April + Adam's Xcaret, Mexico Wedding Highlights

What an amazingly fun wedding this was! April and Adam's wedding was held at Xcaret Eco Park just outside Playa del Carmen, Mexico. This 200 acre park had so much diversity, from a turtle filled lagoon, Jaguars, Mayan Ruins to a spectacular underground cave! The ceremony took place at St. Francis chapel followed by a cocktail hour at the ancient Mayan ruins. The guests then walked down a spiral path with warriors blowing into conch shells that led into this giant, amazing cave where the reception was held. It was breathtaking!

We had such a great time working with Adam and April, you can tell that they had the time of their lives as well. I love our couples, they are awesome!

Congrats Jess + Tom

We filmed Jess and Tom's amazing wedding at Lakeway Resort outside of Austin TX this past weekend. It was amazing! Thanks for having us be apart of your big day! Trailer coming soon.

Kristin + Justin's Wedding Trailer - W Hotel Dallas

Kristin & Justin's wedding was amazing! Jordan Payne Events set the stage for another drop dead gorgeous day. The ceremony was held at Highland Park Methodist Church in Dallas followed by the reception at the W Hotel.

Kristin & Justin wrote their own vows, I love it when my couples do this! It gives you beautiful glimpse into their lives and the love they share. After the ceremony the party started at the W Hotel and went on well into the night. After the confetti flew they finished with a flower pedal exit and off to their honeymoon.

Here is their wedding trailer!




Kristin + Justin's ingredients -

Ceremony - Highland Park Methodist Church

Reception - W Hotel Dallas

Flowers + Event Planning - Jordan Payne Events

DJ - Andy Austin

Congrats to Yamilet + Jordan

Last week we had the pleasure of filming Yamilet and Jordan's wedding in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was an amazing day filled with love and laughter with family and friends. Their unique New Orleans Saints theme was awesome, I can't wait to share all the details! We will have their wedding trailer up soon, but for now here are a couple screen grabs from the wedding day.

"City of Lakes" Feature - Udaipur, India

We posted the trailer for this concept wedding film last month. Myself along with 4 other studios spent 10 days in India filming both the actual wedding and staged film scenes. Read more from the director Kevin Shahinian -

"What happens to a dream when it becomes reality?

Does it still exist somewhere, in some ethereal place, waiting to come to fruition again?

Could a fictional narrative capture an emotional state, and the true meaning behind a real, live event with more drama and conviction than a traditional documentary?

These were just some of the questions that arose when I took on the “CITY OF LAKES” project late last year. First, it would become an unprecedented attempt to combine a fully scripted, produced film with Melissa & Samir's real, live wedding, with intention of creating one, seamless film. Second, the live wedding and production would be shot entirely on-location in Udaipur, India over a period of nine days. Third, the skeleton crew I would commission would be made up solely of live event filmmakers from across North America, who would shoot the live wedding events and production simultaneously & exclusively on DSLRs, the Canon 5D MarkII and Canon 7D.

“CITY OF LAKES” is as much a documentary about what it means to return to the birthplace of one’s ancestors, as it is an exploration of the Hindu faith, and the rituals of a Hindu marriage. Central to this is the Ganesh puja, which in simple terms, is a prayer over a fire believed to invoke the spirit of Ganesh, a great deity and protector, who can remove all obstacles from one’s path. The puja is performed several times in the film and carries great significance to the plot and characters in both literal and metaphoric ways.

Melissa & Samir had always dreamed of being married in India. We hope this film helps them cherish that dream. But it could not have been without the acting talents of Anubhab Saha, Sharon Chawda and Rushad Rana, who were consummate professionals and a joy to work with. It also could not have been without the support of our sponsors: Canon, who provided two pre-production 7Ds and a host of L-series lenses; Tiffen, who provided all of our lighting; and Cinevate, who sent us much needed gear and sponsored an incredible behind-the-scenes campaign viewable at Cinevate.com.

The challenges were immediate, abundant and frequent. At times, we were certain the film was destined for failure; I often wondered if the film was too ambitious to execute. But what resulted was due in no small part to a crew made up of live event filmmakers who deal routinely in making the spontaneous appear staged. We're proud to share Melissa & Samir’s ‘hybrid’ feature, “CITY OF LAKES,” which hopefully achieves more than a documentary, and perhaps at the same time, more than a scripted film.

There is a final question we hope you’ll find difficult to answer as you watch our film. In more ways than one, try to answer:

What is real?

Thanks for watching,
-Kevin




Pacific Pictures presents “CITY OF LAKES”
Starring Melissa Kumar, Samir Shah, Anubhab Saha, Sharon Chawda & Rushad Rana
Written & Directed by Kevin Shahinian
Produced by Kevin Shahinian & Patrick Moreau
Line Producer Pravin Thakur
Director of Photography Patrick Moreau
2nd Unit Director Joe Simon
2nd Unit Steadicam Casey Warren
Film Editor Kevin Shahinian
Jib Operator Chris Geiger
Set Photographer Amish Solanki

"City of Lakes" Trailer - Udaipur, India

In September I traveled to Uaaipur, India to shoot a concept wedding film with a few of my great filmmaking friends. Kevin Shahinian wrote and directed this movie, it was an amazing experience that I will never forget! This is only the beginning of collaboration filmmaking, and I can't wait to see where this takes weddings.

There are so many ways to tell a story...

And so much a marriage symbolizes. So many questions it tends to raise: What is love? What is faith? It was our hope to explore these themes in a far more dramatically engaging way than we felt possible in a traditional documentary... Perhaps there is more within this story then meets the eye.

