My first attempt at showing the SDE during the introductions happened last year. it was a great success and 400 people went absolutely crazy when they saw the film on the screens, followed by the couple's entrance.

This year we raised the bar even higher. We combined the SDE with the Story Film and had that open the night.

Luxmi and Rishi had their two-day Indian wedding on May 20-21 at Liberty Grand in Toronto.

The thing that I love the most about this piece is how naturally it flows together. With all the time shifting, going back and forth between the Story Film and SDE, concluding with a perfect voiceover leading to the couple's entrance.

Everything on the wedding day was shot by 3 cinematographers:
Konrad Czystowski (me), Michael Y Wong and Mark Klassen.

The Story Film was shot by Mark and I.


Originally, we were supposed to shoot Luxmi and Rishi biking their way through their favourite park. The weather didn't cooperate however. Since we only had a few days before the wedding, we utilized the weather as best as we could.
The outcome - we stayed inside for the most part of the shoot. That ended with Luxmi and Rishi unpacking some of the boxes at their new place, which was just perfect for the shoot in terms of the story content :) Short trip to the park ended up with some nice imagery as well.

What should have been the biggest challenge with this approach, the song that has enough ups and downs, slow moments and a great buildup, happened to be the easiest part.
In fact, I had this song chosen and in my head, way before we started shooting.

Here's where you can buy the song used in the piece "To Build a Home by The Cinematic Orchestra:
itunes.apple.com/ca/album/to-build-a-home/id255464394?i=255470095


BTS

The Story Film was heavily cut before the wedding, with only relevant parts left on the timeline to use in the piece.
After the first day of shooting, we all rough cut our footage and I then combined everything into the film the next morning.
It was pretty stressful, despite the fact the we were showing it the next evening. Between backing up the footage, preparing for the second day, as well as setting up for the reception, it really came down to only a few hours of editing.

The intro song for the couple ("Angel"), following the SDE, was included in my edit for cuing purposes. It was easier to play it off my laptop and have it mixed nicely with the film's music as opposed to trying to cue it live by the DJ.



PERSONAL/STORYTELLING NOTES

The idea for this film was to 1) let people get to know the couple a bit and show what they're up to; 2) to get the guests through an emotional roller coaster and get them excited for the big entrance.

The main theme is the couple starting out a new life together and the parallel between them moving in and getting married.
I led the interview process into them talking about the new beginning, their experience and expectations.

It starts off by Luxmi talking about how surreal the wedding will be - pretty neat intro to the clip that just interrupted the introductions AT THAT WEDDING.
Then the couple talks about the new beginning, moving in, planning the wedding...

This piece is all about smooth transitions and time shifting.
The first transition from the story to the wedding happens at 1:36.
The "J cut" VO proceeds it, followed by a visual transition from one shot of Rishi honouring his dad's absence to the second one (picture to picture).

The second trees+sky transition at 1:53 takes us from ceremony back to the morning.

The gift/card delivery/opening sequences are put together in linear fashion at first and then parallel at the end, for maximum curiosity.

The music is really subtle and soft from 2:18 all the way until 4:00 mark. It made cutting the shots extremely difficult. On one hand, you want to hold the shots longer to let them breathe, but you also want to pack the film with as much story as possible. You really have to play with the pacing and feel the music.
I really believe that the outcome is a nice soft montage and a great buildup, in conjunction with the VO, to what is about to happen right after.

When music goes up, I pack the edit with high energy shots of Bharat and processional.

When the music goes down again at 5:08, I introduce another VO - probably the best answer to the question "What would change after the wedding" that I ever got out of anybody.
It fits perfectly with the signing of the marriage license as well as showing Luxmi's parents when Rishi talks about "sharing his life"

The last VO is the obvious transition to the entrance. The best part about it though, is that Rishi had no idea that I was going to use that answer as a leading to them entering the room.

I sneaked up this question on him, asking him to literally close his eyes and imagine what he though he would feel right before the entrance. It worked.



Konrad