# Wedding film structure cheat sheet

A 12-beat scaffold you can drop into Claude as a starting point for any
wedding. Adapt freely — the order matters more than the literal beats.

## The 12 beats

| # | Beat | Bridge tag | Typical duration | What to shoot for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Anticipation | EXPOSITION | 15–25s | Hands on details, calm before. Bride's robe, groom's cufflinks, room reset. |
| 2 | Voice-over hook | EXPOSITION | 10–20s | Best line from speeches or vows, used over visuals. Defines emotional thesis. |
| 3 | Bride/Groom prep | HERO | 30–60s | Hero shot of each. Faces, breath, the moment before they leave the room. |
| 4 | Travel to venue | EXPOSITION | 15–25s | Movement. Map sense. Anticipation rising. |
| 5 | First-look | HERO | 20–30s | Single unbroken moment. No cuts. Audio underneath. |
| 6 | Ceremony tension | VILLAIN | 60–90s | Walking down. Quiet faces. Vows building. The audience watching. |
| 7 | Vow exchange | CRESCENDO | 90–120s | Vow audio carries this. Faces. Tears. Single rings shot. |
| 8 | First kiss + walk back | CRESCENDO | 20–30s | Energy released. Cheering. Confetti. |
| 9 | Speeches selects | VILLAIN | 60–90s | Funniest moment + tearjerker moment. Audio-led. |
| 10 | First dance | CRESCENDO | 60–90s | One long shot + close-ups of family watching. Lower thirds optional. |
| 11 | Party montage | CRESCENDO | 30–60s | Compressed energy. Cuts on music. |
| 12 | Goodnight | RELEASE | 15–25s | Quiet end. Final shot of the couple. Wide. Hold. |

**Total target:** 7–9 minutes. Cut to fit, don't pad.

## Claude prompt to generate a film from this template

Paste into your wedding Claude Project:

> "Using the 12-beat wedding film template, build me an outline for [name]
> wedding. I'll paste the speech transcript and the vow transcript next.
> For each beat, give me a 1-sentence shot brief + which speech/vow line
> (with timecode from the transcripts) plays underneath. Output in Bridge
> format: `## HH:MM:SS — BEAT NAME` headings."

Then drop in the transcripts, get the outline back, run it through the
Bridge:

```bash
python3 ~/kit/bridge.py 05_CLAUDE/outlines/wedding-v1.md --fps 25 \
    --project "Anya Wedding" \
    --out 04_RESOLVE/wedding-outline.fcpxml
```

## Cutting principles

- **Audio dictates length, not visuals.** The vow audio is sacred. Never
  cut a vow to fit a montage.
- **Cut on emotion, not on movement.** A held wide on a face beats a
  whip-pan if the face is doing the work.
- **Family reaction shots are the secret weapon.** Cut to them during
  vows + first dance. Always.
- **First-look gets one cut only.** Lock that shot, never re-edit it.
- **Speeches are 80% boring. Cut to 20%.** Even the bride's father knows
  this in his heart.

## Three things to never do

1. Don't open the wedding with a drone shot. Couples want their faces,
   not a Google Earth tour.
2. Don't use cinematic 24p slow-mo for the entire film. Use slow-mo as
   punctuation, not as structure.
3. Don't lower-third everyone. Names interrupt the dream. Only the
   couple's names go on screen, and only at the bookends.

## Reference watches (study these arcs)

- *Lara & Sam* — Brett Ferguson (the gold standard for emotional pacing)
- *This is Us* — White in Revery (drone discipline)
- *Daniel & Yael* — Stillmotion (vows-led cutting)