February 25, 2025 • 49 mins
Welcome to Episode 63 of the Wed.Co Podcast. Today, Toga sit’s down with the More Life Films team for a chat about running a high quality Video studio who only take a select number of films per year. This one was filmed at Ravella in Newcastle and the opening film was filmed and put together by More Life Films.
In this episode of the Wedco podcast, we discuss the journey of More Life Films, a wedding filmmaking company, exploring their team dynamics, the importance of having multiple shooters at weddings, and the contrasting approaches to editing.
We also delve into the competitive landscape of the wedding industry, the evolving structure of weddings, and defining moments that contributed to their business growth. In this conversation, we discuss their experiences and insights in the wedding videography industry.
They emphasize the importance of creating memorable experiences for couples, the art of collaboration and creativity, and the significance of capturing unique wedding stories. The discussion also covers the power of editing in wedding films, tips for couples choosing the right videographer, and the growing relationships with wedding planners. They reflect on their future directions and the balance between travel and client expectations in their work.
Takeaways
- Team dynamics play a crucial role in successful filmmaking.
- Having two shooters allows for comprehensive coverage of events.
- Editing styles can vary greatly between filmmakers.
- Weddings are becoming less structured and more free-flowing.
- Personal connections with couples enhance the filming experience. Couples value the presence and effort of their videographers.
- It's essential to feel part of the wedding rather than just the help.
- Creativity thrives on collaboration and brainstorming.
- Every wedding is a unique story waiting to be told.
- Editing is where the magic of a wedding film happens.
- Full-length films capture the essence of the day better than previews.
- Building relationships with planners can lead to more bookings.
- Being easy to work with is crucial in the wedding industry.
- Limiting the number of weddings allows for better quality work.
- Traveling for weddings can enhance the experience for both videographers and couples.
Your support enables us to bring more enriching conversations and insights to both engaged couples and wedding professionals.
Stay connected with us on Instagram at @wed.copodcast and watch all your favorite wedding professionals on our YouTube channel @wed.copodcast.
Catch our episodes on major podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, and IheartRadio, all under WedCo Podcast.
Join us for our next episode on the Wed.Co Podcast, where we continue to explore the
mesmerizing and ever-changing landscape of weddings.
Toga xxx
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to the Wedco podcast, your ultimate guide to the wedding world.
Whether you're a bride, groom or wedding vendor, this is the place to be.
Join us as we dive into real stories, expert advice and behind the scenes insights to helpyou plan the perfect day.
So grab a seat and let's celebrate love, connection and creativity together.
Before we get into this episode, I'd love to ask you a super quick and easy favor.
(00:24):
If you're enjoying the Wedco podcast, please hit that follow button on Apple, Spotify orYouTube.
It might seem small, but it makes a huge difference in helping the podcast grow and meansI can keep bringing on amazing vendors to share their insights with you.
Thank you so much for your support.
truly means the world.
Hello and welcome to the word co podcast.
I'm Toga.
And today I have the boys from more life on the couch with me.
Thank you so much for coming on boys.
(00:46):
No, it's, it's same thing.
I say it.
I asked people who do we need on the show?
And, there's a lot of people looking towards you guys for like setting the standard forfilms at the moment.
So yeah, really appreciate you taking the time to come down as well.
It's really good.
Nice start.
Happy to be here.
absolute pleasure.
It's such a real
So yeah, usually we'll kind of start with, I guess, a rundown of, you know, how the brandcame to be, you know, how long you've been in the industry and kind of how it's evolved to
(01:13):
the point where more life films is now.
Amazing.
So I guess kicking off, yeah, essentially I've been filming sort of since school days,just sort of the, you the old pick up the camera and see how you go.
yeah, sort of Elliot and I sort of, like I was doing sort of commercial work and filmingweddings, so, know, when you're younger, your family friend, you film sort of thing.
(01:38):
So sort of a dislike, yeah.
can come film weddings and it sort of went from there and I was sort of working full timeand did a few weddings here and there.
And also doing a bit of commercial work and yeah, randomly one weekend guy who wasshooting a wedding with me one day was like, I can't come.
His wife was expecting a baby pretty soon.
(02:01):
So he essentially said, I'll film the ceremony, but I can't do the reception because I'vegot to get home.
And another guy who I was surfing with at the time sort of
prior the week before was just like, Oh, there's this young guy.
He's like super keen.
shooting skating.
He's really, really good.
Like he's really keen to do some more work.
And it was Elliot.
So I literally texted Elliot like midday.
(02:22):
Like this guy was like shot the ceremony.
Then he was like, I've got to go.
I can't shoot the reception.
I was just like, Oh, what are going to do?
It was like a 200 person Macedonian wedding.
I was like,
I was a young froth.
Shooting skating and my first ever event I would almost say was walking into 200 personMacedonian wedding at Newcastle town hall with zero film experience having never met John.
(02:44):
Yeah, it literally, yeah, literally turns out with his glide cam and a Canon 60D, it says,what do want me to do?
And, and then like a week later, we were shooting like a car rally event and, um, like thenext month and the same guy was like, I can't commit to anything anymore.
Newborn.
So I said, Elliot, want to come along?
And literally that's how we went from there.
And, um, yeah, we were shooting weddings and then, um, yeah, on and off.
(03:08):
And this is what is like 2014.
So like 10 years ago now.
Yeah, John's a touch older than I am.
he was filming on tape days.
So he's got a lot of history and a lot of knowledge behind a camera.
And then I just came in as a full grime, just figuring out like, yeah, what is this?
What is this whole scene?
And John's pretty much taught me everything I know as far as filming, which has beenpretty exciting.
(03:29):
So, yeah, then, we sort of went from there and then basically, yeah, I sort of withChelsea at the same time.
And then it got to like 27 and she's like, I was working full time and filming like 20weddings a year.
And it's just like, it was a lot.
And, she said, like, you've got to do it.
Like, you've just got to make the plunge and go full time.
And, yeah, we just quit the job and Elliot and I basically, we booked, feel like the weekafter I quit the job, like everything just fell into place for us.
(03:57):
And we sort of started booking.
weddings more consistently and, um, then Chelsea come on board full time, um, around 2019.
Um, and I feel like, yeah, she's really like sort of taken us to where we are now in termsof just having that different dynamic.
And, uh, yeah, she's really got a really nice creative eye and, um, sort of keeps her incheck really.
(04:20):
So what does Chelsea do?
Is she shooting in the company as well?
Yeah.
So she, she has no, had no background in filming or anything like that before she met me.
But yeah, she sort of picked up a camera around, yeah, the 2019, 2020, early 2020 mark.
And yeah, she shoots, we basically between Elliot and her, I shoot most of our weddings.
(04:42):
And then Elliot and her, I split the second shooting.
Elliot shoots with me, like half and Chelsea will shoot the other half.
And then from time to time, Elliot will go on to a job with a, like a network of other.
You can tell John's a good teacher.
He taught me how to shoot weddings, what they are, everything about it.
But then certainly taught Chelsea how to shoot and she's just like excelled.
(05:03):
And it's awesome.
It's really cool to see.
Like we shot probably 300 weddings together before Chelsea started.
And like the rate at which Chelsea has sort of grown into a film and like the way shelooks at stuff coming in fairly fresh into the scene and just like this whole new sort of
avenue and going, Hey, just here's a camera.
Elliot can't be here today or Elliot's away or we can't book him, go shoot.
(05:24):
And just seeing what she comes back with is pretty cool.
Yeah.
through her into the deep end of a lot of things.
Cause she, she often goes, you never trained me.
I'm like, no, but you've just got, she's got a really, really good eye.
And, yeah, she also like, calls all that footage.
So she's, and she's done that for years before she sort of come on full time shooting aswell.
So she really knew what we, how we shoot in our style.
And she really guided us as well in different directions on what like advises me withediting and things like that as well.
(05:51):
she also does a lot of social media and, and, emails and she's basically our first pointof contact as well.
So.
She's a very big part of the team.
Cause I find like that, that is the way there's a lot of guys have been doing this for along time.
And this is how I film.
I was speaking to a few other film is up in Byron and same thing, like, then they'll havelike, a wife or a business partner is like, no, but you need to include this footage in
(06:13):
the reels.
know, like it's, it's all about, we're going to zoom into this and we're to pan up hereand do this.
Whereas all he wants to do is he's slow cinematic and he loves that.
But she's like, no, this is where the market is now.
And like without that team member, they would never have pushed into that market as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
I think you're describing Chelsea.
