A Fake Wedding

click on image for larger view of montage



I always wanted to make films and i am happily on my direction there(to be a fully estalished filmmaker able to tell any stories of my heart) Along my journey, I once worked as a wedding videographer for couples to earn my keep while persuing my still distant dream.From weddings, I honed my skills till i was an event videographer and from there I hopped over to corporate video and commercials. So it was quite an irony(coming full circle?) when i directed a commercial over the last weekend that required me to set up and shoot a wedding scene, the concept being the product is so good, you'll want to marry and fully commit to it!

When i first heard the concept over the phone, my first reaction to it was ??? then hahaha...but then i thought the corny idea actually posed a welcome challenge for me to test my skills, as in what can i do to make the idea workable and do what it is suppose to, sell the cosmetic product.

So there are two ways to go about it...one, go all out tacky like the gatsby commercial with the clapping hair which i simply adored...or go neo-realist as in try to make it as real aside from the slightly fantastical idea...I decided the later. I threw out a church wedding as one, the limited budget doesn't permit a large number of extras and if I wouldn't be able to fill the pews of an entire church and thus lacking the scope defeating the purpose of a church.I decided and sold the idea of a small wedding...a modern garden one beside a pool of japansese carps...that way the location lends to a beautiful imagery and also limits the number of extras I need to make the place look filled up. I used a jib and a track to make a descending and reversing camera to capture the best man's(who people will mistake as the groom) smile before slowly going back into a full shot with dropping petals, cheering friends and the bride standing staturely in the middle of the screen.

I had wonderful extras who applauded wonderfully and on cue. And God was kind to give me good slightly cloudy sky lighting that wasn't too harsh so I only had to add a little bit of light to compliment the look for the first shot.

The second shot was just as easy but huge sheets had to be stretched across the pond this time as we were dropping confetti from above and we didn't want any expensive japanse carp to devour and die from it requiring a cost in reimbursing a fish. It was quite hard to stretch the big piece of plastic over the pond with strings...my crews didn't want to jump right into a pond. I was so wanting to just jump into it and do it while enjoying the swim inside but as a director overlooking everything I can't...ah well....

So here are the screenshots of my latest work...(not the full commercial the opening and closing shot)leave a comment on what you think? the bottom pic is a shot of the entire production crew and talents.