Happy Summer!

The last few weeks have been very exciting and busy times. We have filmed eight weddings and all of the CSULB graduations since the last post. We have created about 80 hours of tapes. I thought I would share a blog posting from one of the couple’s whose wedding we captured during the time. Michele and Philip had a very hard time finding a videographer. They met people in their dirty homes, others who they had appointments with never showed up and left them waiting at Starbucks. I can promise you that you will never have that experience if you come visit us for a consultation. People have said that our meetings are more like friends talking and watching TV in a living room than an office consultation.

One of the coolest weddings we did during the break was Evan and Elena’s. It was at Shutters on the Beach in Santa Monica. The ceremony was outside on the sand, and as soon as Elena walked down the sandy aisle, everyone on the bike trail stopped to watch. Evan is an amazing guy and is very connected to the natural world. As I stood with him on the beach waiting for Elena to have her picture taken, a bee landed on a bouquet he was holding and he began to pet it! At the same time, someone in his bridal party found a sea shell that was small and red which looked identical and was the same size as the design on his red tie!

The next day we were very lucky to work on Jennifer and Wayland’s wedding. This was a Chinese/American wedding where Kelsey and I split up at 7:00 to film each of them getting dressed. Then we met back at Jennifer’s house for the traditional entry game where Wayland has to prove his worthiness to Jennifer’s bridal party. Then we went to Wayland’s house for a Chinese Tea Ceremony. Then they had a party downstairs with a real roasted pig. After that everyone went to Pickwick Gardens for formal pictures and the tradiational American ceremony. Then they took more pictures as we went to Ritz Gardens for a huge Chinese feast and celebration with dancing dogs, a 10 course meal, nonstop activities and dancing. All day there were firecrackers going off, flying in the air, flying towards my camera, flying at the neighbors. It was cool.

I’ll talk about more next time as we prepare for Corrine and Kenny’s wedding this weekend. The ceremony will be in one of her relative's backyard. When people invite friends and family to a private home it makes for very personal and emotional experiences and I am looking forward to it. It is all happening around our old office location in Long Beach and Lakewood.

We were on a Mission

This Saturday wedding season was in the air! As we drove to the ceremony of Michelle and Farid at the 

San Fernando Mission

, we saw gas stations upon gas stations filled with limos fueling up for the busy day ahead of them. This was the first time that we filmed a wedding inside a Mission. The inside of was extremely ornate with stunning gold trim and historic paintings. Kelsey and I have toured most of the missions along the El Camino Real in California, but Kelsey has had especially close contact with them while she worked with Huell Howser to film his mission series.

Farid and Michelle were very lucky to have the grounds all to themselves and their family and friends. Just across the way in the free park at the mission, about 10 different groups of weddings and quinceaneras were lining up for poses in the roses. When the ceremony ended and it was time to take pictures, however, we had it all to ourselves and the photographers, who did a great job and had a wonderful time with us taking cool poses. After a rest for everyone, the party moved on to the Odyssey Restaurant in Granda Hills where you could see the mission from above. What a great time!

Andrea and Mark // Calamigos Equestrian Center, Burbank // Wedding Highlight

Andrea and Mark! We love them so much, and we love their locations! We started at the Graciela Hotel (now the Hotel Amarano) in Burbank, then headed off for the ceremony at Emmaus Lutheran Church. We ended up at the Calamigos Equestrian Center in Burbank  – watch and be inspired!

A Powerful Love Story

On May 5th we were honored to not only film, but participate in Tricia and Randy’s wedding. CL Films has known Tricia for sometime now, filming various events for her throughout the years. Not only had Tricia asked us to film her wedding, but she also acquisitioned us to create her and Randy’s Love Story. CL Films set out to do what it does best and the results produced not a dry eye in the room- but that of course is the result when a couple are in love. See for yourself in the following clip…..

Indian Wedding Ceremony

April 21, 2007 The Wedding of the Century

Hi everyone! Charles Lauren Films just got back from a great weekend of filming the wedding of Melissa and Alex on April 21st. They had an amazing location- Coyote Hills Golf Course, with many greens and waterfalls with bridges- very opportune wedding moments. The Coyote Hills Golf Course has a great outdoor venue for shooting weddings, which is evident in many of the shots you will see in the teaser. The reception followed and the entire event was a blast-

Melissa and Alex may be in Hawaii on their honeymoon, but when they get back they will be excited to see a bit of their magical day here, on our website. I know from personal experience, having just got married- if I would have been able to see my footage 2 days after my wedding, I would’ve been in tears- so I told David, we need to serve every bride this way, having a teaser, like a trailer for a movie uploaded to our website on Monday morning the 2nd day after the wedding. Everyone knows that we spend a lot of time making wedding videos that people will cherish for years to come- but just being able to see a few beautiful clips of what was said and how you looked a few days after is priceless, not only for the couple- but the families as well- forget the photographer’s proofs! (well, just kidding), but all kidding aside, Charles Lauren Films is taking it to the next level and you can expect this kind of dedication if you decide to book your wedding videography with us. Click bellow to see the teaser clip of their wedding–

