 Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!!! Congrats Bianca & Matt!! http://ow.ly/i/3GtI (follow me) |
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Archive: December 2009 | View all recent posts |
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| ...with our new 16mm Scoopic FILM camera!! When I say new, I mean newly modified. It's a vintage camera that normally shoots in 4:3 (the aspect ratio of regular TV's before they all became widescreen & HD). We had it fully restored & adjusted and also modified to shoot in widescreen. During the telecine process we then had the footage digitized to full res HD to match the footage we shot w/the 5DmkII. I am so excited about how this turned out and am REALLY excited about filming more weddings in this medium next year. What I love most about shooting in film is that I don't have to do ANYTHING in post production with the footage! For all of you who know us, you know that we are always trying to get this film look in our videos. The 5DmkII and lots of complicated filtering has helped but nothing can substitute for the real thing :) If you are interested in adding film to your package, please contact us for details asap as we only have the ability to add it to only one event each day. Enjoy this little short from Aimee & Troy's wedding!!
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| And here we go! (finally!)
December 11 The best place. A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook? The best place I think I've been all year is Shoal Bay in Anguilla. The beach there is like nothing I've seen before (and I've been to a lot of beaches) but it felt so peaceful that I could have stayed there forever. No annoying american tourists, no people trying to sell me something, only white sand and beautiful coral reef. The bonus? Hardly anyone on this massive beach. I felt like we had it all to ourselves. December 12 New food. You're now in love with Lebanese food and you didn't even know what it was in January of this year. Ok so this is probably something that is going to sound silly, but Alex and I finally REALLY discovered Thai food - specifically the curries (and for me, Pumpkin Curry to be exact.) From then on, we were addicted and constantly looking for new Thai places. The fried banana w/coconut ice cream desert that most of them offer didn't hurt either! If you know a Thai place that we MUST try, please comment it's location! December 13 What's the best change you made to the place you live? The best change? getting rid of all the boxes - like today. That's right, we moved over a month ago but I never had the chance to totally unpack and get rid of the boxes until this holiday week! December 14 Rush. When did you get your best rush of the year? I actually probably got this TWICE... once during Re:Frame Austin, and the other during Re:Frame San Francisco. Wedding Videography is often perceived as cheesy and cheap (well - those two do go together actually) but our goal w/Re:Frame is to educate not only our peers but also the world that Wedding Videography is actually FILMMAKING at it's best, and I was so proud to be involved with something that is changing those perceptions!! December 15 Best packaging. Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves? Quite honestly nothing stands out to me as much as our future packaging (I can't wait to share it!!!) but I did love our Christmas gift from Victor Sizemore that came in box crate w/loads of custom labels. The time and energy that went into that is amazing! December 16 Tea of the year. I can taste my favorite tea right now. What's yours? Ok, Gwen is really into tea (hence the question). Um... I like tea, but don't know what kind i really like (and I'm married to a Brit! Shame on me!!) so my favorite tea right now, is any 'ol tea :) December 17 Word or phrase. A word that encapsulates your year. "2009 was _____." TIRING (but in a good way). This year Elysium & Luvbug Films shot over 170 weddings. That's over 20% above what we did in 2008. so that tiring feeling is a good one (especially in a recession) and makes me happy how many people value what we create. December 18 Shop. Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year? What mad money??? LOL!! Of course any money always goes back into the business but any spare dollars were spent on traveling... it's what we love to do! December 19 Car ride. What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there? Who were you with? Well I have to be cliche and say that my best car ride was in Hawaii on the "road to Hana" w/Alex. Ok, so we saw like 100 convertible mustangs (loads of tourists) but we also spent the day reconnecting and taking in the gorgeous scenery. Plus - I was driving so my fingernails didn't lodged into the dashboard. December 20 New person. She came into your life and turned it upside down. He went out of his way to provide incredible customer service. Who is your unsung hero of 2009? Hmm... I met so many people!! I really can't chose just one. Sorry for the lame answer! December 21 Project. What did you start this year that you're proud of? I like how this prompt says "start" without implying finishing something LOL! I would have to say the project of creating a new online jukebox for our clients. Yep - it's started but nowhere near done! However, the projects I'm proud of that I DID finish, are our new website and the development of www.thefusionpost.com. December 22 Startup. What's a business that you found this year that you love? Who thought it up? What makes it special? Well this isn't a startup, but is probably the only business I found this year that I fell in love with: Virgin America Airlines!! The fact that you feel like you're riding in a hip club is cool in itself, but the fact that you can be online at 35,000 feet is another! Not to mention all the movies, games, etc. I am fully entertained on a VA flight!! December 23 Web tool. It