Hey Jack Editing Guidelines

Introduction

We have put together this document with all the details you may need to create a self-sufficient working environment and to provide guidelines about the technical and sensory approach to what wedding video means to us. Please read the Editing and  Technical guidelines carefully before you proceed to edit.

General Overview

Communication

Our team uses a super user-friendly mobile/desktop app called “Slack” for all our communications with our editors (and wider team). We use it to submit briefs, chat about project briefs and timelines etc. Having all our communications in one place helps us work faster together—no more jumping between emails, Insta DM’s, texts and a bunch of other programs. All communication needs to be within Slack. Please stick to this channel, as it is an efficient way for us to communicate and keep track of conversations with multiple contractors.

Software

Our internal and wider editing team uses Premiere Pro and audition for all editing, colour grading and sound design. You must edit using the latest version of Premiere Pro. Please use the Template Project Folder provided in the Assets folder.

Footage

Footage and audio will be shared through Dropbox (further details can be found under Technical Guide / File Management). We understand that downloading assets via Dropbox may take a long amount of time, perhaps a few days.

Assets

Please download all Project Assets before you proceed with editing.

Project Brief

Hey Jack will provide you with a thorough brief on each project which will include;

1. Name of Videographer, shooting style, and any issues you need to be aware of.
2. Editing style for the highlight film, duration of the film, creative notes and music recommendation.
3. The number of deliverables required for each project.
4. Project delivery deadline.

Music Selections

All music selections need to be approved by Hey Jack before proceeding with editing (further details can be found under the Editing Guide / Music).

Final Delivery

The final delivery should be exported according to the guideline (further details can be found under Technical / Project Delivery).

Revisions

Hey Jack may ask for 2 round of revisions for the produced videos.

Payments

Our payments to editors and contractors are made every Tuesday to your nominated bank accounts; all we ask is for you to submit your invoices HERE by 10am (AEST) on Tuesday. Please ensure the wedding date and couple names are included on the invoice to avoid payment delays.

Highlight Film

Boundaries

Highlight films are usually between 4 and 6 minutes long, depending on the wedding and clients’ preferences. Regardless of the editing style, please ensure that you exclude videographers, photographers, messy shots, rubbish bins, etc., in your selects and your final edits. Things we would like to see in our wedding videos;

Ambient Sound Effects (SFX): Incorporate atmospheric sounds to elevate the film’s mood. Examples include wind, footsteps, birdsong, laughter, whooshing, and vehicles passing by.

On-Camera Audio: Lean into the candidness of the moment. Sounds like laughter, chatter, applause, footsteps, remarks on outfits, or the groom’s expressions of anticipation can enrich the storytelling experience.

Narrative Audio: Around half to a little over half of the highlight reel should feature narrative audio. This could come from the ceremony, readings of letters, interviews, or speeches. It crafts a deep-rooted connection to the events of the day.

Visual Effects (VFX): While effects can add flair, they must be used judiciously. While elements like Super 8mm or light leaks might suit certain themes, avoid using them just as scene transitions. The aim is to create a timeless film, one that remains captivating even a decade later. So, rely more on raw editing prowess and less on flashy VFX.

Musical Undertones: Every highlight film should be set to at least two songs, though a third can be added if the narrative demands it.

Film Styles

We have selected 3 main styles to edit from for our wedding video highlights. Our reasoning for creating this structure is to understand our couple’s needs better and to be able to craft a video that will be unique to them. The style selection starts with the couple’s brief at the time of the booking and includes our videographers’ feedback on the day. All this feedback will be summarised to you with a recommended editing style. Then it is up to your creative mind to create a highlight film that reflects their special day.

STYLE ONE | CINEMA

Imagine crafting a film where the wedding day becomes a blockbuster, breaking the mould of linear storytelling. It’s about crafting an epic narrative, piecing together the day’s most iconic moments.

