Make Better Wedding Films

Sometimes someone creates something so fresh and out of the box that people can’t help but stop and take notice. Today, Andrew and I are sitting down with wedding photographer David Le, who created a Wes Anderson inspired, stop motion masterpiece of a film that was nominated for Junebug's best wedding film 2021.

However, the catch here is that it was so time consuming and difficult to create, that he will never make anything like it again. And so today’s show is about trying new things, learning, being creative, failing and ultimately finding small nuggets of gold amongst piles of shit.

Follow David on IG here: https://www.instagram.com/davidle_nz

Watch Tina & Kris' Film here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CT52AL4pRqQ/

Cinematic LUTs Volume One - OUT NOW

https://makebetterweddingfilms.com/store/p/cinelutsvol1

This show is sponsored by Musicbed - Sign up for their Wedding Filmmaker subscription using the promo code MBWF and get your first month free: www.musicbed.com

Want to support the show directly? Join us on Patreon for unique access to our guest Q&A thread: www.patreon.com/mbwf

We’ve talked a bit about being an empathetic filmmaker on this podcast before and today’s guest is yet another example of why this skill is a vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to making truly unique and standout work. Being able to connect with your couples first and foremost and make a film that’s for them, not for you or your ego as a creative, but for them is what results in art that has substance behind it.

Monika’s work is beautiful, raw, delicate and timeless. She’s one of those creatives who is clearly comfortable with their tool, comfortable with the “rules” of filmmaking and confident about breaking them in the best way possible.

Check out Monika’s work on her incredible website here: https://www.monikafrias.com/

And make sure to follow her on Instagram @latxina

Cinematic LUTs Volume One - OUT NOW

https://makebetterweddingfilms.com/store/p/cinelutsvol1

This show is sponsored by Musicbed - Sign up for their Wedding Filmmaker subscription using the promo code MBWF and get your first month free: www.musicbed.com

Want to support the show directly? Join us on Patreon for unique access to our guest Q&A thread: www.patreon.com/mbwf

Grace got a HUGE amount of DMs after posting her latest wedding film asking how in the heck she did what she did! So today we are answering all your questions and breaking this edit down piece by piece.

If you haven't seen the film yet, make sure you check it out here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CS5CFCoBdqX/

This is basically a mini masterclass in editing techniques from the legend herself so settle in and get the notepad ready!

Today's episode is sponsored by Musicbed - Get the first month of a Wedding Subscription FREE by signing up with the promo code MBWF - https://www.musicbed.com

This podcast is all about helping you find and develop your unique style of wedding filmmaking, something that your couples will see and think “that’s us, that’s what we want!”. But this often goes beyond the films themselves, couples connect with the filmmaker as much as the films and so on today’s show, we’re talking to UK videographer Russell Kent Nicholls about his all-round approach to how he portrays his films, his brand and himself through social media. Russell has managed to combine his beautiful filmmaking with, education, humour, relatability and authenticity, resulting in an online presence that presents him as the perfect balance between aspirational and approachable.

Follow Russell, his work and his workshop with the links below.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/russellkentnicholls/

LUTs: https://gamut.io/product/hestia/

Workshop: https://www.milkshakekisses.com/

This show is sponsored by Musicbed - Sign up for their Wedding Filmmaker subscription using the promo code MBWF and get your first month free: www.musicbed.com

Want to support the show directly? Join us on Patreon for unique access to our guest Q&A thread: www.patreon.com/mbwf

We often have a certain style of film that we prefer to create, whether it’s more moody and “cinematic” or fun and upbeat, but the reality is that most weddings contain a full spectrum of emotions and energies. Today I’m talking to Stanton Giles of @filmsbystanton because his work, I feel, is a rare example that shows the full spectrum of emotions on a wedding day. On today’s show we’ll be breaking down Stanton’s work and figuring out how he transitions between the light and shade, the highs and lows and still manages to create balanced, cohesive films.

Make sure to check out Staton's YouTube channel as he's putting out some great educational content over there! As well as follow his work at the links below.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyWOWdNhbGwXBGaoexsk_qg

https://www.instagram.com/filmsbystanton/

https://vimeo.com/user71975630

https://filmsbystanton.com/

I’ve had a few types of episodes on my to-do list since rebranding this podcast and today is one of those episodes.

Today we are looking at music videos to see what we can learn from them, what ideas we can add to our toolbox and how we might adapt them for wedding films.

Now today we’ll just be looking at a small selection of music videos to come out recently because the idea for this kind of episode is that we can revisit it again and look at different types of music videos from different eras.