She's on the, she's on the pulse.
Chelsea is absolutely on the pulse and it's it's really cool to see.
(06:36):
nothing ever gets delivered without her like watching it.
So she reviews everything that I edit basically and sneak peeks from sneak peeks to fullfilm.
She's basically, and her and I collaborate on music and everything like that.
And she's, yeah, she's really, really good.
Don't know what we'd do without it to be honest.
So let's, okay, so do you have two filmers at every one of your weddings?
(06:58):
Yeah.
Why?
we've always had to, basically just logistically is probably one of the main strong pointsis, I'm someone who loves to shoot and just loves to shoot everything, anything and
everything on the day.
So like, love having camera in my hand and just being able to basically capture anythingand everything.
we've always found with the two of us, we have the ability to sort of cover everythingfrom the start of the day to the end of the day.
(07:23):
Really?
Well, there's always one of us capturing any given sort of event on the day.
So.
a good example is like prep.
So, like usually if we've got bride prep or, you know, one of the partners is, you know,basically one of us can be at the ceremony setting up, do all that sort of set up.
set the audio and everything up.
(07:43):
The other one can stay at prep, and shoot basically right up until they really, reallyneed to leave.
Whilst the other one's out there sort of getting shots of guests arriving, one of thepartners arriving to the ceremony.
and sort of just getting those little.
in between shots that if you buy yourself, sort of, I've shot weddings by myself before.
(08:04):
And, um, to be honest, I just find having the two of us is just, it makes an easier dayfor us, but also for the couple.
Um, we just get so much more footage that we can utilize in the edit.
Um, and also with the edit, the other side of it is we just get yelled to get the, theability to yell, you know, get different angles and things like that.
Um, ceremony is a good one.
(08:25):
We always have like a different angle of like.
the entries and the exits and things like that.
So many, so many pinch points throughout the day.
And I feel like, yeah, like John said, we're both filmed so many wedding solo and youjust, have that moment where you, and I guess from a creative perspective, you might be
filming the couple exit down the island.
go, man, that would be a good shot from there.
(08:45):
And I think we've had enough of those moments throughout the day that you go, you know,then, and John sort of set that standard from a very early day.
Like I've never shot a more life wedding that isn't with John or isn't with two people,even,
Yeah, everything we do is too, but just because there are so many of those moments whereyou just look and you go, wish there was another one of me here standing over there in
somewhere else shooting it.
(09:06):
Um, and I think, yeah, the gear side of things, video is very gear heavy and you don'treally want it to be gear heavy.
You want all that to feel seamless and you don't, they don't ever want to see the coupleseeing you move a tripod around or rushing.
Like I guess that pre-ceremony, you're at bride prep right up until, um, yeah, theceremony and then all of a sudden you're running down the
aisle with a tripod to quickly set something up and you're lapelling the groom as he'ssort of standing up waiting for the bride to come down.
(09:32):
You're like, let's just, let's just ease into the day.
And I think we both then enjoy the day and you just feel so much more comfortable filmingit.
you don't feel rushed and that reflects on the way you look and the way you sort ofproduce the content as well.
Yeah, just, yeah, it makes it much more, yeah.
I feel, I feel for the couple, like in terms of, yeah, at the end they see footage thatthey're not necessarily there at part of it in the day as well.
(09:56):
So if they have to go for portrait shoot, often one of us will hang at cocktail hour iftime's limited.
So we can get more of that sort of footage.
One of us can go shoot details of the reception while the other one sort of with thecouple and hanging around.
There's so many little moments throughout the day that we love to have in our films thatif you just not...
If you've got to be off, as Elliot said, setting things up and moving logistics and likedoing logistics and things like that, you're just not going to get that footage.
(10:20):
So having the two of us there has always made that difference.
Even though they're saying like when the brides walk down the aisle and you're kind of inthe middle of the aisle and you're locked off because you like, just want to make sure
those tripods are like, you know, something's in focus and like just having the two of youand it like that good.
Like, yeah, that's good.
Okay, cool.
Exactly.
We've developed such like a silent fun language.
think as well, like we've worked together for so long now that it's just a simple glance.
(10:41):
And it's like, you just look at him, look at John or John looks at me and it's like, yeah,you go check the cameras to recording or just like someone just, you just hold your hand
up to your ear and it's like, cool.
Yeah.
He's going to go check audio.
And it's like just having that and not having to miss a moment because now you're thinkingabout, is the audio recording or is the backup running?
Yeah.
That's super nice.
It's just, you can get by by yourself, it's never ideal.
(11:04):
yeah, that's like, we talked about like setting up tripods for a ceremony and thengrandma's arrive and she's hugging the groom and you're like, I need to set up the tripod.
Also this.
exactly.
Yeah, you've to make a decision on what is more important at that moment.
And often by the time, know, if you were halfway through doing something, by the time youpick the camera up and you record focus, you're like, that moment's passed anyway.
(11:26):
yeah, that's, I've always been very, very firm on having two of us there.
And, we've always included two, two shooters in all everything that we do.
So I will, I know you're different to this, so I'm just going to put this out there.
So what I sell my couples on is I suck at editing.
I suck at color.
I suck at audio.
So I've got a team that I've built out overseas and they look after that.
(11:47):
You very much pride yourself like, and definitely the weddings you do, you can tell likethere's the filmers who are super artistic and you can tell everything goes into that
wedding edit and everything goes into the wedding, which is very much where your camp is.
Why am I wrong the way I do it?
Like I want like, what's your selling point?
Like why are you.
why I cover this book.
Yeah.
I mean, there's no right or wrong answer.
(12:08):
Like, will a hundred cents stand by that because, having external editing is, like, yeah,if you can get editing to do it, like to do it.
Yeah.
Great.
Like, but I've another one of those things that I've, I guess I'm stuck in my ways alittle bit, but I love editing and I love shooting.
I love doing it.
I love literally love doing both of it.
And, we always tell couples that we're only a small team or a team of three.
(12:33):
And then we, as I said before, we have like a
a few second shooters that we call upon if we've got two weddings on one day.
So Elliot will go and I'll go with Chelsea.
basically I do, handle Chelsea and I handle all of our post-production.
We always have.
So.
I have this really beautiful role at Mola Films that I second shoot all the weddings.
(12:54):
So since that very first Macedonian wedding I shot, I second shoot, I turn off on the day,I give a hundred percent and then I hand over the cards.
I live in a world where it feels like those films that I've filmed do get editedexternally and that person is John.
And like, to be honest, it's quite fun because I...
(13:16):
it does allow me to put a hundred percent energy into the day.
Cause obviously the pre the prep for a wedding, the wedding day, and then obviously thepost-production is such a mental drain as well.
Like John absolutely loves it, but it can be a lot in terms of just volume.
So having being myself being a shooter, I can definitely just turn up on every day andjust give a hundred percent.
And I feel like it takes a little bit of the edge off Johnny to be like, man, I'm here.
(13:38):
Like this is, this is all I'm thinking about today.
You can think about the post-production later, but for me, I can just sort of smash it anddo the day.
Yeah.
And then I almost get a fun little preview teaser when the bride gets there with the brideof the groom or the couple or whoever it is gets their film.
get to sort of say, I shot my, I get this little teaser because I love watching the editsthat John creates and the way he creates them.
(14:03):
And we've had this chat and like, I myself can't even just recreate what John creates.
So like I'm probably the closest person that John could technically outsource to.
Obviously I'm at More Laugh.
but I'm the closest person and I can't even get close and I film all the footage.
So yeah, it's probably been that that just John's the way he edits.
just like, I don't know how to recreate it.
(14:25):
It's just too good.
grind hits the grind sitting in front of the computer screen.
Yeah.
Just sort of.
Just, yeah, I dunno.
Just I've always just, yeah, I love, I love the editing.
love the process.
I really love developing the couple story.
love getting to know the couple from when they initially inquire with us.
So as I said, Chelsea hands on the initial inquiry, but if they recall like I'm the personthat jumps on the call, the couple, we booked them in.
(14:48):
just love getting to know them throughout the whole process, getting to know who they are.
And then really
Shooting on the day, I find we really get a good personal connection.
We've always been, one of the highest, biggest values in shooting weddings is reallyhaving good, good relationships with the couple, the family, the guests, anyone and
everyone at the wedding and capturing everyone as part of that celebration and bringingthat all together in the edit, knowing I was there.
(15:13):
I feel, I just feel like I've got a really good grasp of sort of how the day felt and whothey are.
when I deliver the film,
feel like we can give them a really, really good perspective of sort of who they are aspeople at that point in time.