1. Edit non-chronologically, akin to a cinematic trailer.
2. Highlight the day’s pinnacle moments, irrespective of chronological order.
3. Use a commanding music track and ensure the editing tempo complements the track’s cadence.
4. Employ techniques like overlaying clips, zooming in/out, and transitioning across different times of day.
5. Each edit and transition should be purposeful and aligned with the broader narrative.
6. Capture the essence of the day as witnessed by the videographer.

STYLE TWO | ARTISTIC

Dive into the abstract, turning the wedding day into a canvas of visionary artistry. This approach is less about structure and more about a free-flowing interpretation. Completely unstructured editing of the day, unexpected camera movements and framing, and effects added in post-production. 

1. Opt for an unstructured editing approach, letting the day’s narrative unfold organically.
2. Play with unconventional camera angles and dynamic framing.
3. Integrate post-production effects, but maintain a balance, emphasising editing prowess over heavy VFX.
4. Musical choices should be fresh and distinct, veering towards edgy, alternative, or acoustic vibes.
5. Despite the artistic flair, ensure the core story remains recognisable and engaging.

STYLE THREE | DOCUMENTARY

Return to the storytelling roots with a documentary style, faithfully charting the day’s events as they unfolded. It’s about pure, genuine recollection without the frills.

Other Deliverables

CEREMONY FILM

Introduce the film with 60 seconds of ceremony Broll, including titles, establishing shots, drone (if applicable), guests mingling, and other details. Editing continues with the processional, ceremony proceedings, and signing of the registry and ends just after the bride and groom walk back down the aisle together (recessional). The ceremony is edited in Multicam, synced with separately recorded audio sources.

Avoid the photographer and videographer; zoom in or switch to a cutaway to cover those moments. Keep the ceremony as it is, but if there is a couple of minutes gap between the bridesmaids and bride walking down the aisle, cut it to make it look seamless. Fix rotations, clean jarring parts of the clips, and stabilise if necessary. Correct colour, exposure, and white balance (further details can be found under Technical – Color Correction).

You will find a “Ceremony Intro/Outro” and “Background Music” folder in the Dropbox assets. Use Into/Outro at the start and end of the ceremony and Background for the middle portion (ceremony proceedings).

Ceremony Background Music – Include instrumental background track (contemporary strings, cello, violin) throughout the ceremony edit. Volume sitting at -20db to -25db. 

Processional Music – When live musicians have recorded audio, please use this for the processional. If the original track is played, ensure you download and add the original track for the processional edit. Blend the ceremony Intro song into “Walking Down The Aisle Song,” blending into background music when the ceremony starts. Try to include the groom’s comments as the bride walks down the aisle if there are any. 

RECEPTION FILM

Introduce the film with 60 seconds of canape hour, establishing shots, drone (if applicable), guests mingling, table settings and other details. Editing continues in chronological order, including; the bridal entrance, speeches, cutting of the cake, first dance, dancing (2-minute cut of dancing), and farewell. The speeches are edited in multi-cam, synced with separately recorded audio sources. Clean the same way you clean the ceremony, avoid shooters, fix rotation, and stabilise if necessary. Use Intro/ Outro music at the start and end. You can find intro/outro music from the “Reception Intro/Outro” folder found in the Dropbox assets folder. 

Reception Background Music – Include an instrumental background track (contemporary strings, cello, violin) throughout the reception edit. Volume sitting at -20db to -25db. 

Formal Dance and Entrance Music – When live musicians have recorded audio, please use this for these moments. If the original track is used, ensure you add the original track for the dances and entrances. Blend the Reception Intro song into “Entrance Song,” blending into background music when the speeches start. 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Use only the best clips from the entire wedding. It must be a creative edit and not a complete cut-out of the highlight film. Add in SFX, narrative is not required unless needed to elevate the edit. Use commercial music if necessary, listen to songs they used for reception, first dance, walking down the aisle, etc. Duration should be between 30-40 seconds, and we have a few different aspect ratios you can choose from. Mix it up each time and create something new.

Documentary

The documentary is a chronological edit, including footage from the entire day. Clean up the “Selects” to remove unstable content, repeating itself, out of focus, unflattering or otherwise undesirable. The goal of this film is to provide a comprehensive overview of the entire day instead of looking through raw footage. 

