stillmotion

because for us it always started with love

what’s this, a photographer promo without a camera or shooting ?!? preposterous.

as with our wedding films, the idea behind this promo was to capture the unique essence of justin and mary. when we got right down to it, that didn’t involve them actually shooting. rather, it was more about what inspires their shooting. the writing of the VO also ties in so well into who mary is (just read their blog and you will understand, i keep telling her she should be writing books not blog posts).

i love the contrast of the scenes shot in HD and the super 8. to me, this contrast really conveys the contrast in their personalities. at times they are very outgoing, quirky, and quite silly. yet at others they are very quiet and romantic. by filming the same scene in the two different formats, we attempted to convey those two sides to the same couple.

thanks to justin and mary for being so open and trusting throughout the process. they are both such amazing people and they sure made it tough to leave new haven, CT.

check out their site here: justinmarantz.com/

music by amy seeley ’surprisingly so’ licensed at with etiquette.

thanks for watching.

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here is our last behind the scenes piece from evo australia.

on the second day of the workshop we had a set of shooting challenges. we had groups of five and roughly 2.5 hour rotations between the challenges. one challenge was to create a 30 second commercial, the other was a 90 second film about the couple, and the last was a self-reflection piece. the behind the scenes are moments from all the different challenges.

we are working with cinevate to debut a gallery of all of the winning clips across the three workshops. we have been so inspired with what everybody was able to come up with and we can’t wait to share it with all of you.

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the original plan was three weeks in australia followed by some nice rest at home with amina. a couple days before we were set to return a shoot came up. as it often happens, flights we re-routed last minute, plans changed, and with sixteen hours of jet lag packed away, i went straight to indy. what makes this more interesting was that we had three consecutive days of shooting and editing lined up with a same day edit to debut every night on television.

quite the task on a normal day, but the jet lag just made this one all that more fun.

while i may have been delirious from jet lag when this happened, i do believe it actually happened. we were sitting in a room that had been commandeered and turned into a makeshift production office. an assortment of tables formed a U-shape around the room. a mess of cables extended from the wall and formed somewhat of a nest around all of the tables. producers, editors, runners, and production managers filled the room and created quite the busy environment. the room was filmed with people producing content for the network and in each corner there was a television playing the network live.

our little team sat in the corner and plugged away at our edits all day. as the deadline to go to air was approaching, we heard our edit from the day before come on one of the televisions. not trying to get distracted from the sde, i looked up only briefly then go back to work. when the edit cut, the network went back to the broadcasters. then something crazy happened. instead of carrying on with the live show, the broadcasters took a little detour. first they mentioned stillmotion and they mentioned our unique look at this event. it was quite the experience, not only to see our films on television, but also to hear them refer to us afterward. it made all of jet lag worth while, and i think the sde from that day turned out to be our best :)

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serena and liang are two wonderfully matched people. they complete each others sentences, they work together as dentists in their own practice, and they do just about everything together.

when most couples would exchange gifts on the wedding day, they created them together in the same room. a mixed CD they filled with songs that meant something throughout their relationship. for their first meeting, liang brought the surprises, and serena helped with directions (which is often the case with these two).

as models for our evo australia one and two, we got to spend so much time with both of them and it was such a treat to get to know them both so personally before the big day. having them be around for so much of the workshop also gave them a completely different insight into what we do and the process behind it and from what we’ve heard, that also brought a whole new level of meaning to their film.

amina will be sharing her story of their day shortly.

the soundtrack is ‘i want to belong to you’, used with permission from katie herzig.
www.katieherzig.com
iTunes

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it has been quite rainy since landing down under. that means the camera has spent much more time packed away than it would have preferred. with the rain not letting up for one more day, my last resort was to just start shooting in full out rain.

now, i should say that the camera manual does say that the MKIV is ‘weather resistant’. as i left the camera sitting on a ledge, water pouring down, amina started wondering exactly how canon defines resistant…

turns out it handled the rain quite well and amina and i spent valentines day shooting from atop a cliff together.

you can see amina’s perspective on her blog. the soundtrack here was also used with etiquette ($5 placed on the red mat).

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when we first arrived, the news said it rained more that weekend than it has in decades. now though, the tables have turned. we have wonderful, almost too hot weather, and there are snow storms back in toronto. today amina and i are heading our with serena and liang, a very fashionable mr + mrs dentist who will be getting married in sydney next saturday. the plan is to head to see avatar first, and what better spot than the worlds largest imax theatre. from there we are planning to head to one of their favorite restaurants in sydney.

with that, i wanted to share a behind the scenes film from the first evo. experience here in sydney. we had such a great time, made some awesome friends, and are so inspired to get back out there and shoot.

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the rain still seems to be sticking with us, but there is some hope it will disappear today. evo australia starts later today (while it is shortly after 2pm in canada/new york on sunday it is monday at 6am here in sydney).

clip two is of our trip downtown led by our friends abraham and dave.

we can’t wait for tonight!!

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they say it is sunny for 300 days a year in australia. the day we arrive – the worst downpour in years.

jaime has taking quite the liking to the australian accent. she is hoping to have hers quite refined by the time she heads home.

we arrived yesterday and evo australia, the first of three while we are here, starts tomorrow. we are super pumped. not that we need more excitement, but check out our crazy backyard here in sydney (at the end of the clip).

stay tuned for more aussie updates.

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music by daniel dixon // nadus 03c (spring). licensed through withetiquette.com

jay promised myanh a six pack for their wedding day (the one on your body, not the beer).

while she didn’t get that, she did get some yummy little caesar’s.

speaking of little caesar’s, myanh is quite accomplished at eating pizza while in a wedding dress.

separately jay and myanh are both awesome people, but together they sure have some crazy moves.

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soundtrack by derby // if ever there’s a reason.

licensed through with etiquette.

konrad and i were asked to speak on behalf of canon here at imaging USA in nashville. we weren’t really sure what to expect being a photo show, but when we arrived we realized just how huge this hotel (about 3000 rooms) as well as the tradeshow (about 10 000 people) was. we have been doing a couple presentations a day on Canon’s stage where we talk about our transition from traditional video cameras to now using all HD-SLRs. we discuss stabilization, audio, and workflow. we’ve been so happy with how everything has been received so far, and from the short clip here, you can see how well the film are going over.

it is always tough talking to a new audience and making sure your speaking with the right voice and not above or below them. overall though, this has been an awesome experience and according to Canon, this is the first time at a major photo show that anybody has gotten up to strictly discuss video/cinema – which is surely a sign of how these industries are changing.

as an interesting aside, clay blackmore, a canon explorer of light, was also speaking on the Canon stage and saw some of our films. he was so intrigued that he asked us to join him for a portion of his platform talk on fusion. we have one last demonstration today at 11 and then we will be on our way back.

this is just a super quick edit of some random shots while we were talking or just walking around the show floor just to give you an idea of what imaging USA is like.

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