So when they watch it back in years to come, they can go, wow, like we, we, this is who weare.
(15:34):
This is what, what our wedding was about.
And it really reflects them and they can like sort of look back and be fond and proud.
And yeah, it's for, you know, if they've got kids or other family members and years tocome, they get a really good idea of who they are as people in that point in time as well.
think coming back to your question in terms of right or wrong.
Yeah.
I don't, certainly don't think it's wrong.
Like I run my own film business as well.
(15:55):
we have editors that do other work for us.
And I think if you can find an editor that you're stoked on their work is like to a pointwhere you're, you're happy with it.
The couple's happy with it.
Then I think it's definitely an avenue to go down.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Just with us, we're only small, like we only do a limited number of weddings a year aswell.
So, the editing, you know, as much as it does, you know, we have a constant queue ofediting, but we spend the time we need to on every single edit.
(16:23):
And like myself and Chelsea will make sure that, you know, every edit gets treated withthe care and passion that it deserves.
And when we send it, we're confident knowing that our couples are going to love our films.
Yeah.
I'm just trying to work out the, um, they obviously photo video is huge at the moment.
You guys are really good at what you do.
(16:43):
I'm trying to work out like, how do you find the competition?
I'm kind of mid market, I would say.
so it's actually quite easy.
95 % of my jobs are photo video, but they're also not like the couples I get aren'tlooking for the high quality that you guys provide.
So it's how do you.
How do you differentiate yourself?
Like we do films, this is what we do.
(17:05):
We do everything, know, limited numbers.
How do you differentiate yourself from all the studios now that are doing photo and video?
just trying to keep putting out good work.
Yeah, I think at that point you're just relying on the work to speak for itself, I guess.
Yeah, we, we like, yeah, we, we're not huge on social media either.
We're not like massive share.
(17:26):
Like we don't share heaps on social media.
We're kind of a bit quieter compared to some people, guess.
But, um, we, we like to, you know, share quality and, we like to think that our couples,you know, word of mouth and, um, relationships within the wedding industry is, you know, I
(17:47):
think
is sort of the backbone of most successful wedding vendors really.
Yeah, basically, yeah, as I said, just keep trying to do really, really good work, tryingto always do something new in, know, innovate with our shooting and trying to, you know,
not sort of rest in our laurels and try and just, you know, continually, continuallyimprove really is.
Yeah, I think the innovation has been a pretty, I mean, we've now been filming weddingsfor 10 years and like the industry has changed so much in the last 10 years.
(18:14):
And I think it's been interesting to see where it goes.
I mean, yeah, seeing the different work we put out and sort of then where the industrygoes and sort of either keep trying to keep ahead of that.
It's quite exciting to John.
John is constantly testing me to try new things, which is cool.
And I think as a second shooter, it sort of gives, mean, that may be another reason why wehave a second shooter.
It gives that person a little bit of freedom to be creative.
(18:36):
instead of just documenting the day, think if you're just documenting the day, like that'sgreat.
But I love if I'm filming and go, Hey, Johnny, I've got this, I've got this scene covered.
Go have fun.
Like go get some shots of the couple's gonna see and go, wow, where, where was he?
Where did, how did he get that shot?
Like it's maybe it's a up on the balcony shot, looking down over the ceremony that thecouple just wouldn't even thought of or little moments throughout the day where yeah,
(18:58):
having that second person, you go get creative, innovate, have fun, and really set thestandard for maybe that next film that comes out in a couple of months.
Yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a tough market.
Like, you know, as you know, like, uh, yeah, the wedding industry, it's yeah, there's lotsof weddings.
There's lots of weddings around as different market segments for everyone.
And, um, yeah, I just think, um, if, as long as we are continually trying to do new thingsand, and, you know, keep pushing ourselves with our work and putting out good work.
(19:29):
Um, I like to think that, you know, we'll continually attract couples that sort ofhonorable costs.
for just video.
And yeah, we work with lots of different photography.
We work with different photographers all the time, but we do work with a lot of the samephotographers who just do photo.
think while it's not directly a package that they're booking for their video, think a lotof our couples that possibly see us work alongside a different photographer, they again
(19:53):
love that their mate who was that couple who got some amazing photos, amazing videos, andthey essentially book us more or less as a package.
Yeah.
They'll look at, yeah, who was on a certain wedding together and, yeah, certainphotographers were often booked on weddings together.
And, I think my biggest thing in couples like being video focused and working withphotographers around photo focus is that couples really do their research and pick a photo
(20:20):
team and a video team that really worked well together and the styles are in sync andmatched.
I guess when you've got a photo video combination, that's naturally going to happenbecause they work together all the time.
But generally most of our couples through the photographer they book and then us, they cansort of see the coloration in the work is what naturally it sort of just happens that way.
(20:41):
So that's, yeah, as I said, we often work with similar photographers.
We're happy to work with anyone and everyone really.
And we're always really good at building relationships with photographers, some of ourbest friends in the industry of photographers.
I still, I still believe that like, obviously all my work is photo video, but I still feellike if you're going to be at the top of the game and I was a couple looking for photo and
(21:02):
video, I'd feel like the best just do photo and the best just do video.
Like, I don't think as, as good as you get at doing both, if you guys like, this is whatwe do.
And I think it's almost just implied by the couple that it has to be better because we'rejust doing video.
Yeah, I think there's definitely aspects of that.
like we, we work with a lot of teams that do photo video.
(21:25):
And I mean, one of their biggest strong points is obviously that, they work together alot.
But yeah, I'd absolutely rest on the fact that we, because we just solid video, that isthe focus.
So yeah.
So what, is a typical wedding?
Are they all so different that you couldn't really have a typical like what's a weddingthat more life film at the moment?
What does that kind of look like these days?
(21:47):
to be honest, they're getting, I've noticed weddings getting less structured, be honest.
Less structured is what I've found with a lot of the weddings that we're shooting.
a lot of the weddings that we're shooting, the, it's, it's really, it's obviously, youknow, most weddings have still got a prep ceremony, after ceremony, cocktail hour,
(22:08):
reception, but the actual in terms of the day itself, the like,
There's a timeline and a run sheet, but like in terms of the actual structure of the day,it's a lot more free flowing.
the ceremony usually has the set time, after that it's like with portrait shoots andthings like that, it's, it's very much so the couples are very involved.
(22:29):
Most of our couples are very, very much involved with, they want to be part of thecocktail.
They want to be part of the celebration.
They want to be around their guests.
so it's a matter of for us, it's, it's really working around what the couple want to do inthe afternoon rather than to oppose to the timings.
Um, in terms of like strict timings, it's more so, okay, let them be a cocktail hour foran hour.
Let's grab them from a little, you know, five minutes here with a photographer, know,coordinating, like we're, you know, sorry, working together with the photographer in terms
(22:57):
of timings and things that, the wedding planner generally, and just sort of communicatinglike, okay, let's grab the couple here for five minutes, the wedding party here for five
minutes.
Spontaneous, small spontaneous sort of moments and things like that.
Um, and.
Yeah, I found most of our weddings are really, really based around the celebration after,know, throughout the whole day.
It's, it's go, go, go.
(23:17):
We sort of don't really stop filming and it's like, always heaps to shoot.
Yeah.
So as, was there like a significant point you've been doing this for 10 years now, 10years, 2014.
Yeah.
Was there like a significant point that you felt your business just elevated within, know,a six month period or something where it just kind of like, this is where we want to be.
(23:37):
it just kind of got.
There was one wedding.
It was a pretty fun one.
A close friend of ours and actually is a part owner in this venue.
feel like, now we did film one wedding.
was for a close friend, Angus Harper.
And Jess Facciani, she's a radio presenter on a radio here in Newcastle.
(23:58):
But there was definitely a period around, I feel like that wedding, we went and filmed itand just had an absolute ball.
And the clip was just incredible.
And John just out.
outstanding, just put some amazing work into that.
I think for me, as far as yeah, from a filming perspective, I feel like that was a reallycool change point.
We're either the couples were booking or just the style of wedding that we were gettingthat felt like a bit of a transformational moment where John and I were like, we really
(24:25):
invested some time in that wedding.
Like we were there, like they booked like a 12 hour package was probably the longest daywe'd shot.
remember at like 1130, we were just staring at each other after like, and like,
If you've ever watched that film, like there was a lot that went on and we were just, wewere just rallying to the end.
There was like an 1130 past the wheel and we were just like, we're so done, but keepfilming.
