Why weddings?  Why Super 8mm Film?
I love weddings.  I really do have the best job in the world from the perspective that I am a part of two people’s most precious time together as they embark on their new life together!  I feel honored to be invited (and the way I shoot I feel like a guest and not some guy with a camera) at this moment in their entire family’s life.  I have teared-up, smiled, laughed and shared so many moments over the years with my clients.  It’s love and it’s the power of their love that I try to connect to on every job.  I love that part of my work, to connect to them in the way I need to, to make what I do feel real, honest and playful!  I pretty much fall in love with all of my brides and admire each of their husbands and all of their families that entrust me to document their day.  Pure and simple, I feel blessed with what I do every day.

As to why I chose to work solely with super 8mm film…the film is organic, its intrinsic flaws are as much a part of its draw and value to me.  It’s certainly a medium in my eyes that allows me to express and connect to the human heart.  HD video is too sharp, too clean and too visceral.  It almost instantly disconnects me from the emotion of what I am seeing or hearing.  There is a psychology to film, to super 8mm film, and it resonates with people’s memories and connection to family and their past.  What’s interesting is that even with the younger group of couples that are getting married who have no history or knowledge of super 8, the aesthetic still makes this memory-sensory connection.  Its full of character, charm and just makes a lot of sense to  both myself and my clients.  It’s more a fine art piece that’s truthful, emotional and closest to how we remember experiencing a moment in our lives!

Who/what inspires you outside of what you see in your business every day?
Music, music, music.  Documentary, journalistic & fashion photography is everywhere and it’s a major influence.
French, Spanish, Italian, Mexican, U.S. Filmmakers and their movies, films I cannot get enough of! I have a DVD library that really costs more than some people’s car.

credits:  Video courtesy of MIMMO & NAZ, Wikipedia, feature photo

This is what Wikipedia is for. No, seriously, click the link if you want the history of ‘Super 8′ and Kodak. I’ll just quote their one line explanation, “Super 8 mm film (often simply called Super 8) is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older “Double” or “Regular” 8 mm home movie format.”

Super 8 is the choice of medium for one of our 52 artists in the current show, Irrelevant. Karen Chan (see more of her work here) began working with the ‘Super 8′ two years ago and is continuously exploring, experimenting, and expanding artistically with this tool. Arario Gallery had the pleasure of hosting her workshop this past Thursday evening. As our small shy crowd grew into a large curious one, Karen brought out five Super 8′s and had her audience experiment and explore with their own film.

From my observation, the engagement between artist, audience, and medium is exactly what art organizations seek today– audience engagement with art and artists. It is the kind of interaction necessary for art organizations and artists to reach out to their audience on a different level. A teaching workshop allows art enthusiasts and novices to understand and relate to an artist in a more intimate conversation. People want to know what artists are thinking or how and why they came to the point they are standing at. Sure, some artists want their audience to be receptive and reflect upon their art in their own way, but sometimes we, even us art enthusiasts, need a little help in the contemporary art department.

Karen’s workshop was not necessarily a full-on detailed report of her videos made with the Super 8, but rather, it was a lesson in how an individual can create art the way she has.

Indeed, the Super 8 seems to be a celebrated medium of film being resurrected in fine artistic form. Check out these links here:

- http://homepage.mac.com/onsuper8/

- http://www.super8camera.com/

- http://www.super-8mm.net/

Thank you, Karen, for sharing your expertise with us!

LC

~ Filmed on Kodak 16mm and super 8mm film ~

But what about taking this concept up a notch and having a custom love-story film created? An engagement film is not only a wonderful keepsake capturing this very special time in your lives but is also a unique, sweet and entertaining ode to your love to treasure and even screen at your wedding!

Meet Kyli & Cameron: two lovebirds who are set to marry on July 24th! These two are obviously very much in love and were just delightful to work with. So turn up the sound and get ready to enjoy a { First Kiss Films } Super 8mm p’tit film d’amour:

~ Filmed on Kodak super 8mm film ~

Up next week: a fascinating engagement ceremony film.

UPDATE: This film was featured on Bridal Musings and The Bride Fairy.

~ Filmed on Kodak super 8mm film ~

A warm thank you to Nancy and Scott for allowing me to make this film at their little piece of heaven and to Isabelle for helping to make this shoot one of the most fun I have ever done!

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*UPDATE* This film was featured on Sensational Wedding Vendors, Engaging Bride and Bridal Musings!

