Weddingbee PRO

Griffen and Curtis had a lot of attention during their Trash the Dress session. At the time, the Cinematography team was holding a workshop in California, and they decided to bring their students to the shoot. It was Patrick, Konrad, Jaime and myself, with students Big Shawn, Little Shawn (sorry Little Shawn), and Jim. Not to mention all the spectators along the way! We started out close to Napa Valley at a vineyard and corresponding castle. What an incredible place! We went deep underground to where the barrels were kept and along the way we found a torture room, musty nooks and crannies, and about a million photo opportunities. It was pretty chilly down there, which was nice since it was scorching hot just outside. According to my estimates, it must have been at least 35 Celsius, 95 Fahrenheit. We took some shots outside and then headed to the coast…where it was freezing! We were wearing fleece sweaters and shivering to bits - especially Patrick and Griffen who went swimming for a few shots. Because we went to 2 vastly different locations, we got an amazing variety of photographs.

-Amina

Griffen + Curtis’ Trash the Dress Shoot in CA from StillMotion on Vimeo.

As the years go by, it’s amazing to realize the number of weddings we’ve shot and how our collective vision has grown, but most importantly of course is how the work itself continually progresses and evolves.

Thus, when shooting Michelle + John’s wedding this past summer, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that despite some of the more faster paced work we’ve done in recent times, Michelle still prefers some our more traditional style of wedding films.

Michelle + John’s highlights give a respectful nod to the more traditional wedding work we did years ago, while maintaining the aesthetic standards + story telling (thanks Michelle + John for the incredible speeches!) approach that we create today.

I’ve watched their highlights more times then I’d like to admit, and I still got goose bumps today previewing it one last time for the blog …

- Michael

Michelle + John Highlights from StillMotion on Vimeo.

Sometimes, it’s the less than graceful moments that are often the most fun and the ones that can be the most heartwarming ones. I have always thought that the dressing and primping of the bride is one of the funniest times of the day. From my experience, brides that have the most fun on their wedding day are the same brides that not only see the humor in all of the chaos, awkwardness and silliness of the day, but actually enjoy it and look forward to it.

Photos by Robert Henshaw-Suder

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Please take a moment and look around the brand spankin’ new blog. The crew over at Flosites are working out some glitches for us, but we are getting there.

The main site is also now up and humming with some awesome new features there as well. The crew over at Funnel has been working around the clock (literally) at getting everything nice and smooth for us. We had some things that weren’t a hundred percent on, so we delayed the launch by a day or so. We certainly appreciate all of the patience from those who were waiting for the moment that counter timed down.

We should also take a moment to thank Troy (hmm… who’s Troy?) and Michael who had the stamina to stay up with us all night (it’s almost 2 am now) as we combed over all of the blog posts and tried to make sure everything was fit and proper before sharing. Please enjoy our new digs.

On a personal note, Amina and I will be heading to St. Lucia next week to prepare for our wedding. We wanted to thank all of you who sent us warm wishes. We are very excited that it will soon be our turn - no pressure Michael + Konrad.

Some of you already caught a glimpse of our wedding trailer on vimeo, but we wanted to share it here for those who didn’t. I shot this with Amina when we went on a short 4 day surprise excurison to look at Ladera as a possible venue for our rather small event.

Our Wedding Trailer from StillMotion on Vimeo.

I am so pleased to present  Joth Riggs of Whitestone Productions as today’s featured filmmaker.  Joth’s work has inspired me a great deal since hearing of him about a year ago and seeing his work.  His cinematography and editing are perfectly executed, and his storytelling skills are among the best in the business.

This is not surprising as Joth is a seasoned film professional outside of the wedding world as well.  He is a Directors Guild of America member with a list of film and television credits that will fill an IMDB page or two. He is a great example of the current rise in experienced filmmakers and film school grads getting into wedding films,  infusing this fast growing industry with new blood.

The following clip from Joth is one of my favorite clips of the year.  I asked him to tell us a little about the event and the approach used in the filming it.

Here’s what Joth wrote:
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We know from high school writing  class that character development is an important tool for a writer to have.  In filmmaking, some of the same rules apply and character development is equally important.. 

Photos by Eagle Eye Photography

In wedding films, of course, we  tell the story of our protagonists (our couple), but it is often our supporting cast and their stories that add a richness to the film. These supporting characters tell us so much more about our couple, about who they are and how they found their place in this world.

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My filmmaking style is most likely the result of watching films in my two favorite genres, romantic comedy (yes, I just admitted that) and interview driven documentary.

The first one might have obvious applications in wedding films, but the latter may not be as obvious to some.   Who in their right mind would want to interview people on  their wedding day much less be interviewed? 

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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!