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Real Romance on Valentine’s Day

sweetpeacinema February 14, 2018

Real love just happens to be our stock-in-trade. We witness many declarations of love and commitment every year. So you’d think that would make us experts at one of the most romantic days of the year, right?

True confession: Dean and I aren’t that crazy about Valentine’s Day. I love getting flowers when I least expect it and Dean enjoys finding little love notes tucked into his suitcase when he’s traveling for work.

Those small things at unexpected times are what keep the spark of romance alive in our marriage, now 13 years and still kicking.

Everyone approaches Valentine’s Day differently, and the same is true for how couples keep romance kindled after their wedding has become a memory.

Newlyweds: The real experts

So on this most romantic of days, we asked a few Sweet Pea couples to share how they keep the fires of romance burning in their lives.

Alyssa and Joe had a gorgeous wedding last year at the Milwaukee Art Museum and just returned from a honeymoon to Thailand and Cambodia. Here’s what Joe had to say on the topic:

One thing I can think of is, every night before we go to sleep no matter how bad/good/exciting/boring/sad/happy our day was, we always give each other a kiss and say I love you.”

That goodnight kiss really does seal the deal, doesn’t it? I have to admit that Dean and I share this ritual, too, and we highly recommend it as a way to stay connected through thick and thin.

Next, we’ll consult Ashley S., talking about life with hubby David. The two have a lot on their plates these days as they prepare for the arrival of their first child:

“When my husband leaves for a work trip, I make him snack bags with his favorite treats along with hidden post-it notes with funny messages. I love waiting for him to find them so that he knows I miss him and thinking of him. I also like stopping by his office with his favorite coffee to surprise him and give him an extra jolt for his work day.”

Who wouldn’t love that kind of pick-me-up? Next we’ll check in with Ashley Q., who married Jeff all the way back in 2013 and whose life has expanded to include their adorable 3-year-old, Caden.

“We love showing each other affection. There is never any shortage of kisses and hugs between us. We kiss each other at least three times whenever we say goodbye, and we are always hugging and kissing when together. It’s always amazing how much a warm hug can seem to just melt all our problems away AND WE LAUGH… ALL. THE. TIME. We tell the silliest stories and jokes, that no one else seems to understand, but we will both be cracking up about it. Hugs, kisses, and laughter, that’s how we keep our romance alive.”

We can personally attest to Ashley and Jeff’s ability to keep laughter at the fore in their lives, having spent time with them last summer and getting to meet Caden, who stole our hearts.

Newlyweds: Keeping It Lively

Good humor is what 2017 bride Lucy W. shares with her handsome hubby, Chris. Lucy cracked us up all day on her wedding, especially during our pre-wedding interview with her, when told a side-splitting story about their engagement, which centered around a rather humdrum meatloaf dinner. She declared it the “unsexiest” proposal dinner ever. OK, we agree, but Chris made up for it by hiding the ring in an ornament and involving their pooch, so he scores on that account.

“We’re not very romantic at all. I mean, you heard the meatloaf story. Lol. Our version of romance would be tagging/sending each other funny memes on social media and taking turns ordering and paying for pizza. Maybe once in a while if there’s a cute/sappy meme (something along the lines of “tag someone who makes your day brighter”) we will throw that in just to really cement the romance.”

We’re glad to see that Lucy’s dry wit will be in full force as she and Chris welcome their first child into the world.

Lastly, it’s time for Whitney and Blake, whose destination wedding in Galena, Ill., is still one of our absolute faves. Why? Because these two are some of the best human beings you’ll ever meet. Funny. Kind. Sweet. We’re so excited for these two as they also get ready to bring their first little one into their lives.

Keeping the romance alive after the wedding is always hard for anyone. Blake and I like to clear our own expectations for each other and have an understanding that things won’t go as planned most of the time. That is the single best advice we had ever received. But buying a fun dessert at the grocery store as a surprise or surprising each other with “just because” gifts always help Blake and I to know that we still care even when there aren’t big “special moments” to celebrate. Just knowing that the little things are really the most special always help Blake and I to keep the romance alive all the time throughout our relationship!

So, there you have it. Notes, affection, pizza and “just because” gifts. We’re glad to see that our way of keeping connected and being in love doesn’t always have to be fireworks and grand gestures (though once in awhile that’s OK, too!)

We hope you’re celebrating romance in just the way you want today, and let us know what keeps romance burning in your relationship!

Cheers!

Editing: What Videographers Do After a Wedding

sweetpeacinema February 9, 2018

Editing a wedding video is a mystery to many. Couples see us doggedly filming their wedding and then — whoosh! — we’re no longer in sight.

Then weeks and sometimes months go by, and you wonder: Hey, what IS Cindy doing with our footage?

I’m not lazying about eating bon-bons hoping for “inspiration” to take me by the hand to magically edit your video.

