Skip to main content

Introduction

Lesson 1 from: The Art of Wedding Filmmaking

Alfio Stuto

buy this class

$00

$00
Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2200+ more >

Lesson Info

1. Introduction

Next Lesson: Basic Gear Kit

Lesson Info

Introduction

All right welcome everyone I'm absolutely so pumped to be here it's honestly a blessing to be here because at one point I was where you are you know, getting inspiration from other filmmakers what cinematographers so to be here I'm really really excited because I'm so privileged to share my experiences on the skills that I've developed over time to you guys because what you're doing you're you're making that that mark you know you're taking that step and it's awesome you know and that inspires me because you guys have the initiative and it's all about color calibrating and sharing skills and talents so I want to just do a shot out tio my family and friends my friends obviously in sydney and my family very very important to me including mom jamma and my friends in portland been there for two months they've been awesome and so this big shot out and I'm super excited so let's get started I have a studio in sydney bon giorno films it's a two men team so it's very low impact it's a small te...

am but way super dedicated to really it's all quality controlled so you know we're very very excited about that and the background bongino films is in terms of the brands you can see there's a compass so it's reflecting taking clients and um couples on a journey so the journey aspect kind of linked with storytelling so that's what that's all about and a little bit about myself I took a leap of faith once upon a time back in two thousand and seven and working in a south position nine to five good money but you know, I I have a lot of inspiration and I was doing filmmaking on the side and I thought, you know what, I'm gonna take a leap of faith I left the job and I haven't looked back since so you know a cz we go through the course, you know, you know it's it's not just about that the cinematography it's about you as a person yeah, the attitude and that's what's kind of got me to where I am today is toe have that passion and just always believe in yourself because man, you get one shot, you know? I mean life's too short on dh it's such awesome life and there's so many towns of people say it's so important to get out there and just have a go yeah and my inspiration you know, I've accumulated my inspiration from many things, including one of my favorite cinematographers gordon willis godfather you know about minimal lighting and I've kind of taken that a little bit into the winning films you know, it's you know, for example that need or this expensive lighting or you don't need to kind of, you know, go overboard with the way you do you see photography with film making in winnings in particular it's about as we go through the course about thie content and executing that the shots to get that a story that you need? Um, yeah, and so yet and with the next, what I'll do is I'll show you a little clip film that we put together for a couple john and julia. So I give you the background with john and julia, they have a little dog called vincent, it was very special to them, so we made sure we got some shots of them hey actually proposed on the beach, and and he kind of like it was funny story, he fumbled he's his ring and actually like this is a truth that she flew in the air because he was fumbling, and it was like one of those, like, slow mo khan movie moment, he said, and but lovely couple and, you know, we really get to know our couples, which will go through throughout the course in terms of planning and preparation. So what I'll do is I'll show you this clip, this is ah recent film that we put together and I have been yeah, that the proudest dad in the world today, it was absolutely fantastic the way julia lots and I think it's incredible, the amount of work that jewel is put into arranging this wedding you both john and I obviously proud of the person you are now we're also delighted that you found somebody like john you have a heart of gold look for two going because I'll be old with you and john were julia has met a perfect partner and wait wait time look you in the eyes and say wait I promise to respect you listened forever and I promise to be your partner in life through all the highs and the lows I promised to support you in everything you teo as we build our lives together an experienced live side by side julia protect you always care for you in sickness and health I'll ensure you never have capitated drink in a clean house I promised to provide you with my unconditional love for all the days of my life because it's a great pleasure to declare your husband and your way wait tio teo teo do I'd like to share with you all the quick children story always kept near and dear to my heart not ready for bed I crept into jones room to play I was commanding some rad georgios and join this cab is next minute that barge is in on it because john was the eldest son and should know better he copped it fuck it up a five year old courage to instantly asked john if he still likes me he replied no, I don't like you I don't hate you I love you you're my brother and I always just going away the definitive moment john ceased being my brother became my big brother someone I would look up to someone I would follow someone wise beyond his year come see how that's really wantto mi tio you live and breathe this way really to the to say to use two of you but I'm just delighted that you came into our lives three down thank you very much you can make a great sketch really site of johnny's you know once in a while it's not a bad idea to do a bit around the house back coming you know whatever because if you look at the crime statistics of wife was never murdered her husband while he was doing come on that's really close to me tio way every night darling, darling new husbands I don't think you could find a two different people in life, but I'm very on time he's not weigh like laze around on the couch with my dog vincent actually taking on very similar habits of the moment snoring lazing around while I got a way you have refused to seoul this generous spirit and I just truly, truly love you and I'm so excited for the next chapter of our lives together so I love you wait one humbles me more than I've ever been humbled teo marry jules is a dream contrary, I know how good I've got it and easily by firing away the happiest day of my life I can't wait to look forward to what every