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Why Get a Love Story

Imagine if you could not only see your grandparent's wedding day on video, but also hear and see them talk about how they met.  Or, imagine sitting down with your little boy or girl in 5, 10, or 15 years, and watching your own love story with them. Words don't due justice at how awesome an experience that would be. That is why I love it when we get the opportunity to shoot a love story.

In addition to documenting the origin and history of your love together, the actual production process is a great way to get to know your videographer.  Whenever we produce a love story for a client, we're able to make their wedding movie that much better because we know them so well. We also often end up becoming good friends.  And to top it all off, a Cinematic Studios love story shoot is always  loads of fun.

The French Revelation

A couple of years ago we had the pleasure to work with Jin and Cindy to produce their wedding movie and love story. I first met with them at a Peet's Coffee in San Mateo, CA.  We had a great time and instantly hit it off. When they told me the story of how Jin proposed (in Paris, must be nice), I instantly knew what I'd name their love story—"The French Revelation."

We shot their love story in various San Francisco locations and even got their parents involved. It was a total blast. Below is a testimonial clip from Jin and Cindy right after their wedding reception (where we premiered their love story video to their family and friends). I hope their words will encourage you to get your love story produced, whether you use Cinematic Studios or someone else, it's totally worth it!

Click the image below to watch their testimonial (3 min).

Click the image below to see an excerpt from their award-winning love story. (10 min)

Funny Back Story

Here's some funny back story about this video. In the classic scene where we re-enact Jin asking Cindy's dad for her hand in marriage, that was originally meant to be silent. We were just going to use it as b-roll to show over the voice over of Jin talking about it. But then Dr. Chou (Cindy's dad) started getting into it and the adlib they did was so funny, I just had to record the audio. So I got my wireless mics, and had them go at it. It's all done "off the cuff."

Another funny point about that scene is that in it, Dr. Chou grills Jin about having kids in a year. Jin is caught off guard and tongue-tied (very funny). You can tell he's not crazy about the idea. Dr. Chou joked again about having grandkids in a year at the wedding itself when he gave his toast. Now here's the funny part—Jin and Cindy actually did end up having a beautiful baby girl six days shy of their one-year anniversary! You gotta love i!

To this day Jin and Cindy are still good friends and we even were sent baby pictures. Did I already say how much I love this business?

technorati tags: Love_Story, France, Comedy, Wedding, Cinematic_Studios

A "Hollywood" Love Story

One of the things we love to do at Cinematic Studios is push the envelope in wedding and event videography production. In every video we produce, we strive to create something that's never been done before. Whether it's an ecclectic music selection or a non-linear storytelling approach, we love breaking the mold and setting new trends. We probably have more fun and experience doing that with our love story videos.  They're really more like short films.

Most love story videos are "he-said/she-said" style interviews against a romantic backdrop like a park or beach. As the bride and groom tell the story of how they met, fell in love, and became engaged, the screen is filled with romantic imagery of them walking hand-in-hand, kissing, playing, etc. This is the traditional mold. Sometimes you'll see a really creative love story where the bride and groom will re-enact some aspect of the relationship. I really like these kind and we strive to do a lot like those.

Then I thought, "What if we created a created a love story video that was actually a full length movie with a promotional ad campaign." Obviously, making a full length movie was not practical. So we did the next best thing. We created a fake movie "preview" for their love story, complete with a movie trailer website. We then created a faux entertainment news program where the bride and groom are interviewed to talk about their new "movie." The faux news program and movie serve as the context through which we tell their love story. The movie trailer website also served as a "Save the date" announcement the bride and groom e-mailed to their friends and family.

The movie poster is part of the couple's movie trailer website. If they look familiar, it's because they're the couple from our "Crouching Groom, Hidden Bride" same date edit. Whereas their same day edit was more dramatic and sentimental, this is, well, not. Enjoy!

To see more work by Cinematic Studios, check out our "Theater" page.

technorati tags: love+stories, weddings, wedding+ideas, hollywood

View their teaser trailer: