Addie + Dave | highlights

Last night I had the opportunity to premiere Addie and Dave's feature film and highlights at their home with some of their family and friends. Normally I would send a piece of the film ahead of time but I held back everything except a 30 second teaser I posted recently. Being able to experience their reactions as they watched everything for the first time was priceless and they were definitely thrilled with the work we did. Dave used to be the lead in the band Orange Island and they both worked at Newbury Comics so needless to say their music selection was phenomenal.

I shot Addie and Dave's wedding with Mike back in September. They were married at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA which is just an absolutely breathtaking spot with some gorgeous views. There was quite a bit of anticipation over the weather leading up to the ceremony. They had their first meeting at Fruitlands about an hour before the ceremony and at that point the wind was blowing awfully hard, it was cloudy and no one knew how the weather would hold up. Well as you'll see the weather worked out beautifully and the sunlight was amazing, especially during their photo session.

Addie and Dave were also very lucky to find an incredible photographer to shoot their wedding... Channing Johnson of Channing Johnson Photography. There are certainly a lot of good photographers out there but in my opinion there are few truly great photographers and I'm not that easily impressed. Channing's work is absolutely amazing and he has an incredible eye for reading the light. You can check out some of Addie and Dave's beautiful wedding photos on Channing's blog.

Typically the highlights has some of the best shots from the film and sometimes I'll save a few shots that will only appear in the highlights. For Addie and Dave's film I actually saved the entire first meeting for the very end of the highlights (which typically plays at the end of the feature) and I built the highlights piece around the anticipation of the meeting. Enjoy...

jeff

the most magical place on earth

When I grew up my parents would take us to Disney World just about every year. We would always drive down and stay at Disney's Fort Wilderness "campground." Those were some of my best childhood memories. Fast forward to November 2009 and we met there once again for a family vacation.

I meant to bring a 50mm f/1.4 lens but grabbed the 20mm f/2.8 instead by mistake... the 50 would've been great but I'm so glad I did it because some of my favourite shots were taken with the 20. :)

cool ghosting image of my brother-in-law Brian:

shots from the Animal Kingdom:

plenty of shots with my beautiful nieces:

jeff

Addie + Dave teaser

Their feature film is almost complete but here is a very small taste of what's to come...

jeff

Christmas - made in the USA

I spend a lot of time with non-wedding projects as well but don't often posted too much here. I recently put together a piece for Vaillancourt Folk Art that is currently featured on their website. Here is a bit about what they do, copied from their website...

Vaillancourt Folk Art, the American studio that created the original contemporary chalkware santa, has been hand-creating highly detailed, hand-painted collectible chalkware heirlooms from antique moulds since 1984 with the primary goal of creating that one special gift to be handed down for generations. Vaillancourt Folk Art is family owned and operated and sells their chalkware figurines to stores around the nation, including in their retail store in Sutton, MA and their on-line catalog.

I definitely felt the Christmas spirit when I walked into the Vaillancourt studio earlier this month and it was so wonderful to see the quality, care and attention to detail that went into every piece they made. Every piece they make is a true work of art and it is incredible that this is all being done in our own backyard. I hope you enjoy the online tour in this film and if you get a chance to check out their Sutton studio in person you'll be glad you did.

jeff

Kristy + Tony - chocolate chip cookies & a 10.10.10 wedding

If you grew up in Massachusetts you've most likely been on at least one school field trip to Old Sturbridge Village. Well apparently Kristy really likes the cookies there so that's where she went with Tony on their first date on October 10th, 2006. Four years after their first date to the day they will be married. We went back to Sturbridge Village on a beautiful fall day for their engagement session and it was so much fun!

I met Kristy while shooting a webinar for the company she works for and Kristy had a starring role... although I don't think she knew it ahead of time! It turned out that I also knew Kristy's brother from my days working for Tweeter where I think we put just about every piece of car stereo gear in his car at some point. I was assisting Anthony from Revelation Productions for the webinar shoot and we had talked with Kristy about her wedding date that day... Well several months later I had just received an inquiry for the same date and I mentioned it to Anthony and how it was too bad we hadn't heard from Kristy, and sure enough a day or two later she got in touch with us.

Kristy also booked Anthony as her DJ (perhaps some lighting too) and then I was really excited when I found out she booked Melissa Coe as her photographer. I've shot alongside Melissa before on a few occasions and we shot their engagement session together which allowed me to create a photo/cinema fusion piece for Kristy and Tony's save the date film. You can check out some of the amazing photos Melissa took for them on her blog.

When I work alongside other great vendors that I regularly work with I know the couple is going to have a great experience on their wedding day and we'll be able to do our best work. The smallest details can make a big difference... such as Anthony making sure all the cinematographers and photographers are in place before the bridal party introductions or Melissa giving me the opportunity to jump in front of her and take some cool shots during the photo shoot.

