ReFrame ReView

Well, a couple days have gone by since the wedding filmmaking conference has ended. I'm still very much feeding off of the excitement that the week gave me. I met some fantastic people there who are all as energized as I am.

Let's just say I learned a massive amount about the wedding film industry. The most notable seminars besides Kevin Shahanian and Jasmine Star, who I blogged about previously, were those of Joe Simon, Jason Magbanua, David Robin, and Oleg Kalyan.

Joe Simon is a very inspirational filmmaker. He was kind enough to show us how he breaks down his shoots, down to the detail of using tape on the floor to set marks for the toasts. He's also quite young, and completely on top of his game. This really motivated me to start diving into the wedding film industry and get myself out there.

Jason Magbanua, a top end Philipino wedding film director, shared with us his strategies for his wedding films and same day edits. But more importantly, he showed us his passion for what he does. He shared a story with us in which a typhoon hit the Philippines and he and his crew still went out to the wedding. In fact, he then used the news footage from the typhoon as a way to frame the day. The resulting video was an amazing blend of a reminder of the destruction mixed with the dream of the couple's love. His passion is something I admire and I will continue to look to him for inspiration.

David Robin is probably one of the most respected pros in the industry. He has been making wedding films for over twenty five years as well as doing amazing 3D photo montages. He shared with us a list of twenty five things he has learned over the twenty five years. Every single one of them was insightful. They ranged from creative ideas to business management. It was a pleasure to learn from such an experienced pro.

And I thought I was a good editor... How about Oleg Kalyan, one of the most incredible wedding filmmakers I have ever met. The way he cuts his films together is a work of beauty. The Russian filmmaker showed one of the first weddings he ever edited. It was all in slow motion, over diffused, over saturated, and looked basically awful. Of course that was 10 years ago. He then showed us his recent work, and my mind was blown. His style is amazing. He uses a combination of fast cuts, ramped up footage, and sound design to create a monster of a video. Just today I was editing and referred to some of Oleg's work for inspiration. My goodness he is good.

My final thoughts on Re:Frame. The conference was incredible. The people I met, the videos I saw, the closeness of the community all inspired me so much. However, I was disappointed by one thing. As a local, I opted to not stay in the hotel and commute to the conference. Early in the week I realized that most of the bonding between the top pro's and some of the attendees was happening at night, at the hotel or on the streets of San Francisco. When I attend the next conference, I will absolutely book a hotel room, have a canon 5d Mk II, and spend more time mingling with those who I admire so greatly.

One more note: I need to thank my boss Jonathan Metcalf and MetMedia for giving me the opportunity to attend ReFrame. It was a pleasure to represent MetMedia.

Re:Frame Collective - Day 1

Re:Frame San Francisco Day One Highlights from Scott Karlins on Vimeo.

Well seeing as how I only got about ten hours of sleep this last weekend, I'm a little bit tired coming out of the first day of Re:Frame. However, my fatigue has had no impact on how inspired I am.

Today I met so many great people who share the same passion as I do. Going into Re:Frame, I was a little worried about the atmosphere being a little competitive. I thought that people would be trying to top each other, bragging about their work, and concealing their struggles. This was not the case at all. I found that every single person I met was not only extremely humble, but also highly accessible.

The first seminar was by Kevin Shahinian and was centered on the idea of using filmmaking storytelling in weddings. Rather than the standard documentation of a wedding day, we need to approach it as if we are showing a story. When we look at it like that, we start to create a more inspired and moving piece. So the first lesson I learned is that from here on out we are making wedding films.

To make a wedding film, we need to make it look like we control in environment we are shooting in. It needs to look like our shots are pre-planned, and almost as if we have taken multiple takes. The difficulty is that we are shooting a wedding and we only get one chance at each moment.

Overall, Kevin really inspired me with his talk. He reminded me that I want to show a couples story. I want to show their love. It's not about capturing a moment forever, it's about capturing a feeling forever. I feel like I am very capable of doing this, as I was one of the only people in the room who has a film school background.

The next speaker was Jasmine Star, the blog master. She is probably the most accomplished blogger in the wedding industry. She told us about her approach to booking clients and how to create an online image that really sells "You."