Like don't stop, Pre-production plan.
(24:49):
We had a full pre-production meeting with Angus.
Like he runs festivals here in Newcastle.
And whether or not that was the moment, I feel like that was for me, definitely a pointwhere, yeah, it was like, all right, weddings are parties.
Like there is, there's
It's more than just a day to get married.
Like this is people celebrating like a pretty epic moment.
That's what, yeah.
I think that really, that wedding really embodies where, it definitely set the tone anddirection for what we create and what we like to film.
(25:17):
Um, and you know, what we enjoy about a wedding.
um, I guess I really got a good, a couple of years before that I got married, Chelsea andI got married.
So I got a pretty, pretty good perspective then of what a wedding means personally.
Um, and yeah, I've always been, it's a bit of a
(25:37):
cliche thing that gets said in a lot of speeches, but you know, wedding's only like, oneof the only times in your life where you're to have all your closest there at one moment.
and I can certainly say personally, that's never happened again for us.
So like, you know, having, had like 90 at our 80 or 90 at our wedding and I never had thatgroup of people in a room together again.
(25:58):
being there on the day and like really running around and getting anyone and everyone oncamera and really,
getting as many people on, on the camera really is sort of what we've always aimed.
And yeah, Jess and Angus's wedding was definitely one of those days where we knew a lot ofpeople as well, which was helpful because we, we sort of run around.
really fit in really well that day.
(26:18):
And we, that was a bit that really set the tone for where we are now.
And, and like, um, it changed our editing.
really actually that, that complete edit for us.
So we just went from there and developed our style a bit more.
And that was like 2021 that wedding.
yeah.
think knowing people on the day though, while like I was quite close with maybe half ofhalf the group I've worked in the industry with a lot of them before.
(26:41):
Yeah, Sam was there, like there was just a lot of people that we knew.
And I think that was quite a cool moment where I was like, okay, okay, we do know allthese people, this is great.
But why don't we take that energy into a wedding where we don't know everyone, but treatit as though we do like turn up and be people that want to want to know everyone.
And like really
set yourself as like more like a guest, like where people are so comfortable around youthat they're just happy to be a part of it.
(27:08):
Um, be in the film, be like, be engaged.
And I think that wedding was probably the first one where was like, like people are tohave fun.
Like if you just, yeah, get comfortable with them and make them feel comfortable.
And all of a sudden, like the footage we were getting from that point onwards andcertainly like weddings before that.
I think, that transition point, the footage we were getting, like couples and guests werejust so involved and so happy to be a part of it.
(27:30):
And it's like, Oh,
These can be really fun days, really, yeah, and just push that narrative of, yeah,excitement, happy,
That's so cool.
Cause like, just feels like it kind of set your style, but it also, it makes it easier foryou.
Cause you're like, we can just be a part of this, you know, and just like embody this day.
And like you said, be a guest at this.
Like it's, very easy to kind of put up a professional wall where I'll still have fun onthe day, but I'll kind of keep this professional between it as well.
(27:57):
But like, yeah, I can see all your films, like you are in it, know, like you're in amongstit.
like, it's now it's, it's kind of self-perpetuating where your couples are expecting that.
So it's like, now you're like,
this is what we do.
Yeah.
I remember the first wedding on when we did a rebrand for the website, um, John put downlike that.
like solo cause I don't drink and just like we rocked up to a wedding and a couple ofborder 30 cases of solo for me.
(28:22):
They like, they put it in the prep for the boys.
They're like, Hey Elliot, we've got solo on the bar just cause you want it.
This is awesome.
Like, uh, and I feel like that sort of embodied our attitude in going into it and couplessort of attitude back towards us.
So like, Hey, like they're investing money into this day.
And it's nice to say that, they value us being there, but also it's cool that we can givethat back to them.
(28:43):
And sort of if they are, if we are in that, whatever tier we're in and those couplesinvest that money that like they're going nowhere.
We want this, like this is definitely worth every cent because the effort we put in andagain, I turn up, give a hundred percent on the day and it's, I enjoy that.
Yeah.
And I feel like, like you might even pass, you kind of have your work weddings and thenyou have your weddings that were like, these are sick.
(29:07):
Like these are the weddings I want to be a part of.
so like, I kind get to this point I've been doing it 13 years as well.
And you're like, I'm kind of ready to be a part of the event rather than kind of not thatcouples make you feel like the help, I'm kind of over that part.
But it sounds like you guys, like you're never, you're never the help.
You're kind of like, are amongst it and part of it.
So it just, it's like the, even the longevity within the industry, you can only keep doingthis for so long.
(29:30):
If it feels like work.
so even though I just, I guess you guys having that and it isn't working, you can tell thepassion that you guys have that it just kind of keeps the longevity going as well.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
certainly, you know, one of the things Elliot and I and Chelsea and I often, when we're inthe car, like when we're driving to a wedding, like we, sort of just, we, we really just
(29:53):
brainstorm and just bounce ideas all the time.
Like just in December, like Elliot and I were driving to a wedding in Tamworth and like, Idon't know that we had music on the whole day.
Cause we were just like, literally just like talking about like different things we wereshooting, different things we're doing, things with the edits and weddings that we'd shot
and what was cool and what we were going to try and.
doing different things.
literally, I think it was like, yeah, we're in the car for like three hours on the way upand we're just like, got there and like, holy shit, that trip went quick.
(30:18):
Just like, yeah, chatting about it.
then, like, yeah, like when I'm with Chelsea, she's, yeah, less, less, less gear talkmore, more like more people talk, like talking about like the style and things like that.
So, and yeah, we were always trying new things and she's often asking me.
(30:40):
What can we do here?
What should we do here?
And then she's like, what if we try these or do something like that?
So we're always, as I said before, like, it's just about trying to keep it fresh and newand, yeah, just really turn up and have a good time.
How do you go about that?
Like finding new, like staying creative and kind of trying to find new ways to film.
How do you go about that?
(31:00):
Um, look, we, in all honesty, we don't really plan too much before a wedding day.
Like I always, I say to, I even like, I openly will say to our couples, like we've gotyour run sheet, but like, and send us anything, ideas or anything you want to do.
it's any style of film that you like, you prefer over others.
But I openly will say like, we try not to like go into a wedding with any preconceivedideas at all.
(31:25):
Um, yeah, it might be at the same venue we'd shot at like two weeks before or somethinglike that, but like.
We'll always shoot everything on the day, like even like venue shots and B roll and thingslike that.
Every wedding for us, I see it as like a reset point.
It's new.
A couple are new.
It's their story.
Like everything about that wedding day is for that couple.
And, we always that's where like, if there's something that we see that we've done before,or we've done it a few times, we'll just like, just change it up for a bit of fun.
(31:55):
Really.
I think it's amazing as well though, like you can go to the same venue, have 90 % of thesame vendors there and you still leave at the end of the day going, man, I feel like that
was something completely new.
And like there's that danger, I think for a couple or I guess for someone that's maybeover being in the wedding industry that they just then start to rehash and you can go back
(32:17):
to the same venue and shoot it in the same way.
And every couple that they film might get the same film.
And there's maybe that danger when you're booking a lot of the same vendors.
But I think the way we approach it is certainly to go in with fresh ideas and just have adifferent approach to it.
But it still amazes me that we can shoot the same venue one week apart and then walk awayfrom it and go, that feels like a completely different day.
(32:39):
And that couple just had such different energy and it might be high energy or it mightjust be super chill and everyone was just super relaxed and it just felt really loving.
And you sort of forget which venue you're at.
doesn't really matter like you're focusing on the story of the couple.
And we think we, we'll shoot everything on the day.
Like, as I said before, like we, I love to have a camera, Mahanis love filming andElliot's the same.
(33:00):
We just love shooting and, like being able to capture it all.
know, we might come away with way too much footage.
Yeah.
Sorry, Chelsea.
Yeah, Chelsea's offering Halloween footage.
She's like, why did Elliot film this?
I'm like, I don't know.
Just in case.
Enjoy.
Um, but yeah, like, well, I, you know, as long as we capture everything on the day as muchas anything and everything, you capture all the dialogue from the ceremony and the
(33:28):
speeches and anything else we can pick up throughout the day, like audio grabs that we canpotentially use that in the film.
I always find the magic of a wedding film is really brought together in the edit.
Um, you know, we've got a certain style of shooting, but, um, like, I think being able totell a couple story, like,
(33:48):
just with no script, just with what you've been captured on the day.
Or sometimes you might do an interview with a couple, but there's usually no script withthat either.
