Another emotional journey happened not far away from Lake Tahoe in California on Sep 17, 2011! When we met Brian and Mina over coffee they told us how they fell in love with our films. In first night they watched almost entire blog until 3 am. It’s no secret, we (Diana and I) love when couples get addicted to our short films on the blog! It means for us that we find a way to make every film interesting, engaging and emotional. Speaking of emotions, I think the best compliment we get from our couples or from our friends when they say they cry watching weddings of people they don’t know but it feels like they get to know them at the end! In my mind I was like ‘yes. We nailed it’ 
It’s not an easy task to build emotional roller coaster from a wedding day. It takes a lot of observation and a good feel who our couples are. It takes more energy to build relationship with couple to achieve more depth in the our films and it takes a lot more strength to find and to build the story in short 3-5 min recaps rather then to stack side by side meaningless most beautiful shots from the wedding. At the end it pays off when couple find themselves in beautiful emotional short film where they are the focus of the film and not the wedding itself. Enough of bragging LOL JK. But seriously, our goal is to get to the level with every film where people would care about it. In this film when I saw how Brian reacted when he saw Mina for the first time in her wedding gown, I was speechless and amazed. Wow. I was like ‘that’s it’. This is my strongest piece of the puzzle at this wedding And it’s so exciting when we see other smaller stories throughout the day that we would add them to the recap like when Brian was making special drink for guests. It says a lot about the personalities and who they are. Also I have to say how much attention to details Mina took with all decorations. It was very beautiful with combination of the amazing location of the wedding!
In the end, we wish Brian and Mina all the best in their life and many blessings to their new family!!! Enjoy your own wedding recap!
soundtrack is ‘Light Me Up’ by The Kathryn Ostenberg and licensed through songfreedom.com
special thanks to Alex Vakulin
Next wedding recap was shot in Vancouver on September 3rd, 2011 at our really good friends wedding of Max and Galina! Max himself is the photographer and the cinematographer which made our job really interesting! We had previously filmed photographer’s wedding but never cinematographer’s. Who else knows, like a cinematographer, how important is the wedding film? There is one Russian saying that says ‘Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are’ is very true and applies to us too. We cinematographers have many friends cinematographers and photographers and we all would talk between each other ‘how often wedding cinema is overlooked these days!’ Photography is a must for every wedding but video is not. It is true that many young couples after watching someone else’s insanely long and boring wedding video from old school videographers, that some still refuse to implement the newest technologies and equipment, do not wish to waste any money on their own wedding in the future. We completely agree with them but we ask them to give us a chance on behalf of the most progressive wedding cinematographers in this industry and watch ours.
If this film got into you and you feel like you know this couple, feel free to watch other ones and see if we can do it again Our point is that the wedding industry is now at least for 4 years has been going through amazing progress. There is finally films that talk about couples and interpret their stories and not just wedding itself. Finally there are things in the wedding films that you cherish. Emotions, story, strong visuals and all this combined makes it worth so much for the couples at their the wedding day! The beauty of our films are that they are full of emotions and they show true character’s representation and nothing is staged. We would not ask someone to repeat something. We let it flow and come to us. That’s why every film is different because all couples are different. They are telling us they would not be able to stop watching almost all recaps on this blog and they would cry and get emotional for those couples that they don’t know. We tell them if recaps do that for you, for us it means that we succeeded. Imagine how much more couples cherish their own recaps after a wedding that is only a memory. So, we cinematographers often would say to couples that most of what you do for the wedding day is very important and will last only for one day. Wedding gown will last longer. Wedding rings will stay with the husband and wife for entire marriage. Photographs and film might last even longer and for many more generations. Than how much is the wedding film worth if it will last longer then anything else? It might be a cheesy example but it will only make sense when you invest into real and true wedding cinema! We also are not saying that we are at the top of the game but we are doing what we love and hope to grow every year with the whole industry and even someday bring something new for this industry. We love photographs and we know how much they are worth but not to have film from the wedding will be the biggest regret. Photos in all their worth will not be able to bring back motion and feel of the wedding with tons of emotions and sounds and voices from dear people! It is absolutely essential to have the right cinematographer’s team for every wedding!
soundtrack is ‘Night Stroll’ by Moonlit Sailor licensed through themusicbed.com
Hi.
For the first time we had a chance to shoot Chinese wedding! It was very exciting We love to explore and capture some interesting and new for us traditions. But most important of course is not a wedding itself or traditions but a couple! Jeffrey and Elaina in one word would be described as sweet! We heard “sorry” from Elaina million times and it was her. Jeffrey’s best man spoke about Jeffrey that before he met Elaina, he never smiled or laughed. His life changed by her. The only time Elaina was not smiling is when moments were very emotional and teary. We love openness of emotions of the couple and it was like a roller coaster from tears to laughs and from seriousness to fun! Enjoy!
