Sayson found his way to videography through work on the
other side of the camera. "After college I dabbled with a
little acting, but I was absolutely fascinated with what
happened behind the scenes," he says. Sayson went on to record
his siblings' weddings and shot his first wedding as a
professional in 1988. He notes the obvious advantage of "going
pro": "It's great because you're getting paid to do what used
to be a hobby."
At the same time, though, Sayson was working in television
broadcasting and production. The ways he applies the lessons
he learned there have put him on the map as a Vancouver
videographer. Part of his secret is technique and technology;
Sayson's Web site advertises his use of "a steadicam and
Hollywood optical filters" in many of his productions. But
what's really getting the attention of his customers comes
more from the hockey rink than the soundstage.
Ready to Rumble
A key part of the
in-house hockey broadcasts Sayson produced were the intro
videos his crew showed on the Jumbotron just before face-off.
Familiar to any live sports fan, these clips combine
hard-hitting, fast-shooting highlight footage of the home team
with an uptempo soundtrack exhorting the crowd to "pump up the
volume" or "get ready to rumble." Sayson knew a good idea when
he saw it. "They're always showing intro videos to get the
crowd pumped up [at sporting events]. I thought, ‘Wouldn't it
be great to do this for the bride?'"
Sayson developed the idea into what he calls bridal intro
videos. "The best way to describe them is like an MTV music
video shown on the big screen before the bride walks in," he
says. Sayson shoots these videos two to three weeks ahead of
time—often on the bride's makeup trial day—and projects them
onto a large screen in the sanctuary just before the bride
enters. Like the bridal footage packages offered by many
videographers, these videos show scenes of the bride preparing
for her big day. But instead of serving as a component of a
wedding video delivered to the bride and groom some months
after the event—or, at best, as part of a wedding-day edit
shown at the reception—they kick off the big day for all the
assembled guests. Sayson believes these scenes can be used to
fuller effect in this different context. "Bridal intro videos
do two things. They help set the mood for the wedding and they
build anticipation," he explains.
In the 20-30 minutes before the video is shown, the
audience sees another popular component of Sayson's multimedia
presentations: a movie theater-style pre-show that uses photos
and text to introduce the wedding party (without the frequent
reminders to visit the concession stand). This is an
entertaining and helpful pre-wedding diversion, Sayson says,
because many attendees know relatively few members of the
wedding party. "It goes back to my broadcast training. We want
to bring the action as close them as possible. We want them to
identify with the hockey players," he explains. And in Canada,
everyone wants to be a hockey player.
Get Up and Go to Church
One thing that
makes the mood of bridal intro videos so compelling is the
relaxed atmosphere of the shoot. Compared to the wedding day,
when "the bride is always in a crunch for time," Sayson says,
the 45-60 minute intro video shoot shows her when "she's
relaxed and happy … you can really see that in her face."
Not all of the wedding guests catch on to the temporal
illusion. "Many times people ask ‘How'd you put that together
so fast?' We tell them we did it in the car on the way here,"
he jokes.
There are certainly challenges involved in producing
bridal intro videos. Even in the weeks before the wedding,
Sayson says, coordinating the day with the bride and her
makeup people can be a hassle. But the biggest challenge to
showing a bridal intro video is the facility; few wedding
venues, it turns out, sport a sixty-foot Jumbotron. "Not all
churches have the equipment, especially the more traditional,
stained glass window-type churches," Sayson says.
However, a growing number of contemporary churches do have
video projection capabilities. Sayson belongs to one of them,
and some of his clients have their weddings in that church.
"The church has been very accommodating," he says. "It pays to
go to church." However, he also gives back to his congregation
by volunteering his time to help with their video production
needs.
Because coordinating with a church is so important to
showing bridal intro videos, Sayson says it is "absolutely
essential" that he be at the wedding rehearsal. For instance,
he may find that a church's projector only supports VHS or
that its DVD player will not play burned DVDs. For those
clients whose church of choice does not support multimedia
presentations, Sayson also offers same-day edit highlight
packages to be shown at the reception, which he says have the
same appeal to his customers and "are just as effective."
Big Fish from a Frozen Pond
Known as
"Hollywood North" because of the large number of movies shot
there, Vancouver is home to many small production companies,
making it a competitive and discerning market for videography,
according to Sayson. "We have a very sophisticated client
base. Instead of asking ‘How many cameras do you use?' they
ask, ‘What kind of camera do you use?'"
Sayson's innovative multimedia presentations have gotten
him a lot of attention—both from clients and from periodicals
like the Vancouver Sun, Richmond News, Richmond
Review, and Real Weddings magazine. Sayson says
he does "minimal advertising" because his bridal intro videos
advertise themselves; impressed viewers often book weddings
with him on the spot. Though the popularity of his product
goes a long way, Sayson believes his background in
broadcasting and the awards he has won (which include multiple
WEVA Creative Excellence Awards, most recently a 2005 Gold for
Wedding Post-Ceremony Production) bolster his reputation as
well. He says they earn him "credibility and trust" in a
market where almost all the potential customers who meet with
him for consultations have visited two or three other
videographers. An equally useful item on his résumé, Sayson
says, is his experience broadcasting the Canucks: "People in
our markets are very passionate about sports. Hockey in Canada
is a religion." As an NHL "insider," Sayson finds he always
has a way to relate with his clients, which is crucial in a
field that he says is "all about establishing a
connection."
Cool Jerky
Another way Sayson's
costumers might connect with him is through a memorable
character in his entertaining beef jerky ads. TV commercials,
corporate videos, and streaming online video, constitute the
other half of Sayson Video Productions' portfolio. Sayson
stresses that doing big-name advertising isn't the only way to
make money doing commercials. "We don't go for the Coca-Colas
and the Nikes. We go for the small to midsize businesses," he
says.
Similarly, commercials that make waves on the Web are just
as important to Sayson as those on the airwaves. "Webcasting
is the other avenue people are starting to see as a very
powerful marketing tool."
His series of ads for Soo Beef Jerky is doing both. At a
wedding he was shooting, Sayson was approached by a Soo
official who asked him, "How do you make beef jerky
interesting?" Sayson's answer—in ads that are being aired in
Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco—was this:
give the jerky to a chubby, bespectacled nerd and show how
much the ladies love him for it.
Sayson enjoys working with smaller companies like Soo
because he can retain creative control of the commercials. He
does everything from writing the script to shooting and
editing to hiring hair and makeup people.
Though his broadcasting background has shaped the work of
his company, Sayson says his real inspiration is "other
videographers." The relationship is probably reciprocal at
Sayson's own instructional sessions, including one called
"Visual Magic" at the 2005 WEVA Town Meetings in Chicago and
New York in which he shared tips for using filters and
"getting the ‘steadicam look.'"
Sayson says his goal for his presentations is "to help
videographers elevate their production value." This is an
unsurprising mantra for a man who brings his broadcast
professionalism to the videography world. "I have the same
standard for wedding video. I expect all my work to be
broadcast-quality."
NHL Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky once said, "A good hockey
player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays
where the puck is going to be." Danny Sayson would doubtless
agree, and anyone who wants to know where videography's puck
is headed next might look no further than the bridal intro
videos that are revving up wedding guests in Vancouver and
beyond. |