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We came into the studio on Sunday, the day after Melinh and Cwell were married, and we sat down to watch their SDE again. Jess had come in for a couple hours that Sunday and it was her first chance to see their SDE. We are generally rather quiet when we share something like this, as we all get pulled into the story. At the end of the piece we looked up and Jess was completely silent, tears streaming down her face, as she started to laugh at just how much she was affected.

It makes me wonder how many others watch these pieces, knowing nothing of the couple, knowing very little about us as well, people whom we will probably never meet, and are completely moved by what they experience.

Thank you Melinh and Cwell for sharing your day with us, and in turn, letting us share it with so many others.

P.

We usually try to shoot one wedding per weekend - being that we work with so few couples every year that usually works out pretty well. Sometimes though, we have two couples on the same weekend that are both incredibely enthusiastic and we need to find a way to make it work. That was the scenario here. We had Joyce + Raymond to shoot in LA on Saturday and Carol + Bryan to shoot in NY on Sunday. to make for more of an adventure, both couples had same day edits.

In most cases this would never work, as there just wouldn’t be enough time to pull it all together and cover things properly. What made this weekend different was that Joyce + Raymond’s day ended rather early and Carol + Bryan’s started rather late. To be extra careful, we also had Ray Roman (from Ray Roman films) fly in for Sunday for some extra backup.

For Joyce’s sde we were really inspired by the location, and they gave us a blank canvas on which we could create. We knew that something a little zany would be very fitting for them, and so after many sketches and chatting, the concept for their SDE was born.

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Thank you for all of your smiles. They are super infectious.

Stella + Chi // thank you for your friendship. I hope you enjoy this piece we made just for you.

Seeing the San Jose Cathedral for the first time the day before the wedding, we knew right away that it definitely  would be a highlight in itself.  What we didn’t yet know was the fact that Angela and Joseph were going to see each other before the ceremony, and then walk to the church together. I especially love the flower girl’s miniature pink umbrella. She was just so happy to hold it.

And what a way to top of the night, and sde, with a very energetic Chinese dragons performance.

We came up with the concept for the opening the night before the SDE, but even as we started shooting the day of the wedding, we weren’t sure we would be able to pull it off.

After watching this film a good thirty times each, we thought it would be a good time to add in some more details about Raj + Carolyn’s rather epic wedding.

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At the end of the night, Helen and Dave mentioned something in their speech that really resonated with me. Well, it was Dave speaking on behalf of the two of them as Helen has a history of breaking down midway through - which you would never guess form the same-day edit. Back to their speech, Dave said that he loved how we became their friends very quickly, that we captured all the raw emotions, and that we kept them that way -raw. It is that connection that we have with our couples that really allows us to get inside and see things that are often shut off for most of the world.

Helen and Dave's wedding couldn't have been a more fitting day for the comments he made. Their morning was in two words, pure pandemonium. As much as we plan, prepare, organize, and storyboard, weddings are unpredictable beasts that take on a life of their own. While I don't think our bodies could hold up to shooting weddings like this every week, it certainly is refreshing to have so much going on that you simply can't cover it all. When that happens, nearly all the planning goes out the window and it becomes a very instinctual art. At one point in the day we had a band, Dave, and about 50 family members dancing in Helen's driveway while she was thirty feet away, just inside the door about to put her dress on. As it started to pour (both the rain and Helen's tears), the dancing just got more intense.

As much as we want to always have the perfect lens choice and angle for every shot, it is days like this that even the 30 seconds of thought it takes to work through that is time you don't have. It is a different way of shooting and it is certainly a challenge I thoroughly enjoyed.

The irony of the whole situation was that after all of these intense events, everyone rushed to the church to make it on time. As things started to settle down, a confusion set in as nobody could find the priest. He ended up arriving about 40 minutes late, and as difficult as it must have been for Helen and Dave to sit and wait to be married, I think everybody appreciated the calm after the storm.

With that Dave + Helen…

dave + helen // pure pandemonium from stillmotion on Vimeo.

For Quyen and Steve’s wedding, we got the opportunity to shoot with Ed Pingol from the San Jose, CA area. When he and his team showed up in the morning, they were pumped to be a part of a Stillmotion same-day edit. When I told them that Quyen and Steve opted for a love story instead of an SDE, their enthusiasm quickly faded. If you know Ed at all, that certainly means a lot. With that, the idea was born that maybe, just maybe, we could try and swing a SDE at some point in the day. Add to that, Quyen and Steve’s love story had such a strong ending, it was just calling for a SDE to complete it.

When the reception rolled around the possibility of not doing an SDE became smaller and smaller. So we devised the plan, set to work, and had the piece ready by the time the speeches were done. The coolest thing about this was that nobody except for the two of us knew what was going on. The love story aired and we received a rather huge applause with Quyen and Steve undoubtedly thinking that everything was over. Then it hit the screen to quite the reaction, one that surely made all the craziness worth while.

With that, here is the SDE that was born and finished at the reception. Thanks to Casey W. from mindcastle for his awesomeness in pulling this together.

steve + quyen // surprise sde, san jose CA from stillmotion on Vimeo.

It is always fun to bring a new type of clip the blog. I've been sorting through and editing our Super 8 from last year. While we don't offer weddings exclusively in Super 8, it is something we offer to complement our standard wedding film.

Super 8 certainly has a characteristic look that seems to capture the hearts of many. We would love to hear from you - do you enjoy the look and feel of Super 8? If so, care to share why? If you're not as fond of super 8, we would love that feedback as well.

If you're not too sure, check out their highlights we posted a while back as a contrast.

With that, here is Johanna + David's super film from London, England.

johanna + david // london // super 8 from stillmotion on Vimeo.

I love just how expressive these two are - both with and without speaking. To me, that was a huge part of who Link + Ngoc are and that is what we really wanted to convey within their same-day edit. This piece is centered around their first meeting, during which they decided to say their vows to each other in private (well, almost private if you count us). Even without listening to what they had to say to each other, it seemed that these few moments they shared together really represented who they are together on a much larger scale.

link + ngoc’s sde // san jose california from StillMotion on Vimeo.

Special thanks to Lisa Blake of BVWeddings for being such a great help in making the SDE process as smooth as possible. This was truly an international event for us. Amina, Michael, and myself were shooting in San Jose, California. We had guest shooters Casey + Danielle from Mindcastle (Seattle) as well as Matthew Ebenezer from Shadowplay (Australia).

JJJ

J Cubed

The Triple Threat

All nicknames for Jason, Janet, and Jahnoya. And what a performance this trio put on. We had their family in for a presentation to show before the same-day edit. We came up with the idea of multiple perspectives and a two part SDE. We've seen quite a few performances in our day, but none that can compare with the grandeur and sheer coolness that these guys put on.

With about twenty people in the wedding party and over a month of practicing, I think their performance had its intended effect of absolutely rocking the house. I can recall standing in the steadicam, completely awe-struck, trying to pick up my jaw from the floor (which can be tough in a steadicam), when I realized that I should probably stop staring and start shooting.

the triple threat sde // parts one and two from StillMotion on Vimeo.