You're just asking them questions like you're asking us here.
So like, there's no like dialogue to like refer back to, when you're actually shooting it.
like having just stuff that you've like, words that you've captured on the day and thenbringing that in and crafting it into a story about the couple, like
(34:14):
I think that's, I think it's like my favorite part and I love it.
And I just think it's really powerful medium for, for us as videographers.
think it's like, yeah.
I'll be honest here.
is very exciting seeing the films come out.
Like I was there and I'm watching and going, you shot this one with Chelsea.
I was like, you were there.
was like, how did you make it look like, man, my footage looks good.
(34:35):
Absolutely.
I'm like, yeah, I'm like halfway through there.
And I'm like, man, I can't remember my like angles looking that nice.
He's like, no, that's my shot.
Like I think, yeah, adding all the different formats as well.
Like are you guys adding in like kind of the camcorder footage and the super 8 and stufflike that?
Is that kind of what you guys do?
well, Chelsea and I like our wedding was in 2019 and I had one of my old handycams fromwhen I first started like on a shooting surfing back at school.
(35:02):
And, um, we just gave it to our friends to run around and one of my mates just like shotheaps of stuff on it.
And then at our wedding, we had the Super 8 and we kind of like, after that, like, we justsort of just like put it aside for a few years.
Like we had the Super 8 from time to time, but the handycam kind of just got forgottenabout.
I was like, Oh, we should bring that out.
And all of sudden like,
Content creators and everyone's adding handicam stuff.
(35:24):
I'm like, wow.
So we've had, we've, you know, from time to time we'll throw it in there and it's not likesomething that we book out.
It's more something that's like, if we think it's going to suit a certain type of wedding,we'll just have it there and we'll shoot some stuff on it.
Super 8 we do add it's like optional extra for us.
So we, you know, obviously you got to buy film and things like that.
So, um, love shooting super 8 it's always good.
And it's good little, you know, as you know, it's like a little, the fun little thing toshoot and it adds up like a really, know, vintage.
(35:50):
Nice retrospective.
I was just reflecting my Instagram profile picture as me holding the Suprate camera atJohn's wedding.
Yeah.
I was just like, I was looking at yesterday, same black and white.
was like, what am I holding?
I've got a Suprate camera.
It's literally Reese who shot, yeah, some stills.
It was at one of the weddings, but yeah, I've got a Suprate and I'm like, cool.
Love that.
So cool.
(36:10):
And like, cause even when the wedding is I'll do this, even like the, the bride, samething giving, um, to all the bridesmaids, like here's the handy cam, like just walk away.
it's not necessarily part of the film that we're creating, but just for them to have, andlike just passing around to friends and rather than having the Polaroid cameras where
everyone just goes to the toilets and takes like a random shitty photo, it's actuallylike, this is like actually good footage.
(36:31):
Take them anyway.
they're even in the book.
Just take them home.
I guess like going onto like a couple's perspective, if someone's looking for like areally high quality videographer and they're kind of just starting out their search, is
there any like little tips that you could kind of give to a bride and groom, a couplelooking for that?
You're welcome.
(36:52):
Stop there, that's all you need to do.
Yeah.
Um, I mean, yeah, you can definitely go down certain avenues, but like always, like ifyou're working with a wedding planner, often they'll have, you know, some recommendations
and things like that.
Or often, you know, if they, you find it, they'd find a photographer, they'll have, youknow, some recommendations as well.
(37:12):
But if you want to just openly look, I guess the main tip to any couple looking for avideographer is go beyond the Instagram profile, look at the website.
look at the full length films.
So look what you're actually going to be getting delivered as your wedding film.
Yeah, like I love our preview, like editing the preview films and we like, you know, weshare, we share some preview films and things like that, but we really pride ourselves on
(37:39):
our full length films.
And we always have, and I think we always will.
And that's where like we tell the couple story really.
Well, I think, yeah, you just, sorry.
I was gonna say, and that might be more important to some couples than others.
Yeah.
And I think that full length film, I certainly, for me is that one that you, yeah, that'sthe one you look back at because it's like, might be your dad passed away and you get to
(38:03):
hear him speak and like he's told your whole life story in that.
And those, those little aspects that really bring together, I guess, your life in the fulllength film, the, the previews and the sort of short reels and that they're fine.
And they're like, they're instantaneous and you can get them quickly.
but then that more crafted story with, guess, with which what we specialize in and what wesort of value ourselves doing is definitely, yeah.
(38:24):
Just, yeah, I would honestly just say, just look at what you're actually going to begetting and make sure you're happy with, if you value the preview film more than the full
length film, that's awesome.
But like, yeah, if you want to look at the full length film, if you're going to valuethat, like look at both aspects and pick a videographer that really aligns with your style
(38:47):
and your values.
I know that, you know, we're not for everyone, like not every couple, one of the bookcosts they w they've got other view of is that they, know and love and that's okay.
There's a videographer out there for everyone and don't be afraid to sort of dig deep andhave a look around, but we are here.
Hahaha!
So do a lot of your work come through planners?
(39:09):
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Most of our booking sort of last couple of years have been through wedding planners, butobviously couples do book us directly as well.
Yeah.
Is that something new?
Like with the whole planter piece, I feel maybe the last five years as they've kind ofreally grown, like there are more planners in Australia, used to be kind of thing over in
the States or Europe or something like that.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
(39:30):
Yeah, definitely.
There's, there are more planners that we find that we're working with now.
Most, well, pretty much all the weddings that we shoot now, I've got a wedding planner atthem.
aspect or some yeah, coordinate or some level of planning.
most basic aspects sort of get coordinating the day, but most of the weddings that weshoot, they sort of get full planning and styling.
And we're sort of communicating directly with the wedding planner as well as the coupleleading up to the day.
(39:55):
So, which is, which is great because we get a really good perspective and overview of whatthe wedding's really going to look like and how it's going to feel beforehand.
Yeah, and I maybe just answering your question before, what does a more life wedding looklike?
Like there are definitely some grand aspects to some of the weddings we're shooting forsure.
Not every wedding and some of the weddings that are through a planner, there's a lot ofpretty wild elements in there.
(40:17):
And you sort of from Facebook, you go there, this is going to be a pretty wild day.
And I think, some planners plan some pretty epic days and others, yeah, we just have likea broad spectrum of couples that we get through.
Apart from good work, which is a given, is there anything that you're proactively doing toget on, like in front of these planners?
Or is it being pretty organic just from your films just getting shared?
(40:40):
Yeah, it's, initially, yeah, it was sort of, you know, films getting shared and thingslike that.
we've, yeah, we've, yeah, they sort of, yeah, Instagram was, I'd say it was a big partinitially, with how people would find our work.
But, I think just having relationships with planners and, and different working ondifferent weddings, and sort of just basically, chatting to them and being a good.
(41:09):
It's just being good people.
Easy to work with.
obviously seeing good feedback from couples.
mean, like ideally the essence of being a decent, decent person on the day, being easy towork with, producing good work.
they're probably the three tiers that you want to go into any event or wedding with.
So I guess it's probably just been a, hopefully, hopefully a reflection of, a reflectionof those three things.
(41:33):
And, and I guess wedding planners, they're also booking people that either couple
like love and want to work with, also people that are going to work well in a team andthose environments, especially on some bigger weddings where there's quite a bit involved
and you've got a little bit of like a bit of organization to do.
I think a lot of the planners we work with appreciate, yeah, like the effort we put intoit and yeah, for sure.
(41:55):
from like a couple's point of view, think like even the weddings that you've already doneis like the proof.
Like, okay, cool.
We're spending a hundred thousand dollars or $200,000 on this event.
It's not even so much the amount of money that they're paying you.
It's just like the confidence to know that you can handle that type of event as well.
So it's almost like the proof of you've, you've already worked with this planner or you'vealready worked at these venues is almost like a massive tick straight away.
(42:21):
um, yeah, I just always thought about that.
Like, is it, is it building up to like kind of.
plan is it kind of work at the lower end and then kind of slowly stepping up or is itjust, yeah, just fall, just coming in and getting.
a funny one.
It's sort of for us, I don't know where the point changed where we ended up with morebookings through planners than couples directly.
But I certainly noticed a shift in the last couple of years for us anyway.
(42:46):
And yeah, we've built up relationships with a network of different planners that we liketo work with and that recommend us and we will always do the best work we can for any
couple.
as Elliot said, that it's a good thing that the planners know that they've got trust andvalue, the videographer, the bookings.
