TruVision Studios: Cinematic Video Blog

In celebration of the Spartan defeat of the Wolverines for the third straight season, I am super excited to share this trailer! Caroline and Brad are two of the biggest Michigan State fans that I know. Their season tickets at Spartan Stadium brought them together, and they tirelessly travel the country cheering on the Green and White.

This really has been my favorite wedding to capture. I had a lot of communication with Caroline about their plans, what they wanted out of a wedding film, and what they were excited for. It makes my job a lot more fun when couples open up to share their excitement and personal stories. It allows me to be more creative by finding ways to integrate themes of their day and their love into the film. This leads to a deeper story that is more meaningful to the bride and groom.

Caroline and Brad went all out to make their wedding day unique, and expressive of who they are as a couple. It isn’t often that I see this. Its the little things.. like their wedding program — set over an illustrated football field with the order of events during the ceremony entitled “The Playbook,” and the wedding party was listed as “The Roster.” I am so glad that I have the opportunity to work with couples like Caroline and Brad!

-Matt

Kara and Doug are married!! They are one really cool couple. I don’t know if during the course of planning for the wedding we talked more about their wedding, or sports and life in general. It was probably about even.

Kara is a big time Spartan fan – Go GREEN! Doug.. well he is a Cornhusker, but we still like him… he tolerates Kara’s obsession with everything Green and White… Welcome to the Big Ten, Nebraska!

The ceremony was held at the Michigan State University Alumni Memorial Chapel and the reception was at one of the coolest venues in Lansing — The Spartan Club inside Spartan Stadium. Yeah, it was super COOL! The entire hall overlooks the stadium and campus, which we covered during the photo shoot. We had a great time working with photographer Ron Jones Jr. and DJ Bill from Millennium Entertainment and Photography!

-Matt

Ally and TJ certainly know how to have a good time. They love to laugh together and add a little of their sense of humor to everything they do. The Save the Date for their wedding was a photo of the two of them hanging from the bottom of a bridge with the caption, “Hang onto this date.”

They have big hearts too! A goal for their wedding was to use as many Michigan (Lansing in particular) wedding pros as possible because they wanted to do what they could to help boost the local economy. Everything down to the food came from local vendors.

The smiles and laughs didn’t stop all day. We had a blast working alongside Brett Maxwell Photography… (Brett is an amazing photographer by the way — he is super efficient and I think he might accomplish as much as 3 photographers should be able to all by himself.) Check out some of the amazing photos he took over on his photo blog.

Ally and TJ didn’t leave their love for 80’s music out of the day either. The ceremony at South Lansing Christian Church closed with a little Van Halen, and they danced to Journey during the reception at The Lexington in Lansing. I couldn’t resist this classic by The Crüe for the trailer. Enjoy!!

I don’t think Ashleigh and Ted could stop smiling. It wouldn’t have mattered if it poured rain for the ceremony. They were both so excited to have their families together and to be getting married after dating through high school and college!

Ashleigh and Ted had a beautiful outdoor wedding at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. They were an awesome couple to work with and their families were great too! Their wedding made me realize how much I love being a wedding videographer. No matter how exhausted I end up being at the end of the day, I never, not even for a minute, feel like I am at work. I am honored to be given the opportunity by so many couples to capture their wedding day on video so they can relive the memories for years to come!

I had a really great time working with photographer Oliver Howell, who has some great shots from the wedding on his blog.

Congratulations Ashleigh and Ted and have a great time settling into your new place in sunny California!

-Matt

Emily and Thomas had a gorgeous wedding in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. They were married at St. Pauls on the Lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous setting, right on the water! An amazing party followed at the Grosse Pointe Yacht Club.

Enjoy the trailer!

-Matt

We had a blast shooting this Same Day Edit for Kim + Forrest. This was our studios first attempt at a full day SDE. It was stressful shooting and editing the entire day, but it was well worth the response when we finally showed the film at the reception. The room was roaring with applause!