came into your work flow this year and now you couldn't live without it. It has simplified or improved your online experience. Um nothing... what am I missing? Please suggest!! I did just sign up for Google Wave which seems really cool. December 24 Learning experience. What was a lesson you learned this year that changed you? I've learned to follow my gut even more than ever before. My gut is usually right. Oh and I also learned that tapeless workflow is not necessarily less expensive than buying tapes. Oh well. December 25 Gift. What's a gift you gave yourself this year that has kept on giving? My coffee maker. One can never drink too much coffee :) December 26 Insight or aha! moment. What was your epiphany of the year? Oh this one's easy! It's the moment I realized that I have waaaaayyyyy too much on my plate. I never want to be one of those people who has no life and who gets sick of doing what they love. So in 2010, one of my resolutions is to choose to work less. By less I mean slightly more than a normal 9-5 job. I plan to have a more balanced life! December 27 Social web moment. Did you meet someone you used to only know from her blog? Did you discover Twitter? Yes both!! I've reconnected w/so many highschool/college friends on facebook and am loving Twitter!! Follow me... some good things to come via twitter in 2010! @julie_hill! |
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| 2009 ended with a bang... probably one of the most fun weddings we have ever filmed!! Nancy and Ed are all about fun. They wanted to have a super awesome party for their friends and family and they seriously pulled it off! It was a little worrisome because the day before it poured down rain. Luckily though, the clouds cleared and it was an absolutely beautiful day at Pelican Hill! Their color scheme was really unique - dark shades of purple with emerald green - perfect jewel tones for a winter wedding. Carolyn Chen helped design the wedding of their dreams and did a fabulous job as wedding coordinator. My favorite aspects? The custom linens by Wildflower Linen and the FLOATING cake!! Nisie also did a gorgeous job on the florals. We were also lucky to work with BOTH Erwin & Ray of Apertura. Keep checking their blog because I know they captured some killer images! Check out their SDE:
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| Allison is our guest blogger today!! We absolutely loved filming at the SLS - a super hip venue! Be sure to leave a comment!
"We were married at the SLS Hotel at Beverly Hills. Elysium Productions was there to capture hair, make-up and getting dressed in our magnificent Philippe Starck designed suite. The roof top pool and “The Bazaar” bar and restaurant were among the backdrops that we used for our formal wedding portraits. The ceremony was in the late afternoon outside in the Garden Terrace, followed by cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in the adjoining Garden Room. We dined and danced to music by Masta at the reception in the Albert Ballroom. For our guest’s enjoyment, the bar and photo booth in the foyer outside of the ballroom was open all night. It was truly a day and night to remember and we’re fortunate to have our DVD from Elysium to watch and share with our family and friends." by Allison & Darren Elysium Productions: Contemporary & Stylish Video in Orange County & Beyond! Vendors: Day of Event Planner: Kimberlee Bendeck, Boutiquevents Florist: Nisie's Enchanted Florist Videographer: Elysium Productions Photographer: Kate Connolly Photography Music: Masta, DeBois Entertainment Officiant: Cantor Nathan Lam Cake: Fantasy Frostings Lighting: Images by Lighting Hair and Makeup: Sara Uslan and Amy Hollier, Luxe Beauty Team |
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| Well, I seriously did attempt to write on this every day, but with traveling, editing, meeting w/clients, responding to a zillion emails, etc. it's just not happening, so I'm going to do a bulk post which will get me caught up! First, I'm going to go back to the posts I missed. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, find out by clicking here
December 1: What was your best trip in 2009? My best trip this year was going to Anguilla! A tiny little Island in the Caribbean where we filmed this wedding. What I loved about it was the incredible beaches, the super nice people, and the fact that there is nothing American there. Not even Starbucks or McDonalds!! December 2: Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind? Alex & I were in New York back in May... one of our very favorite cities in the world. Sometimes when we go there, we plan our whole trip around where we want to eat.... so many opportunities for the taste buds there!!! One night we didn't have a plan on where to eat so we just took the subway and got off when we felt like it. We walked around and found this restaurant called Babbo". The menu looked interesting so we stopped in. They didn't have any available tables so we ate in the bar area and it just so happened that they had a tasting menu (a bunch of small plates of the chef's creations). It was some of the most unique and tasty food I've ever had. Even more unique than the Olive Oil Ice cream we once had in NYC!! We came home to find out that this is kind of a famous restaurant and we were lucky to even get a table there. December 3: What's an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious'd and reference throughout the year. Hmmm.... unfortunately I don't really have one. Let me think about this and get back to you LOL! December 4th (see 2 posts back) December 5th: Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night? Oh geez... do I really have to pick one?? I could name a ton of these but I guess I'll pick the night of Jaime & Todd's wedding. What made it fun was the fact that there were a lot of wedding vendors there as guests. At the end of the night, we were the main ones