Contest - Win 2 FREE tickets to the Movie-Me Seminar!

For all of you San Francisco bay area couples, today is your lucky day... well, actually for the next 2 weeks! Between January 19th and February 1st, you will have the opportunity to win 2 FREE tickets to the "Movie-Me" do-it-yourself wedding video seminar (valued at $98)! Please leave a comment on this blog post or send me an email and give a short explanation as to why I should select you as the winner of this contest. I will announce the winner here on this blog on February 2nd.

Here are the details of the seminar:

"Movie-Me" is presented by Chuck and Jewel Savadelis of Savadelis Films, an award-winning husband-and-wife team who are outstanding presenters with an engaging and lively style, who draw from their experience as wedding cinematographers and their long-time avocation as avid movie buffs.

Have you ever seen a really bad DIY wedding movie before with shakey footage, poor sound/audio quality with no editing whatsoever? This 4-hour informative, fun seminar will teach you how to DIY a wedding video the RIGHT way, in which a professional videographer will be filming a series of enactments of a ceremony, entrance into the reception, toasts, cake cutting and first dance. Attendees will see on a screen in real time what is being filmed, with narration of the right and wrong way to do it. There will also be a demonstration of how to edit.


This seminar is perfect for the brides and grooms and their friends who (1) will shoot and/or edit the wedding; or (2) are going to edit the wedding that a professional videographer shoots, or (3) will shoot and edit Fri and Sun activities (a professional videographer shoots the wedding).

Attendees will come away with: 5 common mistakes and how to avoid them, 5 ‘must have’ shots at the ceremony and 5 ways to make the video interesting. Easy tips and tricks will also be discussed, such as the single most important tip of how to frame an image, 4 ways to hold a camera steady, how to record sound and how to choose the best (unobtrusive) angles.

This is a great way to learn by seeing a professional do it than by reading a book, plus it will be a fun experience. What better way to spend a nice Sunday afternoon?! So what are you waiting for? Sign up now! For $49 per person, you cannot find a much better deal than that. On top of that, you can win a Flip video camera by entering the drawing online at www.movie-me.com. No purchase necessary and attendance is not required.

Again, here are the details:

WHERE: Julia Morgan Ballroom at the Merchants Exchange Club
465 California Street, 15th Floor, San Francisco, CA
WHEN: Sunday, March 22, 2009 from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
MORE INFO: www.movie-me.com
QUESTIONS: info@movie-me.com

San Francisco Vendors/Bloggers GTG!

Even though I was only in San Francisco for 2-1/2 days, I had the privilege of meeting my fellow wedding colleagues and friends - Jewel Savadelis of Savadelis Films, Viola Sutanto of Chewing the Cud Weddings and Stacie Tamaki of The Flirty Guide. We had such a wonderful time at Hotel Sofitel, catching up over a few drinks... If the bar wasn't closing, we probably could have talked all night!

One of the many reasons that I love what I do is because I am constantly surrounded by talented professionals in the wedding industry, and I am so blessed to be able to collaborate with them and call them as friends. These 3 ladies are truly inspirational, and I have to say that they are all on the top of their field. I know that we are going to be friends for a long, long time.

From left to right - Jewel, Viola, Evonne and Stacie!

Besides being talented, Jewel, Viola and Stacie are all super sweet too... they are like sisters I never had! Look at all the goodies I received from them:

A bottle of dessert wine (my favorite)

Stationery samples - did I mention they are letterpress? :)

Desk accessory/cake topper - in my company colors
(green and brown)!

Much mahalo, ladies! I can't wait to see you all again the next time I am in town - which is May 2009! It's going to be a blast I am sure, and hopefully it won't be as cold! Brrrrrr... :)

"Life is Like a Movie"!

I would love to take this opportunity to introduce you to Jewel and Chuck Savadelis of Savadelis Films. This wonderful husband and wife team is based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, and their work is just AMAZING! Just see it for yourself...

Here are some notes from Jewel of what it took to make this 3-minute movie trailer:

1. When we saw their logo, we thought it was very nice. So we asked for and received the Illustrator files of the logo from the graphic designer and animated Emily and Danny's logo.

