.jpeg)
The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast
The Preferred List is a podcast that pulls back the curtain on the wedding industry, featuring honest conversations with the pros behind the scenes. From planners to photographers to DJs and florists, we dive into the real stories, lessons, and moments that make weddings unforgettable — and what it really takes to earn a spot on the list.
The Preferred List: A Wedding Vendor Podcast
Episode 9 From Hunt Films To Weddings: Strata Wedding Films
A single favor turned into a 13-year career, a stack of Vimeo links and DVDs gave way to story-driven highlights, and somewhere along the line wedding video stopped being an afterthought and started leading the must-book list. We sit down with Tyler from Strata Wedding Films to unpack how that shift happened—and how couples and creatives can make the most of it.
We trace the path from hunting footage to heartfelt ceremonies, then get practical about what actually makes a wedding film watchable. Tyler breaks down why prep now earns seconds, not minutes, how he listens for a theme that threads the entire story, and why clean dialogue beats flashy cuts every time. He shares the simple planning move that sets his schedule—counting back from the dance floor—and explains why he shows up an hour early on his own time to scout power, shape light, and get the drone up before guests arrive. When budgets and timelines collide, he favors clarity over clutter and chronology over chaos.
Gear talk gets real and useful: the third lav mic that quietly saves windy hilltop ceremonies, battery-powered lights that preserve reception ambiance while flattering skin, and drones as a value add instead of a risky upsell. We also zoom out: how to raise rates with confidence, juggle family weekends with edit weeks, and where AI helps organize but can’t replace human judgment. For couples, Tyler gives a punch list for vetting videographers—watch full films, compare packages across multiple sites, ask about audio redundancy and reception lighting, and beware subcontract mills. For vendors, we dig into respectful choreography with photographers so no one blocks the aisle or the moment.
If you care about wedding films that feel like your day—honest, cinematic, and built to be replayed—this conversation is your blueprint. Subscribe for more candid talks with the people behind unforgettable weddings, and share this episode with a friend who’s planning or shooting a big day. Your reviews help more couples find storytelling that lasts.
https://www.strataweddingfilms.com/
https://www.instagram.com/strataweddingfilms/
Welcome to the preferred list, a podcast about the people behind the best wedding days. I'm James, a wedding filmmaker. I've spent years in the industry working along some of the incredible vendors, and this show is all about the real conversations with the ones who make it happen. Whether you're a vendor or a couple, you'll get all this insight, good stories, and maybe a little inspiration along the way. Let's make today's winning vendor. Hey James, good to have you. Good. Tyler has been in the game a long time. And I'm very excited to dive into all things winning videos. Today we're filming here at Harmony Forge Inn. And Harmony Forge Inn is an assettlement with the Rolling Hills of Belfant, just 15 minutes away from Henn State. And it features a historic house built in 1795. A newly remodeled creekside lodge and a rustic barn with some modern touches. And the owners here are fantastic. It really is a family that's kind of tackling this wedding venue thing, and um, they're just great people. Very excited to be here filming today. Um but we're here with Tyler of Strata Wedding Films. Strata Co. What do you know? I you keep changing everything. Strata Wedding Films. Strata Wedding Films. Um Tyler is a good friend of mine, so um also a little biased on his business and everything that he does. But I'm very excited to have you on. Um you've been in the game a long time, but just fill me in on where did this all start? What's the journey been like um from when you started to now?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so basically I picked up a camera in high school and it was like one of like four people. Uh, and then I started right after college, I started like filming my hunts. Like I'm big into outdoors and hunting and things like that, which is kind of where the branding comes from a little bit with the with the name. And so I started filming hunts and we started making TV shows, getting sponsored on web web series and stuff like that. And my cousin said, Hey, you film your hunts, you're good to this stuff. Would you want to like just make a video for our wedding? Yeah, sure, whatever. I'm in the wedding, but like I'll film it, like no big deal. So I enlist my brother to help, who he's kind of in the whole creative industry as well on another another path, but he helps me out. And so I put this whole thing together back in 2012, I think. That's crazy. So like 13 years ago, like wedding films were just not a thing at that point, really.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, yeah, if you're not a wedding videographer, 2012 was a different time for wedding video.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. So it was more like long form, like no one was making highlight style films back then at all. And if they were, like$500 was a lot. And so, like, we made the film, put it out on Facebook, even like back then, like the only place you could put it was Vimeo, right? So it was on Vimeo and on like actual DVDs, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and so I do remember, yeah, I do remember that DVD thing. That was a thing for a minute.
SPEAKER_01:It was a thing for a minute, and it was awful. It sucked horrifically because you had to buy a burner. Yeah, they weren't in the laptops anymore. And so we put it, you know, DVD. Um, and then Blu-ray was a thing right after that, and then streaming became really big. But we put it out there and everybody loved it. And from that, we booked two. So that one was free. My other one was 500. I think the next one I did like seven, maybe.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And then the year after that, I think I had like five, and then it just started like just rolling out of control. And so I always like make a joke now. Like, I'm careful of what I do as favors because it ends up being my career because this is all I do now for a living, yeah, is you know, do business marketing and make wedding films. So I try to be careful with what I get myself into.
SPEAKER_00:I know. I feel like if you're business minded, you can take any like random hobby or thing. And my wife's probably laughing if she's listening to this because I've said that yeah so many times. Like, oh, that'd be a good business, or that would be fun to do. Um, but no, you've been in it for a long time. Tell me a little bit, like, so you said it was long form for the people that aren't really in tune with like what that means versus like a highlight film. Like, what were your films like when you first started? Even those couple that next year where you were maybe more of like a business, like how different were those films?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I won't talk about much about my early days of business because the IRS will throw me in jail, but they what you don't know, you don't know. Um, but you learn as you go. So when we first started out, I mean they were they were highlight films because that's kind of my style. So, like, really a lot of my edits and stuff in school that I was practicing on, I'm a huge Penn State football fan. So I was taking like the hype videos for Penn State, like that was my biggest thing. I was taking random clips from YouTube and cutting them to music and things like that. So, like, that was my thing. So I was one of the first ones in the area to really do highlight style films because I think their film was only like seven or eight minutes, maybe. Which is still kind of long, but it wasn't it wasn't as involved as what these other ones were because like I said, I didn't really know what I was doing, I was just kind of doing it and yeah, it happened. Um, but long form is kind of like where you just set the camera up and it's just you just deliver whatever happens, and that's it is what it is. But we were doing like prep. So we got shots of you know, hair and makeup and things like that. And it was, I don't want to say cutting edge, but but it was new. It was new, and a lot of wedding planners were saying, like, hey, this is really, really good. And this is back when cameras didn't have stabilization. I think I shot my first wedding on a T3i, a canon rebel T3i.
