In Conversation With a WPPI Award-Winning Wedding Filmmaker

Alexander Ma, a self-taught filmmaker based in Los Angeles, California, and founder of the wedding cinematography company AndHer Visuals, took First Place in Wedding/Engagement Films and the Grand Award in the Filmmaking Division at WPPI 2016. We recently chatted with Ma to find out what it takes to make an impression with a wedding film at the competition level.

Stacey Goldberg: Can you provide some background on AndHer Visuals? How do you pitch the brand?
Alexander Ma: Countless couples have told us they booked us mainly because of how much they loved our vibe and energy (most of it coming from [my partner] Vanessa’s outgoing and bubbly personality). The HD quality is already expected when you hire a professional, so we like to focus on increasing the trust between our clients and us by building a relationship throughout the entire process from the first time we meet and extending it even after their wedding.

Our personalities aside, our videos are always very emotion-driven. We want our couples to feel a certain way while watching our videos. What differentiates us is that we deliver the experience.

Capturing all aspects of a wedding day—including ceremony, reception and even guest shots—are just as important in a wedding film as they are in a photo album.

SG: How did you meet the clients in the winning wedding video?
AM: Funny story! The couple, Brittany and Scott, actually reached out to us last year while we were attending WPPI. We Skyped with them the next day and the rest is history. We also booked four other couples that week while we were in Vegas, so we feel like Vegas and WPPI is our lucky place, especially since we won two awards this year!

 Capturing emotion-filled moments like this one, of bride Brittany with her dad, helps keep Ma at the top of his game. 

SG: Outside of WPPI, how do you typically find new clients?
AM: Our first year in the business, our clients knew us through family and friends. Currently, most of our clients are referrals from past couples and other vendors, such as photographers and planners that we’ve worked with. Occasionally we will get clients from Instagram and other social media outlets reaching out to us, too.

SG: Once you’ve booked the client, what is the preparation like before the big day?
AM: When it comes to the wedding day, organization is everything. I like to web search the couple’s venue beforehand so we can get an idea of the type of environment we will be working with. We also send our couples an in-depth questionnaire that answers exactly everything we need to know to produce the best results (some questions include “Are you writing your own vows?” “Are you having a first look?” etc.)… It’s important to build that relationship and trust prior to their wedding so the couples don’t feel like they hired strangers to film their most intimate day.

SG: Can you describe what it was like on the actual wedding day? Were there any unexpected challenges?
AM: In many cases, limited space and unusual venue setups are our most common challenges at weddings. How we overcome them is to think ahead and come prepared with backup plans. For example, looking at the venue space and setup online gives us a better idea of where we want to position our camera angles.

This particular wedding was actually almost perfect. The only challenge was the overwhelming size of the venue. Breaking down all our camera equipment and tripods after the ceremony, which was at one end of the venue, and waiting for a shuttle bus to take us to the other end of the venue was pretty time-consuming, especially when we needed to prepare for our reception setup. We usually bring a third shooter when the venue or amount of guests is large, so for this wedding we brought our fellow filmmaker friend, Hector Mejia.

An aerial scene-setter. 

SG: What gear do you typically use?
AM: For wedding videos, we use Sony a7S and a7S II cameras. The low light capability on these cameras is amazing for those dark settings. We also love how small and portable they are, making us not so noticeable to the guests and allowing us to capture more candid moments. For audio, we use RodeLink wireless lavalier microphones because having clear-sounding audio is just as important as having quality video.

We use DJI products for our creative shots, specifically the Ronin-M 3-Axis Gimbal to capture those cinematic, smooth movements, and the Inspire 1 for all of our aerial footage. We also plan to get the Phantom 4 soon, mainly because of its travel-friendly size for destination weddings. We’ve been using DJI for quite some time—their products are very quick and easy to set up, which is crucial for the fast-paced environment of a wedding.

SG: Can you describe your editing process?
AM: This is my favorite topic to talk about!

The first thing I do when editing a wedding film is to listen to the entire dialogue from the ceremony and toast. I will then decide the best sound bites that help convey the story. After that, I put the structure of the video together and from there, I choose the best footage and match them with the story so it makes sense visually. It’s kind of like building your own puzzle from scratch and putting the pieces together.

Every single clip and sound bite in the video is carefully selected and perfected to help tell the story. I’m kind of a perfectionist with my work, and Vanessa hates that! Overall, Brittany and Scott’s video took about one week to complete.

SG: What do you think made your video stand out to the WPPI judges?
AM: I personally don’t think our video stood out because of how well it was shot. Most of the footage in this video was very basic, shot on tripods and monopods (there was only one drone shot and a few fancy creative shots here and there). I think it was more of the emotional content that made it stand out.

That night, after the Honors of Excellence Award ceremony at WPPI, people came up to me telling me how touching it was and how it made them tear up. No one really mentioned anything about the cinematography, which is okay with us because we like to think of ourselves as storytellers first and cinematographers second. Our main goal has always been to highlight the story and emotions first, making it relatable to anyone watching. No matter the type of wedding or culture, everyone can relate to love.

Alexander Ma is based in L.A. and loves working with couples whose top priority is quality cinematography for their wedding.