Brushing up on our White Balloon Films aerial cinematography skills in Glencoe, Scotland yesterday ahead of an awesome 2017 wedding season! These days, Scottish wedding venues regularly ask to see our drone licence and specialist insurance and as one of the first teams to embrace aerial wedding videography, we are happy to oblige in the interest of keeping our industry safe, legal and credible. We can’t wait to put our skills to good use this year at: Mount Stuart, Gosford House, Archerfield House, Fasque Castle, Blairquhan Castle, Dundas Castle, Gilmerton House, Monachyle Mhor Hotel, Mar Hall Golf & Spa Resort, The Byre At Inchyra, Auchen Castle and many more!
At White Balloon Films we work tremendously hard to bring more and more to the table in terms of being able to tell the story of your day as wedding film makers by way of spectacular, cinematic cinematography. We take pride in what we do and feel a certain responsibility as one of the top wedding videography teams in Scotland and the UK to drive forward the reputation of our industry as it continues to shake off the memories of the bad old days of wedding videography still featured on the likes of ‘You’ve Been Framed’.
As part of this ongoing effort, the above video allows you not only to meet us, i.e. the husband and wife team of Alina and Stewart, but gives us an opportunity to explain some of the key elements that go into making a White Balloon Film. Those are:
(a) Coordinated and synchronised teamwork from myself and Alina combined with years of experience that allows us to produce the cinematic footage that we have become known for.
(b) As scholars of cinema, an understanding of camera movement and the role it plays in adding texture and emotion to a film. Thanks to advances in technology, we are able to execute camera moves that were previously unthinkable in an uncontrolled environment like a wedding and this has be come a key pillar in the White Balloon Films difference.
(c) Where possible, White Balloon Films uses CAA licensed and legal aerial drone footage to enhance your film. Although a small part of your over all wedding film, aerial drone video not only looks impressive, but it can be used to powerful effect with establishing shots in your film acting as ‘chapter markers’ or simply adding wow factor and cinematic production value to your wedding film.
(d) Professional audio, a.k.a. the hardest part of our job! Professional video is worthless without professional audio and as such, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that no matter what is thrown at us, we can produce professional audio for your wedding video. We cannot stress enough how important this is for your wedding film. White Balloon Films has multiple microphones and audio recoding systems so that your minister/celebrant, bride & groom, ceremony readers, musicians, speeches, first dance, etc. are all captured with good audio, and with back ups to boot!
(e) Professional lighting is another key foundation for the White Balloon Films difference. Unlike wedding photographers, wedding videographers do not have the option of using a flash to boost the light in a scene. At a bare minimum therefore, in a poorly lit wedding venue (and there are many that look great to the human eye but are far too dark to successfully film in), we bring our own spotlights to discretely enable high quality cinematic filming. However, for White Balloon Films it doesn’t stop at just turning the lights on. We are creative film makers and we have studied the use of light in TV and cinema and applied those principles not only in our commercial work but our wedding work also. We use light to create depth and interest to your shot, just like a cinematographer would do on the set of a movie. When you watch one of our films you might not know why it looks different but subconsciously you can tell that we have our own approach. There are several reasons for this but one of the main ones is light.
(f) The final piece of the puzzle is our cinematic approach to editing your wedding film. This extends to music selection, the interplay of audio soundbites, choice of transitions between clips, colour-grading the footage, and above all, editing the footage in a way whereby the editing enhances the viewing experience and keeps you hooked until the very last clip. Like all of the other elements above that contribute to our cinematic approach, you as the viewer should not be actively aware of the techniques we are using as we want you to be blown away by the overall impression of the film and not dissecting the minutiae of how we got the result we did. If this is the case then we have done our job right.
So there you have it, the White Balloon Films difference. We are excited to see what the future holds for White Balloon Films. We are continually surprised by the creativity and development in our wedding videography industry. It is an exciting segment of the market to be a part of and we fully intend to continue to develop White Balloon Films and reinforce our position as one of the top wedding videographers in Scotland and the UK.
Click here if you would like to hear White Balloon Films thoughts on the top 5 wedding venues in Scotland!
Over the last 2 years, White Balloon Films has pioneered the safe and legal use of drones in wedding cinematography. As creators of truly cinematic wedding films, aerial videography is a small but powerful tool in helping us tell the story of a couple’s special day. This is especially the case given we are based in Scotland, a country blessed with innumerable extraordinary wedding venues in extraordinary locations. As we look forward to 2017, let’s look back to some incredible moments captured from the sky by White Balloon Films.
