The backbone of our business is wedding videos, which we love doing – it’s always an honour to be there for someone’s special day. But we also do a lot of corporate video work; so to combine both of these by providing live event filming for the National Wedding Show at London’s Earls Court was right up our alley!
The National Wedding Show is a chance for some of the best bridal designers to showcase their creativity and skill in front of their clients and peers. As one beautiful model after another came out wearing spectacular wedding dresses, it was clearly going to be a tough assignment for us! We used a two-camera set-up so we could have a master shot showing the whole stage but also have a second camera to get in close and film lots of detail, after all when it comes to choosing wedding finery it comes down to the details. We were then able to cut between the two to give a real impression of what it’s like to be at a fashion show.
It wasn’t just the brides who were accommodated for in the show, there were spectacular morning suits, and less formal suits for the groom, wedding outfits for flower girls and ring bearers plus looks for bridesmaids. There were also trends of multi-cultural weddings which reflect the current wedding industry in the UK. It was a great event and we were glad to be a part of it.
Summer 2009 has been a record season for us with a mountain of wedding videos! Our videographers worked flat out filming up to 9 weddings each weekend. As you can imagine, it was a logistically and physically demanding task to cover so many in such a short space of time – especially with some as far afield as Villa Cimbrone in Italy! However, I am pleased to say we managed to navigate through them without a single hitch. I am proud of our production team, which comprises really talented camera crew and editors that I have handpicked over the years. Indeed its a testimony to them that Iris and I managed to take our belated honeymoon to California earlier this month leaving the team to cope with yet another 6 weddings in our absence!
However despite all the exertions of the last few months, here comes the rub… filming on the day is only a small part of the process of making a professional video! What really consumes the man hours – is post-production. I recall in 2007 how we were overwhelmed with editing – taking about 6 months to clear it all! Well, the truth is we have nearly twice as much editing now! Okay we’ve moved on a bit since then, we’ve now got our own fully equipped studio capable of working flat out as well as being much more efficient. But it still its quite bewildering to find yourself faced with about 60 films that all need editing at once! To put this into perspective, during our recent US trip, we took a VIP tour of Warner Bros Studios. Our guide boasted that this huge complex was capable of handling 8-20 productions at any one time. It comforted me to reflect that this means our much more humble studio in East London must be on a par with Warner Bros!
Anyway, we’ve got off to a good start with the post-production, however I do expect to be hibernating in the studio for a while with my work cut out until the Spring!
Doing lots of weddings videos means that when a job comes up than isn’t a wedding video its a real joy! Point in case in a job we did for US company 4C Controls which was launching its satellite mapping business at the Farnborough Airshow. Our videographers David and Matt fielded this particular job which centred on a bunch of presentations. Since we’d agreed to provide highlights of the event for our clients to use on their website, it was obvious to me that we’d need some much visual spectacle before this looked appealing. Consequently David and Matt filmed a stack of material both inside the exhibitions halls and outside which we padded around the speakers. We found some suitable soundbites and added a music track that reflected the dawn of the new company. I think it works well and I am sure 4C Controls was delighted with the job, despite having to remove numerous shots of attendees who for various reasons couldn’t appear on video! Anyone watching this will be thinking Stanley Kubrick like I was when I briefed my editor! See if you agree:
At Bloomsbury Films we do a lot of wedding videos, so it is nice whenever we are invited to do something a bit different. An opportunity arose in July when the Segel family were throwing a leaving party to celebrate their return to LA after living in England for some 15 years. The party was held in London and was attended by collegues, friends and associates of the couple. Our videographer Andy took up the mantle on this occasion and filmed lots of interviews from guests and quirky details of the event. Even though I didn’t attend this event personally, it was clear from the footage that the couple were well liked and would be sadly missed. The video was edited by Jeff, who likes to play with the material and always manages to accentuate the quirky elements! As with all our event filming we try to focus on the people as much as the events as we know this is what is going to make the video more enjoyable to watch later on. Below is a trailer from this event videography project:
In May we were booked to film a Bat Mitzvah video for a client at Shoreditch House in London’s East End …and what a fabulous event it was! As a film director, I am familiar with Soho House, the original home of this media-orientated members club, but Shoreditch House was a real discovery for me. The party was hosted on the roof terrace which has an open air pool and a fabulous dining area. Overlooking the urban regeneration of the East End, the location provided plenty of spectacle which was further enhanced by excellent weather. Our videographers Dan & David filmed the event using our new Sony HVR Z7E cameras. This gave me some cause for anxiety as one of the cameras was suspended inches over the pool whilst filming synchronised swimmers! The event went well and I would love to do another Bar Mitzvah video like this in the future.
One of the interesting things about event filming is you can never really predict the things clients might ask you to film! One example was a job we did for Wartski a Bond Street jewellers with family connections in opera. They decided to host a reception for a colleague who had be honoured with the Legion d’Honneur in France for his services to opera. The evening was attended by several composers and well-known individuals at The Arts Club in London. By all accounts it was a fabulous evening and the client was delighted to have hired a videographer as well as a photographer to capture such a prestigious moment. Below are some highlights from the event filming we did.
Earlier this year we were invited by the A&R Allstars to film a concert they were doing at Sound in Leicester Square, London. The band wanted us to capture them live so they could create a demo DVD for clients and have a trailer on their website. After consulting us on the how to capture it in a way which focussed on the different vocalists and instrumentalists, we decided on using three videographers with a jib arm and a steadicam flyer. The concert filming was a lot of fun, and the band managed by Lisa and Andy, were a real pleasure to work with.
You can see highlights from the concert filming below, it shows 30 second clips from 6 different numbers. We shot around 12-15 tracks in all which were then edited and put on a specially designed DVD that the band now send out to clients. I like the trailer because it shows some of the camera movements and the details of the performers. I’d very much like the opportunity to do more concerts, although in future I would consider having four videographers and using slightly different equipment.
