We had a great time shooting our b-roll footage with Brianna and Seth this past Saturday. Although this crazy Nashville summer weather hit about 120 deg with the heat index, this adorable couple were so fun to hang out with. We have to say, they are as pleasant as they come. Really easy to direct and just fun to watch them interact with each other.
We started off with an interview sesh in a really vibey, 1920′s house in old Nashville. Gotta say, they were super open and revealing about so many things and emotions really came out in their answers to our questions. Ben and I stayed strong, but our two assistants were bawling their eyes out (just kidding). After lunch we revisited the wedding location, Scarritt Bennett Conference Center for a quick shot under THE TREE that we sneak peeked earlier… we are hoping that our experiment will work in editing (show you later if it does).
After that, we zipped out to beautiful Radnor Lake just south of town. Seth and Brianna love to be outdoors, and we took some still footage along with our motion footage. A combination of winding trails + lush forest + slider + bokeh = lurvly footage.
Lastly, we decided to hit the Wilson County Fair—these lovelies shared their first ever date at the fairgrounds a few years ago. However, about 2 minutes after we splurged for “all-you-can-ride” tickets, the heavens poured out a bevy of liquid. It poured as we huddled underneath the small lip of the popcorn stand. Rolling TENBA camera case (shoutout!) actually kept our gear all dry—but, I was soaked to the bone. After waiting 30min under the stand with a pocket full of ride tickets (non-refundable/good only one day) we decided to leave. Of course, as soon as we got to the parking lot it stopped raining. Figures! Anyways, we decided to cut our losses and come back another day. As the muddy parking swamp was stuck with a thousand cars leaving, the FERIA team had an impromptu soggy recap / brainstorm session as we waited for an exit. We weren’t altogether bummed because from the few minutes we had on the carousel with our Canon 5dMkII / L primes (shoutout numero dos!) we knew we’d get our chance again.
SO… two days later we returned with fresh spirits, ready to tackle the carnies and whatever else the fair would throw our way. We had a blast. It was a quieter night—ride lines were short and carnival employees (our small-handed friends) were enthusiastic that we were getting them on camera and let us do anything we wanted (blog post soon to come: How to get ANYONE to let you shoot anywhere).
So, why are we thanking God for the rainout on Saturday??? Well, we decided to wrap up after a great few hours of capturing the fair and started heading out to the park entrance. And timely…ly, the fireworks started. Hey-o! This went PERFECT with a story element that Brianna shared with us in our interview session. A loving couple exchanging embraces under the backdrop of the ferris wheel and fireworks finale…….. can’t you just imagine it already? We promise to share.
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Here’s a quick little BHS with Brianna and Seth:
A totally fun-loving couple who we had a great time hanging with. We ran around those fairgrounds like crazy that evening but being with this couple makes all the hard work fun. We had a blast!
When Bobby told me how disappointed he was that the annual 48hr Film Festival was moving to a different weekend this year, landing on the same days as our latest wedding, I was really bummed for him because I know that’s something he really enjoys doing every year. And his team, Fighting with Forks, is pretty good at what they do, having notched the BEST FILM for 2009 with their Now You’re Being Ridiculous
Well, this year Seth & Brianna’s Nashville wedding was held at Scarritt Bennett Center downtown on the first day of the event, and Bobby had to take a limited role. Well, he TOLD me was going to take a limited role with the team.
Little did I know, he ended up shooting Seth & Brianna’s gorgeous event which ended at 10:30[pm], then immediately running over to join the FWF team and taking over the reins as editor. Having only 48 hrs to conceptualize, shoot, edit and deliver the film on DVD, Bobby worked through the night and morning putting the film together into what you see here (totaling 40 hours straight without sleep!)
For their effort, The Department of Thoughts and Intentions was just honored as runner up BEST FILM, but took top billing for Directing, Cinematography, Graphics and Bobby’s portion—EDITING!
A gigantic part of what makes the modern cinematic wedding work that Feria Cinematic Imagery puts out is the amazing editing work that Bobby does after all the shooting is completed. So, I’m really blessed to work with him on the FERIA team.
King’s to you, Marko.
P.S. First person to know that last movie reference and comments on it wins….um, something.
Of all the questions via email or twitter (FOLLOW US @feriacinematic) regarding our wedding cinematography work, this is by far the most frequent we receive:
What gear do you use???
Over time, through working on a range of projects, we have figured out an effective assortment of tools for us to capture what we need to make the movies that we want to make.
We will make a series of comprehensive posts in the near future about all the gear we use, with shoutouts to all of the manufacturers (Canon, RedRockMicro, Manfrotto, LowePro, etc.), but for now, here is a list of everything we used for our last wedding for Brianna and Seth:
Camera bodies:
(4) Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR
Canon EOS 7D Digital SLR
Lenses:
Canon EF 24mm f/1.4 L II
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4 L
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2 L
Canon EF 85mm f/1.2 L II
Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Canon EF 135mm f/2.0 L
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L
Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II
Support:
Redrock Micro rails support with follow focus
Glidecam Steadicam
(2) Custom made sliders
Video Heads:
(2) Manfrotto 504HD
(2) Manfrotto 503
Accessories:
Lexar Professional 233-300x 16gb and 32gb CF cards
Pelican and LowePro Cases
Pelican Compact Flash Card Memory Cases
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Over the past year we’ve gone back and forth and tried different arrangements of support systems and lenses and other video gear. In upcoming posts we’ll show you some of the new techniques we’ve developed, some extra gear we decided to strip away to move faster (more gear doesn’t always equal better), and the upgrades we’ve made and whether that has helped or hurt us. And of course, the gadgets us dslr tech geeks couldn’t resist trying!
