What Makes A Wedding Video Cinematic?

The more time you spend in the videography or cinematography business, the more likely you are to see the word “cinematic” or “cinematic video.” For example, you’ll find it on countless wedding video websites. But it’s a slippery term since it can have different meanings to different people. Some could define it as video that has the appearance of the type of film you’d see in a movie theater. But now that there are so many types of films using all sorts of equipment, from high-end gear to cellphone cameras, it’s getting even harder to pin down a definition.

So, instead of trying to construct a definition, I ask two accomplished wedding videographers, Doug Block and Abe Halpert, what “cinematic wedding video” means to them.

But first how do wedding videos differ from wedding photographs. For example, while photographs capture a short segment of time and are a single-dimensional representations of the wedding day, wedding videos capture much longer spans of that same day.

Video also has a more diverse media palette: For instance, you can use movement, changing lighting, music, sound effects, dialogue and more to bring much greater depth to the memory of the couple’s wedding day. However, while videographers have more media to choose from, it can be challenging to produce a successful film that captures the special day.

So, it’s up to the wedding videographer to effectively tell that story. What’s more challenging is that