(43:10):
So that's what we've done.
important thing as well is a lot of the plans we work with, it's a recommendation.
So it's still, Hey, go check out these three videographers work.
And I think ultimately it's still on the couple to go, Hey, this is the people that wewant to go with.
And then it's that at work speech for itself.
hope.
Yeah.
What does life look like for more life moving forward from here?
(43:32):
so yeah, essentially we, we've got like, basically we've got another good, big, nice yearbooked.
this year's a little bit quieter than last year, which is nice.
at the moment, you'll see what happens throughout the year.
but, no, we're, sort of, continually, yeah, just trying to do our best work and, sort of,yeah, create good relationships, as you said, with, planners and,
(44:00):
you know, our couples and have a, just have a good time doing what we do and, sort ofbasically, yeah, just things that things are ticking along all right at the moment.
Yeah.
We're really just trying to, trying to really sort of create established, continuallyestablish and elevate our style and our brand and yeah.
There's so many different ways to shoot and like there's probably more videographers inthe market now obviously cameras are more accessible so yeah you just constantly got to be
(44:28):
creative and just keep trying new things.
I was getting to before it's so easy for people to look at you and be like, these guys aredoing this.
Let's do that with our brand as well.
So it's always so hard for you guys like leading the way to kind of constantly evolve, nothaving other people to look at and like looking at different, you know, looking, okay, do
I look at movies?
Do I look at fashion overseas?
Or like just trying to integrate different parts that way.
(44:49):
Yeah.
And I guess you don't really know what the next shot would be.
Yeah.
It's until you shoot it, you don't, go, actually that worked.
A little while later, I see it in a film and go, John nailed that.
Yeah.
We spoke about it a little bit lately.
(45:10):
Like, some of the, some of the way we shoot isn't necessarily like, we don't think aboutthe shot.
We're just shooting what's happening.
And I think that's probably the beauty of it.
It's, it's not really that, all right, we need to shoot it because of this.
It's just we're in the moment and we do the thing and then we go, yeah, sweet.
We're part of that moment.
And then that that's all captured.
then yeah, like John said, when the sort of beauty of it really comes together when youedit it in the film, and then you can have those options to work off with two film is I
(45:38):
think it, yeah, all comes together as a nice package.
Having two people, two just super stoked people at your day, whether it's me, Chelsea,John, whoever it is.
And then, yeah, just being creative.
Last one, do you have to travel a lot with the types of weddings you're getting?
Are you currently traveling a fair bit for work?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, generally speaking, Chelsea does all the travel weddings with, with me, just, andElliot does most of the weddings, sort of Sydney, Hunter Valley based, weddings and,
(46:09):
sometimes South coast.
but anything further or far than that, Chelsea's pretty much locked into those.
So yeah, we're most, most weeks we're sort of traveling this year.
we do have the first half of the year is less travel than the end of the year, but midyear onwards.
Yeah, there's certainly been a big pivot in the past few years, or at least the past year,past two years of the couples that are inquiring and booking are further afar.
(46:33):
Yeah.
As far as North Queensland.
Yeah, we shot one up in Townsville last year.
John's in Byron a fair bit down on the South coast.
Yeah, there's a pretty big variety, which is cool.
And is that a good thing?
Do you like look for more of that work or you got a happy balance between kind of SydneyHunter and Traveler?
(46:53):
it's, it's just happened naturally that we've gone further afar.
Um, lot of our inquiries have just naturally come from different areas now.
you know, we're, we're happy to go anywhere.
We only book a limited number of weddings a year.
Um, hence this year being a little bit quieter, we've, we've purposely done that becausewe do have more travel involved and, and bigger weddings as well that we want to make sure
(47:17):
that as Elliot said before, we can put our all into, um, we don't want to be doing.
doubles and triples and things like that.
we really want to do one a week and sort of cap it at sort of 30, 35 a year for us max.
So yeah, being with the extra travel and, know, Chelsea and I have got a few overseastrips and things like that locked in for the year.
(47:39):
it's, you know, when you want to, you know, you don't want to be going overseas, cominghome and then straight into a wedding sort of thing for us.
ultimately to the detriment of the couple as well.
like I do.
That's how, yeah.
One of our, as I said, one of our services is the fact that we keep everything in houseand we start, you got us from start to finish.
And, um, I think it's our responsibility to sort of not overextend ourselves and giveourselves the time that we're, we're in the, in the studio editing and things like that.
(48:07):
Um, we're not just running around, you know, shooting every single day.
So, um, yeah, it's.
You said it before as well.
might be that expectation with the couple and maybe it's to our own detriment, but we loveit.
So yeah, we don't, we'll go, we'll go anywhere and everywhere.
And, if a couple wants to fly us anywhere in the world, we'll be there.
(48:28):
Love it.
All right.
So for now, where can people find you on socials and websites?
on Instagram is probably an email is probably the website.
So morelifefilms.com or Instagram at morelifefilms or TikTok as well.
know Chelsea's been experimenting with TikTok a bit.
yeah.
(48:49):
Don't forget your solos.
Awesome.
Well, boys, thank you so much for coming on.
Awesome chat.
yeah, really appreciate it.
OK, thanks for having us.
Thanks for tuning in to the Wedco podcast.
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(49:10):
New episodes drop every week, so be sure to join us next time for more weddinginspiration, tips and stories.
Until then, happy planning and we'll see you soon.
Welcome to the Wedco podcast, your ultimate guide to the wedding world.
Whether you're a bride, groom or wedding vendor, this is the place to be.
Join us as we dive into real stories, expert advice and behind the scenes insights to helpyou plan the perfect day.
So grab a seat and let's celebrate love, connection and creativity together.
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(00:24):
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truly means the world.
Hello and welcome to the word co podcast.
I'm Toga.
And today I have the boys from more life on the couch with me.
Thank you so much for coming on boys.
(00:46):
No, it's, it's same thing.
I say it.
I asked people who do we need on the show?
And, there's a lot of people looking towards you guys for like setting the standard forfilms at the moment.
So yeah, really appreciate you taking the time to come down as well.
It's really good.
Nice start.
Happy to be here.
absolute pleasure.
It's such a real
So yeah, usually we'll kind of start with, I guess, a rundown of, you know, how the brandcame to be, you know, how long you've been in the industry and kind of how it's evolved to
(01:13):
the point where more life films is now.
Amazing.
So I guess kicking off, yeah, essentially I've been filming sort of since school days,just sort of the, you the old pick up the camera and see how you go.
yeah, sort of Elliot and I sort of, like I was doing sort of commercial work and filmingweddings, so, know, when you're younger, your family friend, you film sort of thing.
(01:38):
So sort of a dislike, yeah.
can come film weddings and it sort of went from there and I was sort of working full timeand did a few weddings here and there.
And also doing a bit of commercial work and yeah, randomly one weekend guy who wasshooting a wedding with me one day was like, I can't come.
His wife was expecting a baby pretty soon.
(02:01):
So he essentially said, I'll film the ceremony, but I can't do the reception because I'vegot to get home.
And another guy who I was surfing with at the time sort of
prior the week before was just like, Oh, there's this young guy.
He's like super keen.
shooting skating.
He's really, really good.
Like he's really keen to do some more work.
And it was Elliot.
So I literally texted Elliot like midday.
(02:22):
Like this guy was like shot the ceremony.
Then he was like, I've got to go.
I can't shoot the reception.
I was just like, Oh, what are going to do?
It was like a 200 person Macedonian wedding.
I was like,
I was a young froth.
Shooting skating and my first ever event I would almost say was walking into 200 personMacedonian wedding at Newcastle town hall with zero film experience having never met John.
(02:44):
Yeah, it literally, yeah, literally turns out with his glide cam and a Canon 60D, it says,what do want me to do?
And, and then like a week later, we were shooting like a car rally event and, um, like thenext month and the same guy was like, I can't commit to anything anymore.
Newborn.
So I said, Elliot, want to come along?
And literally that's how we went from there.
And, um, yeah, we were shooting weddings and then, um, yeah, on and off.
(03:08):
And this is what is like 2014.
So like 10 years ago now.
Yeah, John's a touch older than I am.
he was filming on tape days.
So he's got a lot of history and a lot of knowledge behind a camera.
And then I just came in as a full grime, just figuring out like, yeah, what is this?
What is this whole scene?
And John's pretty much taught me everything I know as far as filming, which has beenpretty exciting.
(03:29):
So, yeah, then, we sort of went from there and then basically, yeah, I sort of withChelsea at the same time.