I’m in my editing “cave” pouring over footage and wrestling with story, pace, emotion, music and a host of other options.

As the editor at Sweet Pea Cinema, I spend roughly 80+ hours on every wedding project.

Here’s how that breaks down.

Step 1: Editing for Safety and Preparation

Downloading (3-4 hours): We collect between 300 and 500 gigs of material that has to be downloaded onto our main computer.

Backups (1-2 hours): We’ve never (EVER!) lost a project. Why? Because we maintain three copies: primary, first backup and a “deep freeze” backup. Every project gets cataloged, so it can be found if needed.

Organizing (2-3 hours): We ingest all footage and audio into Adobe Premiere Pro in a custom template that has to be further tweaked because every job is different.

Synchronizing (3 hours): Because we record with multiple cameras during the ceremony and reception, footage and audio must be paired. A program called Plural Eyes helps us, but it can be glitchy, requiring some manual tweaking.

Multi-cam edits: (4-6 hours): We’ll cut those synced sequences — or multicams — by choosing the best camera angle during every second of the ceremony and reception key moments. Then I move on to prep, card readings or interviews, and finally onto reception for entrance, toasts, cake cutting and formal dances. While making these camera choices, I’m also selecting scenes with great audio that tell the story of your day and copying them to a fresh sequence for further review.

Step 2: Creative Editing Process

Music bed search (5 hours): A music bed is the soundtrack of your wedding film. During the sync process, I listen to tracks hoping to hear songs that fit your personalities and music tastes, as well as match the mood of the day or scene. Previews get downloaded and pulled into the project.

Sneak peek (12 hours): Now I turn my attention to what I’ve pulled to that fresh sequence. What really moves me from the day? Sneak Peeks are soooo quick, that moments have to be swift. It could be a toast. Or a card reading. Or a first look. The options are endless and I often wrestle with the best moment to launch a Sneak Peek.

Blog post & social media (4 hours): Yea! Once a Sneak Peek is done, it’s time to share it with you … and the world beyond. This is a joyous moment for us, because we FINALLY get to share! A blog post anchors each Sneak Peek and is filled with details and our impressions of the day. We also showcase the awesome vendors who made up the team. Lastly, we add our creations to Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Final editing of synced footage (8-12 hours): I finish Documentary edits of your project — ceremony and reception key moments — before tackling the Feature Film. That way, the footage is so familiar nothing can escape my eye and ear. In all candor, it’s also a tedious task. Watching a 1.5 hour wedding Mass four times takes patience, and that’s why you pay an editor to do this!

Feature film (32-40 hours): This is where the glory and agony of editing live. We produce a variety of Feature Films lengths, which is why the editing time varies. Again, I start with the content — the words spoken on your day — and begin arranging those moments to flow with emotional highs and moments of relief. Then, I’m boosting that “base” with B-roll — all those breathtaking shots we took throughout the day. The goal is to move you, from moments of wonder, to tears of joy, to laughter, to blissful romance.

Step 3: Final editing touches

First review (1 hour): Dean is my No. 1 critic, and he reviews all features. If he’s smiling and tearing up after watching a feature, I’ve done my job right. He’s also great a sounding board for ideas and flow, and I’m often tweaking scenes that he feels need work.

Last tweaks (5 hours): After the main edit is complete, then polishing begins with stabilization, color correction and grading, more audio “sweetening,” motion graphics and titles.

Final Render (1 hour): I export all sequences and watch them again to ensure that all effects, grading and editing choices are flawless. Often I’ll tweak a Feature Film three or four more times to fix the tiniest of issues.

Final exports & menu-building (2-6 hours): Once everything is set, I will export files in the highest HD possible for delivery. While exports are churning, I start work on custom menus, which require pulling stills from footage, creating structure, linking videos, etc.

Copy to USB & upload to Mediazilla (1-2 hours): At last! We’re putting the project on an engraved thumb drive and uploading to Mediazilla (our private video sharing & storage platform) for delivery.

Package and mail (2 hours): We adore getting presents in the mail, which is why we like to carefully curate a wedding film package for you. Yes, it’s got the thumb drive in it, but it also has a small treat and a tiny gift, as well as a Thank You card.

I just have to try summing up what filming someone’s wedding means to our studio! Hollywood films are edited for months, and I only get two weeks.

These tasks — some glamorous and creative, others deadly dull but critical to the safety and flow of a project — are why the cost of a wedding videographer can be “unseen” but they are equally as important in the final project.

Can’t wait to get editing on our 2018 films!

Fairy Tale Wedding Magic at Terrace 167

sweetpeacinema January 27, 2018

Do fairy tales come true? I’ll give you a resounding yes, because that’s exactly how the wedding of Lisa and Jeff unfolded earlier this month, with a ceremony at the Basilica of St. Josaphat in Milwaukee followed by a candle-lit reception at Terrace 167 in Hubertus, practically in the shadow of the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians at Holy Hill.

