Life of Gabe

We love mitzvahs. They are special moments in a family's life that celebrate the culmination of many months, often years, of study and preparation.

In addition to the party, most families spend time thinking about all the years from babyhood to the present, spent watching and nurturing the child's growth, and cherishing the child's unique personality, talents and achievements.

We are often asked by the parents to produce a photo-video biographical montage to be shown at the reception party. Some are longer, some shorter, but the best include lots of video and live sound.

It's wonderful how many parents are now constantly shooting video of their families and children. Although sifting through many hours of media can be a challenging process,  many of our mitzvah parents do a lot of preliminary work for us, helping to make the final product very special.

Three years ago we met mom, Daphna, who had worked in theater and in addition to having a mom's special insight into her daughter, Maya's life, also had a gift for directing our edit. We worked closely with Maya and her mom to produce a montage that was moving, charming, and very personal.

For the past few months we had the privilege of working with mom, Daphna, once again on Maya's brother Gabe's bar mitzvah montage. Very different from Maya's, it was longer than we would have suggested, but as we watched Gabe's friends and family riveted to the screen Saturday night, laughing and crying in all the right places, we knew that this tribute to Gabe was another success.

Thanks, Daphna, for all your help. We'll look forward to weddings in the future!

Life of Gabe

https://vimeo.com/50538822

Notes: When we are not permitted to film the actual service we attend the rehearsal so we can chat with the family on camera, and offer a context for the celebration that we will use in the final product. 

Gabe's reception was held at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge, and had an outer space theme designed by mom, Daphna. Gabe's dad sang and played a very special song for his son during the reception. Two golden robots (actually, 2 actors dressed and acting the part of robots!) served candy and greeted guests as they exited from the 16th floor elevator into the ballroom.