So I hope you enjoy todays’s show and that it get’s you excited to try something new in your films.

Below is a list of all the music videos we mention during the show (and a few more) so you can go check them out for yourself!

MUSIC VIDEOS

Colour -

Justin Bieber, Peaches

Reiley, Let it ring

Lighting -

Demi Lovato - What other people say (flashing colourful lights)

Faozia & John Legend, Minefields (light on drone)

Audrey Nuna - Comic sans (red light at night)

Match cuts -

Demi Lovato - What other people say (0:25)

NF, Clouds

Audrey Nuna - Time

Extreme Motion Blur -

The Vamps, Would You

Buff Nerds, D-Smoke

Audrey Nuna - Comic sans (whip cuts)

Nostalgia (16mm, 35mm, DV cams)

Audrey Nuna, Damn Right

Audrey Nuna - Time (DV cams)

Miley Cyrus, Angels like you

Olivia Rodrigo - Dejavu (DV cams and vintage pastel colours)

Tate McRae - bad ones (DV cam, full 90’s style visuals)

Bea Miller, Aminé - FEEL SOMETHING DIFFERENT (DV cams)

Wide angle lenses -

Justin Bieber, Peaches

Years & Years, Starstruck

Audrey Nuna - Comic sans

Zooms -

Harry Styles, Watermelon Sugar

Long lens gimbal -

Faozia & John Legend, Minefields

Handheld -

Audrey Nuna, Damn Right

Malcolm Gladwell describes his famous “10,000 hours” heuristic as a symbol for the fact that the time needed to develop an innate understanding for a particular skill is most likely longer than any of us anticipate at the outset.

On today’s episode I’m joined by the incredibly talented Gione da Silva, who shares basically a whole two day workshop worth of content on lighting, composition, posing and editing into this hour and a half long episode.

There are no quick fixes when it comes to being an amazing filmmaker, you do have to put in the hours, but I hope that today’s episode shows you that the secret to making those hours count is to be intentional with everything you do and know that there is always more to learn.

If you enjoy today’s episode and want to dive deeper into education with Gione, he offers private mentoring sessions that you can check out here: https://www.gionedasilva.com/education-learn-wedding-videography/

Make sure to follow us on Instagram

Gione: https://www.instagram.com/gione.silva/

Us: https://www.instagram.com/makebetterweddingfilms/

No Grace or Andrew today team, I'm flying solo!

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We’re often chasing a certain aesthetic or style in our work, light and airy, dark and moody, fun, cinematic, emotional, whatever it is we are constantly trying to get our work closer to the image of it that’s in our heads.

Some of us take a very methodical, structured approach while others rely more heavily on their intuition.

Today I’m joined by Kathryn Majic from Blnk Films, who is firmly in the latter camp. Kathryns intuitive approach to filmmaking is really fascinating to unpack and is a good reminder to us all that there is an infinite number of ways to approach this craft.

On this episode we’ll be breaking down Kathryn’s work and exploring some of the ways that she creates her beautiful, dark, moody and textural films.

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Make sure to follow Kathryn on Instagram - @blnkfilms

On our instagram page I have a little line in the bio that invites people to DM us if they want to review their films. Our guest today, Sid from House on the Clouds, a Mumbai based wedding film and photo company took up that offer and sent me a message asking for a critique of his latest film and I was absolutely mind blow, it was incredible. I wrote back immediately and said you have to come on the show! and he agreed.

For anyone unlucky enough, like myself two weeks ago to have never seen House on the Clouds work, it’s impeccable. The cinematography, the editing, the lighting, the storytelling… it’s unique and most importantly authentic, nothing seems gimmicky or forced.

Today, Andrew and I will be chatting with Sid about his work and getting him to go in depth on his creative process, how he works with couples, his gear, how he colour grades, everything…

Follow @houseontheclouse on Instagram

Make sure to follow us too if you don’t! We are sharing heaps of cool tips and tricks every week! @makebetterweddingfilms

Christian O'Reilly from the award winning UK based photo and video company Fire and Ice joins Andrew, Grace and myself for an epic episode to share how he and his 12 person studio create crazy, epic, unique, boundary pushing films. The three of us walked away from this interview so inspired!!!!!! From storyboarding entire wedding films, to blasting FPV drones around French chateaus, you are guaranteed to be inspired and blown away by how this team creates.

LINKS

Charli & Joel's save the date film: https://vimeo.com/536795269

Rachelle & Christopher's highlight film: https://vimeo.com/500054710

Follow Fire & Ice on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fireandice/

Join their incredible Facebook group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fireandicephotography/