left standing and dancing the night away. Of course us vendors never get a chance to do this so we took advantage!! There were about 20 of us who closed the party down that night. It was such a fun way to celebrate a friend's big day! December 6th: Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn? Well duh... Re:Frame of course! Even though I was one of the organizers, I sure learned a lot from all the presenters. They are all awesome!! December 7th: That gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year. I've been a blog reading slacker this year unfortunately. I'm hoping to have more time in 2010 to dedicate to reading and blog stalking. However, there is one blog that I check regularly: Jump David Jump. I was introduced to David's blog through Jasmine Star. He is a true testiment to faith and a positive attitude! Jump David Jump!!! December 8th: An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there? Well I rarely get one of these so this is an easy one!! For me it was the first day in Hawaii when I walked down the beach, put on my snorkeling gear, and swam out to see an amazing view of beautiful fish and coral. I just kept thinking to myself how lucky I was to be there right at that time, to see the miracle of the ocean and to be enjoying the warm water. The earth sure is a cool place. I travel a lot but I don't often get to enjoy a place as much as I should. But on this day, I enjoyed every second of that solitude. Just me and the big ocean. It was awesome. December 9th: Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you? I think when something forces you to grow, it's often an uncomfortable situation. Growing and changing is never easy. For me, the moment that forced me to make a hard decision and grow as a person this year was when I nearly had a meltdown from work stress. I know, I know... that's an easy one you say. But anyone that knows me will tell you that I THRIVE on stress. And I usually do. People often ask me how I can do everything I do - they are seriously sometimes amazed. I am an extreme multi-tasker and pretty much anything I take on I do well. This year, in a recession, Elysium was 30% busier than in 2008. That is ridiculously good but it also cost me my sanity! I never want to let our clients down or our quality slip, so instead of getting a huge backlog due to the enormous amount of weddings, I ended up working 12-14 hour days. September was our busiest month and it was then that I decided that if I don't change something, I will not only get burned out (my worst nightmare) but I will also lose track of my health, my relationships, and my life. So that's when the decision was made to raise our prices for 2010 (something we haven't done in 2 years) and take on half as many weddings. It's scary, but I also know that I can't survive working this hard and I know that I need to take care of myself and my sanity. I also know that this will just make our films even better which is also very important to me. December 10: What's rocking your world? This question should be what's NOT rocking your world?? I am very enthusiastic and excited about too many things so I'm just going to list the things that are not rocking my world: My lingering cough that won't go away, the fact that I may have to drive to Burbank in the rain tomorrow, that new poser Microsoft operating system that's trying to be like a Mac, the fact that carbs and cheese are not good for you (especially when they are together, ie. quesadilla), slow DSL - which is what I'm working with at home right now, and last but not least, COX - who I refuse to give any more money too and hence why I am using slow DSL and not a cable internet connection. woops... reread the question and I read it wrong! it should be: Album of the year. What's rocking your world? I'm too tired at this point to really choose my answer (too many!) so I'll just say the "500 Days of Summer" soundtrack. It's awesome! |
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| I'm back from Boston!! I wanted to share this sweet Arthouse Film from the fabulous Langham Hotel in Pasadena. The couple is ultra cool and so were all the vendors we worked with! We were stoked to work w/Ruth Wang - she's an awesome wedding coordinator, as well as Victor Sizemore who took the photos. You can see some of them on his blog. This wedding was full of color and culture. Check it out!!
Elysium Productions: Stylish & Contemporary Wedding Video in Orange County and Beyond! |
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| I'm going to try really hard to complete this list - posted by Gwen Bell who I follow on Twitter. The object is to write on the prompt given for each day in December. Very cool idea! Ya'll know that I'm not the best writer in the world so bear with me. Here's the link if you want to join in: bestof09
So here is my answer to the prompt for today: "December 4 Book. What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?" The best book I read all year... actually in all my life (it's that good) is "The Art of Racing in the Rain" by Garth Stein. The book takes place in Seattle - where I spend a lot of time since half my family lives there. When visiting Seattle this summer, My aunt said I should read it because not only does it take place in one of my favorite cities, but also because the story is told by a dog (and we all know I love dogs!) Once I started the book, I could not put it down. I have given my copy to a friend and have let all my friends know about it. (All my friends happen to be dog lovers too. weird! :) Everyone must read this - whether you are a dog lover or not. It will make you appreciate what it is to be human. Trust me. It is an incredibly funny and heartwarming story! And no..... it's not like "Marley & Me". You will need a box of Kleenex during some parts but it's not a sad story. It's an empowering one! |
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