When the announcement was made that ‘the next 15 minutes are going to blow your mind,’ did anyone really have a sense of what they were in for? ‘Signature’ – the group which first came to nation’s attention on Britain’s Got Talent – were making an appearance at an Indian wedding reception at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. The guests quickly crowded around the floor to get a better view. What they saw was a single man, dressed like Michael Jackson in his black suit. Then he started to dance! From his moonwalk to his arm ripples, it was like watching Michael himself! The camera phones quickly came out and people tried to capture footage of what they were seeing. The bride and groom clapped along looking delighted with the events.
Signature, made up of performers Suleman Mirza and Madhu Singh, are a great double act. Turns out the announcer at the beginning soon wanted to take his turn on the dance floor! Turns out he is just as talented! The music switched from Michael Jackson to Bollywood and Madhu Singh showed how adept he is at Bollywood style of dance. The two work really well off each other and their mock competition to see who could dominate was very entertaining! If you get a chance to see Signature perform, we highly recommend them.
To me some of the most exciting projects we undertake are Asian Wedding Videos. I remember how excited I was when we received our first two Asian wedding video bookings in early 2007 – the same weekend Aatish & Amita booked us for their Hindu Wedding Video at the Hare Krishna temple in Watford and Sohit & Vandana booked us for their Indian Wedding Video at the Four Seasons in Hampshire.
I remember meeting Sohit for coffee a week earlier to discuss the possibility of us filming his wedding and him saying “so I guess you know I’ll be coming in on a white horse?” Not sure whether it was a trick question to test my knowledge of Indian wedding videos, I cautiously shrugged in manner suggesting ‘yes of course!’. As soon as I got back to my partner that evening I shrieked out my disbelief at the idea of a groom appearing on a white horse! After looking up the facts online to check I hadn’t inadvertently blown my cover, I was thrilled at the prospect of a wedding video with something REALLY filmic!
To make the most of the opportunity, I decided to hire in a Glidecam 200 crane at my own expense and to shoot the whole wedding in super widescreen. We were lucky with the mid-April weather and I was able to create my first Asian wedding video in a way that evoked the cinematic qualities I wanted to offer. As soon as the film was edited and online, it had an instant impact on our business with several other Asian couples booking us to film their wedding with a similar aesthetic.
The peak of this rise came in Autumn 2007 we went to Newcastle to film what is still the grandest wedding I have ever done – Surita & Sumita’s double wedding celebration at the Sage centre. During 2007 we produced many other Asian wedding videos including Amrita and Benjis Sikh wedding video which was the first to use three cameras. Needed for the sheer scale of the wedding, this enabled us to film multiple perspectives and simultaneous action. Personally I think you need at least 2-3 videographers for any type of live event filming.
Meanwhile Aatish & Amita’s wedding in July 2007 offered similar spectacle, hosted as it was in the grounds of Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford. I remember meeting the couple at the venue a few months before their wedding and being struck by two huge bullocks transporting visitors around by cart. The venue features a beautiful temple in the main house and one of my favourite moments in the film is ‘Feeding the Holy Cows’. For me, this was something I never expected to see in a wedding video! Raising the bar from the Asian groom entering on a horse, I was delighted to film something that was as visual and interesting as I had hoped.
During the course of 2007-2009 we have filmed many Asian weddings – many of these amazed me for the sheer scale, spectacle and sense of occasion. I have also been very touched by how important they are to the families and the wider Asian community that is frequently invited to participate. I hope that as more couples see our Asian wedding films that we have produced for our clients, we will be invited to film many others – as I have come to love creating Asian wedding videos!
I was reminded of the importance of wedding video music this week whilst finalising the edit for several different clients. Last year ago I remember Bobby enthusing over the director Mira Nair whose film Monsoon Wedding contains some wonderful music for wedding videos. I enjoy her work too and went to the cinema to see The Namesake as soon as it came out in 2007. What impresses me about much Indian music is the way that films are such a driving force behind the creation of it. Unlike a lot of Western music, from the outset many Indian artists aim to tell a story with their music as part of a film. My perception is their music is less abstract and chart driven than the UK & US with the lyrics possessing a much greater significance (although anyone reading this is welcome to correct me!).
Consequently whilst many ‘western’ wedding video clients might be happy with music that simply suits the ‘mood’ of their spectacle, many Indian wedding video clients will be more sensitive to its lyrics. This happened with Bobby & Sejal who provided many music suggestions for their film including ‘Aaj Mera Jee Karda’ (Today My Heart Desires) from Monsoon Wedding. Another track they suggested was ‘Tera Bina’ (Without You) from Guru which I think is beautiful. I often find myself scanning the search engines for translations of lyrics both out of curiosity and a fearful wish to avoid embarrassment!
Probably no job was more challenging to me in the last year than Amrita and Benji’s film – see my previous blog Epic Sikh Wedding Video. This is because it contains not less than 33 tracks, which proved a real challenge for a non-Indian language speaker like myself! Fortunately Amrita and Benji like a lot of Western music too, so it contains a bit of both. However I am very proud of the film not just because of the music, but also because of its epic proportions! One thing is for sure, I will think twice next time before agreeing to take on a 5 day wedding in the middle of the peak season! Nevertheless putting together the film score for Amrita and Benji was a useful experience for me, it made me appreciate Bollywood films a lot more than I did and greatly increased my awareness of good Indian music.
Nothing however quite scared me recently as much as Chloe & Martin’s wedding video. Yes they are an English couple, but Chloe is a music lawyer and her father owns a well-known record label! As part of their wedding celebrations they had Gospel singers, a performance by native Indian tribesmen and a live gig by a newly signed artist. With such a strong musical heritage, you can imagine how concerned I was about hitting the right note (okay, pun intended). Like the others, they did provide a few hints and I also paid attention to music used on the day to garner more suggestions. Fingers crossed they will like what we’ve done!
As part of the development of our new website we’ve recently added some help and advice pages. We hope it will prompt clients who are less confident about commissioning a wedding video to contribute to their music score. I strongly believe that the films we make for our clients should feel personal and relevant. Music in my opinion is one of the strongest ways of making this connection!
We recently finished editing an Asian wedding video for Vivek & Anneka, who got married in a civil ceremony at Ealing Town Hall in September 2007 before going to Goa for their proper Asian wedding. Afterwards they held a reception back in the UK just before Christmas at Addington Palace in Croydon. The wedding reception was well attended by over 500 guests and both the bride and grooms families were absolutely wonderful! Dan and Simon filmed the wedding with me directing, we trialled the new EX-1 camera because of its low light capabilities – very wise considering it was the shortest day of the year! The shoot went well and everybody was in great spirits, I particularly liked the speeches, bollywood dancers (with uncle joining in) and the partying! Highlights of their Asian wedding video can be seen below.
One of the first Indian weddings we did this year was for Saj & Nuwan who held a reception at the fabulous Woburn Abbey. Like many of our Indian wedding videos, it was a very visual affair and the guests thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We worked with Aziz from Aira Photography, someone we really enjoy working with and recommend highly. I think that when you have a photographer and a videographer who both enjoy their creativity and get along well you can achieve super results. I particularly like this video because it shows how both the photographer and videographer have pushed each other on to get highly visual material material. It set a benchmark for the other Indian wedding videos we planned to do this year.
