Did he just say what I think he said? Oh no he didn’t. The whispers in the room grew to a loud thunderous roar. That never really happened, but now that I have your attention. This week’s blog is on the importance of audio. Audio is the better half of video, without good audio there can’t be a good video. I know it’s not the most interesting subject for some, or maybe you just never taught about audio. Audio is this separate beast, and I’m only here to make suggestions that can affect you and your film.

I capture all the audio I possibly can on the wedding day. I capture the ceremony and speeches the best I can the day of. Here at MLP, we like personal touches. If you choose to write your own vows these are like gold in my book. If you don’t, do not worry about it. You can write a small letter to each other. Just a few sentences are all we need. You can have your letter pre-written weeks before. It can be over, but if you can do it the day of why not? I pre-wrote mine to make sure I was happy with my end result. Being prepared is always better, but we can record spontaneously. These personal letters are also like gold because I can use the words as an overlay in the film. If you are emotional and you don’t want your audio with crying, then I suggest reading your own letter. If you exchange letters and you know your spouse is emotional it might take a few takes before we get the good one.

Here’s another idea if you want to include your writing the letter in the film? I suggest making time in your timeline for writing the letter. Having a paper and pen is the most important thing here, and it doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes the day can be so overwhelming that a pen and paper are out of the question. This is not a big deal unless having it on film is a big deal to you. It does make for good content, but the most important for me is the audio. I will capture enough visuals throughout the day, and there are very little chances to have quiet time if any. That is why I prefer to record the audio over the visual, but both are important. We would prefer a quiet room if possible for 3 minutes tops. Background noise is very distracting.

No matter what the situation is the MLP team is always ready to capture audio. If you don’t write your own vows, then I suggest writing each other a letter. Just because this gives me good audio content to use for your film. If you choose to do both it’s even better for me because it gives me more options to choose from for audio. The most important thing to remember is do you want to read your own letter? Would you rather exchange letters with your future spouse and then read each others letters? Finally, a little planning goes a long way. Be prepared the day of and it will feel much easier.