BLOG - Sweet Pea Cinema

Megan + Kyle: A verdant vineyard wedding

sweetpeacinema June 11, 2014

We had the honor to travel to the western edge of our great state to film the wedding day of Megan and Kyle just two weeks ago, and let me tell you that we’re so glad we had the opportunity.Megan and Kyle were simply fantastic to work with: gracious, open and kind. Lucky, too. It seemed that their entire wedding weekend had a bonus element of multiple appearances of the Blue Angels Navy flight demonstration squadron zooming in the skies above them, as well as the flight crew crashing their wedding dance on Saturday night. Talk about adding some serious muscle to their footage!What we really appreciated about these two was how their whole day was designed to include their closest family and friends, including an uncle who serenaded the bridal party during the processional, their friend who became ordained online to officiate, and not to mention their whole bridal party, including the four little attendants who were dang adorable.This wedding had several firsts for Sweet Pea Cinema. The first is that we filmed Megan and Kyle’s wedding in a vineyard, a location we’ve never had the privilege to shoot before. We can’t say enough good things about Elmaro Vineyard. From it’s sweeping vistas, to its burgeoning grapes, to its gracious and super helpful owners and employees. Thanks specifically to Cameron Elmaro for finding a few key things for us (bungee, ladder) and for giving us permission to capture some aerial footage.Which leads me to the next Sweet Pea first. We flew our aerial camera during this wedding weekend and recorded some pretty stunning establishing shots of the vineyard (as well as some other “secret” footage that will be revealed in the Websters’ full movie). I’m thrilled with the results and can’t wait to fly it at other locations that give us permission. In this case, it really allowed us to let the sweeping views and unique landscapes take shape in ways we’ve never been able to capture before.And the last first for us (does that make any sense?) is that this was our first bar-hopping wedding party of the season, which we haven’t seen since I grew up in Medford, Wis. Big tradition up there, not so much in southeast Wisconsin. It was fun to see the bridal party let loose a little bit at one of Megan and Kyle’s favorite watering holes, The Brice Prairie Pub and Eatery.Here are a few details about their wedding in case something caught your eye and you’d like to get more information:Photography: Emily Schmidt Photography
Megan’s dress: Allure Bridals
Flowers: Monet Floral, La Crosse
Hair and makeup: Sitara Salon and Spa, Onalaska
Ceremony: Elmaro Vinyard
Reception: Radisson, La Crosse
Filmed on Panasonic GH2s and GH3s
Aerial footage filmed on a DJI Phantom in 2.8K/48p via a GoPro Hero Black 3+
Edited in Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects
Soundtrack: “Tears of Hope” by Allen Grey, licensed through AudioJungle Stay tuned for their full film in the coming months, and leave me a message if you’d like to congratulate the couple or comment on our work.Cheers!

A day of beauty and a night filled with fireworks

sweetpeacinema June 8, 2014

Still feeling the glow from Casey and Nick’s incredible wedding yesterday (that included fireworks!), so I decided to pull a few stills as I’m downloading and (triple) backing up the footage.What a great couple and a fantastic night. From the light-filled Third Ward condo of Casey’s aunt that made for stunning bride prep footage, to the historic Old St. Mary church downtown, to the always fabulous Miller Room at Coast. Oh, and let’s not forget the gratis fireworks everyone enjoyed thanks to Pride Fest at the lakefront. Quite awesome!And while I love nabbing a few stills to share, these images will not come close to the beauty that you’ll see from the photos taken by Jadon Good, of Jadon Good Photography. Jadon was a phenomenal partner to work with yesterday, so gracious and kind. Pretty funny, too. We can’t wait to see how he captured Casey and Nick.Enjoy these quick stills, but make sure to check back in two weeks when we’ll be posting these two love birds’ Sneak Peek. So make sure to “like” Sweet Pea on Facebook or subscribe to this blog if you want to be among the first to see it!Happy Sunday!

So much loveliness and a few Blue Angels to boot!

sweetpeacinema June 6, 2014

We’ll be posting Megan and Kyle’s sneak peek next week, but we just had — absolutely HAD — to post a few stills that I’ve captured from our clips because I’m just so thrilled with how the loveliness of their wedding.Their venue — Elmaro Vineyard — was so picturesque, with grape plants starting to sprout and their leaves and tendrils inching along. And the day — bright, sunny and a scorcher — turned out to have just the right amount of sunshine to make everything shine. We often had our eyes to the heavens that weekend, because we kept seeing the Blue Angels perform as part of the La Crosse Air show, and the pilots also make a bit of an entrance into the reception, having been encouraged to join by the bridal couple. Too much fun!If you like these quick grabs, make sure you head over to Emily Schmidt Photography to see her amazing images from the wedding when they are posted.And of course, keep checking Sweet Pea for the sneak peek next week!Happy Friday, everyone!Cindy

Feeling kinda special as a ‘featured’ wedding expert

sweetpeacinema May 30, 2014

Before launching Sweet Pea, I’d been a print journalist for many years. Always the one to ask the questions. Rarely did I have to answer any.But recently, we were interviewed by Sherry Chen of Timeless Events who is compiling features on wedding experts in the Milwaukee area.When you love what you do — like cinematography for wedding videos and small business videos, which is what we do at Sweet Pea — there’s really no trouble answering questions. We have clear goals and standards, and we definitely know what makes our little studio unique. I often advise business and wedding clients alike that if they can’t talk extemporaneously about their work or their partners, they might have some serious work to do. When you know the ins and outs, the likes and dislikes so well, the information should flow naturally.So, if you’d like to know a little bit more about us and how Sweet Pea came to be, please check out this link.Have a great weekend!Cindy

Absolutely no fear of flying

sweetpeacinema May 16, 2014

I’ve been in the story business my whole professional life. First as a print journalist for newspapers and now as a filmmaker.When I worked at newspapers, I never really agonized about technology, because those thousands of pages of newsprint were considerably old school: words, ink and paper.Then the internet hit and technology vastly changed everything about that medium.As a filmmaker, I never really cared that much about technology either. As long as our gear captured the kind of images and audio we wanted to get, that’s all that mattered to me. When I think back to the first “real” video camera we ever bought — years before we established Sweet Pea — I shake my head at how awesome we thought it was and how amazing I considered the images coming from that beast of camera were.Of course, comparing it our current cameras and digital recorders, that camera would be like a rotary dial phone along side an iPhone.So, while the heart of the story remains my primary consideration, I’m glad we are constantly assessing and upgrading our equipment so that the beauty of what we’re capturing shows through.That’s why we now have a drone.No, it’s not the invasion of privacy type, or a spy machine or something that will be making deliveries from Amazon.It’s an aerial video drone that Dean decided we could really put to use after he attended an inspirational workshop in New Orleans this winter. I thought we’d come home with Mardi Gras beads, not dreams of a four-propeller copter that buzzes in the sky.Owning and operating a drone is a huge undertaking for a studio our size. Cost. Regulation. Insurance. Safety. But when we saw the kind of shots we could get with a drone … well, let’s just say we tossed away those New Orleans beads and started saving. Dean purchased a small “practice” quadcopter and has been practicing ever since.The real drone — a DJI Phantom — arrived a few weeks ago, and this video is just a snippet of the first taped flight we had with it. We’re already thinking of ways we can incorporate it into our shoots to add more drama and beauty.What do you think of the footage?Stay tuned for some absolutely amazing shots that we’ll be capturing this year!Cheers,Cindy