Henry Adewale Films

Let me start out by saying I really hate leaving negative reviews and like to give any vendors the chance to work with me to correct any issues I do have. I also have a small business and hope that people would extend to me the same courtesy. I also make it a point NOT to ask for refunds as I feel if the issue can be corrected, then more work is usually being done!
Issue 1. From the start it didn’t feel that Henry conducted a professional business. Though he has a nice website, and good response initially, once we signed the contract, even sending payment was an issue. We had to send payment to an individual, not the company. Several methods of payment were not working (zelle, etc) so we ended up sending a check. The only reason we did is that we were referred to him by another vendor and at this point didn’t want to take the time to start the process over looking for a new vendor.
Issue 2: There was no communication about our goals for the video, what we wanted to include. From all other vendors, the communication was vendor driven. Our photographer asked us for information about our wedding party and what we wanted the focus on, all the details about the venue/other vendors/etc.. Our DJ company had us fill out a very lengthy questionnaire and followed up with a call. Our venue had us fill out forms so they knew what to expect for timing and all. Our pastor had a sit down with us to understand what we wanted in the ceremony. Sadly – all of these vendors were paid the same or less, but had more enthusiasm for providing service. Now I can accept some blame, as I go with the philosophy that if someone needs information from me, they ask for it. They didn’t ask, and I wasn’t calling everyday to micromanage their process. Maybe I should have.
Issue 3 They have in their contract that any requests for footage need to be put in 2 weeks after the wedding. Now I don’t know about any of you – but I don’t recall what’s in my contract that I signed months ago, and I will certainly not remember when I’m just trying to recover and relax from the wedding without a reminder. Other vendors sent out a reminder if they needed something by a deadline. Some reminded me before they left or the day after the wedding. From Henry, nothing. He also has a so called wedding consultant. (Other than making bookings apparently what is this person’s role??) Now – in the final so called feature/documentary films (i had two events) – they included an edited montage of a part of the venue that was not being used. They have footage of the camera wandering into a closet. They did not include moments that we specifically had set aside for pictures. Then they tell me if we want something different we should have specified it beforehand, and it’s going to be an additional charge. I would assume that some footage from designated picture times would be included instead of footage I was not aware of. Even for fixing the so called issues (wandering camera footage, bad transitions, etc) – they said I had to mark the timing of each issue down and submit to them to fix. This to me was the most upsetting of all. Refusing to fix issues that is their responsibility to find and address. For the “feature” film – the first few minutes were edited, then it cut into clearly unedited footage. To me that is not a feature film. If I had to mark down what needs to be deleted, I might as well edit my own film and I would have asked my friends to take cell phone videos and mashed them up. Not only that, but the shooter has some unpreferable angles and such that could have been much better (we did not have any restrictions on where the shooter could be) or that a bit of editing (zooming in, etc.) could mitigate.
I tried to bring about my issues professionally, but even in their first response it became clear that they were trying to get us to pay more for providing a proper video, and reverting to their contract and “artistic discretion” for the lack of editing we received. Really sad to see. What a waste on money. I’d rather have no video than pay more to a complete scammer. Really sad that such a business can gain so many followers – maybe he only pays attention to the customers he deems more important. I don’t know.
It did take exactly 12 weeks for us to get the final films, even the short clip. Short clip is ok, but doesn’t have the same level of quality as the ones online. (poor transitions, lots of still photograph moments). Short clip also only included one night of our two night affair. Of course that was our fault for not “specifying in the two weeks”. Again – in speaking to other videographers they include any amount of nights they are hired to shoot in the final clip – unless someone tells them not to.
The final reason I am writing this review is that Henry did not call to discuss any of the issues. The so called wedding consultant was the one emailing. I asked for a call specifically to find out what we could do to make the video even a little bit better. Their final response was to “limit all communication at this point.” Sad.