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20 Oct

Posted on October 20, 2018 at 9:00pm in Short Wedding Film, Wedding Videography by

Traveling all around the country, I have seen some of the most spectacular wedding venues but I always love when a couple presents us with a new location or a different twist in their wedding. As a wedding videographer, new locations are always exciting and sometimes challenge me in different ways. When Levi and Bethany contacted me to film their very small wedding (some might even call it an elopement), I was so excited that they said it would take place outdoors, along the seaside bluffs of Mendocino California. I have driven past this part of the coast before and saw how beautifully the ocean and the bluffs all meshed together to create a very serene setting. Also, it was quite perfect that the bride, being a designer, had a great eye for natural beauty. What usually looked like undeveloped and rugged bluffs to most, was transformed into an elegant and timeless sensation to become the perfect venue for the two love birds to exchange their vows in the most intimate of settings. Every detail, no doubt planned by the bride months ahead, was molded to focus on the love the couple shared for each other, surrounded by their parents and siblings. Even their vegan lifestyle was reflected and celebrated on their big day! The two met back in 2012 while attending UPenn just around Valentine’s Day. During the last 6 years, their love has blossomed and as Levi put it, they “are entirely capable independently, but 100% better together.” They have discovered so many great qualities in one another and the two fit together like a “matching puzzle piece.” Levi popped the question around their five-year anniversary, surrounded by close friends, and soon after, they started planning their perfect wedding day. Levi and Bethany wanted to share their big day with a small and intimate crowd and something about exchanging their “I dos” on the cliffs that overlooked the Pacific Ocean made that moment significantly more in tune with nature. The couple both stressed their love for Mother Earth and wanting to capture more of that, we made a...

04 Sep

Posted on September 04, 2018 at 10:39pm in Same Day Edit, Wedding Videography by

Weddings are always very beautiful but something about a wedding in a cathedral makes the ceremony even more breathtaking. I remember driving past the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in the heart of California and thinking how cool it would be to film a wedding there one day. So when Benny & Joanna reached out to us about getting married in the grandest cathedral in Sacramento, I agreed in a heartbeat. While chatting with the couple about their wedding details, it became very evident that Benny & Joanna are very madly in love. I found out that their love story started back in 2002 on Valentine’s Day when they were just 14 years old! How sweet is that? For 15 years, they dated and spent precious moments together until on Joanna’s 30th birthday, surrounded by both families, Benny finally popped the question! Of course Joanna said yes and they started planning a wedding. The couple wanted to choose a cathedral because they wanted to exchange their vows before God in an elegant and timeless setting. Joanna knew that a cathedral would give the perfect romantic feel for their wedding ceremony with its’ high ceilings and classic artwork. This challenged Benny, so he set out to find the greatest cathedral in Sacramento and when he found the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, he knew their wedding guests would be just as awed with the magnificent building. When I entered the building on their wedding day, I was taken back by the grandness of it all and I knew I needed to capture that into our film. I was so excited to finally film in this incredible sanctuary and I got right to work, making sure to get the finest details of their big day. Read more about this wedding. ...

24 Aug

Posted on August 24, 2018 at 2:30pm in Blog, Teaser, Wedding Videography by

We don't usually post wedding teasers on our blog, but I particularly liked this wedding teaser from Vincent & Camy's romantic Napa Wedding at V. Sattui Winery (as I think it has an interesting modern twist to it). This was a destination wedding for this beautiful couple and we were honored to be part of their grand day in Napa Valley, California. This was my first time in V. Sattui winery and I loved every aspect of it. V. Sattui is the Napa Valley’s most romantic destination, where the rolling hills, lush vineyards, and of course the award winning wine served as the perfect place for this couples dream destination wedding in Wine Country. The lower courtyard served as a flawless place for the wedding ceremony and the barrel room completed the reception perfectly. Enjoy this modern twist wedding teaser....

15 Aug

Posted on August 15, 2018 at 2:50pm in Blog, Music Videos, Wedding Videography by

I was very lucky to experience a unique weekend in St. Lucia and be part of Barron and Dana's destination wedding at Royalton St. Lucia. Their wedding was amazing and simply beautiful. After filming their wedding, the couple wanted me to film something very fascinating (for me at least) the next day, a music video on a sail boat set to a new song released by John Legend - A Good Night. They wanted a video that simply shows them and their wedding guests having fun on a boat in the middle of the St. Lucia ocean and so it would look like a music video. Filming the music video was a challenge - it really was. I actually almost lost my DJI drone as the winds over the ocean were way to strong for my tiny drone (but that's another story). The little time we had to shoot during sunset and the few times we played the song, really made it hard to capture all the shots. Somehow, we pulled it off.  This is definitely something different than we usually produce, but I'm happy how this challenging music video from their party on the sail boat turned out. Enjoy this Destination Wedding Music Video!...