And then it got to like 27 and she's like, I was working full time and filming like 20weddings a year.
And it's just like, it was a lot.
And, she said, like, you've got to do it.
Like, you've just got to make the plunge and go full time.
And, yeah, we just quit the job and Elliot and I basically, we booked, feel like the weekafter I quit the job, like everything just fell into place for us.
(03:57):
And we sort of started booking.
weddings more consistently and, um, then Chelsea come on board full time, um, around 2019.
Um, and I feel like, yeah, she's really like sort of taken us to where we are now in termsof just having that different dynamic.
And, uh, yeah, she's really got a really nice creative eye and, um, sort of keeps her incheck really.
(04:20):
So what does Chelsea do?
Is she shooting in the company as well?
Yeah.
So she, she has no, had no background in filming or anything like that before she met me.
But yeah, she sort of picked up a camera around, yeah, the 2019, 2020, early 2020 mark.
And yeah, she shoots, we basically between Elliot and her, I shoot most of our weddings.
(04:42):
And then Elliot and her, I split the second shooting.
Elliot shoots with me, like half and Chelsea will shoot the other half.
And then from time to time, Elliot will go on to a job with a, like a network of other.
You can tell John's a good teacher.
He taught me how to shoot weddings, what they are, everything about it.
But then certainly taught Chelsea how to shoot and she's just like excelled.
(05:03):
And it's awesome.
It's really cool to see.
Like we shot probably 300 weddings together before Chelsea started.
And like the rate at which Chelsea has sort of grown into a film and like the way shelooks at stuff coming in fairly fresh into the scene and just like this whole new sort of
avenue and going, Hey, just here's a camera.
Elliot can't be here today or Elliot's away or we can't book him, go shoot.
(05:24):
And just seeing what she comes back with is pretty cool.
Yeah.
through her into the deep end of a lot of things.
Cause she, she often goes, you never trained me.
I'm like, no, but you've just got, she's got a really, really good eye.
And, yeah, she also like, calls all that footage.
So she's, and she's done that for years before she sort of come on full time shooting aswell.
So she really knew what we, how we shoot in our style.
And she really guided us as well in different directions on what like advises me withediting and things like that as well.
(05:51):
she also does a lot of social media and, and, emails and she's basically our first pointof contact as well.
So.
She's a very big part of the team.
Cause I find like that, that is the way there's a lot of guys have been doing this for along time.
And this is how I film.
I was speaking to a few other film is up in Byron and same thing, like, then they'll havelike, a wife or a business partner is like, no, but you need to include this footage in
(06:13):
the reels.
know, like it's, it's all about, we're going to zoom into this and we're to pan up hereand do this.
Whereas all he wants to do is he's slow cinematic and he loves that.
But she's like, no, this is where the market is now.
And like without that team member, they would never have pushed into that market as well.
Yeah.
Yeah, for sure.
I think you're describing Chelsea.
She's on the, she's on the pulse.
Chelsea is absolutely on the pulse and it's it's really cool to see.
(06:36):
nothing ever gets delivered without her like watching it.
So she reviews everything that I edit basically and sneak peeks from sneak peeks to fullfilm.
She's basically, and her and I collaborate on music and everything like that.
And she's, yeah, she's really, really good.
Don't know what we'd do without it to be honest.
So let's, okay, so do you have two filmers at every one of your weddings?
(06:58):
Yeah.
Why?
we've always had to, basically just logistically is probably one of the main strong pointsis, I'm someone who loves to shoot and just loves to shoot everything, anything and
everything on the day.
So like, love having camera in my hand and just being able to basically capture anythingand everything.
we've always found with the two of us, we have the ability to sort of cover everythingfrom the start of the day to the end of the day.
(07:23):
Really?
Well, there's always one of us capturing any given sort of event on the day.
So.
a good example is like prep.
So, like usually if we've got bride prep or, you know, one of the partners is, you know,basically one of us can be at the ceremony setting up, do all that sort of set up.
set the audio and everything up.
(07:43):
The other one can stay at prep, and shoot basically right up until they really, reallyneed to leave.
Whilst the other one's out there sort of getting shots of guests arriving, one of thepartners arriving to the ceremony.
and sort of just getting those little.
in between shots that if you buy yourself, sort of, I've shot weddings by myself before.
(08:04):
And, um, to be honest, I just find having the two of us is just, it makes an easier dayfor us, but also for the couple.
Um, we just get so much more footage that we can utilize in the edit.
Um, and also with the edit, the other side of it is we just get yelled to get the, theability to yell, you know, get different angles and things like that.
Um, ceremony is a good one.
(08:25):
We always have like a different angle of like.
the entries and the exits and things like that.
So many, so many pinch points throughout the day.
And I feel like, yeah, like John said, we're both filmed so many wedding solo and youjust, have that moment where you, and I guess from a creative perspective, you might be
filming the couple exit down the island.
go, man, that would be a good shot from there.
(08:45):
And I think we've had enough of those moments throughout the day that you go, you know,then, and John sort of set that standard from a very early day.
Like I've never shot a more life wedding that isn't with John or isn't with two people,even,
Yeah, everything we do is too, but just because there are so many of those moments whereyou just look and you go, wish there was another one of me here standing over there in
somewhere else shooting it.
(09:06):
Um, and I think, yeah, the gear side of things, video is very gear heavy and you don'treally want it to be gear heavy.
You want all that to feel seamless and you don't, they don't ever want to see the coupleseeing you move a tripod around or rushing.
Like I guess that pre-ceremony, you're at bride prep right up until, um, yeah, theceremony and then all of a sudden you're running down the
aisle with a tripod to quickly set something up and you're lapelling the groom as he'ssort of standing up waiting for the bride to come down.
(09:32):
You're like, let's just, let's just ease into the day.
And I think we both then enjoy the day and you just feel so much more comfortable filmingit.
you don't feel rushed and that reflects on the way you look and the way you sort ofproduce the content as well.
Yeah, just, yeah, it makes it much more, yeah.
I feel, I feel for the couple, like in terms of, yeah, at the end they see footage thatthey're not necessarily there at part of it in the day as well.
(09:56):
So if they have to go for portrait shoot, often one of us will hang at cocktail hour iftime's limited.
So we can get more of that sort of footage.
One of us can go shoot details of the reception while the other one sort of with thecouple and hanging around.
There's so many little moments throughout the day that we love to have in our films thatif you just not...
If you've got to be off, as Elliot said, setting things up and moving logistics and likedoing logistics and things like that, you're just not going to get that footage.
(10:20):
So having the two of us there has always made that difference.
Even though they're saying like when the brides walk down the aisle and you're kind of inthe middle of the aisle and you're locked off because you like, just want to make sure
those tripods are like, you know, something's in focus and like just having the two of youand it like that good.
Like, yeah, that's good.
Okay, cool.
Exactly.
We've developed such like a silent fun language.
think as well, like we've worked together for so long now that it's just a simple glance.
(10:41):
And it's like, you just look at him, look at John or John looks at me and it's like, yeah,you go check the cameras to recording or just like someone just, you just hold your hand
up to your ear and it's like, cool.
Yeah.
He's going to go check audio.
And it's like just having that and not having to miss a moment because now you're thinkingabout, is the audio recording or is the backup running?
Yeah.
That's super nice.
It's just, you can get by by yourself, it's never ideal.
(11:04):
yeah, that's like, we talked about like setting up tripods for a ceremony and thengrandma's arrive and she's hugging the groom and you're like, I need to set up the tripod.
Also this.
exactly.
Yeah, you've to make a decision on what is more important at that moment.
And often by the time, know, if you were halfway through doing something, by the time youpick the camera up and you record focus, you're like, that moment's passed anyway.
(11:26):
yeah, that's, I've always been very, very firm on having two of us there.
And, we've always included two, two shooters in all everything that we do.
So I will, I know you're different to this, so I'm just going to put this out there.
So what I sell my couples on is I suck at editing.
I suck at color.
I suck at audio.
So I've got a team that I've built out overseas and they look after that.
(11:47):
You very much pride yourself like, and definitely the weddings you do, you can tell likethere's the filmers who are super artistic and you can tell everything goes into that
wedding edit and everything goes into the wedding, which is very much where your camp is.
Why am I wrong the way I do it?
Like I want like, what's your selling point?
Like why are you.
why I cover this book.
Yeah.
I mean, there's no right or wrong answer.
(12:08):
Like, will a hundred cents stand by that because, having external editing is, like, yeah,if you can get editing to do it, like to do it.
Yeah.
Great.