I've known how important blogging is. I, of course, started mine a few months ago as a result of seeing the impact it has had on the industry. She had some very interesting ideas on how to best have an online presence. Also, as we were in the middle of the seminar, I signed up for my twitter account! I'm not a huge fan of the name and the whole "tweet" thing. But the truth is it's worth it. Anything us professionals can do to have more of an online presence is time well spent. My twitter is here! Help me get started!

The last part of the day was an elective. I chose the elective that centered on Wedding Concept Videos. The speaker was Lloyd Calomay, an accomplished wedding concept filmmaker. His idea was new to me. He does spoofs of real movies, re-enacted with the bride, groom, and their family and friends. Exciting! The films themselves looked a little under produced, but the writing was great. I feel like if I were to try the same thing, my films would have more production value but would probably lack in the writing. It looks like a fun idea and I would love to try it out soon.

Well, I am tired. I will be bringing my camera tomorrow so I can share with all of you what it looks like to hang out with the best. The first day was fantastic, and I am excited to meet more Re:Framers and learn more about our industry!

Re:Frame Collective

I'm here in San Francisco at the Re:Frame Collective, a week long conference with the best wedding filmmakers in the world. We're gathering to collaborate with others and talk about Marketing, Production, Workflow and basically everything else regarding video.

Some of the top industry pros we are hearing from are Jasmine Star, Phillip Bloom, and Kevin Shaninian, people whose work I admire and whose strategies I admire more.

I will be blogging each night; reflecting on people I have met, what I've learned, and what my ideas are for what's to come. Stay tuned for photos, video, and all the other good stuff. What an exciting week!

48 Hour Film Awards!!!

The film we submitted for the San Jose 48 Hour Film race has won 4 awards!!! Our film, Nellius 5000 & Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies was shown to a large audience at the awards show. The awards we won were:

Producer's Award: Best Overacting
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Writing
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Best Choreography
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Runner Up for Best Film
"Nellius 5000 and Zupitron: Ultimate Battle Buddies" by 4QR98 Pass

Here is the link to the 48HFP website where the awards are announced.

Congratulations to our team for the epic 48 hours of epic filmmaking mayhem.

More Fusion!

Scott + Laura Romantics from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is another excerpt from Laura and Scott's wedding down in Southern California. The full wedding video has been completed and delivered, but Laura asked me to upload this section so that she could post it on her blog.

Here is what she wrote about her video.
"Thank you so much for all the obvious time, thought, and care you put into making our video so truly wonderful. It far exceeded any expectations we ever had. Your work is amazing!"

Laura and Scott's wedding was not only a beautiful occasion, but it brought together quite a few very talented professionals. Since the wedding, Metmedia and Jeffrey Neal from JNP Studios have been working together and are planning to do a fusion shoot in Yosemite later this month. Design Visage also did a fantastic job with Laura's makeup and hair. She truly looks stunning!

BAPVA Meeting with David Jay

I just got back from a BAPVA (Bay Area Professional Videographers Association) meeting where we got to hear David Jay speak about the wedding industry and the integration of photography with video. I'd been anticipating this event for a few weeks.

David Jay's been credited as one of the top 15 wedding photographers in the world. Not only does he have a fantastic eye for photos, he's also one of the best industry pros when it comes to marketing his work. He spoke to us about how to use social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to reach potential brides. I'm excited to see these new insights applied to MetMedia.

He also showed us some of the fusion pieces he made. Some of it was impressive, some of it was not. He outsources all of this video work to another company who shoots and edits it for him. I was glad to see that his fusion work wasn't the best that's out there because it means there is room at the top. I hope to shoot and edit some more fusion very soon, so as to get known in the big kids playground.

I also got a chance to network with some photographers who I am excited to work with. I haven't yet looked at their work but their personalities and openness speaks volumes about the kind of work they do. I could certainly see myself working with these people in the future.

Vince Tarry Fusion

Kerri + Paul Fusion from MetMedia Video on Vimeo.

Here is a video I shot and edited for Vince Tarry Photography. They'll be using it as a marketing piece and selling a Fusion Video as an add-on to their photography business.

With the advent of the Canon 5d Mark II, Fusion seems to be the next big thing hitting the wedding industry. It allows photographers to collaborate with videographers to offer a sweet product that has a very polished feel to it. I'm very excited to be at the forefront of this movement. I'm also excited to work with so many different photographers. I love being on shoots where I can hang out with other professionals who have a fantastic eye for images. With Fusion, it's not a competition to see who can get the best shot. We're all working together to make the best possible product that we can.