2. Emily's Mom and Dad were at the second story window looking out. The window was too blue, due to the reflection of the sky and ocean. Chuck masked the window and color corrected it so their skin tones looked normal. He then gave a different color correction to the area outside the window so it matched the other images of the exterior of the building. Then, he did the same thing for each FRAME (there are 30 frames per second). We color correct pretty much every clip in the entire wedding movie. This adds 2-3 weeks of effort. We also modulate and "sweeten" the sound throughout a wedding movie.

3. At the last minute, Emily and Danny asked us to do a time lapse of empty to full seats. Since this was the weekend of the women's golf tournament, we could not leave a camera outdoors unattended. So, at our own expense we hired someone to "camera sit" just to get that 3-second shot.

4. After the bridesmaids walked down the aisle and Emily was waiting alone in the foyer, we finally see a bit of her nervousness. It was charming.

5. By coming to every rehearsal (no extra charge), we know what is going to happen and when. So, we were in the best positions to catch Emily hugging her in-laws and Danny hugging his in-laws.

6. Chuck caught Emily's favorite uncle sketching at the rehearsal. He finished the drawing during the ceremony. We were able to scale the sketch to create the maximum impact when we dissolved from the sketch to real life. This impact can only be achieved in a moving picture medium. A photo would not convey the same dynamic feeling nor the emotions it creates. This unexpected event inspired the opening and closing scenes of this piece. Chuck bought a special piece of software to create a look that was similar to the Uncle's art style.

7. During the table toasts, we wanted a specific look. It was very dark in the ballroom, so we needed small (20 watt) lights. Instead of having them mounted on the camera which would light people from the front, giving an unflattering flat look, our assistant was lighting each scene from the side, for a softer and more sophisticated look - still using only a 20-watt light. We aim to be unobtrusive. In fact Emily's parents thought Chuck was the only cinematographer there. They never saw me or our assistant! And the only reason they saw him was because he was in the foyer with them just before they walked down the aisle.

8. We went back to the Ritz and filmed the ocean scenes on a non-wedding day.

9. The scene where the camera pulls back from a couple standing at the window watching the sunset? It was shot much earlier in the day when the sky was blue. Chuck color graded it to look like it occurred at sunset to match the other images immediately prior.

10. Because Emily and Danny are real foodies, we made special arrangements in advance with the staff at the Ritz to be able to film the food preparation without interfering in the flow of their work.

11. The second course was burned on the top, so Chuck lightened just the burnt tops so they looked more appetizing. (No need to mention this, as it's a poor reflection on the Ritz.)

12. We knew the photo booth would be a centerpiece of the reception. So, the week before the wedding we spent several hours experimenting to determine the best combination of strobe flashes per second, direction of supplemental lighting, and a few other factors which matched the photo booth flashes best. So, on the wedding night, we were able to flash our strobes for less than 3 minutes total time. Everyone thought the strobes were the band's mood lights.

13. We asked for and received the DVD of all 663 photo booth images. We combed through every one of them to find the ones that matched our footage and found some additional ones that had a lot of energy.

14. We strongly suggest couples engage us until the end of the evening because you never know when great moments will happen. The bride's cousin started break dancing. This occurred well after the end of our contracted time. We had packed up and were ready to go. Nevertheless, we grabbed a camera and shot this scene.

15. In order to know what images we need, we storyboard a short piece like this. That takes hours. We allow for whatever will happen at a ceremony, but we need to think through transitional elements in advance to give a sense of movement. For example, we knew ahead of time that we would need to film a steadicam shot entering the front of the Ritz and a steadicam shot following some couple, any couple, out to the gazebo area. So, we put these shots into our schedule for the day.

16. In general, we have close-up and wide shots, camera angles that are on the ground and way overhead. There are small camera moves and steady shooting. It is a matter of knowing which of these techniques to use and when to restrain your movement for maximum effect.

17. And, we need to know who are the key people and capture them without fail.

18. We looked at over 500 pieces of music to find the one that had the right beat and mood to match Emily and Danny's personalities AND match the images we brought back.

As you can see, it requires at least 100 to 200 hours of editing time to create each of their wedding movie. Every little detail and emotions are captured on film. In fact, I cried watching a few of them because I was so touched by everything... and I didn't even know the people who were at the wedding!

If you are interested in seeing more samples or hiring them for your wedding, please send me an email.