stillmotion

today marks day two of our speaking schedule in las vegas. justin and i are at wppi (the wedding and professional photographers international convention) and were asked by canon usa to speak on the advantages, strategies and techniques of adding cinematography to the photography repertoire.

being that justin and i are photographers that often shoot cinema, we have a pretty unique perspective on the matter. we know how challenging it can be to shoot photo on its own, and to shoot cinema on its own – but to combine the two…. let’s just say that the results can be out of this world.

but does it have to be daunting? that’s a question that many photographers are asking themselves. with HDSLRs at our disposal, so many are itching to test out the waters.

so here’s where we come in. over the last few days, and for the last time tomorrow at WPPI, we are sharing our perspective on how the transition can be made smoothly and in a really fun way. so for those of you who’d like to join us, check out our talk at the canon booth tomorrow (wednesday) at 1:15.

-amina

as many of you know, every year stillmotion takes on up to three industry professionals, whether photographers or cinematographers, for its mentorship program. it’s a year long commitment that is intensely personal, specifically targeted towards each individual’s goals and hopes, and a channel for personal and professional growth.

in december, nicole anhel of confetti films decided that this is a journey she would like to take. over the next year, she and i will be sharing, viewing, creating, flying, shooting, laughing, crying, and a whole list of other things that i’m sure will come our way.

i’m looking forward to helping nicole achieve the things that will truly make her happy, while sharing an experience that is already proving to be unforgettable for me.

over the next year, both nicole and i will be sharing our views, successes, road blocks, breakthroughs, and excitement on the journey that we take together. this is my first blog post with many to come. to view nicole’s complementary post, click here.

-amina

as march approaches quickly (and i can’t believe i am saying that, since christmas has came and past oh so fast) we still have some spots for the steadicam workshop here in toronto. registration will be closed shortly as we prepare the venues and we have five spots left.

in case you didn’t get my vibe from the last blog post about this, but THIS IS GOING TO BE A REALLY COOL WORKSHOP.

we would love a couple more people to join us. if you are at all interested please email jessica@stillmotion.ca for more information.

here is some more info:

stillmotion is proud to partner with steadicam to bring a special steadicam workshop to toronto. for only $550US per person, steadicam will send down a certified steadicam op come to the stillmotion studio and give a 2-day steadicam workshop.  not only will you get to learn everything from the fundamentals to advanced techniques, but you will also get to do it inside the walls of stillmotion. we are very excited to be able to offer this exclusively to everybody coming to the evolution experience. join jessica and patrick at this awesome experience. if your interested in reserving a spot we ask for a $550 retainer. you can reach me (jessica) at our studio monday to friday (and in the afternoon on sunday) at CAN 647-477-5308 US 213-596-0885 or jessica@stillmotion.ca. stillmotion + steadicam will provide all the gear you need, and breakfast/lunch is also included in your tuition. you would be responsible for dinners and accommodations but jess can assist you in extending your stay. while it may be difficult timing, we felt it was best to have this on march 21/22nd. that means that this will directly precede the evolution experience.

konrad and i had such an awesome time in both ny and nj and just wanted to send out a special thanks to everybody who came out and for all of the support and enthusiasm they shared. all of you have certainly inspired us to keep evolving and sharing.

thanks to mr jones for taking some stills with the 7d and a 50 f1.2 (who knew the MKII had a photo mode too…)

check out their blog for a cool little video clip they put together as well.

less than two weeks from the evo. experience. we can’t wait. i think one spot just opened up too. once i get back to some inquires for it, i will post back here if we do in fact have an opening.

P.

if you thought having your photo and cinema on your wedding day was fun, imagine what it would be like to have not only 1 or 2 cameras on you, but 9 to 12…

at stillmotion we love to share and educate, and with that in mind we have two workshops coming up this month. a photo workshop // the ‘y’ experience, and a cinema workshop // the evolution experience.

here is the problem – we need models.

the ‘y’ experience

// three couples on tuesday, october 13th from 12:30pm – 3pm.

// one couple for wednesday october 14th from 1:o0pm – 3pm.

the evolution experience

// two couples for wednesday october 28th from 12pm – 6pm.

if you have time and would like to help for more than one day, just let us know. not only will you be helping with the workshops but you will also get featured right here.

if you’re interested, please contact our wonderful, cheery, and ever-helpful studio manager jess at jessica@stillmotion.ca

the ring shot has become quite the widespread phenomenon within our industry. i do believe it was our filipino friend jmag who first brought these into his films. they have certainly evolved over the years and have become quite the highlight within a wedding film. for us, as things become closer to a cliche, we try and move away from them. what that means now, is that while we still do ring shots, we don;t include them in every sde. we also try to go that extra step and make sure that the shot doesn’t just look awesome but it also ties into that couple’s unique story. another use of ring shots, for us, is to interact with the titles either at the beginning or end of the film.

with that, i bring you a little behind the scenes piece we shot that shows what can go into one ring shot. a good 10 minutes of production for 3 seconds of screen time.

what your seeing here is a couple boxes we found at the brides house being used to elevate the cinevate linear tracking system so we can mount it upside down. we then ran the 7d with a 24 f1.4 on the slider. why a 24? well we needed something wider to allow for then negative space needed for the titles. the 24 can focus super close and is also very shallow when you do so, so it seemed like the perfect fit. we also use a lazy susan we found on the table to wipe the rings and copy out.

