Yane was tucked away in the Chesterfield Hotel where she could have some space and quiet to prepare for her church wedding to Tim. With a little help from her friends, she was soon ready to go and posing for a few photographs in her stunning dress. As she was putting on her finishing touches, the guests were starting to arrive nearby in Hanover Square in the heart of London at St George’s Church where Tim was waiting to catch a glimpse of his bride. Yane arrived in a spectacular white Rolls Royce before being walked up the aisle. It’s a nice bit of editing there where the film changes from black & white to colour when they share their first married kiss – you can do amazing things in post-production. While the bride & groom had a vintage car to travel to the reception in, the remaining wedding party were ushered over in rickshaws – a nice eco-friendly touch.
Once they all safely arrived at Dartmouth House there was drink waiting to welcome them. The group posed for a bunch of wedding photos – the highlight of which had to be when all the blokes hoisted up Yane for a photo in their arms. Good thing they didn’t drop her. After dinner the dancing began. With a large contingent of Brazilians it wasn’t hard differentiating between the English and the Brazilians on the dance floor – they are a nation of people with rhythm and they didn’t disappoint. We wish a rosy future for this dancing couple.
St Mary Brookfield Church, an imposing red-brick London church, was the setting for Lucy & Nick’s church wedding. The high vaulted ceiling of the church drew the eye upwards past the stained glass windows and allowed bountiful daylight to stream in which were optimal conditions for filming. The elegant groomsmen in their morning suits made sure that everyone was seated, comfortably ready for Lucy’s grand arrival to the church (in a gorgeous vintage Rolls Royce). Lucy was a beautiful bride and all eyes were on her as she walked down the aisle where Nick stood ready to give her a quick kiss.
When the ceremony was complete, our beaming happy couple walked hand in hand out of the church where they were showered with confetti and posed for photographs. Throughout, they kissed each other and glowed with happiness. The reception took place at Kenwood House where the champagne stood ready to greet the wedding party. To the music of the fiddle and guitar duo, they enjoyed some time to visit with all of their guests. The bucolic lawns of Kenwood House made a suitable backdrop for wedding photos and the August sunshine meant that guests lingered outside as long as they could. They were drawn inside by the promise of a wonderful meal – a promise which was definitely fulfilled. Lucy & Nick, we wish you all the best!
A few months ago we decided to launch our own Facebook Page as a way of interacting with past, present and future clients. We now upload highlights of different jobs to the page as they are completed, so visitors can see our range of work and make comments in an easy, friendly environment. I am pleased to say it is very popular, with clients taking a keen interest in the videos and newcomers watching these as a source of inspiration. Indeed our videos seem to not only serve as an example of good videography, but provide an excellent source of ideas for planning their wedding or event!
We heartily welcome comments from prospective clients, whether they are wondering about how to achieve the best videography, which photographers we recommend or what venues to book. As film-makers we know a lot about making things look good, so our advice is sought after on many subjects. Meanwhile the ‘Discussions‘ section of our Facebook page has a number of topics that are being widely shared. We’ve also included some general tips and advice which we hope our clients enjoy.
If you haven’t already subscribed to our Facebook page or know a friend who might like to check it out, please don’t hesitate to look it up at The Bloomsbury Films’ Facebook Page
At the start of this month Bloomsbury Films was neatly packed up into boxes and moved across town to a new studio location in London’s trendy East End. Taking advantage of the hard hit property market on the periphery of London’s financial district, we were lucky to find a 1500 sqft unit in a converted warehouse that would suit our needs now and in the foreseeable future.
New Bloomsbury Films Office
A stone’s throw from Brick Lane, it is conveniently close to Aldgate & Aldgate East tube stations as well as Tower Gateway DLR. From these new offices we continue to operate our sales & administration, video kit storage and maintenance, production planning where our director’s overseeing all our projects. Over the coming months we shall also be introducing additional in-house studio facilities that will enable us to extend our range of services.
We’re very excited about the move, especially as we continue to expand the range of services provided by Bloomsbury Films. Although wedding videos are still currently our biggest market, we are beginning to attract more types of live event filming including interest from businesses for conference filming. We hope you will be able to pay us a visit sometime!
We can usually reckon on August bank holiday being one of the business periods in our diary. In 2008 this was definitely the case, with four weddings on just the Saturday alone! One of these was Jehan & Guillaume’s which was held in the elegant and prestigious surroundings of Claridges Hotel in London. Filmed by our videographers Dan & Eva, I am glad at how well we managed to capture the glamour and sophistication of the hotel despite the pressures of having to be discreet at such a venue.
Also lucky for Jehan & Guillaume was the fact their wedding day was organised by society wedding planners Niemierko [formerly Smith Niemierko] who provided their usual creative flair and expertise. Their function was attended by several dignitaries, so I imagine it was with some relief their wedding day ran perfectly and the guests were wowed with plenty of nice touches and a magnificent banquet. During dinner a very proud father gave an eloquent speech in praise of the bride and the pair enjoyed a great deal of warmth and attention from many others. One particular highlight of the event was the live musical entertainment provided by two different bands, who both seemed to capture the mood of the guests very well.
Without being stuffy, it was a very elegant wedding which I feel is reflected in the highlights of the video below. I am also glad to say this was confirmed by Jehan herself who called us this week to order some extra wedding DVDs!
