Sunday, February 24, 2008

New Talent!

I don't know if I've introduced you to our crew yet. We always have half a dozen or so college interns working with us to keep us on our creative toes. Most are assistant editors who can't wait to get their itchy fingers into a real commercial project.

We've had Travis from the Art Institute with us for a little over a year and can't imagine how we ever lived without him. Travis has done everything from creating a wireless network for all our computers; to filming and producing a piece for GENERATIONS videotories for Boston Weddings; helping design and redesign all our ads; working on our wedding film edits; and being technical director, camera and light person on many of our shoots. Travis graduates in a few months and although we suspect some fab company will snatch him up with a great offer, we hope we can do it first!

Adam from B.U. has been with us for only a short time, but has definitely made a quick impression. He took one of our Summer wedding films home over the weekend and surprised us by turning it into an amazing fast-cut rave of a music video. He wasn't sure we'd like it at first, since it's very different from our usual style, but Jack and I both thought it was really well- executed, had great energy, texture and color, and for the right couple (hey, any ravers out there getting married?) would be a perfect style.

Note: We film and edit in the style of each couple and wedding so we never know what the next project will look like!

Justine (or "Justine the Intern" - as Jack calls her) is also from B.U. and has taken on the task of keeping us organized. That's kind of like bicycling up hill on a sheet of ice, if you ask me, but she's determined and can be ruthless if need be.

At the very least she manages to erect large bright signs around the studio reminding us what needs to be done, and backs these up with frequent reminder e-mails. She also produces a fair number of Excel spreadsheets - to what purpose i have no idea, but for which I am thankful nonetheless. I should ask her about them some time.
Periodically in the pursuit of order, I will find my desktop reorganized or even worse, replaced by something else allegedly more useful. These experiences usually engender panic for me, since I am accustomed to locating things by familiar place, e.g., it's on the upper right on my desktop, 2 files down. However, once I regain my composure, I often se the wisdom in her attempts at logical and efficient systems.

Justine is particularly good for adding a touch of levity to our studio environment, since usually everyone other than me, is intensely focused under headphones most of the day. Justine tells stories, cracks jokes and forces us to eat handfuls of chocolate -we, very dark; she, sweet milk.

Josee' is not one of our interns. She is a real pro with a studio of her own, Twelve String Productions, but our studio would not be complete without her talents. She and I discovered one another on Craigslist when I advertised for a volunteer editor for a film project I was producing and directing on Equal Marriage. The project had enjoyed several wonderful editors by Summer 2007, but last Fall 2007, there was a last chapter that needed editing and I wanted a new editor. Not surprisingly, I received many wonderful responses to my ad, but 5 minutes into my first phone call with Josee', we both knew we wanted to do the project together. I'm thrilled with the film, "Legal at Last", and at the moment it's tip-toe-ing into few possible film festivals. We'll see. I'll keep you posted on the film's doings.

Josee' and I filmed our first wedding together in August. We actually filmed two weddings in one weekend, and knew then that we could film together as well as edit. As a video journalist, Josee; is used to live action and is always calm, quick-thinking and fun to be around. She also always gets the shot. We're honored and very lucky to have Josee'; working with us. She'll be filming with us again this Spring and Summer. In the meantime Josee' managed to win herself 2 Gold AVA awards in the International Audio Visual competition in the "Voiceover" and "Fundraiser" categories. You can check out some of Josee's independent work at her site at http://web.mac.com/jmlapointe/Site/Home.html

Emma, from B.U., will be joining us in Mid-March to assist with PR. She's a full-of-fire dynamo who has already successfully mastered her first challenge: to come up with a better, less cheesy name for our "Love Story" short films. Within a day of taking on the challenge, Emma offered "A Tale of Two Hearts" which we all loved!

You can have a look at our first Tale of Two Hearts - Julia and Matt, screened at the InterContinental Hotel at their wedding on New Years Eve 2008, on our site on the "Creative Choices" page. Julia and Matt introduced themselves into the ballroom on the film which was screened on 2 giant screens to 350 guests. We're sorry we missed seeing it but we were filming a New Years Eve party for 6 One 7 Productions at the Boston Cyclorama on New Years. We had a great time ringing in the New Year while filming 750 dancing revelers, a couple of aerialists, some exciting wall decor and ice sculpture. Jack and I admitted it was the biggest dance party we had ever filmed. We'll let you know when and where you can see the clip.

By the way, Legal at Last started when Jack and I had the honor of filming the first same sex wedding in Boston on May 17, 2004. We posted the clip on Youtube about a year ago http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p4WrEVUY9c and it's had over 1,700 views as of today. Filming Rob and Dave's wedding gave us a very different perspective on marriage and in many ways was the inspiration behind us creating GENERATIONS videostories. As a result of getting to know Rob and Dave, I was given access to the political world around the issue of Equal Marriage and felt compelled to make the film. Ultimately I'd like to use the film to raise money for Equal Marriage. If anyone out there has any ideas or connections as to how I might do that or feels inspired to help, please get in touch.

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