Miranda’s Quinceanera Video & Photography

Project: Birthday Party Video & Birthday Photography
Package: Director's Cut Standard Film
Categories: London Videography

Background

We were approached by event planners Fisher Productions to create a film for a special party they were planning for a client. Their client had hired the top 2 floors of The Gherkin in London for their daughters ‘Quinceanera’. This, we learned, is a traditional Latin American celebration for a 15 year old girl’s birthday. A ‘coming of age’ party that Miranda’s parents had been planning for a very long time. After meeting with our director during the planning, the client booked a Director’s Cut package personally overseen by Andrew Cussens. We soon began brainstorming for ideas for the film, which included watching lots of Mexican YouTube videos and a TV show called ‘My Dream Quinceañera’!

Video Production

We knew Miranda’s parents were very proud of their daughter, but it was only when interviewing them just before the party we could really capture the pride and emotion they felt. Rather than simply filming the party, we wanted to tell a story about the party and capture the wonderful feelings it evoked amongst the key people. Besides her parents, we interviewed Miranda herself and her younger sister. Thankfully it meant we were able to weave together a lovely opening sequence in which we see the build-up to the event whilst hearing from all the family. As the guests began to arrive they were met with a spectacular view and a wonderful setting designed by Fisher Productions. A flavoured bubble machine, a Mariachi band and musicians with neon instruments were among the many things that entertained and enthralled the young guests. Miranda later made her entrance to the top floor reception in a smoke filled lift to much fanfare, it was really magical. She was then presented with her woman’s ‘shoes’ in traditional fashion. This was followed by some beautiful speeches as each guests lit a candle on her birthday cake. After a sumptuous banquet, the evening rounded off with a superb disco that could be seen lit up from neighbouring skyscrapers.

Behind the Scenes

With our Defender fully loaded up, we arrived outside the Gherkin early afternoon to begin shooting some establishing shots. We’d decided to do a mixture of hyperlapse sequences, timelapse and some cinematic style shots. Unfortunately, the security staff had other ideas and scuppered our plans so we had to be a little extra inventive. (The venue staff apologised profusely, but apparently, they have no control over the building security!). We then hauled 12 cases of kit up to the 38th floor where we shared a ‘green room’. We set about rigging our cameras for a variety of shots including ‘photobooth pov’, a ‘waiter pov’ and lots of event preparation timelapses. A week earlier we’d cast an actress to do ‘red carpet’ interviews as we figured this would be a good way of ensuring lots of rich and personal content from guests. The evenings shoot went well and we experimented with many creative ideas, some worked well and others not so well! As with all our director’s cut projects, we go the extra mile to create a film that is really unique and cutting edge. Unfortunately, the client requested privacy on their film, so it cannot be shared publicly. But, we are very proud of it and think it’s one of the best films we’ve made to date!