09 Aug

Posted on August 09, 2018 at 5:44pm in Blog, Tutorials by

We at Aperina Studios, a wedding videography and wedding photography company, have recently been exploring with updating our underlying technology on how we store, backup, and archive our footage for our media business. Initially, we wanted to approach this with a more conservative method, but then we broadened our horizons and approached our new setup more liberally (with some very promising solutions). We thought that a new way of doing things can help make our wedding business a little bit more secure and future-proof, in terms of file storage. However, along the process, we discovered that we were wrong in many areas. Our end solution that we actually went with, is quite simple and may seem basic. But I wanted to address it as this information may be very beneficial to other wedding photographers or cinematography businesses who may be seeking similar solutions on how to store their wedding footage. Our original setup was fairly simply. Each computer (we have 3 workstation computers total) has either a RAID-0 (stripe raid) or Raid-5 (with failover) that is nightly backed up (a complete copy) to a Synology DS2415+ NAS. This setup is pretty basic and works 100%. The problems we slowly started facing over the years was storage capacity and sharing with multiple computers. So we started searching for an alternative technique. Read this post to learn moree about our in depth search for the perfect media storage solution for our wedding cinematography and photography business. ...

30 Jul

Posted on July 30, 2018 at 12:29pm in Blog, Wedding Videography by

California’s vineyards are world famous for their breathtaking yet simple beauty and this wedding at Nella Terra Vineyards in Sunol, California was exactly that. The endless, golden hills were the perfect canvas for a beautiful sunset, giving every shot contouring dimension. We have filmed a wedding at this vineyard once before and I always yearned to film there again because the scenery gives us so much natural beauty to work into our films. The elegant courtyard and gorgeous background really bring out the best of an outdoor wedding in California, especially in the summer. Angela and Chanh picked Nella Terra Cellars for its secluded beauty and to help highlight a simple, natural look for their wedding. The inspiration for this film came from the groom, Chanh. It was very sweet and enduring how he would get very anxious and nervous before each big moment. When Angela was about to walk down the aisle or when she was walking up for their First Look, Chanh would take a deep breath and almost remind himself to keep breathing. It was evident that even though they dated for six years, Angela still gave him the butterflies! It was quite adorable. So, in order to capture and translate their raw emotions, I decided to use the slow motion technique to film some of their shots and this worked out wonderfully when capturing the sunset shots, which turned out to be one of my favorite moments at this wedding. It couldn’t have been more perfect! The couple’s effortlessly displayed their enamoration for each other and it was very fun capturing that. Their sincere and genuine smiles told us just how much they adored each other and how excited they were to tie the knot with the love of their life. It was very evident that they are meant to be with one another to complete each other. From our wedding cinematographers at Aperina, we wish you nothing but the best in your life together, Angela and Chanh!...

06 Jul

Posted on July 06, 2018 at 12:36pm in Blog, Tutorials by

In this simple tutorial, I want to show you my workflow syncing multi-frame rate (24p, 30p & 60p) footage with Plural Eyes 3.5 and Final Cut Pro 10.3.4. You might wonder why I'm using old software to get my footage synced up, well, it's because it works. And the new updates with FCPX and Plural Eyes 4, they are not so great and I'm having a ton of issues. Plural Eyes 4 itself is a pain to use professionally (it's been dumbed down). So, how to sync footage with frame rates 24p, 30p and 60p together and make sure that it's 100% synced up in Final Cut Pro. The problem with Final Cut 10.4 and Plural Eyes 4, doing a straight basic sync in Plural Eyes will create issues where the footage is not in sync. Many times, the cameras are off by 5 frames, and sometimes as much as 15 frames. That is obviously a problem where we are editing long form edits. The longer the edit, the more out of sync the project will be. Watch the video above to get a quick run down, but I want to list a few important factors. Sync 24p and 48p footage in one Plural Eyes 3.5 Project. Export XML. Import in FCPX 10.3.4 (make sure it's version 10.3.4). This is important as using the new FCPX will cause errors when importing and will cause issues when relinking (mark my words). Sync 30p and 60p footage in a separate Plural Eyes 3.5 project. Make sure you are using the same audio for synching (if you are using one audio source to record) as you want to make sure the projects are the same lengths. Export XML. Import into FCPX 10.3.4 (the same library as the one above). Copy and paste each secondary story line (each camera) one by one. When copying, write down the timecode that the storyline begins on. Paste on the 24p timeline using the start timecode (sometime you have to convert to nearest frame, for example 58th frame is the same as 23rd frame). Be very careful here. Paste one camera at...