Little bit about our process.
We have to confess when we shoot wedding, we usually have more technical state of mind. We can’t miss things, have to think of the right light, compositions, sound and many other technical things. All these things are good and important but when wedding is done and the editing begins, we start to see a bigger picture of the day! We see something it was not clear at the wedding. We see how the story evolves about them throughout the day. Recap becomes like a poetry or small pieces of a lego become into a big canvas! I get excited about the proccess more then it’s done. It’s weird but true From experience, when we shoot, we know there is a story goes but it’s not clear yet. We stay with open and active mind on all things that happens around us! To be actually present with active thinking at the wedding for 8-12 hours is very tough, so the next day after a wedding we take mental and a physical day off to recharge! To get creative mind back, rest is a must! Same thing applies to the editing process. Many people ask us how do we find music and songs that we are using? Many love our selections! Simple answer is our taste matches yours Our taste is not universal for everyone but to build our library of music takes a very, very long time! Constantly listening to Pandora, Itunes and radio gives us most of the ideas and of course search and experiment with our taste to see further what we like and what we don’t. Me personally, when I listen to music I try to play in my mind with my imagination and try to hear what music is telling me. I do it often and I become very picky with the music! It takes hours and hours to satisfy myself with the selection for our films. Why? Couples are all different and their personalities and energy have to match the music! And then we match energy of the day with the energy of the music. Visuals bonds with the music and it becomes what you guys can watch more of that here on the blog!!!
If you guys have some questions, please write them in comments, we will try to answer them!
Thank YOU!
Hello our friends!
Next wedding took place in Berkeley back on July 16th and it was really special! Eric and Laurena were simply extraordinary couple that was fully alive and in love! This makes our passion more exciting and they rocked all day long!!! It was like a roller coaster of emotions from hilarious moments to a very touchy “I can’t cry today” time. Relationship between their friends, relatives and parents were so close that it felt like it is one big family. When we heard speech about the song that had lyrics “Home is whenever I’m with you….” we knew right away that this is their main theme of their love story! This recaps talks about home where they were raised and going to the new home when they are together. It is very clear that parents feel so emotional letting them go from their home and also very happy for their kids to have their new home of relationship that they will make together as husband and wife! It is amazing to witness those moments in couple’s life and there is no other way to tell a story about them in the way we put together this new recap!
Enjoy!!!
soundtrack is ‘Without You’ by Ben Rector licensed through themusicbed.com
This year we had a chance to go to Cancun one more time (3rd) and this time we had a small and fun toy to bring with us. GoPRO is awesome camera to shoot things what you experience and capture it for our own memories. Diana and I took my mom with us because she never went there before! All what we captured is priceless for us. I think this would be the happiest moments to remember with my mom. Also this time Diana and I got certified as “Open Water Scuba Divers” through our awesome instructor and friend Eric. Enjoy!!!
Our next couple Roger + Anneliza told us first thing when we met them that wedding video will be more important then photography. Really? We were impressed since it was our first time that we heard that. We were pleased to know that they understand art of cinema and how film can bring so much more memories and emotions then photos. Photos are important and it’s mostly #1 thing everybody wants to have at the wedding but when video becomes even more important then photography, we get too excited!!!
Over many months we were communicating with Roger and Anneliza on the big project of Love Story. The idea was to recreate a real love story from their first time meeting until the wedding day! It took us 4 partial separate days to film everything. Every single sequence is a true and actual story. They met each other in San Jose State University by working in the book store. We showed little bit of their dating life over 9 years. We also shot their actual places of work and it was really exciting! Their real proposal was right in front of the same church in SF that they got married. It was really cool! After getting engaged everything gets focused on preparation for a wedding. Tuxedos and wedding gown was part of the real thing too. So, we are so happy to bring this film to life and to share with many of you. ( I wish I would have real story film of Diana and me in my life ) .
Love Story
At the reception on the wedding day we also had second surprise for everyone and it was SDE Love story and SDE were showed back to back like a seamless film. From their first meeting to dating period to their proposal to engaged time and then it came to a wedding day! It was amazing to see everything in one day and on the wedding day!!!! Everyone was partying like crazy celebrating the day one!!! SDE had so much funny things and it was also very emotional.
SDE
After many days of shootings together and many emails back and forth, we can say that we became friends! So, we wish you guys all the best and if life will get hard, look back and watch your films all over again!