In the fall of 2009, Melissa & Samir embarked on an incredible journey to Udaipur, India, to fulfill a lifelong dream of having their wedding in the country of their ancestry. This transcendent place, affectionately called the "CITY OF LAKES," located in the breathtaking region of Rajasthan, would be the setting for their extravagant, three-day marriage celebration, and the backdrop of our unprecedented film production - shot entirely on-location. We believe this to be the first ever live event/scripted concept production 'hybrid' film produced on this scale.

We hope you enjoy the trailer for "CITY OF LAKES" and look forward to sharing the film with you soon.

Pacific Pictures presents "CITY OF LAKES"

View on ExposureRoom

A complete list of cast & crew credits is viewable at PacificPicturesblog.com/blog

Pacific Pictures presents "CITY OF LAKES"
Starring Melissa Kumar, Samir Shah, Anubhab Saha, Sharon Chawda & Rushad Rana
Written & Directed by Kevin Shahinian
Produced by Kevin Shahinian & Patrick Moreau
Line Producer Pravin Thakur
Director of Photography Patrick Moreau
2nd Unit Director Joe Simon
2nd Unit Steadicam Casey Warren
Film Editor Kevin Shahinian
Jib Operator Chris Geiger
Set Photographer Amish Solanki

Patty + Danny's Wedding Trailer, Key West

Patty & Danny had a really fun wedding in Key West Florida. It was held at Nine One Five restaurant right on Duval St. We spent most of the day filming the preps, first look and photo session. It was really hard making this trailer because we had so many amazing shots!

I really wanted to make a tease of this one and not give away too much, you'll have to wait for the Highlights film to see the story unfold!

Congrats Patty and Danny! Thanks for having us out, you guys are awesome!



Special thanks to Ryan Koral from Epic Motion for coming out to shoot with me!

Patty & Danny's ingredients -

Venue - Nine One Five
Photographer - Tim Wong from Timecut Foto
Hair + Makeup - Marie-Pierre Sander
Dress Designer - Stephanie James Couture

EventDV Magazine Cover

It's been a busy fall for us. I love this time of year in Austin, the crisp air returns and makes for some amazing outdoor weddings. This past weekend we had a shoot at www.greenpasturesrestaurant.com , the weather was perfect!

We have been shooting from coast to coast over the past two months. A beautiful ranch wedding in Santa Barbra and a sea breeze wedding in Key West. Trailers will be coming soon for these two gorgeous events!

I wanted to share a couple of cool things that have been happening in our world lately. I was blessed to find out that I along with a few other amazing filmmakers ended up on the cover of www.eventdv.com magazine this month. You can find the article about "Fusion" here - EventDV Article

I also just returned from a trip to San Francisco where I was part of a conference teaching about wedding filmmaking. It was called Re:Frame. I had an amazing time talking and learning from other industry pros. San Francisco is a great city with lots of inspiration for a visual artist, it gave me a chance to breath and shoot some really fantastic scenery. I will also be talking at the upcoming In[Focus] event in January here in Austin. It's going to be an great event, so if you missed Re:Frame and want to learn more about wedding filmmaking I suggest you sign up.

I will be posting a lot of new clips over the next month, so keep checking back for more beautiful weddings! Let me leave you with a new edit from my talk at Re:Frame, this is a collection of recent Time-lapses.

Joe Simon on Film Fellas Web Series

FilmFellas: Zacuto Films presents 10 webisodes highlighting avant-garde wedding filmmaking and cinematic storytelling. Cast Four and Five will discuss the changing model of wedding videography and the emergence of Wedding Filmmaking with full-scale productions, camera movement, special effects, scripted concept films, same day edits and more. Steve Weiss, Director of FilmFellas, who started his own film career from 1981 to 1984 by making what was then called, wedding videos, returns to the table along with six exceptional FilmFellas cast members who are changing the landscape of wedding videography/filmmaking/cinematography.

Starting August 5th, Zacuto Films will release their first webisode of FilmFellas Cast Four: “The Artistic Wedding ~ One Take.” Offering a fresh perspective to the fellas cast, Kristen* (Bliss* Video Productions) discusses branding her unique style as a Couture Wedding Filmmaker. “My Job,” states Kristen*, “allows me to be a documentary filmmaker shooting weddings.” John Goolsby, known as The Godfather of Wedding Videography, and a prolific wedding film producer at (www.weddingvideo.com), elaborates on his model of producing over 250 videos a year. Rounding out this cast, Joe Simon (Joe Simon Productions), whose cinematic filmmaking creates some of the most magical, movie-trailer wedding films in the industry, discusses his approach to creating a film for a couple with the same passion and expertise as his independent films. FilmFellas Cast Four Webisodes: Aug 5, Sept 9, Oct 7, Nov 11, & Dec 9, 2009.

To learn more about these featured filmmakers, view behind the scenes footage, watch previous FilmFellas webisodes, and get a sneak peek at other soon to be released Zacuto Films Productions, visit www.Zacuto.com. Starting Aug 5th, watch exclusive full episodes of Cast 4 at http://www.zacuto.com/filmfellas-cast-4 . FilmFellas Cast Five: “The Epic Wedding,” premieres August 12th and Critic’s a new show with Philip Bloom and Steve Weiss premieres August 17th. For more information visit www.zacuto.com .

Joe Simon Productions on Event DV Top 25 list!!

This past week Joe Simon Productions was named to EventDV Magazine's list of the 25 Hottest and Most Influential event filmmaking studios in the industry. We were very humbled to receive this honor, especially since you are voted in by other studios around the world.

This recognition would not be possible without the dedication and hard work of our main visual artists Joel Moody and Hussain Pirani! And of course this would not be possible without our amazing couples! Thanks for all the support.

You can view the awards video here - www.eventdv-tv.com

We are just beginning the 2009 wedding season and look forward to shooting your event this year!!