SPEAKER_00:Um cameras have come a long way for our for our sake, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:So like there was no, there was no like stabilization. So it was all shaky. You're relying on you know, everything that you know, just you're like locking in, like elbows to ribs, like don't move, be a statue. Um, and it turned out good, but wedding planners are like, how much? And I would tell them, like, oh, there's no way. No one will ever pay that. It's like I look back at it now and and it kind of lacks.
SPEAKER_00:I know it's it's so funny because it's even still, um, I mean, then it was definitely a probably a commodity of like an extra ad, but I still feel like wedding video is kind of a a last minute thing for a lot of couples. There are some that are seeking it out first or close to first, but um, we're definitely not the the given, the guarantee in like the vendor space.
SPEAKER_01:I always make the joke that like I'm usually used to be, not necessarily now, but like probably like three years ago. Like I was after the port-a-potty. You know what I mean? Like we have the venue, we got our photographer, we got our caterer, we have everything else, we have the porta potty because our wedding's outside, there's nowhere for bath for bathroom for our guests. Oh, and we want a videographer.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, that's hilarious.
SPEAKER_01:That's a great take. Um so I mean it's it just used to be that way, and now we're getting now. We changed branding and we changed things and we elevated you know the films and things over the years. Yeah, now it's hey, they have their venue, they have their photographer, which of course that's fine. I'll if someone comes to me before a photographer, I'm extremely excited about that. You know what I mean? It happens not frequently, but like maybe once a year. But I'm usually, I don't know, now we're in like the top three or four of the list of things that people want. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So tell me more about like the difference in your films now from when you started. So, like what's changed? What are you like focused on now? And like maybe it's some of the capture day of working with the couples, or maybe something like editing-wise that's changed over time.
SPEAKER_01:I think a lot of it has to just do with how like prep used to be a really big part of the day, and now couples are kind of getting away from it a little bit. And at first I was offended because you can get a really a lot of really cool shots during that, but at the same time, like how many times can you film a piece of hair getting curled into it's like, all right, well, we've filmed all of her extensions being curled. Uh, now we don't necessarily do it as much, and the prep side of things in a you know, an eight to ten-minute film or something like that is only maybe 45 seconds to the whole thing, and the grooms maybe only 30 seconds because there's way less going on. So the the films move a little bit faster um because we're trying to fit a lot of things in. But I would say like they're not they're definitely not as drawn out as they used to be. Um I'd have to agree with that. There it used to just be like you live on it and you sit there and you watch the same thing happening, but like when we film, we're only filming like two or three seconds at a time during prep. Now that all obviously changes during the ceremony, but um you know, we we film in short clips. And when couples get our raw footage and stuff and they look back and they're like, How did you even get make anything out of out of this? Like, it's just clips, it's just that's how you have to shoot because you can't sit there and go there. You'll blow through cards, you blow through batteries. So you have to kind of adapt, and you have to adapt with couples too, because we you know it used to be we want the whole thing, we want our ceremony, we want everything, and now it's like people are like, we don't want to watch an hour of ourselves, uh like five minutes is fine. Yeah, so you just kind of gotta go with it. Like things have just as the industry has changed, I've found that like our work changes, and I try to stay on top of things, but as I get older, I kind of get a little bit more no, like old man stay true to the stay true to the thing. But you know, with content creation stuff coming in, like you have to adapt with that and Virgo, like I haven't shot a wedding vertically yet, but I'm sure that it's probably coming at some point.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I would have there. I just saw I just saw a thing about like content creators like setting up a tripod for something like a ceremony, and it's like how much similar is it just like an iPhone videographer in a way?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean we have content creation, it's one of the services that we have, um, but it's more clips. It's not, and I've already said because we also do films, yeah. It's very different. I'm like, hey, we're not, and I had this conversation, like we didn't I didn't cover this with my content creator the um back when we first started doing this, like last year, and we were one of the first wedding film companies in anywhere to add content creation, and now it's like they're everywhere. But when we started, the content creator I sent out, she just she did exactly that for the ceremony for them, and I was I she got back and I was like, no way, yeah. Like we are we have films, and so now we say, like, hey, listen, this is not a substitute for a videographer per se. Some people use it as such because that's kind of what they care about. Um, but like we have films, we have full ceremony films, we don't do that in content creation anymore. So if that's what you're looking for your content creator to do, choose somebody else because that's not sense. But uh, we're more into like making the reels and photos and things like that, and little clips that you can have and make your own stuff out of.
SPEAKER_00:But the industry has changed so much in two years, like a lot. Yeah, well, it's it's it's people are changing and like what they want is very different. Like you were saying, yeah. Um, it's very different because I I remember my first couple films was like everything was slow motion, like you said, very drawn out. We probably had similar yeah. I mean, I do a lot of slow motion, but just drawn out slow motion, not not even just like showing a pretty clip snow, it's just like you're sitting on something for like way too long.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, I've done it where I'm like, all right, I need five seconds. Let's just slow motion this grass for just five seconds just to be able to make it work.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I've I feel that. Um, in those early years where you kind of had um, you know, a wedding here, a wedding there, you put your first wedding out and people started to kind of like buzz and ask about it. Was there like a a defining moment where you're like, oh, I could actually take this from you know just doing a couple weddings for 500 bucks to like a full-fledged business and like being I mean, you've been in business for so long too. Like, yeah, what was there a defining moment in any of that at the beginning?