Having your wedding properly captured is SO important and I’d love to accommodate couples who have fallen in love with our wedding films but don’t have room in their budget for one of our longer productions. So after listening to some fabulous suggestions I have put together a very special mini film package to compliment the other packages we currently offer.

Which brings me to to say…I’m very happy to announce that { First Kiss Films } now offers three unique wedding film packages: the Indie, the Feature and the Epic. The Indie, our newest package, is an affordable option for couples who love vintage wedding cinematography, only need about 5 hours of day-of coverage and feel that a 5 minute final film would be just long enough to capture their special day.

For more information about all of our packages please visit www.firstkissfilms.com or just send us a message and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have!

Why shoot on film?
There is a reason film has been coveted over 100 years. Film is unmatched by any other medium and nothing compares to the beautiful, rich and warm image it creates. It is also the only recognized archival medium which means there is always a permanent copy that will remain as beautiful 5 years as it will 50 years from the day it was filmed. 

I’ve already hired a photographer, do I still need a wedding film?
Yes, one cannot replace the other. A wedding film captures the subtle nuances and emotions you’ll experience, not just single moments in time. Both will be cherished as loving memories, but the static frame alone cannot contain the energy and beauty that exists on that day.

What makes you as a wedding filmmaker unique?
1) You are hiring a true artist.  I became an active film artist after six years of studying film and photography. Since 1997 I have been producing and exhibiting my artwork at galleries and film festivals worldwide.

2) I use high-quality materials. I also not only shoot Super 8mm but also with 16mm film which is four times the resolution of 8mm and creates a stunning image that is still used by many film and television producers.

3) My gender. Filmmaking is still a male-dominated profession. But I feel being a woman gives me an advantage. I understand what a bride is looking for in her wedding day images and how to create the most flattering imagery. Another bonus: I can be with the bride the entire day and blend in as just one of the girls leaving everyone at ease. I adore what I do and just love making couples happy.

What got you into filmmaking?
I think creativity is one part genetics and one part environmental. Both my parents are artistic and they encouraged us (and continue to do so) to be creative. And it paid off. Both my sister and I are artists and our creativity flows effortlessly.

My dad is the reason I make wedding films. He experienced much of our lives through a camera lens and documented our early years on super 8mm film and then transitioned to video. He taught us the joy and importance of recording the big and little moments in life.

Will you travel?
Indeed! Plus I don’t charge anything extra for travel other than the basic cost of transportation and accommodation.

Learn more by reading about  the power of film.

Jem Cohen: Music Works
Viewed at: EPIC (Norwich, UK)

November 2009 saw Norwich host the final installment of the Aurora Festival, an annual celebration of the moving image that featured one-off screenings, thematic film programmes, installations, live performances, discussions and exhibitions.

The final Aurora, titled Common Ground, saw the festival split into a series of events spread across the Festival Week and a brilliantly communal Festival Weekend, in which artists, curators and audiences formed a ‘temporary community’ sharing food, ideas and viewing experiences. Sadly, owing to a combination of low funds and friends visiting from abroad, I was unable to make the Weekend events, but I did manage to catch a few screenings earlier in the week, including shorts programmes from Milena Gierke and Jem Cohen, and Cohen’s Instrument, a feature documentary portrait of Washington D.C. DIY stalwarts, Fugazi.

Milena Gierke: Films

First up was an informal session at OUTPOST Gallery hosted by Milena Gierke, in which the German Super 8mm artist screened a series of her shorts, which are mostly comprised of single 8mm reels, all completely silent and edited in-camera. Gierke specialises in a kind of preservation of mood via the capturing of time-specific images, either in time-lapse over extended periods or in the portrayal of specific moments in time, providing poetic responses to modern landscapes both public and private. Gierke projects everything herself, pausing between films to facilitate their rewinding and allowing the audience time to digest the images to which they have been exposed.

Highlights for this programme included Stündlich I, Februar – April 1991 (Every Hour I, February – April 1991), a fascinating conceptual auto-portrait in which Gierke turned the camera on herself for four-frames every hour over the course of several months, including black frames for every hour she is asleep. By the end of the piece, the four frames have expanded into longer takes as Gierke further explores both the passage of time and its inherent impossibility. A week-long time lapse of Gierke’s living space – complete with television – is another notable work, exploring similar themes in a moving still-life that calls to mind CCTV in the days before it became all-pervasive.

Other highlights include Membran (Membrane), in which bubble wrap forms a ‘protective’ layer on an inner-city balcony, a kind of manmade protection against a manmade environment, and Wigstock, where exhibitionism fulfills its desires in a drag-queen parade that appears quite Warhol/Morrissey-esque even before you catch a glimpse of the New York skyline.