And finally one of the most exciting things about this shoot for me since I'm a big technology nerd was that this was my first opportunity to play with some new cameras. We are now shooting weddings primarily with Canon 7D cameras... a new digital SLR that shoots full 1080p HD video with the ability to throw any Canon EOS lens on and capture absolutely stunning imagery.

Enjoy!

jeff

Domineca + Santagio - save the date

A couple of weeks ago I spent a beautiful Saturday afternoon hanging out with Domineca and Santiago in Kemah, TX at the Kemah Boardwalk. One of our wedding film enhancements is a save the date film with your love story. It really gives me a chance to get to know the couples ahead of time which helps me create a more personal wedding film and when their wedding day arrives they are typically even more comfortable around the cameras. Couples will often show it at their engagement party or send it out as a save the date reminder or with the invitation. It adds quite a bit to the couple's wedding story and on occasion we might play part of it as an intro for their same day edit.

We were also joined by Domineca's son as some of their family... they really made a great afternoon out of it. My sister Nicole assisted me and came to shoot some photos as well... she's part of my Texas cinematography team and an aspiring photographer. Typically these films are a little shorter then this one (about 3-4 minutes) but when I sat them down for the love story interview their story flowed really well. We had a chance to take some shots on some of the rides as well and when the sun went down and the lights came on the whole place looked absolutely beautiful.

I won't tell you too much about Domineca + Santiago because I think they tell it best. When you watch their save the date film you'll really get a sense of how much fun they are and their love for each other. After spending the afternoon with them I am really looking forward to their wedding and I know it is going to be a great day. Enjoy!

jeff

Mandy & Chris - the same day edit

This was definitely a day I was looking forward to for quite some time. We shot Mandy's sister Michelle's wedding last year and it was a blast - they have an incredible group of friends and family who definitely know how to have a good time. We shoot video messages for some of the couples and Michelle's were probably the best I've seen - so I'm really looking forward to editing the messages for Mandy & Chris (which Kurt filmed while I finished the edit) so they have them when they return from their honeymoon.

The wedding took place at The Colonial Hotel in Gardner, MA - a beautiful venue and it was an absolutely gorgeous day for a wedding. Same day edits are available with our platinum wedding films. Here is Mandy & Chris's same day edit, which was played last night during their reception...

Holly & Jonathan - wedding film trailer

Typically I like to meet the couples we work with well in advance to get to know them better and this helps us to wedding films that are more unique to the couple. Holly & Jonathan came from out of town to their wedding and although Holly and I exchanged many emails and talked on the phone once or twice we didn’t get a chance to meet until the rehearsal the night before.

Normally when we shoot an engagement film I sit the couple down one at a time for a love story interview that is tied into the engagement film. Since we didn’t meet ahead of time I though this would be a great way to get to know the couple and so we sat on the deck just before their rehearsal and they shared their story and you’ll see a bit of that in this film. They also let me practice my photography skills a bit and I was able to take a bunch of photos during their rehearsal.

Well it turned out that Holly & Jon were a lot of fun to work with and Kate and I had an incredible time shooting their wedding. It felt like I could have been friends with these guys for years... they were really easy to work and a lot of fun. The location was absolutely breathtaking and as you can see it was a perfect day for a wedding. Jon was just about to be deployed to Iraq and as you can see was dressed in uniform for the day. This film (as well as the rest of their video) will be posted on their own wedding film webpage so he’ll be able to see it when he gets a chance to get online.

The wedding was held at the Shattuck Golf Club in Jaffrey, New Hampshire on May 24th. Photography was by Kate Preftakes Photography. I had the opportunity to see many of their photos and Kate and her assistant did an amazing job! You couldn’t really ask for anything more with beautiful Mt. Monadnock as a backdrop, stunning views all around and a gorgeous ballroom with cathedral ceilings. It definitely had the look and feel of a New England wedding and it was certainly a pleasure to shoot there.

We started coverage at the E.F. Lane Hotel in downtown Keene where the couple was staying. This wedding film trailer captures a lot of the details throughout the earlier parts of the day and some of the moments as they were both getting ready for their big day. I don’t want to give away too much though so there will be plenty more to come when their DVD (and Blu-ray disc) is completed.

I think this piece demonstrates our approach and our style, utilizing tools such as a Steadicam arm and vest rig and 35mm lenses to give the films a more cinematic look and feel and in turn helping us add better story telling elements and more emotion to the film. This is much different then your average wedding video where most of the footage is shots from a camera (or maybe two) on a tripod. We are not your average videographers. We filmed the ceremony with four HD angles and you’ll see a bit more of that in their highlights film.

Feel free to let me know what you think & enjoy!

-Jeff