Sing Her a Song

Hi, this is David “Charles.” For all of the grooms-to-be out there, I have an idea for you that will sweep your wife off of her feet and win yourself a place in the hearts of your guests for years to come. After you are finished giving a thank you speech, try getting up, grabbing the DJ’s microphone and serenading your wife with a beautiful song. It doesn’t have to be the kind of song you would sing on a gondola. It would be better if it wasn’t Con Te Partiro. Try something alternative and modern, like Nealesh sang to Jyoti at their wedding in January. This wedding was also shot in High Definition.

Masters of Reflection

“m a s t e r s of r e f l e c t i o n”

Today I was listening to the National Public Radio (NPR) station in Los Angeles, and they had begun a discussion on the “Ask a Ninja” podcast. Very funny show if you ever happen to catch it on- anyway regardless to say- I’d never heard of it, so I went to “i Tunes” and started watching it. The segment I saw was on Ninja’s and their reflections in the mirror. Of course this is a funny show- so he commented on how Ninjas are “masters of reflection” and then went onto many more funny comedies on everyday things. I laughed at how he said that Ninjas were masters of reflection, but then I started thinking and knew it was time to write another blog.

Just as a Ninja is a master of reflection so too are the videographer and the photographer at every wedding. Everything anyone ever sees after the wedding will be directly related to the reflections the photographer and videographer presented in their album books or the finished DVD. So when it comes to choosing a videographer and a photographer a bride needs to make sure that her reflections match that of the videographer and photographer. If their ideas don’t click together and they can’t relate to anything the videographer/photographer are saying or presenting than the brides day won’t be properly captured as a reflection of what she and her groom/family/etc. wanted. Fortunately, most brides have this inner gut feeling on exactly what they want- so sometimes it’s not that complicated. Other times however, since video is a very new medium to this industry- as oppose to say photography- a bride might not be sure exactly what she wants and how to capture that. When a bride and groom come into our studio they sometimes are not sure what to expect, but then we go through the process and show them how we capture the love, emotions and details of their day and then they are “sold” that this is the right reflection they want to remember of their wedding day.

As recently a bride myself, since we couldn’t videotape our own ceremony/reception of course- we went looking for other videographers. I won’t go into it in this blog, but many of the videographers we interviewed did not even remotely compare to the reflections I wanted to remember of my wedding day. I don’t want to put our industry down, but I would say a good 70% of them did not even compare. I couldn’t believe it, a trained videographer (me) searching for another trained videographer, and it was complicated. I can only imagine then what a bride must go through. That is why videographers need to step it up a notch, become real, be professional- when a bride sees you in jeans and a t-shirt and says my studio is being remodeled let’s go to a coffee shop and they can’t get their portable DVD player to work- there is a real problem. And it reflects badly on all of us. Let us not be an incoherent mumble jumble distorted reflection of our industry- but let us all rise up and be masters of our own reflections.

Temporal Distortion

“ t e m p o r a l

d i s t o r t i o n”

One might ask….What gives video its true emotional impact? CLF would answer- Temporal distortion. Although videos emotional impact is not limited to this reason alone, but temporal distortion does play a significant role in the way we view the images we see on the screen. Now what do we mean by this- again this goes back to the theory of wedding/ event videographers as memory keepers that have access to time travel.In our wedding videos we often show the ceremony taking place and then overlay an audio sound file of the best man giving a toast- thus reconfiguring the way the event was presented in real time, lending to a temporal distortion- moving through the dimensions of time however we see fit, to present the event in the best light possible. Go to www.temporaldistortion.tv to learn more on how temporal distortion is the key to filming biographies .

Marriage

“m a r r i a g e”

Until 3 weeks ago, I had had no personal knowledge of what it takes to be a bride, other than behind the lens. Sure you know how to capture the first dance, getting great push in shots with the steady cam for the emotional first dance that leads the couple into the “forever and a day, say I do club”- I could always convey the emotion that the bride and groom were going through- but to actually feel it, is a whole other story. An awakening of a now tangible memory that will be held to my heart for years to come, as a keepsake and testament to the love we vowed to honor and uphold just hours before… and the great thing about that is, it was all recorded.

As the years fade the image could lessen in purity and my memory could falter- but whatever happens, no matter what, the image will stay pure, the memory will forever be kept, because I did what every bride must do, have it captured on video. Of course I did, I am a wedding videographer- but it only stressed to myself how important our job actually is. Wedding videographers are the memory keepers, that have access to time travel- to take anyone, anywhere they want to go in time. For anyone who says the time machine hasn’t been built yet, I laugh at them. CLF has been building it for 5 years- and we keep adding to the archives, event after event.