SPEAKER_01:I guess when I started to see wedding films kind of take off and become a thing, and I was like, hey, wait a minute, I'm doing this already. And then look at what people were charging. I was like, really? Okay, like I was catching crap for 500 bucks, but if we're gonna go to thousand dollar land, like let's go. Yeah, and so it just turned into at that point, I was like, let's see how high I can take this thing. Like, you know, I'd raise a price, someone would book it, two people book it. All right, we're gonna go up more. Until for the longest time, I was anywhere from 2,500 to 3,000. And I was just like, okay, I had a full-time job. I didn't really, it was extra money. I wasn't married at the time or anything like that. It was just let's pay off some debt or let's have some fun with this money. Yeah. Uh or buy new stuff.
SPEAKER_00:Or buy new stuff. It was mostly buy new stuff. Yeah. I literally my business was like, oh yeah, this lens looks really cool, but I need to make some money to buy it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So that's the hardest part. And I try to, I try to do equipment cycles like every three to five years. But um once we hit that$3,000 mark, then it kind of turned into okay, what else could we do with this to maximize a our profit, B, couples experience, um, and then like C our time, right? So we kind of looked at a couple different things and we got lucky and we were able to travel um to a couple different places for some weddings, and it was cool. Um, but then once I started looking, like, oh, I'm working full-time and doing 10 weddings a year, one year I think I did 14 while working full time.
SPEAKER_00:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01:And but at that point, I like I had nothing really else going on. Like, I think at that point I think I was married with a kid. I think I think my son was I think my son was like newborn that year. So like I had a newborn, I was working full-time, I did like 14 weddings. It was busy. Yeah, um, but but that was what kind of opened the my eyes and was like I could really take this to scale. Like, I was looking at my money and I'm like, because I do business things too, I don't just do weddings. So I'm like, at scale, if I go full time with this, I can make more than what I'm making working for somebody else. And that was kind of where in 2019 I kind of went uh I'm done and left full-time salary job. And so now you know we just do marketing and weddings, and I think we try to do eight to ten now. Yeah, and it seems to be a comfortable number.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I 14, I mean, 14 and a full-time job. Yeah, I mean, I I I can't even wrap my mind.
SPEAKER_01:I know photographers that do 36 weddings, yeah. But but don't work full-time, yeah. Yeah, I was gonna say, but they're but they're doing 36 weddings, newborns, portrait sessions, everything else, and like I won't throw them under the bus, but they're very good friends of mine. I was like, how do you girls function? She's like, We don't. We don't, yeah. Probably lots of coffee, lots of coffee, but yeah, and and I think that that's changed too. Like just this past weekend, I was working with a really good photographer friend, and they're looking at you know, scaling down to like it's just crazy, you know. But they still, I think her husband works okay full-time. So it's and with me, with kids now. I got two kids, I coach little league and flag football, like um, you know, like full-fledged dad mode, and it's eight to ten is still hard. Yeah, it's still hard.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, because it does take up the weekends, and uh what I'm hearing a lot from family uh oriented videographers or or just vendors, it's like a lot of the like kids stuff happens on the weekend. It's tough, and then it's like, oh wait, now it's a little different with like you got the whole week sort of to yourself to work and whatnot.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, I mean, I was getting text message updates of my son's flag football game, like, oh, they're you know, scored this touchdown. Cause I work with like the receivers and stuff on flag, and like we were just you know killing them through the air. And so it makes you happy because you're but you're like, Man, I wish I was there to see this. Yeah, so it makes it tough, and then like during the week, you know, films don't take it's not like I'm sitting down for 10 minutes and spinning out or throwing our films into AI and they're just spitting out your wedding film. Like it's yeah, they don't do that. Not yet. I'm praying for the day, but have you checked out plotline?
SPEAKER_00:I've not. But they should sponsor this podcast since we now talked about it. Yeah, it's it's pretty cool. Um, AI. So for me with video and AI, there's still an element, even if like plotline can pull story pieces from long form content, basically. So like speech, it can pull stuff like hey, this is an impactful moment, this or that. Um, it can order it, but I still there's still like I don't know that there's gonna be something soon where you can just like have everything from a wedding and pop out a final uh an emotionally driven story, yeah. Like where it's like really a good film.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think I think the one and I you could look at it as a a perk and you could look at it as a downside, but I think that the human element will never go away from video. I just don't I don't see that happening.
SPEAKER_00:I mean like you have to be there day of and do a good job and get it. I mean stop if you suck at filming films are gonna suck.
SPEAKER_01:The film is not going to be good. Yeah. So, you know, that kind of that's kind of where a lot of the pricing for us comes in is we you know, we know what we do, we're we're doing, we we're not in there just bumbling around. Yeah. I don't even ask for as many details anymore. We do our consultation calls and like, what time do I need to be there? When's your that what I try to do, and you can steal this if you don't do it already, but I say, when's your dance floor opening? All right, let's go an hour past that, and then we'll count backwards, and that's when I need to start filming. So if they get an eight-hour package and the dance floor opens at seven, okay, we're gonna film seven to eight open dancing, because and after an hour, I'm ready to you know leave. It does, it does sort of get a little monotonous, but it is it's always the same group of people dancing typically. Um, so like an hour is pretty much decent enough for a film, right? Unless they got like raw footage and they want me there all night, they're doing a sparkling or exit, then fine. But typically, I say, okay, dance weapons is seven, we go to eight, you got an eight-hour package backwards the noon, that's when I start. And then I show up an hour early. Because I I don't know if some videographers do that. I know some photographers do it because they don't show up with anything but a camera. They can show up and start taking photos where I'm like, well, I've got nine boxes, a cart, yeah, the mule that I brought everything in with. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, I've had vendors or venues be like, Wow, why do you bring so much stuff? It's like we need all we need all of it, we need all of it. And then I mean when you see the films, it makes sense. But like I show up an hour early on my own time just to make sure. You know, I'm paying my second shooter for that hour, but I'm donating it. Um, because I don't want my films to suck. I don't want to know where the outline is.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, the beginning of the day, like it can really throw you for a loop and get you totally off your game if you're not getting there and and getting your yourself situated.
