Catherine + Abe || Stop Thinking Like Me

On July 23rd, Catherine and Abe tied the knot. The conditions couldn't have been better for their wedding day. The sun was out, not too hot, not too cold but just perfect. The wedding day was full of laughter and joy and you could really see it on everyone's faces. Catherine and Abe's loved ones were all so happy to see these two get married and it was definitely one big celebration. The ceremony and reception were held at the amazing Vancouver Convention Centre. This was our 3rd time shooting there this year and it never get's old. Such a beautiful view of the north shore.

We had such a fun time shooting this wedding. Check out the highlights film below!

Also we had the pleasure of working with Jana Vackova Photography again. We always have so much fun with Jana and Lisa.

A big thanks to Lina Dang of The Flower Girl Event Planning for helping the day run smoothly and making sure we always knew what was happening. Lina's the best. So rad.

||TECHY NOTE||

Since we've shot there before and have plenty of footage of the view, we wanted to try something new and get a shot of the VCC from the north shore (which we open the film with). So a few days later Erin and I headed out to Vancouver to do a little pick up shooting. Sometimes what you want to shoot and the craziness of a wedding day schedule don't line up, so pickup shooting is a great way to get the shots you want and to really add something special to the film.

red deer trip

This past weekend we took a road trip to Red Deer Alberta for my cousin/life long friend Drew's wedding. I was honoured to be in the bridal party with a great group of close friends and family. So many good times on the road and in Red Deer. Early wednesday morning we headed out with my sister and brother in law. Driving from Surrey to Red Deer is about an 11 hour drive so needless to say we had to find ways to entertain ourselves while on the road. For me, one of those ways was by taking a few snapshots and shooting some video. You can view a little brief video along with a 'techy stuff' blurb at the bottom of the post. We made a few stops along the way and one of them was to Lake Louis. We really wanted to see this gorgeous lake, but also my bro-in-law Steve and I really wanted to watch the Stanley Cup Final and we knew we had some family staying at the Fairmont Hotel. So we crashed there room and watched the game. After the disappointing game we got back on the road. I've known Drew my whole life. Besides being cousins, we've been extremely close friends and even roommates. I'm the youngest and he is the third youngest out of our huge batch of cousins so naturally we were pretty close growing up. We have always been in to the same music and are even in a band together. It's rare that Erin and I get to attend weddings, let alone one of us be in the bridal party. We had so much fun enjoying the festivities and living it up in Red Deer. It was so awesome to see him and Danielle tie the knot and I can't wait to hang out with them as a married couple.

||TECHY STUFF||

Here is the little video I shot on the road trip. Please pardon the shaky cam... didn't have the monopod with me. I put this together mainly to test out the new Final Cut Pro X. Great system but not quite there yet. Hopefully Apple will listen to their pro users and implement changes in future software updates. One thing that is an absolute game changer for me is skimming to preview clips. Huge time saver. I also wanted to test out our new iMac. We've been wanting to upgrade for a while from our 2006 Mac Pro but we wanted to wait for Apple to release there updated iMac. The second I saw that it was available I put my order in. The specs are... 27 inch iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 16 GM RAM 250 GB SSD & 2 TB HDD This is an amazingly powerful machine. The SSD is a huge performance boost, along with the i7 chip. Our processing and editing times are drastically improved. This tool will be a huge help in this years weddings.

sunrise || test shoot

This morning I woke up before sunrise to go do a little test shooting. We recently acquired a new Canon 135 f2 and so I wanted to go and see what this puppy could do. My alarm went of at 6:15 and I thought, as I do every early morning, that somehow someone played a prank on me and set the alarm too early. After giving myself a minute, I packed up my gear and headed out to crescent beach. I was relieved to see that it was a gorgeous clear day because yesterday I went through this same routine only to discover that it was raining out. Once I arrived at the beach I was surprised to see not a soul was around. I thought for sure there would be some early risers who like to get a jog in before work but nope, not-a-one. This got me pretty excited so I started to shoot. I was armed with a 5D, some primes (35 f1.4, 50 f1.2, 135 f2), a monopod and a slider. I just started walking and taking in the beauty. It was one of the most gorgeous BC mornings I had ever seen. I've lived here for most of my life and I was still astounded by the breathtaking sights. As the sun came out it got quite windy which made it a little tricky to stay perfectly still on the monopod but I got by. The 135 performed beautifully. The bokeh is amazing and I'm really excited to use it during a wedding shoot this weekend. Check out the montage below.

Techy Stuff: Audio

Probably one of the most overlooked and underrated areas in filmmaking is audio. Audio is 50% of the experience and is often underestimated. Have you ever watched a movie on mute? Not even close to the same experience. Have you ever tried just listening to a movie? Eyes shut and just listening... you can still follow the story without much confusion. Audio is so powerful. Until I went to film school, I had no idea how much work went into creating the soundscape for a film. I thought I knew but it wasn't until I wrote and directed my own short film that I truly understood. Now obviously in the wedding filmmaking industry, we don't have the option of having an entire audio team come along on a wedding shoot. When we shoot, it's usually a team of 2 and we need extremely hi quality audio in a small package. Here are the tools we use and love.

||Shotgun Mics|| When shooting on HDSLR's, do NOT use the on board microphones. They are complete garbage. Yeah I said it, garbage. Trust me even if you think it doesn't sound all that bad, it does. It may sound ok on your computer speakers but remember all the different types of speakers and systems your film will be played on, the onboard mics just won't do. We use two different types of mics, the Senheiser MKE400 and the Rode VideoMic. Both of these offer superb localized audio. We tend to like the audio that comes out of the VideoMic a little better but they are both fantastic.

||Wireless Mics|| People often ask us how we capture the vows and speeches so clearly. The answer is wireless microphones. We use the Senheiser ew100 G2 system and an omni-directional mic. This allows us to strap a mic on the lapel of the groom and it captures crystal clear audio in about a 3 foot radius. Just don't forget to find the groom and set him up before the ceremony begins... that would suck.

||Recorder|| Now with HDSLR's you've probably realized there are no XLR inputs. There are systems out there that you can add to your camera that will give you XLR inputs but we find those systems don't work well for us. It ends up being added bulk and not great quality. Instead we opt for dual system sound. This is when the sound is recorded separately and then synced up in post. To do this we use the Zoom H4N. This little gem is just what we need. It allows us to record for hours on end without dying and easily adjust quality settings and audio levels. We highly recommend the Zoom.

||Post Production Audio|| Now since there is definitely no time to slate each shot you take during a wedding, syncing audio in post can seem a bit daunting. But have no fear, Plural Eyes by Singular Software will save you hours of time and headaches and is well worth the $150 price tag. This program syncs up all of your audio in your timeline for you. If your syncing audio manually, do yourself a favour and check Plural Eyes out.

So that's it. Extremely high quality audio in a very small package. If you have any questions on how we use these tools or anything else please feel free to leave a comment, shoot us an email or talk to us on twitter.