Besides photography, wedding cinema is one of the best ways to relive your day over and over. You get to revisit the sites, sounds and movement of your day. We got to work with Colleen and Anthony from Be Films last year on Katie and Dan’s wedding and it was an absolute pleasure! We reached out to Colleen to see if they had any words of wisdom for brides and photographers. Her answers are below. Enjoy!
1. What is the philosophy behind your approach to wedding cinema?
Our philosophy is quite simple: capture & celebrate intimate, unscripted moments, while remaining as unobtrusive as possible. We are storytellers, striving to create artistic, timeless and compelling wedding films that resonate with our couples and our audiences for years to come. We love nothing more than for wedding guests to comment that they had “no idea” our couples were being filmed, and that they cried after watching our films.
2. What is one thing you’d want couples to know about your work?
Wedding cinema is an investment in a piece of art that outlasts your wedding day. Other than the photographs, it is the one thing that captures and communicates all of the hard work you put into planning your wedding. It is perhaps the single best medium for communicating your overall vision, from the minute details to the grand gestures.
We also want couples to know that we truly started our studio because our number one wedding regret remains that we didn’t hire a wedding cinematographer! There is no match for beautiful visuals paired with crisp and emotional audio – something we wish we had, especially now that some of our loved ones are gone.
3. Are there any crazy or unique places you’ve gotten to film?
The most “crazy” experience we’ve had involved a plane crash – we were traveling from Philadelphia to Miami for a destination wedding, and our plane crashed on takeoff. Thankfully, we were not seriously injured, and we still managed to make it to the rehearsal on time, with most of our gear in tact!
Some of the more “unique” places we’ve filmed include a small island village off the coast of Croatia; Machu Picchu and the Amazon in Peru, a turtle refuge in Isla Mujeres, Mexico; and an abandoned prison here in Philly.
4. What is one thing you would tell photographers about working together with videographers on the wedding day?
We’re not all that bad! Haha. In all seriousness, we love to collaborate, and we thrive on candid moments, as opposed to posed or directed set ups. We are not there to ruin your shot (or call the shots).
Something to keep in mind is that for cinematographers, audio and motion are the most important elements. This means that once we set up a steady shot of a formal event like the vows or toasts, it’s harder for us to move than it is for photographers (even when we have multiple cameras operating). We also shoot in 3 or 4 shot sequences, which lend themselves to storytelling. So, we appreciate when photographers recognize that we need to get medium, wide and tight shots throughout the day (otherwise the film will look like someone just hired their uncle to stand in the background with a shoulder-mounted camcorder).
Finally, communication in advance of the wedding goes a long way to ease fears and guarantee that we are on the same page, so we invite you to touch base with us before the big day!
5. What was your experience working with AGP?
We could not have had a better experience! In all seriousness, we collaborated throughout the entire day – Ashley was so thoughtful and constantly asked if we “got what we needed” or if we had other ideas for the photo/cinema session. At the reception, we even shared chargers and batteries! We had emailed Ashley in advance of the wedding (as is our standard practice before each Be Films wedding) and we knew right from that first email exchange that we would enjoy spending the day together.
It really helps so much to know going into the wedding day that you will be working with a team player(s), and that your goal is one and the same: to deliver a quality experience for your couples, and achieve beautiful images & video throughout the day. We hope that there are many more shared weddings with AGP in the future!
6. What are you most looking forward to for the 2016 wedding season?
We are most excited about the couples we are working with in 2016, and the promise of working with some of our favorite photography studios again. As our season starts in April, we look forward to another year of love-storytelling with great people!
You can see Be Films Wedding Cinema’s short video from Katie and Dan’s wedding below!