SPEAKER_01:Because you could show up and the bride could be like, oh, hey, by the way, we're an hour behind on hair. And you're like, oh man, okay, so I'll take my time getting things set up because whatever. But then you also have to remember like that photographer's gonna probably show up and be in sprint mode to get everything caught back up, and you gotta be ready for it. Yeah. And one of the hardest things if you've never been to certain venues is knowing where's the power at. Because I have a battery-powered light, and I'll probably get another one to avoid all of those issues, but take it in. Where's the angles gonna be? Where's the ceremony set up? Yeah, you help visualize. Even like a chance to fly your drone, get the establishers. I try to so what I try to do is I try to get there an hour early. I figure load in, get all my stuff situated, check with the bride, say hi, all that other stuff. 45 minutes. And then I'll fly for 15 to 20 minutes. I don't even charge for drone. I think that videographers I don't either. I think that videographers that charge for drone are bad people.
SPEAKER_00:I will it's literally fun to fly. I don't understand. I mean, I get like having it listed in your package just because it looks good. Right.
SPEAKER_01:And people want it, but people know put it in there. But like it takes my my take on it is it takes me 15 minutes to fly the drone at the venue. Um, I'm probably not gonna fly it during the ceremony because that's obnoxious.
SPEAKER_00:I've done it a couple times, and it is the sound is obnoxious. Yeah, but it the shot is always so epic.
SPEAKER_01:It is good, but like Do you want to hear like I can't be everywhere, I can't do everything. But like I don't charge for it because, like I said, it's 15 minutes, and then God forbid, if I pay make them pay for it, and then on the day of it rains, I can't fly it. Yeah, now post-wedding, now I gotta refund money, and it's a mess. So I just I just do it, you know? So you build it in, you get there, you do your your load-in and check everything out, and then when my second shooter shows up, if they don't show up with me, I'm saying, hey, you go get the details. The guys aren't showing up for another hour, you've got an hour to go grab details outside, get everything, establishers, all that other stuff, everything else is done. I'm gonna be with the bride, because that's so like fluid. Like, you never know what's gonna happen there. Like they could be ahead, they could be behind, they could be behind, usually behind. But like I always tell brides, like, you're gonna be behind, don't worry about it. It's gonna happen. Yeah, it's it's fine. Um, but like we can usually build it, you know, like catch up a half hour worth of stuff in like 10 minutes. Like it doesn't take long to move through things, it's just how fast you do it. That's kind of our flow in the day of though.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, I I think um couples that are listening, I would think that they would appreciate a videographer that has that mindset of like I'm gonna show up early before the contracted time, even and you're paying a second shooter to do the same. Um, but the the ones the days that I feel most flustered are the ones that start quick and I don't feel like I have enough time to get my footing day of. Um, but it always comes back around and comes together.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I mean this will be going, we're going on what year 13. I told myself I'd I would want to do 15 years. I want to do wedding films for 15 years, and then I will probably get out. Um because by then the kids are gonna be like super old. You know what I mean? Like we're gonna be like into actual school sports, not just like AYSO and no little like little five. Like it'll be like the real stuff. Um and so you know, I have a couple more years left under my belt, but like since I've been doing it for so long, you see certain things from other videographers, and you're like like six hours. Yeah, you're gonna start out a package, like you said, you feel rushed. So I always tell couples, like, they're like, hey, do you have any tips for us? We're still in the looking process. You know, this is great, but we still have a couple calls lined up that are not, we don't want to cancel on and then we want to give them the chance to do their thing. And I'm like, look out for people that charge for drones, look out for people that say our packages are six hours because you can't create anything in six hours, it's impossible. I said, so they're probably going to charge you an arm and a leg for extra hours to get you up to that eight anyway, because that's what they want. And if they are, they're doing six hours and they're handing you just a highlight film with no dialogue, no nothing. It's just straightforward. I said, so always be careful with those things. And I've had couples come back and like ask me questions. Hey, what do you think about this person's work? Like, all right, I'll give you honest feedback. Yeah, and sometimes I'm like, hey, it's really good. Yeah, you know, but be careful of their package structure. Because at the end of the day, I mean, I don't care if people book with me. I don't want that to sound bad. But like if it if someone else fits their budget, if someone else fits their style, awesome. Congratulations. Like, that's cool. That's cool, great. If I can help in any way and make sure that that's an educated decision and they get the best of what you know their budget allows or whatever, I'm cool with that too. If you book me, even better. But it's like I'm only doing eight to ten, so it's like it's okay. Yeah, but I want to make sure that like people aren't because there's scammy people out there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, well, it sounds like you have a similar take on it that I do. It's like I just want couples to get a wedding videographer. Yeah. Because I do think the video is worth it. And for sure. Um, whether they watch it ten times or a hundred times or a thousand times or share it with everyone or just keep it to themselves, like I think that memory is worth it. Um, but I'm like, just find someone that works.
SPEAKER_01:That's good. Yeah. Like for your money.
SPEAKER_00:And you're gonna get what you see. Yeah. If you're seeing something a certain way, it's gonna be that way in your film, most likely.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you have to be careful, you really do. Because I don't know, we dealt with some with some things with people trying to steal our brand. I don't know if you remember that whole conversation. Um they I mean, if you Google wedding videographer, we probably show up somewhere no matter where you're at in you know, America. And we had someone try to steal the brand, and we did this whole I turned into detective mode, and I called and everything else. We got it, and they were literally offering photo and video for like I think it was like 1200 bucks. Yeah, I'm like, there is no way, and people were paying it in full up front, but they weren't getting their money back, they were out money, they were no one showed up to their wedding, the one girl. Um, and then I got a review because it was my fault.
SPEAKER_00:I didn't realize that they were they went that far with it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, yeah. So I got a review, I reached out to her and I was like, hey, listen, like this isn't even my company. I'm I don't have no idea who you are. Um, and then she ended up being like, Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. She went back in and removed it. But um, yeah, like it turned into this whole thing. Like, I contacted like Colorado state government, everything else, and they were like, There's nothing we can do. Like, you're lying, like you can, you still want to. Yeah, um, but we ended up really reaching out to like all of the different vendor boards and things like Zola and every like wedding wire and stuff, and reached out to them, and they ended up doing their own little research based on the data that we gave them, and they were kicked them off.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, no.
