You don’t need to be an expert, or a nerd about videography to know what type of media you like to watch – whether it’s cinematic blockbusters, dreamy A24 style indie films, or documentaries. Your favorite films have something in common – they made you feel a certain way. That’s exactly what your wedding film should do too.
Just like photographers, wedding videographers have distinct styles. Some focus on realism, some on cinematography, some even interview guests like the hit show The Office. Over time wedding videography has changed and morphed into so many different styles, and wedding videographers have gotten creative and pushed the boundaries of what a wedding film can be. So, what is Old North’s videography style? Documentary, storytelling, traditional, MOCKumentary (like The Office?)
At Old North Film Company, we believe that your wedding video should look and feel like a real movie: timeless, emotional, and made with intention. Picture everything that happens on your wedding day transformed into your own little A24 film.
Let’s get into the differences between wedding videography styles and the specifics on our cinematic style:
Documentary-style videographers take a hands-off approach to wedding films. Minimal direction, raw audio, and footage captured in real time, AKA they don’t speed up or slow down their clips typically in post production. This style prioritizes honesty and realism. It is basically the behind-the-scenes of your entire wedding day. Things aren’t necessarily messed with or made to look perfect. You’ll often see handheld shots, natural lighting, and a lot less of a “polished” look. It’s a great fit if you want a candid, fly-on-the-wall look at how everything unfolded.
Storytelling films go beyond the day-of footage to paint a bigger picture of your relationship and your wedding day. They weave in personal vows, letter readings, or even pre-wedding interviews to give the final film an emotional arc. We do use this style in our wedding films, but with a bigger emphasis on the cinematics. This style is all about the narrative, capturing not just what happened, but why it mattered.
This style is what it all started with – wedding videography pure and untouched. Traditional videography is simple, linear, and very straightforward. It is basically the string of events tied together in the way that they happened. The footage is edited in chronological order, with limited cinematic flair or emotional pacing. It might be what your parents might’ve received for their wedding video, if they had one.
Vintage style can be many different things, a few examples are camcorder style or Super 8 mm film. Vintage wedding videos are all about nostalgia, and like cinematic style, can make things feel very dreamy and drift away from the realism of documentary and traditional. This style leans into texture, film grain, and a throwback aesthetic. We also weave in the vintage style to some of our films, upon request.
Now for the style we’ve all been waiting for! At Old North, we specialize in cinematic wedding films — which means everything from the camera movement to the color grading to the pacing of your edit is thoughtfully crafted to feel like a film. What goes into making videos like this? Smooth, stabilized footage: we always use a tripod or a gimbal or slider to achieve movement and keep our footage stabilized. Slow motion shots: we shoot everything except for your ceremony and speeches in 60 frames per second so that we can slow down the shots and make it feel cinematic. Multicam edits: so that we can capture every angle of your first dance and ceremony seamlessly. Curated music + layered audio: we blend music with your vows, speeches, and sound bytes from the day, just like a foley expert would when they were working on a real movie. Intentional storytelling: although your day is clearly not scripted or shot like a scene in a movie would be, we intentionally get the shots we do to make it seem as though your day WAS a movie!
Our goal is to make you feel like the main character — without turning your wedding into a movie set. You may say less than three sentences to your videographers, but they are behind the scenes anticipating moments rather than manufacturing them. We let the photographer do the set-up for the most part, we just capture it.
It all comes down to how you want to remember your wedding. At the end of the day, there is no “right” style – just the one that matches your energy and vision! If cinematic storytelling sounds like your thing, let’s chat!
We provide happy couples in cities throughout the US with expert wedding videos. See why we hold a 5-star record. Contact us today and secure your wedding date!