day brings from this moment on my way so I hope you enjoyed that um who will benefit from this course anyone from people that are starting out in cinematography whether it's you know obviously you know specific to winnings but also, you know, wedding photographers, even people that have already made a start we'll have had, you know, couple of either a few years doing when he filmed it could be a way to fill in some gaps and a bit of an overview in terms of where you're at so it's it's aimed to kind of benefit a wide range of people from starting out what photographers and people that have develop their skills over time. So what what do you get out of this this three days it's going to be jam packed it's it's hands on it's going to really it's a lot of fun they'll be some live shoots but you know what? You will change like I said it's not just to be a bit of shooter and a bit of storytelling a storyteller in cinematography winning photography but the aim is to help you to be better communicators and b and encourage you teo to use your talents to connect with people so it's kind of like taking that next level yeah so it's not just about we'll go through this it's not just about the gear it's not just about creating these awesome films but it's an experience so I want to help you and I've developed over time is to be a bit you know, communicate our and a better person, you know? Because what we're doing it's really special you know, it's a croft you know and you should be proud I'm proud of what I'm doing because I get so excited when we show the films and the bride's coming and the couples come in they crile to get emotional like men I get I get really cool feeling about that, you know? You get excited you can I just use that pretty early for question, but in three days if you could even show us a bit of the framework that that you did too d seventy that would be amazing but that's just incredible like what you showed us I'm so excited after seeing that initial short video so looking forward to this three days sometime in there yeah, I'm super super super pumped because you know, I I can't say I feel very blessed to be here, you know and I want to have the opportunity to share what I've learned and I'm still learning yeah, I mean, hey, we're all still learning and we'll be like, we'll be sharing ideas, you know? I want to know I want to hear about what you've done, and then I'm sure I'll be looking for you guys so and from the chat room, I'm sure they'll drop lines in the last questions and make me think, oh, I can think about that, you know? So it's it's a team thing, you know, it's not about hiding secrets, and I don't want to show that like, you know, like that that's that's my thing, you know, like no man like it's about getting out there and improving the industry that's what we need to do that way, we can educate these couples, these clients and the expectation will that the level he's bumped up and then we've got this awesome industry and it's gonna be great, we're all going to benefit from it, so just a bit of a run down over the three days you know, we'll go through the essential kit what's, the basic set up that you need to get started I think it's really important planning man, this is huge it's so important, so we'll go through the preparation that's involved declining direction that you you need to eat here shooting techniques obviously there have you know that one purpose till historian to connect with people what will connect with the viewer so they're they're drawn to the couple and when people watch when you saw john and julia like you learned something about them yet and that's important that's what we were aiming to do look at algeria so we kind of do like run down in terms of the game that we use and why we use it marketing and branding and how to make it personal so we'll go through them and we'll talk about jonah in a more in depth level and yeah and just going through the whole telling telling a story but it's more about the storytelling it's it's about taking people on journeys and that's what I want to share about on jonah you know that's what I'm passionate about it's not just about storytelling it's about the experience it's about you know um taking people on a journey so you're on a journey here you know? We're on a journey so that's awesome. Okay, so do you remove the time when videography was pretty much big cameras, big lights people freaked out like couples freaked out like what the hell was that like? You know you're in my way this is there videographers with everyone's had this kind of negative like like thought about people have a negative kind of feeling towards video people at weddings and this big massive cameras like this one it was like and I was like similar to this one maybe not specifically this one this is the image we got but to give you an idea that massive cameras with this big light you know it was like this really strong tungsten light that was hot after like an hour you couldn't touch it and freaked out that I'm burning and the bride's burning her face is she feels hot she's uncomfortable and stuff like that you know it's like really bulky sure you know, maybe the image was clean but you were restricted yeah because you had this big thing you like couldn't get creative and you had to take it off and everyone's watching you and like oh there's a video guy again and then came this you know, it was like this big thing the five d mach two came out two thousand eight and was like oh my gosh it's like it's like a movie you know oh my gosh man I'm not going to be like the next spielberg but then this little thing like wasn't so awesome like didn't have it like it's not so also microphone so there was like a little limitation so we had this awesome camera that you know it was a full frame and we have interchangeable lenses but there were some limitations or some challenges with capturing images with this thing will go through that so we'll discuss how we you know, execute the shots to get the story and have a thought process be very specific about what we capturing will go through that so what? So what I wanna do is I want to just kind of give you the comparison between cinema and video yeah, what you're doing, I mean, it's not important to have, like, a specific um, uh, terminology, it doesn't matter what you call yourself it's more about what you do and how you educate your couples and your approach. So whether you call yourself a full mayko or cinematographer wedding film guy or videographer doesn't matter and it's a lot more than you, so, you