Friday night – 7:00pm – kickoff at Workplay.  All of the filmmakers and musicians were randomly paired together and then the fun began. I have to admit, I was a little nervous about
being paired with a random group of people. Lots of questions were going through my head: Would I like their music? Would they be easy to work with? Would we share the same vision? You get the point. Finally they called our name, and after what seemed like an extremely long pause, they announced the Alexa Rankin Band. I relaxed immediately when I met this awesome group of people! Since my world revolves around food, we all headed to Taziki’s to eat and do pre-production.  By the end of the night, we had a production schedule and locations.

The amazing rooftop view. © Jan King 2010

Saturday – 6:30am – meet downtown. We were up bright and early to start shooting. We were lucky enough to get access to a rooftop down town for the full band performance. The shots we were able to get were amazing! So, if you thought you heard drums at 6:30 in the morning, that may have been us. We wrapped up the rooftop shots and headed to Wildflower Wax (owned by Alexa’s parents) in Old Towne Helena. We filmed the remaining shots near their store. A last minute prop find was the old truck we were able to use for the traveling shots. It worked out perfect. After a long morning, we called it a wrap and all headed our separate directions for lunch and relaxation.

Saturday – 3:00pm – The Nick Rocks, Birmingham, AL. The Alexa Rankin Band had a show at The Nick Rocks Saturday afternoon which gave us a perfect opportunity for the final shot of the video. Final shot … check … and that’s a wrap!

Saturday night – Sunday morning – editing. Matt is a rockstar when it comes to knocking an edit out and doing it quickly. He worked hard and the result was amazing!

Sunday  - 5:00pm – turn in the music video to Sidewalk. We were ready to have the final video in their possession and then we could finally relax. And done!!

The whole process was so much fun! We could not have asked for a more awesome and talented band to work with. We are thrilled with the final product and it’s something we are proud of, so we view that as a success!

We are so lucky that Duncan’s mom Jan is a photographer and the day was well documented. Check out all the behind the scene pictures.

Some of The Alexa Rankin Band and production crew. - © Jan King 2010

A huge thanks to:

The Band:
Alexa Rankin
Duncan King
Dave Rankin
Steve Wheeler

The Crew:
Jacob Hampton
Kristen Cartledge
Jennifer Rankin

Photographer:
Jan King

And the result of a lot of hard work …

One of the great things about our job are the people we get to meet. Not just the couples, but other wedding vendors too. We first met Amanda Pair when she was the second shooter at Maria and Chad’s wedding and we were instant friends. That night Amanda talked about needing a promo and a few weeks later we were meeting to hear her ideas.

After getting a good feel for what she wanted out of a promo, we met her at an abandoned golf course. She wanted her footage from the client session to be real and not staged, so we documented her engagement session with Ashley, Austin and their dog Callie. It was a hot, muggy day (isn’t that every day) but you would have never known it from Amanda’s smile the whole time.

The second part of the promo was the interview portion. If you are normally behind the camera, there’s a moment of panic when the camera is turned on you. I cracked up when the red light came on and suddenly Amanda had nothing to say. After a few minutes she relaxed and we had tons of great stuff from the interview.

Our goal with Amanda’s promotional video was to show potential clients who she is as a person and give them a glimpse into what a session with her is like. We definitely captured her energy and the relaxed feeling of hanging out with a friend.

iPhone version

Be sure to check out more of the pictures from Ashley and Austin’s engagement session.  Also, take time to read the promo experience from Amanda’s perspective. Amanda is an amazing photographer who’s images are fresh and full of life! We love working with her and her laughter is contagious.

What is a copyright?

Copyright is the set of exclusive rights granted to the author or creator of an original work, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. (source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright)

In the video production world a lot of people use copyrighted music as soundtracks for the video.  Admittedly, when we first started (2007) we used this practice as well.  It seemed ok to us because we were using music that we had purchased or that the client owned.  That just isn’t the case.  Without permission from the owner of the piece of work it is stealing.

We choose to focus on the story not the soundtrack.  We hope we are conveying this through our work.  So for now, if you are a current or future client and you just have to have a certain song in your wedding movie, I have to say sorry.  Unless of course you have that authors written permission.

This practice protects us (the production studio) and  you (the client) from any sort of legal action.  In today’s day and age we have to be extra careful because we are a very litigious culture.