Documentary Background Music – Select and download ambient/instrumental music accordingly.

Creativity in Editing

Unleash your creativity and let your imagination soar. Trust in your artistic intuition, and don’t be afraid to try new approaches. Here are a few editing technique ideas you might want to incorporate into your edit:

• Overlapping shots/double exposure, using screen or multiply blend modes.
• Manipulating playback and reverse speed.
• Transitioning between aspect ratios by cropping. You can use a 4:3 to achieve a vintage feel, or even a super wide 3.00:1
• Use of split screens could work for showing speeches and reaction shots simultaneously
• Keyframe-based zooms.
• Extensive use of film-grains. Don’t shy away putting in a strong grainy film look. Sometimes great visuals could be achieved without sharp, vibrant and clean image.
• Merging scenes from various times of the day seamlessly.
• Adding captions/motion graphic subtitles.
• Interchanging similar details, like cutting from the bride’s bouquet to reception flowers.
• Timing cuts with the music’s beat, and sometimes intentionally off-beat.
• Using stock footage, like adding quick nightlife city shots or finding some timelapse before going into reception dance party.
• Incorporating over the top sound effects, such as a bass drop when revealing an epic shot.

Listed are some wedding film companies you need to check out to take inspirations from:

• Blnk Films
• Super Weddings
• Ray Roman Films
• Maru Films
• RL Films Co.
• Bottle Brush Films
• Kreativ Wedding
• A&Y Video

Drawing inspiration from other wedding film can be a powerful way to refine your craft and adds up to your visual references. Watch them to explore their techniques, storytelling styles, and creative choices. Keep it mind, innovation often arises from a blend of inspiration and originality.

Technical Guidelines

DROPBOX FILE MANAGEMENT

Hey Jack uses Dropbox to house all raw footage, audio and assets. If you currently use Dropbox as your preferred method for online file sharing, we will send you shared folder access.

Ensure you download the Dropbox App onto your computer and sync footage and audio files this way, as it’s a more secure way of downloading. Refrain from downloading from a browser. Once you have downloaded the app, you will find a shared folder called HJ Film, which where we will assign projects to you according to the couple’s name. You will find a standard folder structure within each wedding folder, including Footage, Raw Audio, Project, SFX, VFX, Licenced Music, and Delivery.

REVIEW PROCESS

Once you have completed a film and are ready to send it for review, include couple’s name and version number in the title of the exports, place all your deliverables in the “Delivery” folder.

Example: Review – Amanda and Jacob V1

As soon as you drag a video into this folder, our team will be notified of the new film to approve. Our team will then provide feedback via timestamps from Dropbox replay and share the review link with you to make changes (if any).

Project delivery

Once the film is approved, the final step will be to package all assets into their associated folders within the project:

1. Final exported films into the “Delivery” folder.
2. Project file in the “Premiere Project” folder.
3. Sound effects in the “SFX” folder.
4. Visual effects in the “VFX” folder.
5. Licenced background music in the”Licenced Music” folder.

Sequences

Please use the template project file found in the “Premiere Template” assets folder.

Please follow the folder / sequence structure to ensure you are in line with the process. We often jump in to make final tweaks to the edit, so having our team follow a uniform standard approach helps.

• Sequence Settings: 25FPS Timeline, 1920 x 816 Aspect.
• Sequences: All Footage, Selects, Ceremony, Reception, Highlight Film, Social Media. Pull all footage and audio into the “All Footage” sequence. Sync audio with the clip accordingly. Colour code and group them into the following categories within the same sequence: bride preparation, groom preparation, first look, ceremony, portraits, reception, and dancing. Once they’re clean and tidy, copy the “All Footage” sequence into your “Selects” where you’ll cut out all the unimportant bits and left you with the best shots to use for your highlight.

COLOUR CORRECTION AND GRADING

Ensure you follow this process each time when grading. The desired look can be described as a natural organic film look, with desaturated greens and clean skin tones.