know, obviously most of you have gathered that when you're shooting with these days, you know, you need, like, a lot of different things to make it work. Yeah, but it's not just about the gear and we'll go through that will go through like, you know, what we used to to get the shots but also to be very efficient that's really important because you can get carried away, you get all these linda's like, oh, I'll try the eighty five and I'll try to thirty five, but hang on, I might get the fifty because the fifties like, you know, get this shot and then I'll never get to go like him and you get all this gear so what we'll do over the course well I'll show you how you be very specific about your gear that's part of the whole planning process right? So you don't have to like always blag all this stuff everywhere you go you very specific have a purpose what you do when it comes to cinema when you were talking about cinema and story telling one of the elements he's lighting you know now with as opposed to like the old school or the the approach when it comes to video we're dealing with the mentality and the thought process behind lighting so you need to obviously be conscious about where the light's coming from you know you need to be sure about you know how you what lights to use and you know how you need to assess every scene every part of the wedding day you need to assist what's the best lining so that's why that term came about winning cinematographers because you're not just dealing with like just point and shoot one of things the lightning you need to really think about where the light's coming from and will go through that we'll have a live shoot and we'll show you how you can execute the shots and be very aware of like what your surroundings composition, composition and framing so important you know, so you know when it comes to like video, you just kind of the idea is this point shoot you getting coverage but when it comes to cinema your storytelling so there's will show you this different ways you can compose your shots and frame your shots depending on what you want to tell you know there's a psychology behind that you know? And as you noticed like with the film julian john you know we're using you know we'll get into the different lenses and this different ways you can frame and you step the field we'll go through that but again cinema we're talking about different elements and put in and using those elements as opposed to just have one full process pointed shoes and to get the coverage it's a lot more than that most importantly, content content is king content I think is on dh content refers to it ties in all those elements the lining, the framing, the g use it's not just about the game but it's about knowing which we'll tell the story best that's important and tying all that together then you can you can capture meaningful stuff you know so important, so content content content so so critical your storytelling, you know, you know, you're not just I mean what I'm what I'm referring to documenting that's like just getting coverage, you know you're doing that, you know, it's a lot more than that you're being super creative but created for a specific purpose and again, you know teamwork, you know, like with the old like you, we're looking at videography or video, I'm doing this because everyone has a different way of saying what they doing, even with this cinema style, some people still call themselves, like calypso video videographers, and that is totally cool that's fine again, it's all about your approach, so I just want to get that out there, but, you know, teamwork is really critical, you know? We'll discuss how you can manager your crew in an efficient way so you can get the best out of them. I think that's really important and planning like akane stress enough about planning, planning with your couple planning with your your team, we'll show you like ways that with when it comes to cinema, you need teo really have that as top your list, so you're prepared it's like, you know, walk into a shoe and say, all right, I got all these cool cameras, I was going to shoot and I'm gonna be like, this cool guy and I'm gonna make these coarse and film no, you need to take the time and prepare for it, and that way, you know, you could get more out of it, yeah, otherwise you kind of look up there and you're just freaking out are they doing this now they doing the little get it gotta get it but if you have the know how what's happening you walking there do your thing I'll show you how I kind of do my thing you know it's really I'll go through it actually jumped I'm getting too excited like kind of like and again technology doesn't really matter what you call yourself no doesn't mean we call ourselves filmmakers some people call themselves videographers some people back home and here were wedding cinematographers whatever it's whatever you want it's not important again it's about your approach really I could construct enough about the approach, the planning and all this stuff that I mentioned that this different elements that you need to think about but I'm not here to freak you out I hope I'm not freaking you out I mean maybe I should freak out a little bit because you know what? This is hard work, all right? You got a lot of gear again, you're going to be specific about the scenes that you shoot but in general like it's, not just a camera tripod. Yeah, so it's it's a lot harder I've been doing it for a few years now and it can get stressful but not in a point where you're kind of losing control it's more like angie and because do you have to think about many things is more of a mental a mental challenge. So I think, it's important, that I put that out there, you know that this is going to be hard work, but it's bloody worth it? Yeah, it's. Awesome.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

4 aspects to killer shots.pdf
Bon Journo_pricing guide.pdf
Ceremony floor plan-one cam op.pdf
Ceremony floor plan_2 cam.pdf
Couple Questionnaire.pdf
Interview shoot-floor plan.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

user 62b97f
 

Excellent workshop! Worth every penny! Alfio really knows his stuff and is very inspiring. This class made my work look MUCH better. I would recommend this class to all my freinds. Cheers!

Trish Lloyd
 

This "class" is AMAZING. So much information packed into the hours! Alfio is a relaxed and fun "instructor" that you can tell has a lot of passion for what he does. Worth watching for sure!

Student Work

RELATED ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES