Behind the scenes | Shooting a wedding film with the Blackmagic Pocket 6K Pro

Who are we?
We are Dream Team Weddings, a driven and creative two-man team of filmmakers based in Utrecht. Besides running our own video production business, we liked the idea of seeking a new challenge! Which is why in 2018 we established Dream Team Weddings. We provide bridal couples with an everlasting memory, by capturing their wedding in a personal and film style.

It was a big step for us to capture our first wedding in 2018, because as a wedding videographer you carry an incredibly large responsibility with you. As it isn't possible to re-do a wedding. The past few year we've learned a lot through making mistakes and other experiences with various weddings.

What project did you do?
On Sunday May the 2nd, we got invited to join an organized ''Styled Wedding Shoot''. Super dope! Everything was organized to a tee, the location, the models, the styling and so on. All our previous weddings we've captured with the A7III, but we noticed that its dynamic range and image quality wasn't exactly what we were looking for. We've been looking for a camera that offers higher quality and more importantly, a camera that can capture raw, which would allow us more flexibility when color grading. Since the Blackmagic 6K Pro got released, we got curious. Would this be the perfect camera for us?

The gear
Budgetcam offered us the opportunity to test out the Blackmagic Pocket 6K Pro during out Styled Wedding Shoot, the perfect setting to find out if this setup fits our needs and workflow. We tested the following gear:

1. Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro EF
2. Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8L IS III USM
3. Manfrotto MVM 500A Fluid Video Monopod
4. MAVO LF 25mm T2.1 Cine Prime (Canon EF)
5. MAVO LF 35mm T2.1 Cine Prime (Canon EF)

Besides this gear, we also used our own Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K in order to have a two-camera set-up.

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6K Pro EF
First things first, the images coming out of the Pocket 6K were unbelievable! Accurate colors, sharp images and most importantly, nice handling. The built-in ND-filter was much more convenient to operate compared to a regular circular ND-filter, where you have to turn the front element to find the right amount of ND.

The weight of the Pocket 6K was bearable when the camera was not rigged out. However, when rigged out, the camera is much heavier compared to the A7III. Which makes sense of course. It is important to keep this extra weight in mind when you have a long shoot planned, like we had for the wedding shoot.

Lenses
We ended up not using all the lenses Budgetcam provided us with. Of the two cinema lenses, we mainly used the 35mm T2.1. The 25mm T2.1 turned out to be unnecessary. The cinema lenses were exactly as we expected. Tack sharp and easy to use due to the large focus ring.

On the Pocket 6K, we mainly used the Canon EF 70-200mm F2.8, a versatile lens! I don't recommend to use this lens as your main lens. We always work in teams of two. My partner mainly focuses on capturing wide shots and I cover close ups of all details. This results in footage that cuts together nicely.

For the detail shots the lens was perfect! Especially as the lens allows you to capture your shot while standing further away and not bothering your subject. Brides tend to already be nervous enough on their wedding day, standing in front of them with a large camera setup will not help.

Accessories
We mostly used the Manfrotto Monopod with the Pocket 6K. For all the static close up shots and detail shots the Manfrotto was indispensable. It offers less freedom of moment compared to handheld, which I find difficult sometimes, but as my partner shoots handheld, he takes care of the dynamic shots. Which allows us to seamlessly cut from static to dynamic shots.

Final edit
Once we arrived at home we immediately started with the edit. We ended up with 500GB worth of footage from our 6-hour shoot. The footage looked nice, the style we went for was 'Dreamy'. We noticed that the footage of the Pocket 4K and 6K were simple to mix. When the the first edit was drafted, we started color grading. Currently we only color grade in Davinci Resolve. Grading the Blackmagic footage was a real breeze, we could literally change almost everything without loss of quality.

Tips for new makers
Did you get inspired after reading our blogpost? Are you excited to set your first steps towards making wedding videos? Let's go! We also started at the bottom and had to work our way up, this is the only way you will be able to really learn. We do advice you to try and find an experienced wedding filmmaker and offer to help them as a second shooter. By doing this you will learn what a wedding shoot day looks like and what the most important tip and tricks are. One final word of advice, always make sure that you are equipped with enough storage and batteries on your shoot day!