A blog to show the story and behind the scene of previous wedding and event video assignments.
A human-centric corporate film project (part I)
Brief
In March 2019, I was working on a project for We-ef ANZ for their 25th anniversary. I was in partnership with Sydney-based photographer Jackie Chan. The brief was simple - we were asked to create a series of short films to celebrate this milestone and great achievement. This was part of their 25th anniversary marketing campaign and the clips were widely used on their social media platform and AILA International Festival of Landscape Architecture 2019. We have filmed 9 videos in total and each film heroes a key staff from the company.
Challenge
The biggest challenge was the tight time frame and the geographic barriers. We-ef ANZ is based in Melbourne so Jackie and I needed to travel there with our filming gears (i.e. cameras, lighting, audio recorders, etc) for filming. (Thank you we didn’t have a pandemic back then!) We only had 3 days to complete literally everything, from reece to meet-and-greet to produce to film. Apart from these, the execution of the concept is particularly challenging. We have 9 x individual storyboards for each staff, we need to make sure each one is unique and special but also maintaining the theme consistently and and cohesively throughout all the videos.
Approach
We-ef is such a great client. We established a very collaborative relationship from the outset and trust was built soon after the project was started. When trust and collaboration go hand in hand, you know a great project is going to be born. From concept development to storyboarding to filming, timing was super tight but yet a smooth-sailing process. We took a very human centric approach to this project. When we filmed the staff, as much as we want to spend more time and get to know everyone better, we only had a ridiculously short limited time (Again, 3 days for 9x staff including travelling time!) for each person. There were sleepless nights at the airbnb places banging our heads against our wall to come up with the storyboards, framing, scheduling etc etc. It really was challenging but I dare say this is also the most enjoyable project that I’ve worked at for a very long time.
Results
Each film brings out the emotions and true story of every staff, which honestly it’s quite rare and unexpected to be seen in a corporate film. And guys, that’s the true power of strong storytelling.
Wedding Videography in Hunter Valley
During the past years, I filmed numbers of weddings in Hunter Valley.
Travelling to Hunter Valley from Sydney is about two and a half hours. For long hours weddings, I would stay there a night before so I did not need to rush and avoid busy traffic in the morning. For late weddings, I would stay in the area overnight and return to Sydney the next day.
Why I love doing weddings in Hunter? Beautiful, it’s absolutely beautiful!! As a videographer (I believe photographers agree with me too), it’s such a stunning location to get stunning footage and photos. There are farms, vineyards, botanic gardens, charm venues etc. Because of these, every time I go to Hunter, I always have my drone ready, I reckon nothing is better than a drone to get some beautiful landscape footage.
Here are some wedding videos filmed at Hunter Valley, enjoy.
Same Sex Weddings | The Epping Club Weddings | Indian Wedding Videographer
Love is love.
Over the years I filmed few gay and lesbian weddings in Sydney, however this was one of the most unforgettable one.
I still remember when I first met N and P at their house, I had a lovely chat about their wedding plan, learnt their story, discussed some details about their traditional rituals, talked about what was happening at the place where I born, Hong Kong. I love listening my clients’ stories, but also love to share mine.
It was a two days weddings. The first day involved traditional ceremonies, and the second involved civil ceremony and formal reception at Epping Club.
I was so pleased to witness and capture their wedding under the new same sex marriage has been legal.
Love is love.
Wedding live | ST Bernadette's Catholic Church Lalor Park
Hello Hello Hello!
Last weekend our crew did another live stream wedding event at ST Bernadette's Catholic Church Lalor Park for the lovely Joseph and Veronica.
The couple’s family and friends are based in Philippine so we had a big crowd this time. It was a total of 20 overseas and local guests joining us on Zoom. We have opted for Zoom instead of Youtube this time as Zoom allows interaction among all guests, physical and virtual. This is actually a special request by the groom, he specifically requested to see every viewer especially his parents during the stream. Therefore, we have projected the Zoom on a big screen as we think it would encourage the interaction more by doing this way.
As simple as it sounds, but a livestream event is not as easy as just connecting the camera to a computer with Zoom on. The effort we put in to keep the operation smooth is no less than running a live TV show production. Joseph, the groom also requested to broadcast his prewedding video at the beginning of the ceremony, which created some technical complications for us. There was a lot happening on the stage (MC talking, the prewedding video on screen and then the livestream zoom with everyone) already but it was even more happening behind the screen. Our key panel-controller has world-class switching skills and perfect time management in interchanging screens.
Due to the complex set-up for this wedding, our crew started prepping a week prior to the event including recce to the church to check internet speed and connection to the projector, on-site power points locations, camera set up spots (3x), both hardware and software compatibility etc etc. Without doing these check-ups properly, we wouldn’t have run such a smooth and seamless live wedding.
Centennial Park Paperbark Grove Weddings | Live stream Wedding Ceremony
Over the weekend we had a lovely live stream wedding event at Centennial Park. Our team has conducted a visit a week beforehand to ensure we have all the tools we need for the day. Unlike most venues, there’s no power supply at the park therefore we needed to hire a portable battery to ensure we have enough power supply for the day. The power supply is one the most single important for us. We need it basically for literally everything - camera, computers, audio and video mixer etc etc. When we first found out there’s no power supply from the park it posted a great challenge to us. Luckily the portable battery we hired performed well.
As far as preparation work goes, we also need to confirm the internet speed at the park. Our crew went there to test 4G speed as well. Based on the test result, it suggested we could stream YouTube at a higher bitrate. The good thing about using YouTube is that it has the better image quality and easier to operate, most importantly playback is available straight away after the stream ends.
During the day, we have two cameras set up. We have one staff to control and manage the panels and everything else and another staff to manage cameras, monitor audio, switch angles. The event was successfully live-streamed to the UK, where the couples’ grandparents are located. We are not just the team doing a livestream for you, we help uniting you and your family.