Why You Don't Want The Raw Footage From Your Wedding

by Jasmine Dayton

Something that I hear a lot of people ask for when they are waiting to receive their wedding video is, "Can you send me the raw footage?" 

I will be honest, as much as I try to spare judgment from people asking me questions this is the one that I cringe at the most. I've been filming weddings and life events for about 2 years and I have been asked this question more than probably any other question while being in this business. 

Videography is not the only place where raw footage is asked for. Photographers in weddings also get this as well and it's understandable why - to a point.

With the age of Instagram and Facebook and media editing right at our fingertips and people having specific preferences of how they want their photos and videos to look to match their aesthetic, it's become more of a common question.

But I 'm going to tell you two reasons why you genuinely do not want the raw footage.

Trust your Videographers process

In my opinion I think people have a much rosier concept of videography than the reality of it. We film stuff on our phone all the time. How hard can it be, right?

It is much much harder to to tape a full length feature film and for the most part - it doesn't look pretty. As much as a videographer may look very tech savvy and appear to have everything under control, I guarantee you the videos are riddled with mistakes.

To try and avoid this a good rule of thumb I've heard for wedding videographers specifically is to try and film longer than what you think you need. Because ultimately when you get back into the editing studio you will see that waiting those extra 10 seconds before stopping the recording was actually the best bit of footage that you got.

Something could have gone wrong, could have been out of focus. Your hands could have been shaky which you wouldn't have noticed at the time, but now notice very clearly once you get that video on the computer.

What you are getting inside of the wedding video that was created for you is the cream of the crop. You don't have to go through all of the messy stuff. That's part of the reason that it is a paid service and Uncle Bill isn't in charge.

This footage does not belong to you 

I'm going to hold your hand when I tell you this gently. This footage doesn’t belong to you. It doesn't. Yes, you hired me to film your wedding. But that filming camera belongs to me and belongs to my company, which means I get to make the decisions of how it is used. 

Asking for raw footage is like commissioning an art piece and asking for the outline of the picture and coloring it in yourself.

The product that you are paying for isn’t the footage, it's the end result. It is the video that is fully edited because the hope is that you chose your videographer based off of the style of the videos you were seeing in their advertising.

If you want raw footage that is when you call Uncle Bill to set up the tripod and then get it from him because Uncle Bill is just there holding the camera.

As harsh as that sounds, that is the reality of how wedding videographers are able to have their business. Its unreasonable to expect wedding videographers and wedding photographers to be able to provide that service for you, especially when it is not explicitly written inside of their contract and their services.

I'm by no means saying that you shouldn't ask. There are plenty of wedding videographers that work very differently than I do, but in the back of your mind remember these two points. Trust your Videographers style and process because at the end of the day it's their footage.