standing at the end of the stairs | jessica + aaron

February 15, 2012 //
3

Chicago boasts some very impressive architecture. The iconic Wrigley Building, eccentric finds like the Emil Bach House by Frank Lloyd Wright, historic Kinzie Street bridge, and the Board of Trade building–a dramatic backdrop featured in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight–are just a few of the pieces that characterize “The City of Big Shoulders”.

The Rookery Building is no exception.


This is hands down one of my favorite buildings in the city. At only twelve stories tall, it’s not the most impressive building, size-wise. What stands out, however, is its geometry, texture, and sheer attention to detail. It’s stunning.

Jessica and Aaron’s wedding would be the first we ever filmed in The Rookery. We almost didn’t get to use our stabilization [monopods, tripods] until we could prove and plead our case to the building’s guards that our rubber-tipped gear would not harm the historic ceramic tile. Interestingly enough, they don’t seem to put stiletto heels through the same scrutiny ;)


Speaking of firsts, this is the first edit where we used the Father of the Bride’s speech as a major piece for our narrative. We didn’t realize it at the time, but as he addressed the guests, and then turned his attention to his daughter and son-in-law, we were capturing the defining moment where a father realizes that his little girl is all grown up. It was simply too good not to include in their story.

We know you’ll enjoy this one. Chicago, its architecture, and especially The Rookery have their history, but it’s merely the backdrop for the people at the end of those historic stairs.

Cheers,

Chris

location | Chicago, IL
ceremony.reception | The Rookery Building
photography | Kenny Kim
event planning | Clementine Custom Events
flowers | Scarlet Petal
design | Art of Imagination

coconuts. big dogs. good times. | kenny kim

February 3, 2012 //
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Hello again, friends. Thanks for stopping on by :] Let’s take a trip, shall we?

While out in Aruba filming Marco and Ary’s wedding, we had the opportunity to create a promotional piece for destination wedding photographer, Kenny Kim.


The idea was to create a promotional video which he would show at his seminar at ImagingUSA. The video would be a mix of interview footage/Kenny interacting with his clients. To accomplish this, we hopped in a cab and tagged along on a post-wedding photo shoot with Kenny around Aruba.


Aside from producing stellar photos and the fact that he manages to make friends with everyone he meets, working with Kenny is a guaranteed adventure. Check out this film, and you’ll see what we mean :]

Cheers,

Chris

[shooting notes] because of the nature of Kenny’s infamous run-and-gun style, we primarily shot this piece on the canon 24-70 f/2.8. the man is fast and good at what he does. we needed to be able to adjust on the go, and that lens seemed to do the job well :]

today he is. today she is. | jalpa + khilan

January 31, 2012 //
2

Hello, friends. Sure is good to see you again :]

We’ve kept ourselves pretty busy these days. Over the course of the next few weeks, we hope to share with you all the stories we’ve heard, the people we’ve met, and the places we’ve been.

For starters, let’s say hello to Jalpa + Khilan.


We have to give some major kudos to Jalpa for coming prepared when she sat down to meet us. Of course we spent time getting to know her, and getting to know Khilan through her [the two had a long distance relationship as he was working out on the east coast at the time]. Jalpa took the getting-to-know-us phase to a new level by schooling us on Southeast Indian wedding culture. We still have that multi-page printout, Jalpa!

Prior to this meeting, what we knew about Indian weddings was that most spanned several days, some involved live animals, and all were very festive. After meeting Jalpa…well… Mendhi, Vidhi, Pithi, Garba, Raas, Jaan, Vidai–oh, she taught us well.



It was our first three-day Indian affair and it did not disappoint. Beautiful colors, festive ceremonies, live music, and a horse. We couldn’t think of a better film to start things off than this one.

Cheers,

Chris

location | Schaumburg + Itasca, IL
reception venue | Westin Chicago Northwest
photography | Joseph Kang

stay tuned | chris & oliver

January 28, 2012 //
0

this is a story | m + j’s concept portrait film

October 4, 2011 //
4

You’re going to have to trust us on this one: when we created this Portrait Film, we had no idea that a similar film existed which also implemented split screens.

It’s a great film that has been making its rounds, and by now, you’ve probably seen it. By the time it reached us, we were scratching our heads at the similarities. Ultimately, the narratives of both of our films are different, but it is pretty neat to see where some of our thinking and composition overlaps–we should make a Venn Diagram just for kicks.

If you don’t believe us, you can ask our wives. For extra measure, you can even ask our moms–they’ll all vouch for us :]

this is a story | the concept

M + J approached us to create a concept film that would play at their reception, just before they were introduced to their guests. Turns out they approached us not only because they appreciated our film aesthetic, but they liked the realism we brought to our films as well. They came to the table ready with a few ideas that they wanted to incorporate:

  • she’s from Chicago, he’s from North Carolina
  • they met at work, after he transferred from NC
  • the theme of two different people coming together was important to them
  • they wanted show the transition from dating to getting married
  • placing garlands on each other is an important symbol in their culture
  • they liked the idea of using split screens, inspired by the “Plenty of Fish” commercials
  • if possible, they didn’t want to do any voice over work

At first glance, it seems like a constricting list, but actually, it really helped us focus the story-telling in the long run.

The approach we took on this Portrait Film was far different from others we’ve done in the past. First off, we story-boarded a great deal for this shoot with 90-95% of the shots in coming directly from the framing in our pervisualized drawings. A handful of our shots were inspired by other films we had seen in the past, both mainstream, and independent. See credits below*

Another thing that was different was that we had M + J do a lot of acting/reenacting. Typically, we shy away from that sort of thing and like to capture events as they naturally happen. Since we had to show how they met and how their relationship developed, the two had to do a little bit of acting–the good thing was that there was no audio needed ;]

this is a story | shooting specs
Aside from planning out our framing and composition, we had to execute shooting in split screens. We used painters tape to section off our LCD’s to prevent ourselves from guessing about what we would see in our frame. To make it a bit more challenging (and fun) for ourselves, we decided to go with the 2:35:1 hyper letter box format over the standard 16:9 format.

We went with a warm/cool color grade for the opening sequence to delineate between his/her individual scenes. When the two share the frame, everything is generally warm.

We also added a hint of expired film to the color grade for that little extra something. We did three time-lapse sequences in the city to show the passage of time between the dating and engagement sequences. To shoot this, Oliver and I took turns baby sitting the camera during the lapsing while the other took a break at the Corner Bakery across the street.

Mmm… apricot scones.

this is a story | previz + screen comparisons
this is a story | the film
Excited? We are too. Enjoy :]

Cheers,

Chris

commercial |  plenty of fish | your other half is waiting
film |  (500) Days of Summer
independent |  first place portrait film via evo australia three | dance sequence
special thanks | Kenny Nakai for letting us use his studio space for the shoot

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