Weddingbee PRO

I am very excited to introduce Chris Jones of Mason Jar Films as my first in a series of featured wedding filmmakers.   Chris is Texas based but available for worldwide travel and has filmed weddings just about everywhere.

I have always loved Chris’ natural and easy storytelling style.  His films really give us a sense of who these couples are and how they experience their wedding day.

I asked Chris to tell us about the couple in this clip as well as to describe the approach he used to tell their story.   

Ashley and Vijai barely met while they attended college in Pennsylvania and didn’t start dating until they had a little bit of distance in-between them.  Ashley was working in Costa Rica while Vijai lived in San Francisco.  Their wedding, held at the Four Seasons Austin, was a multi-day event that paid tribute to the family members and friendships that led them to this point.

In telling a couple’s story, there are so many opportunities throughout the event to capture dynamic toasts and sentimental readings, and to use those sound bites as a narrative throughout the wedding film.  In this example, I took the best man’s toast from the rehearsal dinner and employed it to advance the action.  Notice how it infuses more depth and enjoyment to viewing the wedding party’s preparations for the ceremony.

For couples that desire a shorter, well-paced wedding documentary, voiceovers work to keep the story moving, fitting underneath the primary action, incorporating more of the event in a shorter period of time.

Thanks Chris.  Great work, as always.

I am so thrilled that Patrick Moreau from Stillmotion is going to join me and begin featuring work from some other the wedding filmmakers.  Patrick has a great ability to discover, in many cases help to train and to always inspire new talent. I look forward to seeing what he comes up with.

I am hoping to feature filmmakers whose work stands out and represents some of the different styles in modern day wedding films.  Visit Wedfact.tv for some great examples of different styles.

It can be a challenge and sometimes impossible to completely categorize wedding filmmakers, as they often build upon each other’s work and share common techniques in much the same ways that mainstream filmmakers do.   One person may have a very cinematic approach but also incorporate some journalistic elements.  Another person might combine film with HD video. However, each filmmaker may have a unique interpretation of the wedding day and a unique way of portraying the couple, their families and friends.

I can’t wait to show you guys some of these amazing artists starting with my next post.

Until then, here is one more of mine.

8 Families from William Gaff on Vimeo.

I would like to start off by thanking Mrs Bee and the pro bloggers for giving me the chance to participate in Weddingbee PRO! It really is a great honor.

I am a wedding filmmaker and I truly love being able to do that for a living. My style would most likely be considered documentary. I do, however, draw inspiration and storytelling ideas from other wedding filmmakers who shoot with many different styles. To me, it is more important to tell the story of the day and the story of the couple in the most compelling ways possible. Whatever type of style or approach is used to achieve that, is fine with me.

So with that in mind, I would like to propose the following format for my time here at Weddingbee PRO: In every other blog post, I would like to introduce a different wedding filmmaker, each with a different style. I will show an example of this style and ask the filmmaker to tell us how their approach to filmmaking results in something that their brides and grooms want to watch. Then, I will invite comments from readers about how this approach makes them think about wedding films and the importance of the wedding film genre.

To start things off, I would like to begin with my approach to wedding filmmaking. My focus is on the characters and the story. I try to create a portrait of who these people are at this moment in time, using interviews, real time footage and the natural sound from the day.

About Jennifer (An Excerpt from the film Everything) from William Gaff on Vimeo.

I think that, while not everyone has to like my films, the ones who do seem to say the same thing — they want the story of the day told in an honest and compelling way. They want to be able to look back at this day and not only remember how it looked and how it sounded, but also how it felt.

I would love to hear what you think about this topic. Thanks for listening and take care!