Wedding Magic

These two put their strong Catholic faith at the fore, and having bookends of basilicas was icing on the cake. Holy Hill has a special place in their love story, as it was the place these two met for their first date, both ready to open their hearts after years of searching for the right partner in life.

Enchantment was evident throughout the day, starting with Lisa’s ethereal blue dress, made by French Knot Courture, which a nod to the bride’s adorable past when she played the lead role in a grade school production of “Snow White.” We’ve witnessed magic before at weddings, but the spell between these two is incredibly strong, so much so that Jeff moved from his native New York to frozen Wisconsin to be with his love.

After a deeply moving ceremony at the Basilica of St. Josaphat, guests moved to Terrace 167, a new venue on the outskirts of Milwaukee that offers a quick jump to the grounds of Holy Hill for photos while guests enjoyed happy hour. We have to give Lisa, Jeff and their entire wedding party serious props because they kept smiling through the bitter cold that was about minus 9 degrees during portrait and video sessions outside.

Wedding Rituals

Glowing candles and glittering decor welcomed the bridal party back to the reception, where the couple began the celebration with a tender foot-washing ritual that signified their humility to each other. We loved the advice that Ashley, Lisa’s cousin, gave during her toast. She held aloft a small plaque she had made with a triangle, representing Lisa, Jeff and God. She said if the couple were to try to come together along the bottom line, they would be two far apart, but if they both drew closer to got their two vertical lines would meet at the top. So sweet!

We can’t say enough about these two and their big day, and we hope you enjoy their Sneak Peek while we finish off their full project down the road.

The Fairy Tale Team

Videography: Sweet Pea Cinema

Drone footage: Patrick Blasius

Photography: Buck Deitz Photography

Venue: Terrace 167

Ceremony: Basilica of St. Josaphat

Dress: French Knot Couture

Bridesmaids’ attire: Blush Fashion

Bride’s hair: Hair By Smash

Flowers: Gary Newman Designs

Veil: One Blushing Bride

Gear Behind a Killer Wedding Video

sweetpeacinema January 4, 2018

Usually, gear is the LAST thing I want to talk to couples about. My sincere belief is that connecting with a couple and learning their wedding story are the two most important elements to creating an unforgettable wedding film.

But high-quality equipment is important.

It helps us get amazing cinematic shots.
It helps us NOT be intrusive.
It holds up to intense filming.
It’s far costlier than consumer cameras and accessories.

Let me unpack each of those a bit more.

Cameras and Lenses

How does professional equipment help us get “cinematic” shots. I’ll talk about cameras and lenses first, as they are the keystones to great cinematography.

Using full-frame cameras like the Sony a7sII and fast, sharp lenses allow us to get a shallow depth of field, which means the subject will be in focus but the areas around it will be soft. This creates a way to visually isolate the subject, as in these two examples: The first is of Lauren and Zach in their Wedding Feature Film and the other from the commercial film “Dear Frankie.”

Movement (or lack of movement) in images is another way that professional equipment helps us achieve highly stylized looks. In our case, we use gimbals to let us walk along with our subject without jitters. And tripods and monopods stabilize our shots when movement isn’t wanted.

Long lenses help us get very close to the action but from quite a distance, so that you’ll never see a Sweet Pea videographer up front at a wedding ceremony. No one wants to see us, because guests come to see the bride and groom! (This is also a great question to ask your photographer: How close do you get during the ceremony? Our preference is always to shoot with long lenses and be out of sight!)

Quality Gear

And our high-quality gear is built to last, even though they are incredibly sensitive. As we hustle to get as much footage as possible on a wedding day, we’re often lugging equipment to prep, ceremony, photo/video sessions and the reception. That kind of action can wreak havoc on equipment that’s not sturdy.

Cost of Gear

Lastly, if you’ve ever wondered why wedding videography is a considerable investment, equipment is one of the big reasons. We carry roughly $20,000+ in visual and audio gear for every wedding, because we’ve found that we need different lenses, cameras, lights, audio equipment and more give us the look and sound that our clients love. Plus, all of this equipment must be maintained and regularly upgraded, too, which is a huge investment for us every year.

The reason for it all

Why such an arsenal of gadgets?

We want to produce the most amazing art piece from your wedding day, and these are the tools we have found that make a huge difference in how a Feature Film turns out. With the equipment and techniques used in Hollywood’s best efforts, our films have the same kind of emotional impact, and that’s exactly how the memories of a wedding day should be carried for years and years to come.

There are a ton of other reasons why gear matters in wedding videographer. For instance, I haven’t even tackled audio capture (which is equally as important as the visuals). But I’ll cover those topics in another blog.

Have more questions for me about what we pack in our camera bags? Please feel free to call or email!