Soundtrack is ‘White Dress’ by Ben Rector licensed through themusicbed.com
It’s been a while since our last post and past two months were incredibly busy for us! We had blessed season and now it’s slowing down for shootings but never for editing… We are running behind at some projects and we do our best to deliver everything on time without sacrificing the quality. I’ll admit I was never been a fast editor. I love to polish recaps and films until it’s smooth, seamless, emotional and amazing… everything else is not an option. We love what we do and we take (probably too much) time to bring it to the level.
Our next couple Alex and Lizette had wedding in SF that was very chill and so romantic. They were just flowing through the day and it was too obvious that they had the best day in their life. In speeches we heard from both sides that both of them were role models for many. It was a pleasure to be with them, to work for them and share their celebration of their love. Recap will tell way more then I can write. 
Enjoy!
There are no words to express how we feel and how much we get inspired when we see our couples’ reactions to every second as watch SDE at their wedding which we believe are the most touching moments!
Algier and Regina reserved Aug 20, 2011 a year ago. When we met them for the first time two weeks before their wedding, we wanted to get to know our couple. Algier and Regina told us all their great plans for the wedding and they were so excited for us to film them. Also they told us that we (shiksa studio) were second choice after Stillmotion ( our #1 wedding model cinematographers). It meant so much for us and we felt so great when our couple trusts us in every way. In all our humbleness we are still too far away ( I believe) from stillmotion (top 10 cinematographer in the world) and we are not doing all this for a competition but because we love what we do. It is our passion. We are not perfect as people and as a company but we try to be better and to be great. Our couples are our inspiration and we want to continue to grow and inspire others.
I had almost 4 hours to complete the SDE while Diana and Alex V. were shooting reception Like I was saying before, as much as it gets stressful during editing, it’s rewarding during presentation. Thank you one more time to our awesome couple Algier & Regina and congratulation to you guys!!!
Enjoy!
Reactions
Hello guys!
All commercial, music videographers or film makers know that event videographers have an experience of working super fast and most of the time without a second chance to redo something. If the chance to capture something important is gone it means it’s gone. It’s not staged. The best side of capturing everything as it goes that it brings amazing natural feeling to the film. We all can sense when it is not natural or when it’s fake and I know how we all hate bad acting in movies we watch. Many times we feel closer to a person when we watch them in imperfect way. We feel it’s been staged and faked when we watch everything that was done perfectly by the person. That’s why there is a beauty of not retaking our shots. Reality is what we like. When it comes to the Same Day Edit, I always think we all need to speed up even more for everything that we do. We always feel that there is not enough of time for everything. Post production begins while shooting of the wedding is still on. By the time reception comes for open floor dancing we present this amazing film. It’s unreal and often I can’t even believe that it was shot and finished in the same day and it’s being shown to everyone. We gotta love technology. It feels magical.
Herrick and Christine were amazing couple and we loved their wedding and was a pleasure to share the special day with them. Here we go. Enjoy SDE!
Also we have an awesome reactions from Herrick and Christine that we have to share with you!
Looks like WA is our second home these days. This is our third wedding in WA and we have two more to enjoy this season!
Olga got to know us from two last year weddings that we shot and she was one of the bridesmaids in each weeding. Olga told us when she will be getting married she will hire us. After some time Olga and Vladimir contacted us with their future wedding day but we were already booked for July 9, 2011. They decided to move their wedding day one week earlier which is July 2 and it was available for them. It is very encouraging when couples make those major wedding changes just to book us. It wasn’t the first time that it happened but every time we feel very honored. Thank you guys!
On the way to Vladimir’s and Olga’s wedding we took a workshop from Canon’s “Deconstructing the Story” with Stillmotion on board during the week. It was 3 days and it was another amazing experience. Education is a big part of pushing us (cinematographers) to the next level. When the top 10 cinematographers are teaching us, it brings so much to considerate and implement into our films. Here is our group’s small film.
Already being in Seattle area we had a chance to come and shoot preparation of the reception place the day before. That’s one of the good sides of destination weddings that we want to get in and shoot what ever we feel will help for the film even before the wedding. Flying or driving to destination weddings we always come about one day in the advance so if something goes wrong we still have the time to fix it. Things can happen beyond our control. That’s why we have to charge flat fee for destination weddings to have rental car, hotel and flights (if we fly) and for the extra time we spend traveling. For example flying to East coast and back, we spent two days. We could’ve work that time. Also all destination weddings we require to have an assistant because we still have to bring all of our gear and there is many things to manage.
Vlidimir’s and Olga’s wedding was pretty relaxed and once we hit Alkai Beach across the Seattle downtown, everyone started dancing and enjoying the day as a success! The ending was not staged at all. It was so much fun! Congrats to you guys one more time!!! Enjoy your first film!
by Shiksa Studio
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