All of the drone video in this compilation was filmed on either our current setup of Phantom 4 or our earlier system of Phantom 2 + H3-3D Gimbal + GoPro Hero 4. The GoPro 4 footage was filmed in protune mode and de-fisheyed in post. All footage has been colour graded by White Balloon Films. The Phantom 4 is extremely practical to use at weddings thanks to everything you need being packed into a single case. We carry this in a backpack so when the opportunity arises during the couple photo shoot, we are able to fly as quickly as possible. The hardest part of capturing aerial video of a couple at a wedding is time pressure. Thanks to a lot of practise, and the use of intelligent flight modes like course lock, point of interest and active track, we are able to set up the Phantom 4 and capture the shots we need in a maximum of 10 minutes.
Locations and venues featured in this video include: Ardkinglas Estate, Pollok House, The Byre At Inchyra, Mykonos Greece, Glenshee, Glencoe, Loch Awe, Archerfield House, Inverlochy Castle, Crear, Lesithi Plateau Crete, Delamere Manor, Duntreath Castle, Hopetoun House, Hylands House, Mar Lodge, Murthy Estate, Rowallan Castle.
Always a pleasure for White Balloon Films to be at one of Edinburgh’s finest venues, Carlowrie Castle, and the amazing day of Ruth and Dan was no exception! An absolute cracker of a day for this lovely couple combined with some fantastic contributions from a who’s who of Edinburgh wedding suppliers including Planet Flowers, Liggy’s Cake Company and Wild Thyme. Here is the film!
Boclair House opened its doors for weddings recently in the north of Glasgow. Fully refurbished, inside and out, Glasgow wedding videography team White Balloon Films were one of the first wedding film teams on the premises. As filmmakers, the challenging weather made us call upon all our experience working seamlessly alongside Glasgow wedding photography team, Tandem Photo and the result is some of the most cinematic footage we have ever produced at a wedding. It is on days like this when the ‘White Balloon Films difference’ is clearer than ever. An amazing couple with an energy that shines through in the footage!
Glasgow University Chapel and Cottiers are two of the finest city centre wedding venues in Glasgow and our White Balloon Films was lucky enough to film at both of them for the wedding of Cara and Steven. After and beautifully conducted ceremony by Jennifer Buchan, humanist celebrant, the celebrations continued at the converted church and now wedding venue/theatre that is Cottiers in the west end of Glasgow. A great day to be a Scottish wedding videography team based in Glasgow!
Having filmed several times at The Byre At Inchyra, it is easy to see why it is such a popular Scottish wedding venue. White Balloon Films was lucky enough to film the amazing day of Vicky and Peter and as you can see from the video, it was one cracking wedding!
Set amidst 29,000 hectares of magnificent Scottish countryside, in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, Mar Lodge Estate is surrounded by ancient forests and rolling glens, wild rivers and rugged peaks and was the spectacular location for the wedding of Clarissa and Paul. From a wedding cinematographer’s perspective, Mar Lodge was the perfect location to put our DJI Phantom 4 aerial video capability to good use as you can see in some of the spectacular drone shots in the Mar Lodge wedding highlights video.
The glamorous Greek island destination of Mykonos was the setting for one of the most spectacular wedding films that Scotland-based destination wedding film makers, White Balloon Films, have ever had the pleasure of capturing on video! What an incredible place for this incredible couple. If this wedding highlights film doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up then please check that you have a pulse!
Although based in Scotland, each year, White Balloon Films takes on a small number of international destination wedding film commissions, applying our uniquely cinematic approach to filming weddings around Europe. There are of course certain logistical challenges to filming in a foreign country but with our tremendous experience, we are still able to employ all the cinematography tricks we have up our sleeves, be it our multiple camera approach, aerial video, professional lighting and audio and more.
To find out more about our unique approach to filming destination weddings, do CONTACT us or click on the DESTINATION tab to see how we can be of assistance on your special day!
When exclusive Ayrshire wedding venue, Trump Turnberry, hosted the first wedding reception in its newly refurbished grand ballroom, Scotland’s exclusive wedding videography team, White Balloon Films, was lucky enough to film proceedings for the lovely Sara and Ben. Located on the rugged west coast of Scotland, the legendary Turnberry hotel and its famous links courses are instantly recognisable. The traditional Edwardian building first opened in 1906 as the world’s first golf resort with far reaching views to the Isle of Arran and Ailsa Craig. From a wedding filmmaker’s perspective, this day had it all. Intimate family wedding preparations at the family home in Troon, a gorgeous wedding ceremony at the local church in Troon, a spectacular video shoot at the famous Turnberry light house, entertainment from Scotland’s most famous bagpipe band, The Red Hot Chilli Pipers, fireworks and more. Here are the Trump Turnberry wedding video highlights for this amazing day!
