Melinda came to me to have me do a film of their wedding. She has a website for the wedding and I thought it would be fun to make a “Save the Date” video for her & Jason.

This is a short story of how they met. I asked Melinda what song she would like for the video. “January Wedding” seems to fits perfectly with the theme, but it’s also such a great song.

The day shots were done in the Ghent area of Norfolk, VA. I did the interview shots outside of the studio at night. I love the sound of the crickets and the holly tree as a backdrop.

The footage was shot on my HV40 with Jag35Pro and 50mm ƒ1.8 lens.  I used a single overhead light to get that nice deep contrast on their faces.  My Sennheiser MKH416 saved the night… there was so much noise going on around us – a football game at the stadium nearby with an announcer over the loudspeaker, jet planes, trucks, frogs – I thought most of the audio would be ruined.  I was going to filter out the crickets, but it gives the film such a nice feel.

I wish Melinda & Jason the best in their relationship and look forward to shooting their wedding film.

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Song: “January Wedding” by Avett Brothers

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In a “Video Portrait” I capture the essence of who someone is and set it to music that would be in that person’s life soundtrack.

In this case I have the lovely Laura: she’s a native Texan, loves records, country, growing things, and has a knack for nostalgia. This film tells the story of who she is. Enjoy.
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If you care about the geeky film stuff, keep reading.
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I wanted to make a short film that showcases not only my style of cinematography and editing, but also the equipment I use. 

This was shot using a Canon HV40 with a Jag35Pro 35mm lens adaptor, and a Canon 50mm f1.8 lens. 

I love shooting with a prime lens. There’s something to be said about composition and perspective when you don’t have the ability to zoom in and out on your subject.

This was a challenging project because I didn’t know what music I would use or how I would tell the story… no storyboards or scripting. I just shot it with the intent of building my story in the edit. It took me 2 days to find the right song and once I started the edit I knew I didn’t have enough footage, which meant revisiting the shoot. Fortunately I was working with one patient (and beautiful) woman.

The color balance between the two days of footage was completely different, but I was able to mostly correct that. I also added some overall grading, but not too heavily.

Overall I am very well pleased with how this turned out.

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Song: “Gypsy Rose” by Ben Kweller.

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