SPEAKER_01:So they totally removed them, um, and they finally took the website down and everything else. So we don't deal with it anymore, but like that was a scam. But there's people out there, there's companies out there that that's what they do, they're all about like quantity. Like they'll book a million weddings in a year, and then subcontracted a bunch of freelancers. You just never know who you're gonna get. You never know who you're gonna get. And it's like you get you know, that company might make four hundred dollars per wedding, but they didn't go, they don't care. And if they're booking fifty to sixty a year, they're making their money that way. They're making their money that way, and they don't care, and they might run multiple of those. So I I'm salty about the whole thing because I think it's ridiculous. But people pay for it, and if it works, it works, but at the end of the day, you know, I think that having a a good connection with your videographer is important, um, having like a person that's actually gonna be there too. The person that's actually gonna be there.
SPEAKER_00:I I'd love to talk more about the like the actual storytelling process that you have. So, like obviously, there's a lot that goes in, not obviously, maybe people listening or watching don't know, but there's a lot that goes into a good wedding film, and some of that is day of captured, doing a good job, getting what you need to get. And maybe there's some pieces in there that would be helpful for couples to hear about. But um, I'd I'd love to know, like, when you get back, like what are you looking for? How are you like crafting a super good story in your in your films?
SPEAKER_01:So during during the day of, and that's why I you know it's important for me to be there. Um and I'm listening all day long for themes, um listening for just cinematic uh points. Um for instance, just back a month ago, we filmed a wedding, and the the stage was pretty much set. It was a beautiful location. The couple had a beautiful story, and their officiant had a British accent. And I was like, this guy is like Morgan Freeman of voices for wedding films. And we were just randomly going through, and at that point I was checking cameras or whatever, and he's going through and doing a prayer and you know, a couple little other bits there, and he says, uh, your adventure has just begun. And I was like, bingo. Like that's what we that's that's my point. And so they had based upon their story, and I try to figure out what the couple's like store story is like their engagement, how they met, that kind of thing. Um, and usually our couples have a pretty good story. And like for these, this couple, he lived in California, she lived in Pennsylvania, they met online, and so they and they like to go on adventures. So this was at a state park, and so we're gonna build their film. I haven't even started it yet. Um, we're gonna build their film around like cinematic beauty, adventure, cinematic shots of them, that kind of thing. Um, and so we just listen for those kinds of things. Sometimes it's more religious based, and we listen for themes with that. We'll build around, you know, the story of their, you know, their love for Jesus and things like that, which are are really cool. I love when we get to do religious weddings because it's uh a different, a different feel than just like in and out and quick and happy and less dance get wasted at the party. You know, it's uh it's it's different, and they're very sentimental, and you can usually build a really good cinematic film around that. And so we try to market that. But when we build our stories out, like I said, we're listening for themes, and we will literally intentionally try to find things that uh work with that, and so we'll also be trying to figure out like music. So during the day, I'm listening to. What's the bride listening to while they're getting ready? Like, we've we've been surprised. Um, anything from like pretty rough rap music to like country music, or we've been surprised even like heavy metal, and like obviously I'm not gonna use that in their film, but it gives me an idea on personality, and we usually meet a couple times and it really helps us kind of blend their love story, the dialogue through the day. Um, because even if like if they write like their own vowels and have custom vows, we really dive into those big time. Um, and then like letters. So sometimes we get really lucky and we have a good efficient, yeah. They have letters at the beginning of the day and they do their own vows. And it's like, I have a lot to choose from, you know. But usually in there, there's a theme. And so I don't a lot of videographers, I don't think, look for themes. I think they just look for things that sound good. And I think a lot of times it could just be kind of a mixed bag of really good one-liners, and that's fine if you're doing like a four to five minute quick little film, but like six to eight, eight to tens. You need a little bit more to keep it. You need something to let it flow and and everything else, because there's not a lot of dialogue gaps in in my films.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So it's pretty pretty heavy, like you're hearing a lot of story throughout the whole thing.
SPEAKER_01:A lot of story throughout the whole thing. Um we might, if I have lack of story, you'll hear, and I don't want to say lack of story, but like lack of like sound bites for theme or things like that. And maybe it is just, hey, we didn't write letters, we don't have our own custom vowels, and the officiant had a couple good spots, and we're gonna leave them for the ceremony or something to lead in. Um, but you always feel like you're on some sort of like journey with our films, so you're really you're taken from the beginning of the day sections through. Um, I don't do any of the whole time shifting, I'm very much chronological in that sense. Like, I want you to feel like you're at the beginning of your day and the end of your day. And in there in between, I do a little bit of back and forth of things, but you're never gonna see, I want to say not never, but 90% of the time, you're not gonna see anything from a reception toast at the beginning of the film. Okay, so you might a lot more like chronological. Yeah, I I try to because a lot of my background is like broadcast. So in college, there was a lot of like broadcast video. Um, outdoor stuff was telling the story at the beginning to the end of you know that outdoor adventure. So we there are people that can time shift and they do it well, it's awesome. Like I applaud you. Um because it's not your style. It's hard, it's hard to do. Yeah, it is, and it's just chronological. I think when we look at our style, we're trying to tell that story. Um, we try to tie things in. So, unless something that's said in the reception really ties together with something that's like you have no choice but to do that, then we will time shift and we'll throw that around. Um, but they take longer. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I I I think I enjoy a more of a mixed bag approach. And every time I do it, Christina, my wife's like, Why are you showing this right now? I'm not, I'm not there in my mind. So I get it. Um, but that's I think it harkens back to what I said before too, is like if you see a chronological approach to a story from a wedding videographer, that's likely what you're gonna get from your film. Yep. And I think there's couples that, like you said, they're gonna enjoy that style, that approach. There's gonna be couples that just want like a like complete mishmash, like you're seeing everything all flashy and yeah, different.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and then there's there's um uh one videographer that I followed, um that she's from Pittsburgh, and she has a very fun style. Her stuff is very, very creative, very flashy. It's almost like sometimes I see it, I'm like, I wish I could kind of be that yeah, that flashy. And we we could, but it's just not like if I throw in a random wedding like that, like it just doesn't feel like wait genuine. So it would kind of be like, what is that, you know? Um, so a lot of ours is it's very sentimental, story-driven, cinematic just pieces. And it it people that enjoy that style really enjoy what they get out of it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What would you say is like an underrated piece of gear or equipment that every wedding videographer should have in their kit?