12 Apr

Posted on April 12, 2018 at 11:59pm in Blog, Same Day Edit by

I remember visiting the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco a few years ago and imagining how awesome it would be to film a wedding there. The historical architecture and quaint scenery had such a romantic touch. So imagine my eagerness when Amrit (an awesome wedding planner) connected us with Harman and Sonia and told us that the wedding will be at the Fairmont Hotel. I scheduled a call with the couple and made sure that we were the wedding cinematography and wedding photography team to film this beautiful Indian wedding in the lovely city of San Francisco. Though we have filmed numerous Sikh Indian Weddings before and have an outstanding wedding cinematography portfolio under our belt, we still approach every wedding with intentional creativity and attentiveness. Many times before, we have included the reception Grand Entrance into the Same Day Edit, and that on it’s own is very complex. However, I wanted to test our limits a bit further and for this wedding, we wanted to include the First Dance in the video as well. While I was planning it all out beforehand, the pre-filming butterflies and jitters set in. I knew this addition would demand a high-level of coordination and skill but I trusted in my team’s ability. As I looked at the reception itinerary, I figured out that I have only 12 minutes to edit the First Dance into the Same Day Edit before the video was set to play. Luckily, several speeches were scheduled to happen throughout the reception and the wedding planner shifted those speeches around to give me about 22 minutes before go time. Secretly, I was hoping those speakers to give a longer speech but with speeches, the length is usually unpredictable. It turned out, I only got 18 minutes to edit the film, but fortunately, that was plenty of time to work our magic out onto the screen. Not only was I able to include the Grand Entrance but I also edited in the First Dance flawlessly. One of the most humbling and inspiring moments for our team is watching the couple and guests enjoy the...

12 Feb

Posted on February 12, 2018 at 5:33pm in Blog, Engagements, Photography by

Every couple has a unique story of how they met and it’s so warming to see how that story has blossomed. Sahil and Natasha’s story began a few years ago, when they met in San Francisco. This city now means a lot to them so they wanted to take their wedding engagement photos along the coast in San Francisco. But because the photos turned out really cool in the end, I have a feeling that this was the first of many color smoke bomb photography sessions for me. Initially, the couple mentioned they wanted to take photos in nature and by the shoreline. When we got there, we took a few snaps but then I noticed some huge rocks in the background. In my mind, I conjured an image of how the rocks will provide the perfect contrast for the color bombs the couple brought along for some fun shots. We all went on a mini hike and once we got to the rocks, we also noticed some artistic graffiti on the rocks. Using all the props nature (and other artists) presented to us, I got right to work. This was my first shoot working with color bombs so I honestly did not know what to expect. I was worried the wind in SF wouldn’t allow us to capture much of the color bombs but coincidentally, the weather that day was very still and perfect. Also, I noticed that the color bombs created a haze in the distance and we incorporated that too into our shoot. As you can see in the final photos, the haze added a perfect touch to the romantic evening and allowed me to shoot elegant and intimate photos of these lovebirds. Enjoy this Indian Engagement Session with Color Bombs!...

15 Jan

Posted on January 15, 2018 at 11:00am in Blog, Short Wedding Film, Wedding Videography by

Winter weddings have a special place in our hearts. There is something so magical about weddings in the holiday season, and this wedding reminded us why we love them so much! The mild weather, beautiful lighting, and calm atmosphere are all great reasons to get married in the winter. Madison & Immanuel wanted to go for a regal, elegant fairy tale wedding. Immanuel dressed the part in a dapper black tux, and Madison donned a stunning gown with gorgeous lace sleeves. And her crown is to die for! The glamours details, gold color scheme, and subtle Disney touches all perfectly tied in to their royal wedding....

13 Dec

Posted on December 13, 2017 at 4:04pm in Blog, Short Wedding Film, Wedding Videography by

As wedding videographers, we are thrilled when a couple requests us to travel across the country and capture the big day of their love story. It’s always interesting to see how the town has shaped the couple, especially when the bride and groom come from different cultures. The wedding of Jason and Rupal took place in Little Rock, Arkansas and because it was a Destination Wedding for us (and many of the guests), filming their 3-day wedding was truly a memorable weekend filled with emotional, ethnic, and tender moments. Upon arriving to Little Rock the day before all the festivities began, we spent our first day visiting the historic downtown of this city. We took our drone out and filmed some awesome shots of the city, making sure to capture some patriotic symbols, as we learned the groom was in the military. We met with the bride before the first events, and let me tell you - all the folks who said how sweet she is during their speeches, were not exaggerating one bit. Rupal was so respectful and trusting. She welcomed us with a warm heart, though we never met before. Working with a couple that trusts your skills is so refreshing. It allows us to capture our footage without any reservations and the atmosphere is so pleasant to work in. Read More. ...