The essential Sweet Pea Cinema Wedding Film kit

We are an Amazon Affiliate, so please follow these links if you’d like a closer look at some of the most important equipment we use.

5 secrets to finding a great wedding filmmaker

sweetpeacinema December 15, 2017

What are some of the best secrets to finding the best filmmaker for your wedding?

So much of the choice is a matter of your personal taste and the studio’s production style. Once you’ve viewed their work — and of course met them to make sure your personalities fit — here are five tips — or secrets, if you will — to figure out if they’re the right team to capture what is undoubtedly one of the busiest and exhilarating moments of your married lives together.

I’m also including at least one question or more from each tip to ask any wedding videographer.

As a bonus, we’re highlighting one of our favorite Sneak Peeks from this year as an inspiration that will show how these secrets play out in real work! (Thanks to Alyssa and Joe for taking the journey with us!)

Secret No. 1: They Must Be Professional

Why is it so important to hire a team with experience in weddings? As someone who has filmed more live events than I can count, I can tell you that no matter what plans you’ve made, many things will conspire to get in your way.

A qualified and experienced wedding videographer will be able to handle whatever happens whether the bus carrying the wedding party breaks down or a groomsman is chewing gum or if a key piece of equipment fails. We’re used to rolling with the punches, and having backups so that we can persevere to get the shots and audio that will be cherished forever.

Questions to ask: Is this your primary job or something you do as a hobby on the weekends to make extra money? How many weddings have you filmed? Have you ever not finished a project?

Secret No. 2: They Have Proper Gear

A great videographer that is committed to getting full coverage will have at least three cameras for the ceremony. At a minimum they should capture high definition video and can record in 4K, should the need arise. A competent filmmaker will have an array of lenses that will allow them to get wide, medium and tight shots without being intrusive to the action. If you ever see a videographer three feet from the couple at the alter, I’d venture to say they have not been trained properly and don’t have the right gear.

It’s critical for reception toasts and first dances, and a solid video team will have a mini spotlight for both uses. Lastly, audio. It’s one of the trickiest components of a wedding videographer’s skills, and your videographer should have enough mics and recorders to cover the groom, bride, officiant and toast-givers.

Trust me, it’s a lot of gear, and we haven’t even addressed supports and gimbals and drones. But gear is what allows wedding videographer to get footage that can rival what you see on a movie screen. And it’s also why a quality wedding videographer charges a significant price. But we’ll explore that in another post.

Questions to ask: How many cameras do you operate? What happens if you break one of your lenses or cameras? What steps do you take to get great audio capture?

Secret No. 3: They Are Not a Movie-Mill

What’s a movie mill? It’s a studio that will book as many — sometimes hundreds — of weddings per year, sending out several crews of freelancers to cover them. Often with that kind of studio, you become a name and number.

A high-quality video studio will take only as many weddings as they can comfortably film and produce, without outsourcing, and you’ll notice it in the quality of the film you receive. They will comb through the moments of your day and create a piece that flows, has highs and quiet moments, that will make you laugh and cry. I venture to say that the best videographers want to get to know their couples, so that they truly understand what their priorities are and what the possibilities for filming are on their beautiful, but always busy, day.

Questions to ask: How many weddings do you film every year? Will I get to meet the videographers who are filming my wedding? How do you make sure that you’re capturing what’s important to me?

Secret No. 4: They Run a Legitimate Business

Thankfully, more videography studios are operating as businesses. And that means they have insurance, which is a big deal if an accident occurs on your wedding day. They also pay sales tax (if their state requires it), and payroll taxes if they have employees. Why is it important that they have these? Because it’s another gauge on their ethics and potential longevity. If they’ve taken these steps, it shows they are serious about their business and are more likely to perform as promised.

Do they have you sign a contract? That’s another huge safeguard for you and the studio, and outlines what you can expect and remedies should they not perform to your satisfaction.

Questions to ask: Do you have insurance that should cover an accident that you caused? Will I be signing a contract?

Secret No. 5: They License Music

So you’ve been watching wedding videos and you loved a film you saw that incorporated “Marry You” by Bruno Mars. Well guess what? The videographer who created the film with that song is violating the copyright (at least if they are in the U.S.).

As artists ourselves, we want to make sure the musicians and singers who contribute to our works get paid as well, which is why we license every piece of music. Every single piece. Yes, that means we can’t get many pop tunes on the radio right now, but what we always promise our couples is to find music that fits their taste as well as the action and mood of the day. It’s simply the right thing to do! And if the music is legally licensed in your film, you should never get a “take down” message if you share it on social media.

Questions to ask: Do you pay to license music in your videos? How will you determine what kind of music I want to hear in my film?

Whew! That’s a lot of information. And I could probably give you another 10 more secrets to finding a great videographer.

I hope these “secrets” help you as you start your search. And I’d love to hear from you if they do!

Cheers!