SPEAKER_01:I would say underrated would be a third mic.
SPEAKER_00:So it's you're you're kind of putting it out there that it's common for maybe a videographer to have like two?
SPEAKER_01:It would be common for most people to have two, or even just one, or none, and tying into a DJ or the band or whatever for the ceremony. This is specifically for a ceremony. I guess I should clarify.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but having a third mic that you can put in the bride's dress is invaluable. And we've been doing that for like three years. I'm giving away secrets. But yeah, we do it too.
SPEAKER_00:So you should you should mic your bride.
SPEAKER_01:Uh but yeah, if they're down for it. If they're down for it, some we push it pretty heavy. Yeah. Um, unless the dress just does not allow for it. And sometimes we find that like we've done the one one that we left out. A, the bride didn't want it. She was really up against it um because of the dress, and we tried it, and she was like, No, it's uncomfortable. And I was like, You weren't gonna do it from the beginning anyway. Yeah, um, so we didn't do it on that one. It's cool. Yeah, I don't care, it's it's your wedding day, but I I let her know, like, hey, listen. Yeah, there's gonna be some there's a possibility, you know. Um, but being able to throw that bri the bride mic in there, unless this dress is like super see-through and there's really nowhere for that cord to go, um, we always try to push it just because we've been saved by it. Yeah, especially outside or in Catholic ceremonies, big time. Yeah, big time, big time. Because you're like nine miles away from each other sometimes from the officiant.
SPEAKER_00:It's a built-in backup too. If something happens with the groom mic and often they're close-ish, if something does happen to the groom mic, uh you have that there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I and I think from a technical standpoint. I mean, we always really cut our teeth on just like the groom mic. And then as money came in, we bought the efficient mic. Never really thought about the bride until I was like, I wonder if I could mic the bride. So I did a little research and found some other people that were doing it, and I thought, perfect. So we started doing it, and the one time that we got really saved, the first time we got saved, the groom mic was trash, the efficient mic was trash. We were out on the top of a uh a hill. You were with me, and I can I'll say this story.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_01:You were with me. It was a wedding we filmed in uh Mill Hall at a family property on a farm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was one of the first ones I think you filmed with me.
SPEAKER_00:That I think that was the first one.
SPEAKER_01:And we mic'd, I mic'd the dress, and it was windy as all could be that day. And all the other mics were awful. The DJ mic was even bad. And the bride mic, because it was inside the dress, it acted as a natural windscreen. Yeah, and everybody's audio on it was crystal clear. And from there on out, I was like, that's it. Were you already gonna do it that day? It was the first, she was the first bride we did it with, and I was like, Thank you, Jesus. Like, this is like oh my gosh, so it was the the perfect setup, but yeah, I that's completely underrated, and also from an editing standpoint, as a you know, brides, I think that is helpful for them. What we just kind of said is getting, you know, make sure this making sure that their audio is like perfect, yeah. Um, because you can have really good visuals in a film, but if the audio sounds like you're talking through a tin can, yeah, the whole thing sucks. I don't care how pretty it is. Yep. Um but from an editing standpoint for other videographers, you can then take that bride audio on a track and like EQ it and it's perfect the whole way through. You don't have to go through and then clip her out of groom micro efficient mic.
SPEAKER_00:And then you don't hear the like whatever the groom's doing, like if he yeah.
SPEAKER_01:While you're trying to listen to her audio and he's sniffling because he's bawling, you know, you don't have to worry about that cutting things off because you can just turn him down and he's out. And it's just her, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So I agree. I agree. That's a great take. I agree wholeheartedly.
SPEAKER_01:That's my one. Number two, if we have to, if we have to have a a a B, it would be a battery-powered light. Back, I don't know, 10 years ago, eight years ago, people were trying to be like, we don't use lights and we're tough, and yeah, you know, our cameras are super bright. I think that was the A7S was like first coming out. We use Sonys and we don't need lights.
SPEAKER_00:Probably the A probably the A7S too was like the thing at the point.
SPEAKER_01:And everybody was like, we don't use lights. And I was like, okay, we don't use lights, we're not gonna use lights. And I'm on a canon. Yeah. I was too. It was rough, it was very rough. It was rough, but now it's like if you don't use lights, like it looks like crap.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and it's just that's just the well you have like all this natural light the entire day, and then you get in. And I just said this to a couple yesterday for a meeting. Well, yesterday, I don't know when this is going out, but the other day. Um, I was like, it it looks amazing to your eye. Like you seeing it visually with the candlelights or the twinkly lights or the chandeliers, it all looks so good. But when we put our cameras up, it's not the human eye. And it goes like dark dungeon really fast if there's not some light in there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think it having the battery light, like I said earlier, getting in and trying to find the the outlets and stuff, like it's okay to plug one in. I'll probably get around to buying another battery light because it just makes it easy. Yeah. And I'm gonna plug, I'm gonna plug it's plugged in now because we're filming, but I'm gonna say that Amaran should sponsor me.
SPEAKER_00:You personally? Me personally. Um what do you do for work? I'm sponsored. What do you mean? No, just I'm just sponsored.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, that's all that I use. And it's it's great because I can Bluetooth. I mean, it probably looks bad during weddings because I'm on my phone. Yeah. But I'm able to control lights are just like shooting off.
