What Is Raw Footage and Why You Should Get It | Austin Wedding Videographer

What is Raw Footage?

If you’re investing in Wedding Videography, your wedding video is going to be a compilation of clips taken throughout the day that have been edited down and color graded to create the film. Raw footage is simply all those digital clips taken at your wedding, uncut, unedited, uncolored, or audio mastered. These can be delivered on a hard drive or USB for safe keeping. Think of it like the ingredients of a recipe. When chopped, blended and mixed in specific ways, you get an entirely new flavor & experience - which is your final wedding video. But we all know you’re taking bites of that cheese while you shred it or sippin’ on that white wine before it goes in the sauce. As standalone ingredients, they’re still enjoyable and have a taste all of their own. The same goes for the raw clips from your wedding day. Some videographers have a no raw footage policy for a multitude of reasons, but this post is about why we take the opposite approach and encourage every couple to get the raw footage of their day if the option is available!

Raw footage clip examples:

Why should I get Raw Footage from my wedding?

If you grew up anywhere between the 1980s & 2000s, your family was probably like ours and filmed so many big life moments on camcorders. If you’re really lucky, they busted out the JVC on a random Tuesday and documented memories of you and your siblings on the trampoline or filmed your first dance recital or your grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. These are all micro-moments that otherwise would have been completely lost to time, but allow you to be transported back to a memory, time, place or person in a way a photo wouldn’t. There are so many moments and sound bits that don’t make it into the final video, solely because the video would take a completely different form and become a less polished, less sharable longer format experience. But those raw clips still hold so much value. They become incredibly valuable when a family member passes and you want every bit of documentation of them to hold on to. They’re valuable when you want those moments back unaltered and want to hear what’s being said in the moment, like your grandmas laughter, your best friends hyping you up, just the entire ambiance of the day as it was. There can be footage of family & friends speaking to the camera directly, giving well wishes or just being goofy. A good videographer is hunting down those moments and capturing them in full as often as they can and it just *hits different* when you see it back in its purest form.

What raw footage is not

One thing to be mindful of with raw footage is how audio is captured. The camera or shotgun mic just isn’t going to pick up the same quality audio that a clip-on recorder would. For example, when we capture a ceremony in full, we always put a small recording mic on the groom and officiant to capture the spoken words and then edit that together with the footage to create a watchable and listenable experience. To get that same audio on the camera and the raw clips, your videographer would have to be right next to you during the ceremony, which would not be the vibe. So don’t expect to be able to watch AND hear your ceremony, toasts or any other moments that rely on audio in full. That’s why we offer several Add On videos, like the Ceremony in Full or Toasts in Full so you have the highest quality capture of those moments to watch back. Our Documentary Package includes raw footage, the ceremony in full and toasts in full so you can truly see back the day as unedited (but still tastefully curated) as possible!

Ceremony in full example:

We believe the raw footage from your wedding day is a must have and only becomes more & more valuable with time. We deliver raw footage organized into folders on a hard drive kept in a linen fabric box for safe keeping. We treat this as an heirloom, something you can hopefully pass down through generations! It’s all about your legacy and these moments being a part of it.

If you’re looking for a documentary, raw and authentic approach to wedding videography, then reach out and have us there to capture your day on video!