Another of Gierke’s New York films, Beware of Jet Blast, Props and Rotors, documents a visit to a naval ship where sailors operate as part-time tour guides in this most touristic of cities. The programme also included a selection of shorter abstract subjects, from static shots of train windows to kinetic shots of tree shadows, all demonstrating Gierke’s comfortable intimacy with the Super 8mm format and her innate ability to find poetry amongst the mundanity of private life.

Jem Cohen: Music Works

New York-based filmmaker Jem Cohen also finds poetry in the mundane, usually expanding his gaze to examine the impact of the commercial world on private lives, most notably in his excellent (and underseen) feature film, Chain. As well as more abstract explorations of the individual within urban environments, Cohen has made a name for himself examining the intersection between the private and public personae of musicians, and a selection of these films were presented at EPIC as part of Aurora 2009.

The fittingly informal screening, with a fair bit of interaction from Cohen himself, begun fairly unobtrusively with Moor (2006), an audio-visual collaboration with The Ex guitarist Andy Moor, and Free (2007), a simple one minute meditation of concepts of freedom in the modern age. Amongst the more traditional ‘music video’ forms on display here was Spirit (2007), Cohen’s visual accompaniment for Patti Smith’s fantastic rendition of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, that features Smith cavorting around her apartment in glorious B/W Super 8mm.

The first real taste of the sheer visual power of Cohen’s imagery comes with Little Flags (2000, embedded below), a Fugazi-scored short utilising footage shot during an overly-patriotic 1991 ‘Victory Parade’ for the first Gulf War, but left unedited for almost ten years. Of course, New York’s propensity for a ‘ticker-tape’ parade results in an eerie foreshadowing of 9/11, with reams of paper floating between buildings in a foreboding manner only enhanced by the closing moments, in which a lone male elicits the oddly ironic chant of ‘let’s all celebrate 250,000 dead’.

Next up were a couple of Cohen’s early collaborations with R.E.M. which, I have to admit, I’ve always found a bit dull. Cohen might excel at capturing live musical performance and in the creation of moving image portraits of musicians, but he gave up making music videos with good reason. Not because he isn’t any good – after all, he’s probably better than most in the scheme of things – but simply because music videos are such a restrictive form of filmmaking and his eye is much better suited to more abstract forms, those gentler in tone and deeper in scope.

Aside from Little Flags, the standout on the night – and perhaps the highlight of all Cohen’s music-related films – was Lucky Three (1997, embedded below), a 16mm portrait of unspeakably talented Baltimore singer-songwriter Elliott Smith who, dogged by depression throughout his life, committed suicide in 2003. An achingly poignant portrait of a deeply misunderstood man, Cohen’s film reminded me of the introspective beauty of Smith’s music as well as this filmmaker’s innate ability to construct pitch perfect musical picaresques. In the same way that Little Flags provided a kind of ‘memory of the future’ in its ominous portrayal of the detritus of a New York parade in the days before 9/11, so Lucky Three provides a similarly poignant moment when Cohen lets his camera linger upon Smith’s recently emptied chair, a visual metaphor for a musician who is still sorely missed.

Throughout the screening – even with Cohen present – it seemed as though much of the applause was for the musical content, and not necessarily for the artistic merit of the filmmaker. And for a crowd that seemed largely unfamiliar with Cohen’s oevre, it was a bit of a pity that we weren’t treated to more of his non-music work. As fascinating as they are, presenting recognisable musicians in unfamiliar situations or settings, I have to admit that Cohen’s music works really do pale into relative insignificance alongside his more coherent, poetic visual examinations of the urban environment.

Even in his concert film collaboration with The Ex – of which the final film of the screening, IP Man (2006), was an excerpt – the most interesting element remains his interludes of New York at night, an electrifying portrait of the unmatched vitality and oppressive loneliness at the heart of every big city, and at the heart of Jem Cohen’s creative output.

Little Flags:

Lucky Three (Part 1 of 2):

Lucky Three (Part 2 of 2):

As a quick postscript, I should mention that the evening was rounded out with a couple of live music performances, with Hoofus playing the kind of 8-bit electrobloop that wouldn’t have been out of place on Warp Records in days of yore, and Balaklava Kid & Dad, who absolutely rocked what was left of the crowd with a fuzzed out two-piece set of bluesy extraterrestrial garage mathpunk which made them, hands down, my new favourite Norwich band. Boffo!