Kim decided that she had to have a videographer after seeing a Same Day Edit that was featured on a list of 15 cheese-free wedding ideas on The Knot. She was really excited about having a SDE at her own wedding and trusted the team from TruVision to make it happen.

One element that Kim wanted to incorporate into her film from the SDE that inspired her by California videographer Matthew H. Forrey Productions was the character animation intro. With the help of our friends at Freshly Ground Productions we were able to recreate the animation for her!

The ceremony and reception were held at Hawk Hollow in Bath, Michigan. Photos were by Parker Photographic and W.E.D. provided coordination and DJ.

-Matt

I was on my way to Detroit to drop of a friend at the airport when I got a call. It was Charles’ mom Jane, and she was desperately searching for a cinematographer for her son’s wedding. The wedding would be taking place… later that afternoon!

She had been planning all along to have the wedding filmed, but with all of the other planning and distractions of life, finding a cinematographer had somehow slipped through the cracks. Now, the morning of the wedding, after talking to a friend who said a wedding video is an absolute necessity, and with the recommendation of the staff at The English Inn it was time to find a cinematographer!

Luckily, I was available. I did have a big challenge ahead of me though! First I needed to coordinate with one of my second shooters.. find out who else was available to help shoot. Second, I had to finish my drive to Detroit, get back to Lansing, and pack gear. A big task, made even bigger by the fact that I had no time to plan, and would need to take every camera, microphone, and other piece of gear with me in order to be prepared for any shooting situation. I am not going to lie… it was stressful!

I don’t recommend waiting until the day of your wedding to try to line up your cinematographer. More than likely availability will be an issue. In this case it all worked out, and it ended up being one of my favorite weddings. Megan and Charles both had the warmest families. They really made us feel at home. Their officiant was Megan’s Father, Pastor Ross Mahan from Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jackson, MI. Photographs were by Dan Johnson Photography from Grandville, MI.

-Matt

I have the privilege of filming at Saint Gerard Parish at least a few times each year. This particular wedding stands out to me though. Kelly and Michael were stunning, and they are two of the nicest people I have met.

After the ceremony we headed to the Horticulture Gardens at Michigan State to film the creative, fun shots of the wedding party. Then it was on to Walnut Hills Country Club for the reception. Walnut Hills is beautiful by the way, and is where Allison and I will be holding our own reception in October 2010.

This Highlight Film marks a turning point in my style. It features several detail shots from the Canon 5D Mark ii which I blogged about here. This camera adds new depth and capability to my work, and I am really excited to put it to greater use in 2010. It is a game changer. It is also the first Highlight where I made a strong effort to incorporate more natural audio, adding tremendously to the emotional power of the film!

Janelle and Matt were amazing to work with. They are actually really good friends. My fiancée, Allison, met Janelle in school at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids.

I was only supposed to shoot their ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew, because they didn’t want me working the entire day. Allison was a bridesmaid, and I didn’t really have much else to do during the photo session other than to tag along with the wedding party… so I took my camera along! It was the new 5D Mark ii and I decided it would give me a chance to put the new camera through it paces. I was amazed with the results!!!

I wound up filming throughout the portrait session at the Frederick Meijer Gardens, one of my new favorite places to shoot. I also filmed the reception formals including speeches, cake cutting, and dances.

Janelle and Matt didn’t know they would be getting a highlight film, so when I delivered their DVD’s they were thrilled with the result! Janelle wrote me this facebook message a few days later.

I am so glad you did the Highlight Film, I would have really missed it if you only had filmed the ceremony. What you did with our Highlight Film is exactly what you want to remember about your wedding day and why you should have your wedding day filmed in the first place. I just want to watch it over and over again!

Thanks Janelle! And now, here is the Highlight Film…

Lansing, MI – 1/24/2010 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced TruVision Studios has been selected to receive the WeddingWire 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for wedding cinematography and videography!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

TruVision Studios is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes over 100,000 wedding professionals across the US and Canada. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We are happy to announce that TruVision Studios is among the very best wedding cinematographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/truvision.

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