Ever since creating our first wedding films, I have wanted to bring elements of my interests in feature film production to the table. One of these elements is trailers – I love watching them at the cinema as they don’t just advertise, but build the sense of expectation and excitement around a film release. Similarly after months of work in the production and editing of a client’s wedding film, we create a short wedding video trailer for them.
These are extremely popular and get watched hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of times. The trailers are presented in a unique website created for our client. Some examples include:
Our trailers are uploaded about 7-10 days before the wedding DVD is delivered. To give you an idea of their popularity, the least any of these has been watched is 50 times and the most is over 1000 times! I consider this to be a very significant because the full length wedding video is unlikely to achieve such audience figures ever!
Many of our older trailers have attracted even bigger viewing figures as clients pass on their site to family, friends and work colleagues. For example we have a Sikh wedding video that has attracted 5000 hits over the last 6 months and we have one Bengali wedding video reaching over 20000! Surely that must make these box office hits within the wedding video world? Of course, not all our wedding videos appear on our You Tube channel (a few clients anxiously avoid it) but those that do are very glad of the opportunity to share a small part of their video with so many others. At around 3 minutes in length it is digestible enough for everyone and saves either lending DVDs or imposing on less enthusiastic family and friends.
Perhaps this a reflection of being based in London, but perhaps also it shows the growing acceptance in our society for marriage based on love and like-mindedness, rather than seeking a cultural safety net. A particularly good example of this is Shahara & Christophers wedding which we filmed at York House, Richmond in early August. Shahara is from a Muslim Bengali family and Christopher from a traditional English one. In marrying Shahara, Christopher not only adopted a new family, but a new (Muslim) name. When I met them both months prior to their wedding, it was clear they were both very much in love and that whilst Christopher may not have have grown up in a Muslim/Bengali lifestyle, he was more than willing to adopt one.
I like their video very much, and the trailer shows their coming together well. They had splendid weather on the day and I am glad that there was a lot of opportunities for filming outdoors – which I always believe looks so much better than filming indoors! We have done several Bengali wedding videos of late including a stunning Bengali wedding in Newcastle, but this is the first mixed Anglo-Bengali marriage I am aware of filming. I therefore wish Christopher and Shahara all the very best in the future! Below are highlights from their day:
The first Jewish wedding video we filmed this year was on a cold wintry day in March. It was for Michel & Michael a couple whose special day was hosted at the Millennium Hotel Gloucester Road. The couple booked our Director’s Cut™ package at a time when it was only two cameras (now three). We used Sony Z1 cameras and our jib arm, we also hired a Steadicam Merlin for the occasion to see if it was something we might buy. I must say I was very pleased with the Steadicam and would have no hesitation buying one if it wasn’t for the fact that we ditched our Z1 cameras for the new heavier Z7 cameras. Creating a Jewish wedding video is always interesting, especially filming the ceremony, dancing and blessings. This particular Jewish wedding was a bit more orthodox than those we’ve previously filmed as the men and women were divided during the reception banquet. Despite the very dark time of year (and being two levels below ground for the reception), the wedding presented enough spectacle to create a fabulous Jewish wedding video. One thing that stuck in my mind was the Talbis which took place before the ceremony and involved the males of the family each singing in turn before being joined in chorus. You can see highlights of this wedding video below:
Whilst Dan & David were filming in Oxfordshire (see this post), I was accompanying Dishad and Eva filming Manjit & Anju’s wedding at Coventry Gurdwara. The day started for Eva and I in Barking, Essex capturing Manjit getting ready before the whole entourage left for Coventry. One thing I always like to do when I am on a shoot to is film the baraat en route. This can be more difficult than you imagine because you not only have to speed after them and cut through traffic, but you then need to keep the camera steady long enough to capture footage from a moving vehicle. For this particular Sikh wedding video we decided to go one step further that we did in Amrita & Benji’s Sikh wedding video and stop at a service station along the M1 and film from a foot bridge. We’d hardly been in position for more than a minute when the bus carrying all of Manjit’s family went past. Although only one shot, it gave a lift to the film which I believe makes it feel like a TV documentary. Thanks to our sat nav we arrived in Coventry just ahead of the bus and was ready to film the arrival of the baraat and milni before the ceremony commenced. The reception was a bit hectic, not helped by traffic diversions on the two centre, but I am proud of the film we managed to pull off for Manjit & Anju. You can see highlights of their Sikh wedding video below:
One of the first London wedding videos we filmed this year was for Catherine and Christian a couple who married at Farm Street Church in Mayfair with a reception afterwards at Claridges Hotel. The service was conducted by Father William Pearsall a splendidly nice chap with a great sense of humour. Catherine looked wonderful in her dress entering into this fabulous catholic church and Christian gave a witty speech at the reception. Claridges is a very nice venue for a wedding and we have been there on many occasions now. Like all our wedding videos in London, we try to combine the elegance of the occasion with a sense of what being in London is all about. Dishad and Simon filmed the wedding using the Z1 camera on one of its last outings before we upgraded to the Z7, I must say Claridges uses very low lighting so it is a struggle for the Z1 camera and I am glad we won’t have to use camera lights so often in future. Use can see highlights of this London wedding video.
