Y ou gotta love it when couples' siblings give awesome toasts at weddings. There's nothing that helps paint a picture of the bride and groom's personalities like stories from their first families. The thing I want to point out from this one: obviously the lighting wasn't ideal in that location. However, the dudes at Kashmir kept things visually interesting by getting some cool over-the-shoulder shots of the couple. I think when it comes to the speeches, we tend to think "Okay, I need a good close up of the speaker and a good close up of the couple." Most of the time, that's a great rule to follow, but what sometimes ends up happening is wedding films have these toast shots with no orientation of where we are. If the angles or backgrounds don't match, you just end up with talking head, listening heads. Here the OTS shots help us get our bearings. But even more importantly, by putting the couple and the speaker in the same frame, there's a relationship that's communicated. We more deeply feel the connection between sisters and brothers. Great job, guys!   rstlne

W e sort of have an unwritten rule here at the blog to not post more than one video by any given company within the span of 3ish months. We want to make sure we're keeping things fresh. However, even though we posted an entry from maru films about 6 weeks ago, I've got to break the aforementioned unwritten rule because man, oh man, did they just release a beauty. Rarely does a wedding film maintain such a strong uniformity in its voice as it moves from scene to scene. Every part of this film belongs with every other part. If you were to take anything out, it just wouldn't feel right. Every time I watch it, I pick up on something else, but I want to point out the thing that gives me the most satisfaction each time I see it. There is a technique in screenwriting where you try to hide your setups so that when the pay off comes later it feels organic. I love how we see the groom with his back turned at the beginning out by the water. Because it's simply a beautiful shot and he's at an interesting angle, it feels like this is simply a cool shot to introduce the main man. Then at the end we realize that shot was setting up the first look. Seeing the bride walk toward him (has a more flowy dress ever existed!? gah) is such a satisfying payoff to the setup that we never realized was a setup. The effect is that this video captivating from the first to the last second. Bravo.   rstlne

A pparently the theme of the week is videos that are simple and straight forward, but showcase the couple so well. At the end of the day, we don't make films about places, fashion or decor. Those things are great - even important - but peripheral. We make films about people. If you're shooting this weekend, don't just film a wedding. Film a couple.   rstlne

I f you're in the US, use this post as an escape from the election day's sense of impending doom. If you're not in the US, I'd like to preemptively apologize for whatever my country is about to do ;) But for real, let's talk about this film. I chose it because it does something really well that I feel like I've been missing both in my own work and in a lot of the submissions I've seen lately. Namely, it puts the couple front and center for the whole video. I've been fortunate enough to have several clients this year book me for rehearsal dinner coverage on top of their wedding day. Because of that, I've naturally been able to capture way more location footage than I normally do on wedding days alone. A few weeks ago I was editing one such wedding and I knew everything looked great, but something still felt off. Then it dawned on me that I was establishing the crap out of the locations, but it was over a minute before we ever saw the bride or groom. Today's featured film is relatively simple, but you can't say it doesn't connect the audience with the couple. We're introduced to them right away and we stick with them throughout the whole day. But it's not just the amount of screen time that's important, it's the way the couple is shown too. The heavy use of close ups makes this film feel so intimate. Future clients care about that sense of connection as much if not more than your dozen+ location beauty shots.   rstlne

H appy Thursday, folks! Sorry for the lack of postings lately. I've been on the road quite a bit, but I'm back today with a fantastic film. Notice how much intrigue and anticipation is built in that first minute. When you find out that this wedding was done by a single shooter, that makes the work that much more impressive.   rstlne