Most of you will know that I am more into photography than video, in fact I’m not really into video at all. I’ve done a few short clips and a little hyper/timelapse here and there but nothing to write home about.
So, my sister in law is getting married in mid May, she has thankfully employed the services of a pro photog for the day. I have done a handful of weddings but it’s really not my cup of tea because:
A: You have to be organised.
B: You have to be good.
C: You need to be good at directing people, politely and firmly.
D: You have to be organised. Yes I know I typed it twice!
I severely lack in all of those!!!
What I am a little bit good at, is people watching, hiding in the dark corners and getting shots you don’t normally see from things. So I am ok for the day on this front. My SIL has asked me to try and get some video of the day with the drone. It’s quite a small affair at the registrars, then while the hoards make their way to the reception the happy couple and their son are going to a local beauty spot with the Pro to get some photos. I have been asked to get some video of these moments, from height. It involves a walk up a wee local hill, nothing too taxing. Some video near the town centre of celebrants arriving and leaving the registrars, and possibly some footage at the reception.
All of this of course is weather dependant.
So, bearing in mind I have pretty much zero video skills, what should I be practising over the next 8 weeks to get nice smooth footage? I have a full suite of ND filters for both the mini 2 and Air 2, and more than enough batteries.
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Have a look at this from @ianinlondon …. It will help with being smoooooth
I’m pretty sure the settings are available on the Mini 2 as well as the Mini 4 Pro
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Don’t hurry.
Relax.
Set speed to cine and keep things slow - 5 seconds of filming before and after movement gives you a choice of start and end points.
Don’t get too “arty”. Simple slow and steady shots can be given pace in the editing.
If you must pan, do it slowly
Let the drone do the work - check out the built-in shots that the two aircraft can take
Get out and practice.
Get comfortable with the camera settings for video
Top Tip:
Don’t take advice from someone who came sixth (out of 11) in the Video of the Month competition! 
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Forget it
Go get pissed and call @Drumsagard
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This is the photographers job, a videographer pretty much captures a wedding day at it happens.
As much as I love photographing a wedding, I also enjoy the days when I can take a step back and just film it, while watching the official photographer getting stressed lol.
Just about what a videographer does.
What you want is enough good footage to tell the story of their day. You can’t do this with just aerial footage alone. For it to look good you need to combine the aerial footage with ground camera footage.
Just as important as good footage is good audio. Do they want you to shoot the ceremony, speeches etc.? If so, you’ll need to think about good quality mics.
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She’s not looking for anything like pro quality John and definitely not ceremony or speeches, that’s why she’s paying for the services of a pro to come in. She has seen a couple of my videos from family walks at the beach etc and is under no illusions as to my skill levels 
She is after very informal, probably something like the good old days of fullsize camcorders being operated by your half pished uncle. I think I need to get a bit more info from her as the first step.
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If you need any advice Darren, just give me a shout.
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It could be useful to think roughly how the end video could look. What sort of story does it tell?
For example, some footage of people arriving, or the couple walking up the hill would be interesting as part of recording what happened on the day, not just the times when formal pictures are being taken.
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You could always invite us up for a meet on the day she is getting married. Surely amongst us all flying and videoing the ceremony there should be a couple of useable shots!
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I’ve been asked by my granddaughter to do a drone video of her wedding in September. ( had to create a risk assessment for the venue) First thing is to visit the venue, beforehand and look for any potential obstacles etc. Trees that are in their leafless state, might well be covered in greenery in 8 weeks time. Look out for overhead wires etc. Have a good look round for any features which might help you to create nice shots/ clips. Start planning to use the space available to fly in. Look on YouTube for videos others have done and don’t be afraid to pinch their ideas etc. 