More videos to come!
And please, comment away on your fave gear or latest upgrades that you love! We learn a ton about effective products from our great network of video professionals.
We had the privilege of shooting Brianna & Seth Hawkins’ wedding this past weekend at the beautiful Scarritt Bennett Center in Nashville—and by special request we captured static images as well as our signature cinematic motion footage. Although the weather was very warm & humid, the bride and groom were wonderful to work with. We were able to try and capture some new portions of the wedding day, including a secret blind meeting before the wedding ceremony with Seth & Brianna (seen above). Some nimble choreography work and lots of shuffling came into play, but, we can’t wait to show you how it turned out.
We took some behind the scenes footage as well, so, we hope to show you a glimpse behind the wild process it takes to capture cinematography, Feria Style! Stay tuned for some posts on the gear we used, the stills work (a special request from our bride) from our great partners in crime, Amelia Moore, and her assistant, Ian. And of course the videos!
I was asked again to be a second shooter for my friend, Nicole, with Elocin Eye Photography. She’s very fun to work with and has been a good friend for a long time. I don’t normally shoot wedding photos, but, she’s so fun to work with and always has fun clients, so, I agreed to make the drive to Landrum, SC to shoot Noelle and Stu’s cozy, small celebration. Here are a few of the images that I shot.
The wedding was in a stunning location, The Glassy Chapel—atop the South Carolina Blue Ridge mountains. Aside from a couple storms that blew thru, it was a gorgeous day for a summer mountain wedding.
The huge (and I mean HUGE) wedding party were all very fun, and I got them to do some fun stuff during our informal photo session.
The stunning bride and groom just seemed so into each other, and I really enjoyed taking different places on the mountain for their couple shots. We ended up at the country club 17th green, where I shot one of my favorite wedding images, ever.
Fun, fun, fun. And my gear worked great: Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L, 50/1.2, 85/1.2, 135 f/2.0L, 70-200/2.8 IS on two 5d2 bodies.
If there are any photographers that would like to use me as a second shooter, I’d definitely be interested in trying it again. That is, of course, if FERIA isn’t already doing some amazing wedding cinematography for a travel destination wedding!
Kara and Jake are one of those couples who you just want to be around all the time. They are a young couple that live in Jackson, MS, and you wouldn’t know it by looking at them, but, they can turn around any situation and give it humor.
We absolutely loved telling their story! Even though they live in Jackson, they made the trek to Nashville for their pre-wedding shoot. We had one day to get everything in, so even though it was a long and busy shoot day, we really enjoyed working with each other.
This highlight feature just gives a hint of who they are—super cute, really hilarious but also loving and compassionate people. We threw in a few sneak peeks at their wedding and reception as well from our great time in Jackson, MS. We can’t wait to show you more of what we captured.
Exciting news today! Feria, along with photography by Krystal Mann was featured on Style Me Pretty, on the cover page today. We are so thrilled and thankful for such a wonderful opportunity! More thanks go out to Cedarwood Mansion for their wonderful location. We’re hoping this will lead to more work together.
It’s strange yet fitting when when coincidences occur. Just this morning I heard a prayer request for a brother who lost a dear friend in the recent bombing in Uganda. Just hours later I get a see a tweet from another friend of mine who posted a video about that person who was killed. So I was inclined to watch it. And I was speechless! Even if you didn’t catch the news on this horrible event, this video will still bring tears. I thought I’d share.
This is so late getting up but we helped shoot this during an extremely busy part of the year so we just had no chance to get a copy to post it. However, better late than never!
Jeremy Cowart came to me last year asking if I’d help shoot capture some video for the Help Portrait events taking part later that year. I was more than excited to help out.
The shoot was directed and edited by Barry Simmons. Normally I would have edited this except I was leaving for Guatemala just a few days later. I asked Ben to come out and get some pickup shots as well. We shot everything on the 5D MkII using Canon 24-70L and 70-200L lenses. All supported by RedRockMicro gear.
Jeremy had invited all the photogs he knew in the Nashville area to come set up shop at the Nashville Rescue Mission both as a test to see how well the HP system would work and also to provide those at the mission with some amazing photos. This video is what happened during that day…
When photographers Charles and Meg called us up to ask us to capture Kara and Jake’s story, we were thrilled to oblige. We were even more excited when we got the chance to meet the couple during their pre-wedding shoot. Kara and Jake’s fun, easy going and lovable spirit made capturing their story that much enjoyable.
So when it came time to make the trek to Jackson, Mississippi to film the ceremony and reception we found another chance to capture that same spirit on their special day. It was very warm in Jackson but come wedding day, the humidity backed off a bit and a nice breeze settled over the area. We had a great time with couple!
Here are some screen shots from that day!
We just want to thank Meg and Charles Baisden of Meg Baisden Photography, super cool people and excellent photographers. It was great hanging with them!