SPEAKER_00:Like, what is he doing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, just this past, just this past weekend, Tate was doing a video booth. Uh, I don't know if you've the like the couple's video booth. And I was trying to adjust the light inside, but I couldn't remember which one was which. And so he's outside filming people on um this video booth with a wireless light, and I'm doing this, and this light's not I'm like, what? What is that? This isn't working. And I'm looking outside and his light's gone on and off. And I was like, oh crap. So I had to turn it back on. And I finally got it figured out. But it's nice to be able to dial that in one time and then just on and off, and you can adjust your color and everything else on the fly. And so we just use the the Amaran 60. I think it's the X now.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:To buy color X. I use that and they're 100, which I have to plug in if they can make a battery-powered 100. It's not Amaran, but well then I can't use it because I'm I'm counting on the sponsorship. I'm looking at the camera and looking at you, Amoran.
SPEAKER_00:You heard it here first. I'm looking for that. Well, so we're gonna be sponsored by two people. Bot line it. Yeah. I would breaking in the sponsorships.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we'll take that because I think my I think my films deserve it. Yeah. Um your couples deserve it. They do. Yeah. Yeah. The the sponsorship. That can lower the prices if you sponsor me. But I think I think uh the whole business plan just got too much. Everything just shifted. Um, but I think no, seriously, I think that the having a wireless battery-powered light is different because you're not tied down to an outlet. You can move things around. Anywhere because you're able to take it. And honestly, I was worried about battery life at first. But like it runs on two of like those Sony bricks. Like, they are like the NPF. They're huge. Yeah. And I didn't even buy the Sony ones, they're just Watson batteries, and they work just fine. Um, they literally last me an entire reception. Reception. Yeah. Like it's perfect. So you can move it anywhere you need to.
SPEAKER_00:And I will say, if you're listening, if you're a videographer and you're listening, you don't use lights, I've asked every single couple in our pre-wedding day like final planning meeting. I'm like, hey, this is what we do. Is that okay? I have not had a single couple say anything. The only time I've had a guest come up to me and say, no one's dancing because your lights are on. And I said, Okay, would you like me to turn them off? And they said, Yeah. And then I went on my walkie-talkie and I was like, it's not my lights. Because I turned them off and no one danced. Uh but I've I've never had a couple after the explanation, the last thing I want is like for them to look over and not know that I'm doing it. But I've never had a couple be like, why no, I don't want the lights.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Because it just it helps so much. It does. And it if you know, I'll add this in here. If you know what you're doing with light, that makes a difference. True. Not just throwing it out there and blasting everybody's eyeballs. Yeah. Um, if you know what you're doing with light and you're gonna shape shape the couple with light and make them look their best, anything is gonna help the couple look their best on their wedding day, they're gonna be like, absolutely right. So, you know, that always that helps and it makes the film look better. It gives you more options. You can get creative with it, use a little lens flare out of the corner if you want to do something cinematic during their first dance. Um, but also like anything like Bluetooth is becoming a big part of my life. I don't want to say that I'm lazy.
SPEAKER_00:But it's up in the it's like 10 feet up, and you're 10 feet up.
SPEAKER_01:I'm also I'm also 35 and I am lazy. Oh, and that's why I don't solo shoot anymore. People like, can you like if we cut out the second videographer, will that put the price down? I said, absolutely, it'll put the price down. I said, I won't come at all. Yeah, because I don't do it. Like I used to.
SPEAKER_00:Um what would your what would your advice be for couples like to get the most out of their wedding videographer? Like, what could they do? What questions could they ask? Or like like how can they get the most out of their wedding videographer?
SPEAKER_01:I guess just knowing edu educate yourself on what is in a good videography package. I guess see what most people do for the most part. And then if you find that one that doesn't, and you like kind of question, well, why don't you do this? Ask questions is probably the biggest, the biggest thing. Like educate yourself on what a lot of people are doing, look around at a lot of different places. Don't just go to websites and fill out inquiry forms, yeah. Right? Go to websites, look at prices as much as you possibly can if they have them listed. If they have them listed, and look at packages if they have any kind of anything listed, and then just kind of notate that. Like, what are maybe look at 10 different places and then go back and say, okay, this is what this person had, they had these. Um, this is a common thing we're seeing, and then go back through and fell out inquiry forms. Um, we have a thing that kind of tracks people when they come on their on our site, and we see like more, I want to say the more return visitors we see, we tend to book them versus people that just show up for the first time, photo form, yeah, they're gone. Sometimes we don't even hear from them. They'll photo form, like, hey, we have your date available, you know, and then it's like, did you die? Like, where did you go? Um, it's a huge pet peeve. But that my biggest thing, I think, is to ask questions because the you're never going to regret being the best informed about all your vendors on your wedding day. Yeah. I I think that that's the biggest thing. A lot of people come in and oh, it looks pretty, sounds great. Prices at our budget, awesome.
SPEAKER_00:And then it always is a little concerning when they don't have questions. And it's not a bad thing to not have questions, but it's like, do you know everything? Yeah. I'm hoping I'm hoping that and it's I also, as you're sitting there saying all this, I'm like, it how many times have I had a couple inquire? I get on a call with them because that's our process. And I'm like, have you had a chance to watch any of our films yet? No. They're like, no, I just saw an Instagram post one time, and you you have to see a full film because that's where you see, like, that's what you're gonna get from us is what's out there.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And I think I think a lot of it comes down to people are just in a hurry. And don't be. I think that when you're spending the kind of money that we charge, I think that it's important to be super, you know, inquisitive and come with a lot of questions. A lot of times I hear, since I've been doing it for so long, a lot of times I hear, nope, you he you, you, you nailed everything. Like she's like literally, I had one bride, she held up a list of questions, they were all crossed off. I hit them all during the consult.
SPEAKER_00:Just off your normal way we do it.
SPEAKER_01:I'm like, I've been doing it for so long. I would like to think that I have most FAQs kind of like worked into my whole, I don't want to call it a spiel because it's not sales percent.