Photo courtesy of Natasha Moine Photography

Okay, it’s time to make this statement public knowledge: Ottawa’s only wedding film company will be blogging weekly to keep you updated on the latest news, showcase film samples and share upcoming giveaways!  

Above is a photo of me doing what I love: capturing people’s weddings. I made my first wedding film after a friend had asked me to shoot hers and at that moment I knew I had found my calling. It’s such an amazing feeling! Even while planning my own wedding I kept thinking about { First Kiss Films } and documenting other people’s weddings! I am thrilled to be marrying (is there a better word?) my film background with the capturing the joy and beauty of a couple’s most precious celebration. I look forward to meeting you and hearing about your love story!

Here’s a sample of a { First Kiss Films } wedding film shot entirely on 16mm and Super 8mm film. Enjoy!

♥ Bridget

~ Filmed on Kodak 16mm and super 8mm film ~

Related media

Tamara and I in front of the NFB’s Grierson building, Montreal

Co-produced by Pop Montreal and The National Film Board of Canada, Recycle, Reuse, Remix is a film made with data-moshing, a technique made famous in such video clips as Kanye West’s Welcome to Heartbreak and Chairlift’s Evident Utensil. We took the technique to a different place, working only with discarded materials of 100-year-old photographs, home movie film footage and recorded audio reels found in flea markets and the trash. All glitches, bugs, compression errors, distortion and noise were welcome in this excavation into what a mess memory and remembering can become.

Recycle, Reuse, Remix is my first collaboration with Tamara Scherbak . It will be premiering at the 2009 Pop Montreal Festival as part of Making Music 3 at Espace Reunion (6600 Hutchison) on October 1st at 8 p.m.

]]> http://russellfowler.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/brooke-christophers-wedding-at-shady-canyon-country-club-orange-county-wedding/ Sat, 19 Sep 2009 15:17:22 +0000 Russell Fowler Studios http://russellfowler.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/brooke-christophers-wedding-at-shady-canyon-country-club-orange-county-wedding/

Brooke FergusonTrailer copy

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Brooke & Christopher were referred to me by Andrew Firestone and his wife Ivana, whose wedding I also shot in Super 8mm Film. Brooke and Christopher’s wedding was beautiful and filled with love. Their photographers Michael and Anna Costa, long time friends of mine were so much fun to work with again, as usual. Micheal even shot the pic of me with Andrew and Ivana Firestone, below.

Photo by: Michael + Anna Costa Photography

Montage Resort Laguna Beach

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TV producer Austin Winsberg marries Amy Nathanson at the beautiful Montage Resort in South Laguna Beach. Photography by: Joe Buissink, Florals by: R.Jack Balthazar Cinematography by: Russell Fowler Studios Planner: Lisa Gorgestani 

http://www.caboazulresort.com/

JordynElliotTrailer

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shooter: Russell Fowler  editor: Joey Sinko & Russell Fowler

Jordyn & Kyle hired me to shoot their wedding exclusively in Super 8mm Film. Cabo Azul is an amazing resort on the waters edge. Three pools leading right to the ocean, very posh, very touching experience meaning while shooting the ceremony, it was sooooooo emotional, everyone was tearing including me which made it very hard to focus….can you imagine. Well it happens, but Jordyn and Kyle got me real good. Their best man wrote a special song which he played on keyboard and sung to them which was so beautiful and moving. I included it on their dvd menu to surprise them, and they loved it! If you ever go to Cabo San Lucas, stop by and have dinner at Javiers of Newport Coast at Cabo Azul. You’ll have a great time. Be sure to bring your camera, “sunscreen” and a beach towel too. 

Jordyn’s Testimonial

“Russell!!
Words cannot describe how incredible our Super 8mm wedding film turned out! You are truly amazing at what you do, and we are so glad that you were able to shoot our wedding. We are so grateful that you not only captured beautiful details of our day, but also that you fit in perfectly with our family and friends for the whole weekend event! We truly felt so comfortable with you, and you definitely added to our day! We could not have asked for any better of an experience. Thank you for giving us memories of our day and details for years to come, that could have been forgotten. You are awesome!!!”

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I really had a blast, got totally sunburnt, ouch!!!,  enjoyed some great margaritas, felt totally like a guest with the bride Jordyn and her new hub, Kyle, and all their family and close friends. Their photographer Lauren is also very cool from Florida same as Jordyn and Kyle, had so much fun working with her. Take a look at some of her awesome photos here below … Enjoy! 

  http://www.laurenpauline.com/Shows/Jordyn/