Surprise from Kismet Cinema!

If you were one of the couples filmed by Kismet Cinema this year you might recognize the groom in this video! Ron Hipol is one of the cinematographers was married this Thursday, May 29th 2008. Oliver Ramirez, his bestman (another one of our talented cinematographers) decided to take one of our video cameras to document the prep and ceremony.

I knew the reception was going to be Saturday at Ron's home and we were going to be there, so I had an idea. I called up Oliver on my way to work that Thursday morning and told him that I wanted to work on a surprise highlight video and to contact the friends of the Jessica and Ron to meet at my house that evening and to bring old photos and the footage that Oliver got from the wedding that day. When everyone arrived we were able to shoot some interviews in my garage with a black background and one of the chairs from my kitchen! We wrapped up all of the interviews and gathering of photos by 11pm!

As soon as I got home on Friday I began editing. This was a huge challenge for me since I've been spoiled by usually having 3 camera angles to work with when editing. This time I only have shots from one camera to edit into a roughly 4 minute song! I finished by Saturday morning! When Saturday evening finally came, I was really excited to surprise Ron and Jessica at their reception! Another reason for my anticipation was that my wife usually does the booking and scheduling for the weddings and is not able to see the SDE's in person. This time I was able to see the reaction from her and the bride and groom when watching the video.

Congratulations Jessica and Ron!

Click on the link below to see Jessica and Ron's surprise highlight video!

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Click on the link below to see the interview portion of the video. This part is usually shown before the highlight or same day edit. The music in this segment was personalized and chosen by the person interviewed.

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Lori & Alex's Movie Trailer

I can't wait! The DVD for Lori and Alex is almost complete! Here is a movie trailer I put together.

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Family Time!

After filming two weddings back to back on Friday and Saturday, being away from my family for two days in a row felt like two weeks! The rest of the Memorial Day weekend was enjoyed with the family! Stay tuned for highlights from Tamina and Mark's wedding we filmed on Saturday!

Natalie & Ken's SDE

We had the pleasure of filming Natalie and Ken's wedding last Friday at the Westlake Village Inn in Westlake Village, CA. You might remember their bridal shower in the previous post.

The Tuscan Garden, was the beautiful location they chose for their outdoor ceremony; Unfortunately that morning began with a slight drizzle and nothing but clouds in the sky. The weather forecast predicted rain for the rest of the day into the evening! We did not give up hope and remained optimistic in hopes that the weather conditions would improve.

When all hope was lost and a new indoor ceremony site was chosen, the sun came out! The wedding ceremony was held in the Tuscan Garden as planned with not a drop of rain! The ceremony and reception was perfect and we were glad to be a part of it!

Check out the Same Day Edit!

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My Field Trip!

For as long as I can remember I've always got a kick out of watching the behind the scenes features of the DVD right after watching a movie to see how the magic was all done! Today I got to see it in person! I took a trip to Authentic Entertainment Inc. to visit my friend Grayce Lackland.


Grayce Lackland, from my home town of Illinois, is the supervising editor for the show "Ace of Cakes". She was kind enough to take time out of her busy day to show me around her office and give me some helpful pointers with editing! I was amazed to see how much work is put into an episode of Ace of Cakes.

The picture above is a system dedicated only to color correction! I was blown away by all the visual effects this system could do!

Thanks again Grayce!

Lori & Alex's Wedding Highlights

Our last post was the "Same Day Edit" for Lori and Alex's Wedding . While working on the final edit to be released on DVD by the end of the month, my wife Cathie has been doing an outstanding job of scheduling wedding couples for the upcoming months into the new year! With two weddings coming up later this month, my brother-in-law Oliver Ramirez, has been working with me on editing to speed up the process.

The "Highlight Edit" is a segment of the final DVD that covers more footage than the "Same Day Edit" and is a fun way to show family and friends your wedding video rather than watching the whole DVD from beginning to end!

Oliver did a great job of putting this edit together!

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Lori & Alex's Same Day Edit

Last weekend we filmed Lori & Alex's Wedding at St. Francis Church and reception at the Links at River Lakes Ranch in Bakersfield, California. They were such a great couple to work with. Click on the link below to view the Same Day Edit!

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The picture above is a snapshot we got of the couple's reaction to the Same Day Edit.