attendees have for the newly-married couples, emotional responses or something fun a guest says or does. Just having people sitting in front of the camera and asking a list of generic questions is not going to work.

You may want to give people some time to say whatever they want to say without your guidance. Based on this initial input, you can determine what kinds of questions are appropriate and which direction you’d like to pursue with the individual interview.

Remember to record enough footage but also try to stick to a time limit. Otherwise, you risk having to go through hours of footage that isn’t usable and that could never be incorporated in the final video.

If you don’t have a clue about wedding interviews or what they should look like, the following example may come in handy:

While the quality isn’t the best one out there, the interviews came out fresh and authentic. In the end of the day, that’s precisely what clients want.

Here’s a more formal approach towards interview creation and it still works as well as the previous example:

 

Create the General Video Frame Before Inserting the Interviews

 

Don’t start editing your interviews before you have a “rough draft” of what the wedding video is going to look like.

You’ll find it much easier to create the general timeline of your wedding video before importing additional snippets. When you edit the clip itself, you may also find inspiration about the right spots to put the interviews in.

For example, you can open up the entire thing with statements that the parents of the bride and groom make. As you move towards the reception, the interviews can become a bit more frivolous. End with a lighter note with something silly or touching that dear friends have said and done.

When you start doing wedding video editing, you can also find a bit of inspiration in terms of the right interview snippets.

Is the tone emotional? Heart-warming?

Do you focus on the fairy-tale love story between the bride and the groom?

A general theme will allow you to quickly turn towards the best interview segments that are in line with the overall mood you want to create.

 

Make the Transitions Smooth!

 

This is wedding video editing 101 but it needs to be emphasized one more time – the cuts and transitions between the different elements featured in the video need to be smooth.

You don’t want an interview that begins abruptly in the middle of nowhere and ends just as suddenly.

There are many filters and transition effects you can choose, depending on the wedding video editing software you count on. Whichever option you choose, the end goal is to reduce the appearance of jump cuts and make the entire thing flow smoothly.

The same principle applies to the editing of the interview segments themselves. If you choose two statements from the same person that are not chronologically linked, you will need to make the transition between those two smooth.

Adding a morph cut is one of the easiest things you can do to make the transition smoother. Foreground transitions and alternative effects like fading in/out, dissolves, wipes and zoom could also be used.

Whichever option you go for, introduce it sparingly and consistently. Your task is to ensure the visual integrity of the clip, hence, you shouldn’t be throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the viewer.

 

Should You Feature Amateur Footage in the Wedding Video

 

Sometimes, wedding guests will record their messages for the happy couple on a smartphone.

Videographers can decide to make use of such amateur footage. The integration of a few smartphone clips into the final video will give a bit of authenticity and rawness.

If you do decide to incorporate such interviews in the final video, understand the fact you’ll need to do a lot more editing work.

Wedding video editing aims to make everything consistent – the sound volume and quality, the color scheme, the steadiness of the footage, etc.

You may face some post-production challenges if you decide to incorporate amateur footage in the wedding clip. If the quality of footage is poor and you don’t know how to handle it, opting for outsourcing may be the best approach.

 

Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Visual

 

A final wedding video editing tip that pertains to interviews is video quality and the use of creative angles.

Most people will listen to the words being spoken during an interview but the visual also plays an important role. It can drive home a message or reveal someone’s reaction to an event.

Creative camerawork and editing can make interview visuals much more dynamic and expressive.

Zoom into the eyes of the bride’s mom. Try to capture the smile of her sister or the maid of honor. If the bride and groom have lots of friends, do a quick and dynamic group shot.

It’s really up to you as a videographer to determine how you are going to approach the interview setup. One thing is easy to understand, however – the more you stray away from the norm, the more exciting the final product is going to be.

 

Wedding Video Interviews: Consistency, Creativity and Curtness

 

To sum it up, good wedding video interviews are short, they make people smile and they’re presented in a consistent way.

Do your preliminary work and acquaint yourself with the raw footage before getting started with post-production. The more familiar you are with the film, the easier you’ll find it to put a finished product together.

And don’t go overboard with editing. Interviews usually speak for themselves without having to be enhanced. This is a nice little message you want to capture for your clients and present it in the best possible form. In this instance, the content itself should be enough.

All editing being done should simply enhance the visual, make the audio better and get the interviews in line (stylistically) with the rest of the film.