How We Edit a Cinematic Pre-Wedding Film

The edit is where a pre-wedding film becomes something a couple watches on repeat or shares once and forgets. Our editing pipeline runs entirely in DaVinci Resolve, processes 200-500GB of raw 4K footage per shoot, and produces a 3-5 minute final film in three working days. Here is our actual process.

Copy to RAID (checksum verified). Backup to separate SSD. Import to DaVinci Resolve at 23.976fps or 25fps, 4K. Organize bins by location and shot type. Tag clips: green=hero, yellow=usable, red=problem. Sync external audio. Generate 1080p proxies if needed. Screen every clip at 2x speed.

Select music first — it determines pacing and structure. Build narrative arc: opening establishing, couple intro, activity, transition, emotional peak, closing. Cut from 15-20 min assembly to 4-5 min final. Align major cuts to musical beats. Use J-cuts and L-cuts on 60% of transitions. Vary clip duration: 2-3s for movement, 4-6s for emotion, 1s for energy peaks.

Six-node structure: CST (LOG to Rec.709, ITU-R BT.709), Balance (exposure/WB), Creative grade (the look), Skin protection (HSL qualifier holding skin near 133 degrees on the vectorscope, the Rec.709 skin-tone line), Location adjustments (power windows), Film grain/finishing (15-20 intensity, 0.4-0.6 size). Grade all clips from same location together for consistency.

Tempo: 60-80 BPM slow, 90-110 energetic, 70-90 balanced. Map film structure to song structure. License from MusicBed, Artlist, or Epidemic Sound ($50-200/track).

Five audio layers: music (-14 LUFS, the YouTube and Spotify normalization target), ambient from location (-20 to -24 LUFS), foley/effects (-30 to -40 LUFS), dialogue (-10 to -12 LUFS, cleaned in iZotope RX), transition bridges. Mix checked on monitors, headphones, and phone speaker.

Day 1: ingest + organization + rough cut (8h). Day 2: fine cut + color grading (8h). Day 3: sound design + export (6h). Total: 22-26 hours. Rush edits possible but quality drops in grading and sound.