“Master the Moment” is a wedding film masterclass taught by Ray Roman. This MZed course was released when the COVID-19’s social distancing restrictions have been applied. But now, when we see the light at the end of the tunnel, this is the best time to watch it.
Wedding filmmaking
The wedding filmmakers were probably the most negatively impacted by the COVID-19. Although all our industry has been severely suffering from coronavirus restrictions, it was a business knockdown for wedding filmmakers (and photographers). Fortunately, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, as the virus retreats, the wedding business is starting to recover. Thus, now is probably the best time for getting educated on how to film weddings. Furthermore, this is a huge opportunity for wedding filmmakers to improve their skills during this temporal downtime before the wedding business gets booming again.
Being a wedding filmmaker is one of the most demanding, challenging, and stressful jobs out there. You don’t have any options nor excuses for missing crucial shots.
Master the Moment by MZed
First, it’s important to note that this course is relevant to absolute beginners as well as established professionals. Second, after watching it, we can say that the concepts and ideas being learned in that course can be implemented in any other filmmaking business and not just for weddings. It’s a course about the right approaches for working with clients in general. Yes, it has its cinematography parts which include tricks and tips regarding weddings. However, there is a significant emphasis on other crucial segments like Inter-personal relationships to your environments as a professional, which can be vital in your career as a filmmaker.
Click here to take the course
The educator: Ray Roman – From SWAT to filmmaking
Ray Roman is a professional wedding filmmaker, creating timeless visual stories for celebrities, musicians, royalty, professional athletes, and billionaires for more than a decade and setting the standard in luxury wedding films. Well, this is the MZed’s description. However, Ray is a very interesting educator, since his pathway to professional filmmaking is unconventional. Ray was a detective and served as a fighter in the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics), and has been teaching himself the disciplines of wedding filmmaking driven by his own passion. From a full-time SWAT fighter and hobbyist videographer, Ray became one of those world’s premier wedding filmmakers. In Master the Moment, we have the privilege of listening to Ray that shares with us the nuts and bolts of this profession in an intriguing and educating manner.
One of the most challenging filmmaking professions
Being a wedding filmmaker is one of the most demanding, challenging, and stressful jobs out there. You don’t have any options nor excuses for missing crucial shots. There are situations that you have only one opportunity of making the shot (ceremony, the ring exchange, bride’s first appearance and etc.) and thus wedding filmmakers need to be precise regarding timing, cinematography, lighting, camera setups, motion and more. It sounds simple, but it’s not. However, Ray gets you covered by instructing you with a real-time demonstration as a reference. In Master the Moment you will explore how to film weddings professionally and how to deal with those obstacles during production and bypassing them successfully.
The ideas and lessons learned can be implemented on any production, from commercial to narrative feature film
Directing the wedding day
As filmmakers, we have to take into consideration that the wedding day is one of the most important times in our clients’ life. This is something that they will remember for as long as they live. Thus, the interaction between you, as a filmmaker and the couple must be performed professionally yet sensitively. This will allow you to direct this special day so you can get the best shots for the wedding film. Ray emphasizes this sensitivity regarding the interpersonal relationships between you and the couple. And he does it very well.
Click here to take the course
Not just for wedding filmmakers
The course can be relevant for any type of filmmaking and not just weddings. The ideas and lessons learned can be implemented on any production, from commercial to narrative feature film. One of the advantages of this course is that it focuses on the right attitude that every filmmaker should embrace when working with clients.
Explore below one of Ray’s wedding films:
Course structure and content
The course length is almost four hours and is divided into 9 modules:
- Getting Started: From police detective to one of the world’s most sought-after wedding filmmakers.
- The Basics: The fundamentals that are essential to document a wedding according to the highest standards of the industry.
- Bride and Groom Preps: Here Ray walks you through an entire bride and groom prep session, showing you how to get the best results while keeping your couple relaxed and natural.
- First Look and Candids: The formula to utilize the Pre-Ceremony to capture moments and create stunning visuals that will be key elements in your film.
- The Ceremony: In this module Ray and his team walk you through the entire ceremony from guest arrival to recessional, showing you the exact formula that they use for 99% of traditional events.
- The Reception: The reception is packed with events that you’ll need to capture and showcase in your film. Ray takes you step-by-step through exactly how he documents each element.
- Post-Production: Back in the studio Ray breaks down his approach to edits.
- Destination and Non-Traditional Weddings: In this module, Ray covers Jewish, Indian, and Same-Sex weddings, before discussing his approach to documenting a destination wedding.
- Business Development and Marketing: Ray talks about his branding and business approaches that have elevated him to the very top of the industry.
Price
The course costs $249 to own it to stream and/or download. Also, you can bundle it with an MZed Pro membership for $399 and get access to other courses on MZed.
Click here to take the course
Final thoughts
First, we glad to say that MZed is getting better regarding the way courses being served. The music is improved and matched to the content, visuals are enhanced and the course’s storytelling is built more logically. Those parameters contribute to the educational process making it more interesting and immersive. Well done! As for the course, Ray deserves many compliments. His passion and charisma help to deliver the message. In my opinion, Ray should elaborate and demonstrate more about post-production, working with NLE, grading, sounds, and music. This module should be expanded with more references and examples in the post-production process. Nevertheless, Master the Moment is a great course and one of the best on MZed.
Stumbled upon this amazing post while searching for wedding ideas. I am glad to find this post, the idea of orchestrating your wedding in a beautiful way that will end up making cinematic will an event to remember and not forgotten. I think this course could be helpful for any aspiring photographer as well.
Agreed. It’s truly awe-inspiring. Moreover, the course deals with how to approach the clients as well, which is very helpful. Besides, it focuses on the artistic side, and also strengthens the business side which is not less important.