SPEAKER_00:So if you go over all the details and everything, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I try to I try to hit everything. And if we do get a couple outliers, then like awesome, you know, and I try to work those in. But sometimes for the most part, we get I don't know, maybe two or three extra questions on top of what we get. It's fine. Like you said, it's it's it's kind of it's kind of worrisome when people are like, nope, that's good. You leave the call and you're like, Well, did I suck? Did like what was that like did I miss everything? Um, but I that's my biggest take from that is just ask questions.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Day of as a videographer, um, what's the process look like when you're like part of it working with the photographer? Because we do often like, I mean, we're like hip to hip with a photographer for the full day, pretty much. What's that process look like? And then even just like, are you kind of like unobtrusive? Are you kind of like flying the wall? Are you like giving some direction, moving people around a little bit? Like, what's your process look like?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so I stand directly in front of the photographer the entire day.
SPEAKER_00:And they continue to recommend you to all of their couples.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, I I uh especially during the kiss, I stand right in the middle of the aisle and the trend parts behind them so they trip over the past. I yeah, I I am the biggest pain possible on the day of no, I'm kidding. To be honest, I try to be out of the way. Um, we're usually now during prep, prep's a little different um because there's only one camera during prep. One's with the bride, one's with the groom. Um, and so for the most part, we're probably shooting, you know, photographers got the main angle. I can make this work, or I can make this work, right? Yeah um so or if I need something specific, I'll be like, hey, let me can I when you're done there, can I snag that? And I'll say the makeup artist, like, hey, can you just do that again real quick? Um a lot of videographers I don't think are vocal enough about getting what they need. Yeah. And I think that that shows in films. Um, but I'm so chill during the day that I literally am like, I can make anything work, right? So I'll be next to the photographer or over top of the photographer, below the photographer.
SPEAKER_00:Like, hey, I'm over your shoulder right now, I'll tell you.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So, and I always just say, like, hey, if you need me to move them in your way, just kick me, elbow me, punch me, do whatever you need. Yeah, like I'm a big guy, I can handle it. Um, but like beyond that, during the ceremony, what I'll try to do is the way I look at it is I have three cameras. They probably have one, maybe two, if there's two of them. So, and we're always rolling. So, I can always like if they happen to be in a bad spot, I just cut to it. But I always just check with the photographer, like, hey, this is our setup. Does that mess with anything you're trying to do? Usually it's nope, that's totally fine. Yeah, the back of the out camera is the biggest, the biggest issue because they want the wide. They want the they want that wide. And so sometimes I'll have a photographer say, Hey, can you remove that for like five seconds? And I'm like, sure. I don't like it, but sure.
SPEAKER_00:Also, I've had more photographers be like, oh, don't worry about it. AI can take it out. I know. It's crazy what they can take out. I I know, and but still, yeah, there's just that that one little hiccup.
SPEAKER_01:It's usually that, but or I'll try to be like, hey, I'll say, like, hey, my camera is shooting from like this seat, or during this, during the ceremony, when I can actually pinpoint a person.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01:I'll point, I'll pull the photographer like, hey, my camera is like to that guy in the red shirt with the hat.
SPEAKER_00:So go that far up.
SPEAKER_01:Anywhere beyond that, you're gonna be in my shot. So just keep that in mind when you're shooting. Just don't stand in the middle of the aisle if you can help it. Yeah, um, because when the bride comes down, I'm shooting, like if there's an aisle, I'm shooting like off the corner of the one side.
SPEAKER_00:From behind.
SPEAKER_01:From behind, so that I can use the the guest as like a guiding line framing. I know I'm talking kind of geeky here, and bride's like, I don't care. But generally they don't. Other videos as long as it looks good, we don't care. Yeah, but other videographers, I'll use that as a guiding line and frame them, my groom, and then the other side will come in part way, and that frames them, and then boom, they're there. So then I know that my photographer that's up front, not mine, but the photographer that's up front is shooting this way typically to not be on the groom side. So I'm missing them completely. They don't see my camera, they see the bride, he sees the bride, everybody's happy. Everyone's good, yeah. And then everybody's settled, they're up front. My camera goes in the middle, everybody's pointed out where we're at. But you know, we get along with just about everybody. 99%.
SPEAKER_00:You kind of have. I mean, it's gonna be a really bad day if you don't.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:We've I mean we've had situations where we just might not know, but it it's for us, it's gonna be a bad day if we're not to flow.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we we had we had one where like I don't know if the photographers just like anti-videographers or what.
SPEAKER_00:Well, they've I was or if they've been scorned. They've been, yeah. I think there's a lot that have had bad experiences.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you can always tell. That's why I try to get there before them. Yeah, because if they're already there welcome and you show up, yeah. Nice to meet you. Yeah, uh, but if you show up and the photographer's already there and they're like, oh, you know, you can always just you can see it. Yeah, and so I'm pretty good at reading people really, really well. And so I see body language that says like I'm not excited about you being here. I try to let them know that like I've been doing this for like ever. Yeah. Uh, and then it usually seems to calm the nerves. And usually by ceremony time, we're best friends. Yeah. I usually, yeah, hopefully. There's only been one. I won't say your name, but one in 12, 13 years, like that's pretty good.
SPEAKER_00:Well, Tyler, it's been great having you on. Um, hearing all of your insight. I hope everyone that's listening also got a ton of value from uh listening to everything that Tyler's been through in business in 13 years is a crazy long time. I hope that I can make it 13.
SPEAKER_01:I'm outlasting a lot of people. I feel like a dinosaur sometimes, you know. I just said to the photographer this past week and she said, and she's like, you know, she's like, you're one of like the only ones that are still left.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I was like, I don't know if that's a good thing. Or not. She's like, she's like, a lot of people are getting out. She goes, I think we're gonna soon be looking at, you know, X things and movies. Save me a save me a spot because it's it's it's coming soon. But um, yeah, I'd like to I'd like to hang in there for a couple more years. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, where can people find and follow along with the work that you're doing?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So our website is uh stratawinningfilms.com and Instagram Stranda Winning Films. No crafty very straightforward.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so definitely following this free work as films are in the state. Let's get money from a video from what I'm gonna be wondering. Um but I appreciate you guys feeling it in the cell and love the preferred list. Um that's a multifrail, cellular, and we'll get you guys next time.