P.

so, a few things have changed since the Y experience was first announced. but the biggest change is justin.

since justin is now a part of stillmotion, he won’t just be guest speaking at the workshop – he’ll be co-hosting it with me! we think that this union is going to bring so many good things to stillmotion in general but also bring our workshop to a whole new level!

so, we are inviting a couple more attendees to fill out the group.

for those interested in attending, please visit www.stillmotionexperience.com/workshops/11 for more information!

the dates:

// october 12 through 14 – the Y experience, priced at $1700 + tax

// october 15 – a half day dedicated to fusion, priced at $500 + tax (for Y experience attendees only)

see you then!

-amina

this has got to be one of the best exclusive offerings to date. we have partnered up with steadicam for them to put on a couple of their workshops right around the evolution experience, in the stillmotion studio. for 2 days per workshop we will have peter abraham (a certified steadicam op) who has shot on such films as malcom X (and many more). not only will you get to learn everything from the fundamentals to advanced techniques, but you will also get to do it inside the walls of stillmotion. we are very excited to be able to offer and share this with you, and tie the date into the evolution experience, so those attending both can apply what they learn right away.

in each workshop we will be taking on a minimum of 6 people and a maximum of 9. which means you have to hurry up and call the studio to get your spot reserved!!!

we ask for the full price of $550 US upfront to secure a spot. you can reach me at the studio monday to friday at 647-477-5308 or 213-596-0885 or even better: jessica@stillmotion.ca

stillmotion + steadicam will provide you with all the gear you need. breakfast/lunch will also be provided.

choose to join us either october 25th + 26th. 09′ or march 21st + 22nd, ‘10.

don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity! this is going to be so cool that i will be getting into one of them myself to see what i can do with a steadicam :) just you wait. i’m going to show the boys how it’s really done!

- jess

some of you may have noticed that we have some links on the right hand side of the blog. one goes to our main site, while the other goes to stillmotionexperience.com. if you’ve tried to get to the experience site over the last week you probably encountered that rather annoying countdown timer once again. well, as of now, our awesome designers over at funnel.tv have just given us the green light for stillmotionexperience to go live.

this will be the place where we can announce all of the events we will be a part of, our in-studio evolution experience, as well as some really exciting new offerings we are proud to bring to the industry.

if your interested in an educational offering you don’t see listed there, please use the contact form on the site to send us your suggestions. bringing out the experience to australia was brought about solely by others who expressed enough interest in having us there.

we feel a great sense of gratitude to all of those who were a part of our first two evolution experiences. while we hope that the experience provided inspiration for you, it was the inspiration that all of you gave to us that really led to the creation of this new site. from greg’s unrelenting enthusiasm, to steve’s humor, lawrence’s past life as a body builder, to nicole’s very moving words about what she sees in the art we produce, everything came together to make this an unbelievable experience for all of us.

thank you to our official stillmotion models vicky of vicky + ricky. thank you to allie + thomas, tiffani + ryan, jen, sandy, jessica, and stella + chi (who drove quite the distance) who all added such a warm energy to the experience as our models.

most of all, thank you to jaime of blueprint events. without her passion, energy, and lack of sleep, we wouldn’t have been able to pull everything together in nearly the same fashion as we did. she single handedly ensured that everybody had transportation, accomodations, she scouted out the best venues for food, brought in awesome catering, had coffee and drinks ready for us daily, and still found time to deal with some last minute changes when the bad weather hit so that nothing skipped a beat. so thank you jaime for your amazing talent and for everything you have done for all of us.

P.

On the weekend, I had the pleasure of running a workshop at Pikto, a print lab in the Distillery District of Toronto.

My voice is still a little hoarse… speaking from 10 to 5 for two days straight is no easy task, but it was fun like you wouldn’t believe. I had a class of 13, all of whom had different levels of experience – from 30 years of film background to freshly-out-of-school enthusiasm. The entire group was a blast. They were totally involved, asking questions every 2 minutes! They probably talked more than I did! So awesome. John also came as a guest speaker to discuss some ideas about business development. He was a big hit – so big, that he was invited to develop and run a marketing related workshop with Pikto. I wanted to send out a big thanks to Michelle from Pikto who was a huge help throughout the weekend. From getting us all coffee to being an awesome photo assistant, she really went out of her way for us. I also wanted to thank Jaime, Sandy, Milena and Sam for coming out and modeling for our shoot in the alleys. Jaime, as most of you know, got married last July. Sandy is due to marry Mark in about a month, and Sam & Milena are still about a year away. Here are a few shots from Sunday. Milena wore her mom’s wedding dress, which I thought was the COOLEST THING EVER!! Oh, and you’ll notice that Sandy’s photos have a bit of a different spin… but everyone has different ways of dealing with wedding stress. :) -Amina