EventDV has an article featuring Phillipines-based wedding videographer Jason Magbanua. Jason is a self-described “unapologetic wedding videographer” and together with his staff of 4, produce over 100 weddings yearly. Their work has garnered multiple awards. He elaborates further on the “unapologetic” comment…“I do this not as a stepping stone to something ‘bigger,’ nor do I view broadcast or film work as the holy grail of the profession. There will always be video professionals who look down on weddings and consider it the lowest rung on the ladder.” What they don’t realize, he says, is “that wedding videography in itself is multi-disciplinary.”

Magbanua first introduced SDEs (which he brands “Onsite MTV”) into his product offerings two years ago. “Ever since we started doing SDEs, presenting to 200 guests on a weekly basis has done wonders for marketing. Our referral base has widened and word of mouth has spread like wildfire,” he says. “When they see the SDEs at the reception it’s gotten easier to say, ‘So that’s why he’s expensive.’”

Achieving success through SDEs has been hard work, though. “It’s very stressful to edit an SDE,” he says. “I used to use a direct-to-disk recorder but the weight held me down and cramped my shooting style, so I’ve retired it and gone back to tape. At set points during a wedding—like after the veil has been placed on the bride or right after the kiss at the church—an assistant captures the footage. When there’s enough footage to work with, I start editing. Faster laptops have enabled me to play around with curves and filters. The key is to streamline the capturing so there’s more time for creative editing.”

Jason has recently launched pinoyvideomaker.com, a resource for Filipino videographers and a stepping stone towards a formalized local video association.