• Bottom Adjustment Layer (Conversion LUT) – Add an adjustment layer across the timeline. Apply the Slog conversion called “Phantom Neutral”.
• Colour Correct – Next, individually colour-correct all the clips by fixing white balance, bringing back shadows and contrast, make other corrections as required.
• Saturation Curves – Remove unwanted colours (greens/yellows etc., in specific scenarios).
• LUTS Download: Can be found in Dropbox – Assets folder. Ensure you embed  LUTS into Premiere pro & Media Encoder root Creative folder.

Audio clean up

Please review the instructions below and download the preset to clean up the dialogue. At times, additional clean-up may be required depending on the audio captured.

View instruction video here

music

Make sure to read the Editor Brief to decide which style the couple would like before choosing music. Keep in mind that we want a contemporary modern feel. The music must reflect this. Ensure Hey Jack team approves all music selections before commencing the edit. Try to select songs that are not cheesy or overly used. Be original with your music selection. We love funky, alternative, acoustic songs.  Please watch a couple of HEY JACK videos to have a better understanding of the songs we like. Please use the MusicBed subscription for licensing music. Don’t download cracked versions of the songs!!

Hey Jack MusicBed Logins

• richardrwills@gmail.com
• Musicbed148!

Royalty-free assets, sfx and other music:

Hey Jack Artlist.io login:

• events@heyjack.com
• Film148!

There are 2 motion graphics template files in your sequence and/or in assets folder found in “Premiere Template”; One file includes HEY JACK brand name, second file includes couples name.

1. Please install the fonts “Isabel” into your computer before opening the project
2. Change couples name to the names of the couple you are working on
3. Use both titles at the start of Ceremony / Reception / Highlights edits
4. If your project file happens to have the old Titles, please replace it with the current template files provided in Google Drive, Premiere Pro Assets

EXPORT SETTINGS

1. 1920 x 816
2. H.264
3. VBR, 1 Pass
4. Target Bitrate 30 Mbps
5. Maximum Bitrate 60 Mbps
6. Use Maximum Render Quality

EDITING NOTES

• All highlight films focus on the story – The most important thing.
• Focus on varying pace. Don’t keep the pace the same throughout the film. Change in pace provokes further interest.
• Don’t always start with the best-looking shot, be open to possibilities. It can be a detail of the dress, someone handing a glass, or the groom putting on sunglasses.
• Try to stay consistent throughout the film. The first 30 seconds needs to be epic to hook the viewer, but carry that through the edit with a peak in the middle and end.
• Working creatively with light – fades to black and white. Embrace the imperfections (out of focus) when creatively possible.
• Use atmospheric ambient sounds and SFX throughout the film. Use on-camera scratch audio and stock SFX (for example, wind, footsteps, birds, laughter etc.).
• Work creatively with the effects panel using techniques such as Blur, reverse speed, and split camera.
• Don’t only cut on the beat. Sometimes every other beat keeps the film flowing and not repetitive and predictable.
• Try to read the couple during selects. Are they shy? Fun? All about looks? Carefree? Romantic? Understanding the couple will allow you to structure a story and guide you with song selection. Make it personal, unique to them. It is the special day they have been dreaming of; stay true to them.
• To understand their taste, please pay attention to their original song selections during the day. Find a happy medium of what you want, what the company prefers and what they love.
• We are not trying to create duplicates of the videos we already have; stick with the guidelines & brief, understand what we do and do your own thing.
• After shortlisting and selecting your audio bits – try to create a story in your mind. Is the day mainly emotional? Fun? Vanilla and you will be doing the heavy lifting? Have an overview in your mind and, select your style, find your word for the day ( EPIC / GLOOMY / FUNKY / FUN / SENTIMENTAL / DARK / GOTHIC / GROOVY / ELEGANT / ELEGANT / FOLK).

Videographer camera profiles

Our team shoots with Sony in 4K/10BIT, 50P for most of the day, aside from speeches and vows filmed in 25P. Our team also shoot in a LOG profile (best for LUTs we used).