Phew… I feel better.  Nobody likes this topic (including me) but it does need discussion from time to time.

-Matt

The first ever Dig It All Revolution was held on June 29, 2010 at the fabulous Cobb Lane Carriage House. It started pouring down rain about 20 minutes before 6:00 (our start time), but we still had a great turn out. It was awesome to meet new people and spend time with people we already knew.

We were able to share some information about the current and future state of the wedding film business. Hopefully we enlightened people’s minds about the possibilities that abound today. Our goal was to prove that the “wedding video” of the past is not what you receive in a modern “wedding film” of today.

Proper Measures did all of the event decorations, which was awesome.

Collage Catering provided the tasty food:

Thank you to everyone who braved the weather and came out to spend time with us!

iPhone version

I love when I meet a couple and instantly fall in love with them!  I knew from the moment I met Jenna and Jason, they were going to be fun to be around.  We arrived at the hair salon and Jenna was the most relaxed bride.  She seemed unconcerned with the 40% chance of rain and was just excited about the wedding and flying to Antigua the next day.  It began to storm as she was running into the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, but after a quick storm, the rain stopped.  Jason was so sweet, his main concern was that it would stop raining so Jenna could have the wedding she had been planning.

As the outdoor ceremony began, a few rain drops began to fall.  Thankfully the rain held off and they had a beautiful ceremony.  Jenna and Jason’s first dance was to a song I have not heard before but it was so sweet.  It’s a song by Shooter Jennings called My Song For You.  She said it was a hidden song at the end of the album.

After everyone had eaten, we debuted Jenna and Jason’s Same Day Edit.  Everyone loved it!  And most importantly Jenna and Jason loved it!  Check out their SDE below.

Jenna and Jason’s vendors:
Venue:  Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, Tuscaloosa, AL
Photographer:  Scottie Jones Photography
Caterer:  Velinda Bourland
DJ:  DJ Bin Rockin

iPhone version

Climb for the Kids is an initiative of The Josiah Foundation, which exists “to help ease the suffering and advance the well-being of children everywhere.”  Dan and Adam will climbing Mt. Rainier in July to raise money for kids with cancer and adoption grants.  Their goal is to have 14,410 individual sponsors, one for each foot of the mountain.  Whether you donate $5 or $500, every dollar will go directly toward helping children.  Go to Climb for the Kids to learn more about Dan and Maria’s story and donate to this amazing foundation.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday’s event (before the storms):

Raffle tickets are still available for some awesome prizes!  Contact Climb for the Kids if you are interest in purchasing one.

Simply said … “Give.”
T-shirts are also available.

A few weeks ago, we shipped Laura and Ryan’s wedding movie to them. Once we ship a movie, it feels like waiting on Christmas as we anticipate hearing from the client. We are always thrilled when we get the phone call or email from the client. I wanted to share some of Laura’s email with you.

“We received [our movie] last Wednesday and we have already watched it 3 times! We LOVE it! We had friends over this weekend for Memorial Day and everyone really enjoyed watching it! I am so glad we decided to have a videographer because the ceremony and the night went by so fast, it is all a blur. Thank you again to you and your husband, ya’ll are wonderful and so talented!”

We received a call from Ryan’s mother only a few weeks before their wedding.  They originally had not budgeted for a videographer, but after talking to other families they realized how much they would miss if it was not filmed.  We are thrilled we could be a part of their wedding!  It warmed my heart when Ryan’s mother told me she felt she could relax because we were there to capture every moment.  That is a benefit most people do not think of, the benefit to enjoy yourself without feeling like you are going to miss something.

In case you missed Laura and Ryan’s Lake Martin wedding …

For our wedding clients we are including in our “Signature Package” a digital copy of the wedding movie.  You still get the Bluray and DVD copies, but now you will be able to load the wedding movie onto your smart phone and take it with you.  Show people at work, or wherever you want.  Also, it isn’t copyright protected so you can share it with friends and family.

One thing to note.  The digital copy is of a slightly lower resolution than the Bluray or DVD to make the files small enough to be portable.  However, the quality is still good enough to enjoy.  This is just another seemingly simple way that digital has transformed the way movies and information is shared.

Complete the contact form or give us a call to discuss your wedding day.

Check out our add-ons!