Like, but I've another one of those things that I've, I guess I'm stuck in my ways alittle bit, but I love editing and I love shooting.
I love doing it.
I love literally love doing both of it.
And, we always tell couples that we're only a small team or a team of three.
(12:33):
And then we, as I said before, we have like a
a few second shooters that we call upon if we've got two weddings on one day.
So Elliot will go and I'll go with Chelsea.
basically I do, handle Chelsea and I handle all of our post-production.
We always have.
So.
I have this really beautiful role at Mola Films that I second shoot all the weddings.
(12:54):
So since that very first Macedonian wedding I shot, I second shoot, I turn off on the day,I give a hundred percent and then I hand over the cards.
I live in a world where it feels like those films that I've filmed do get editedexternally and that person is John.
And like, to be honest, it's quite fun because I...
(13:16):
it does allow me to put a hundred percent energy into the day.
Cause obviously the pre the prep for a wedding, the wedding day, and then obviously thepost-production is such a mental drain as well.
Like John absolutely loves it, but it can be a lot in terms of just volume.
So having being myself being a shooter, I can definitely just turn up on every day andjust give a hundred percent.
And I feel like it takes a little bit of the edge off Johnny to be like, man, I'm here.
(13:38):
Like this is, this is all I'm thinking about today.
You can think about the post-production later, but for me, I can just sort of smash it anddo the day.
Yeah.
And then I almost get a fun little preview teaser when the bride gets there with the brideof the groom or the couple or whoever it is gets their film.
get to sort of say, I shot my, I get this little teaser because I love watching the editsthat John creates and the way he creates them.
(14:03):
And we've had this chat and like, I myself can't even just recreate what John creates.
So like I'm probably the closest person that John could technically outsource to.
Obviously I'm at More Laugh.
but I'm the closest person and I can't even get close and I film all the footage.
So yeah, it's probably been that that just John's the way he edits.
just like, I don't know how to recreate it.
(14:25):
It's just too good.
grind hits the grind sitting in front of the computer screen.
Yeah.
Just sort of.
Just, yeah, I dunno.
Just I've always just, yeah, I love, I love the editing.
love the process.
I really love developing the couple story.
love getting to know the couple from when they initially inquire with us.
So as I said, Chelsea hands on the initial inquiry, but if they recall like I'm the personthat jumps on the call, the couple, we booked them in.
(14:48):
just love getting to know them throughout the whole process, getting to know who they are.
And then really
Shooting on the day, I find we really get a good personal connection.
We've always been, one of the highest, biggest values in shooting weddings is reallyhaving good, good relationships with the couple, the family, the guests, anyone and
everyone at the wedding and capturing everyone as part of that celebration and bringingthat all together in the edit, knowing I was there.
(15:13):
I feel, I just feel like I've got a really good grasp of sort of how the day felt and whothey are.
when I deliver the film,
feel like we can give them a really, really good perspective of sort of who they are aspeople at that point in time.
So when they watch it back in years to come, they can go, wow, like we, we, this is who weare.
(15:34):
This is what, what our wedding was about.
And it really reflects them and they can like sort of look back and be fond and proud.
And yeah, it's for, you know, if they've got kids or other family members and years tocome, they get a really good idea of who they are as people in that point in time as well.
think coming back to your question in terms of right or wrong.
Yeah.
I don't, certainly don't think it's wrong.
Like I run my own film business as well.
(15:55):
we have editors that do other work for us.
And I think if you can find an editor that you're stoked on their work is like to a pointwhere you're, you're happy with it.
The couple's happy with it.
Then I think it's definitely an avenue to go down.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Just with us, we're only small, like we only do a limited number of weddings a year aswell.
So, the editing, you know, as much as it does, you know, we have a constant queue ofediting, but we spend the time we need to on every single edit.
(16:23):
And like myself and Chelsea will make sure that, you know, every edit gets treated withthe care and passion that it deserves.
And when we send it, we're confident knowing that our couples are going to love our films.
Yeah.
I'm just trying to work out the, um, they obviously photo video is huge at the moment.
You guys are really good at what you do.
(16:43):
I'm trying to work out like, how do you find the competition?
I'm kind of mid market, I would say.
so it's actually quite easy.
95 % of my jobs are photo video, but they're also not like the couples I get aren'tlooking for the high quality that you guys provide.
So it's how do you.
How do you differentiate yourself?
Like we do films, this is what we do.
(17:05):
We do everything, know, limited numbers.
How do you differentiate yourself from all the studios now that are doing photo and video?
just trying to keep putting out good work.
Yeah, I think at that point you're just relying on the work to speak for itself, I guess.
Yeah, we, we like, yeah, we, we're not huge on social media either.
We're not like massive share.
(17:26):
Like we don't share heaps on social media.
We're kind of a bit quieter compared to some people, guess.
But, um, we, we like to, you know, share quality and, we like to think that our couples,you know, word of mouth and, um, relationships within the wedding industry is, you know, I
(17:47):
think
is sort of the backbone of most successful wedding vendors really.
Yeah, basically, yeah, as I said, just keep trying to do really, really good work, tryingto always do something new in, know, innovate with our shooting and trying to, you know,
not sort of rest in our laurels and try and just, you know, continually, continuallyimprove really is.
Yeah, I think the innovation has been a pretty, I mean, we've now been filming weddingsfor 10 years and like the industry has changed so much in the last 10 years.
(18:14):
And I think it's been interesting to see where it goes.
I mean, yeah, seeing the different work we put out and sort of then where the industrygoes and sort of either keep trying to keep ahead of that.
It's quite exciting to John.
John is constantly testing me to try new things, which is cool.
And I think as a second shooter, it sort of gives, mean, that may be another reason why wehave a second shooter.
It gives that person a little bit of freedom to be creative.
(18:36):
instead of just documenting the day, think if you're just documenting the day, like that'sgreat.
But I love if I'm filming and go, Hey, Johnny, I've got this, I've got this scene covered.
Go have fun.
Like go get some shots of the couple's gonna see and go, wow, where, where was he?
Where did, how did he get that shot?
Like it's maybe it's a up on the balcony shot, looking down over the ceremony that thecouple just wouldn't even thought of or little moments throughout the day where yeah,
(18:58):
having that second person, you go get creative, innovate, have fun, and really set thestandard for maybe that next film that comes out in a couple of months.
Yeah, yeah, it's a, it's a, it's a tough market.
Like, you know, as you know, like, uh, yeah, the wedding industry, it's yeah, there's lotsof weddings.
There's lots of weddings around as different market segments for everyone.
And, um, yeah, I just think, um, if, as long as we are continually trying to do new thingsand, and, you know, keep pushing ourselves with our work and putting out good work.
(19:29):
Um, I like to think that, you know, we'll continually attract couples that sort ofhonorable costs.
for just video.
And yeah, we work with lots of different photography.
We work with different photographers all the time, but we do work with a lot of the samephotographers who just do photo.
think while it's not directly a package that they're booking for their video, think a lotof our couples that possibly see us work alongside a different photographer, they again
(19:53):
love that their mate who was that couple who got some amazing photos, amazing videos, andthey essentially book us more or less as a package.
Yeah.
They'll look at, yeah, who was on a certain wedding together and, yeah, certainphotographers were often booked on weddings together.
And, I think my biggest thing in couples like being video focused and working withphotographers around photo focus is that couples really do their research and pick a photo
(20:20):
team and a video team that really worked well together and the styles are in sync andmatched.
I guess when you've got a photo video combination, that's naturally going to happenbecause they work together all the time.
But generally most of our couples through the photographer they book and then us, they cansort of see the coloration in the work is what naturally it sort of just happens that way.
(20:41):
So that's, yeah, as I said, we often work with similar photographers.
We're happy to work with anyone and everyone really.
And we're always really good at building relationships with photographers, some of ourbest friends in the industry of photographers.
I still, I still believe that like, obviously all my work is photo video, but I still feellike if you're going to be at the top of the game and I was a couple looking for photo and
(21:02):
video, I'd feel like the best just do photo and the best just do video.
Like, I don't think as, as good as you get at doing both, if you guys like, this is whatwe do.
And I think it's almost just implied by the couple that it has to be better because we'rejust doing video.
Yeah, I think there's definitely aspects of that.
like we, we work with a lot of teams that do photo video.
(21:25):
And I mean, one of their biggest strong points is obviously that, they work together alot.
But yeah, I'd absolutely rest on the fact that we, because we just solid video, that isthe focus.
So yeah.
So what, is a typical wedding?
Are they all so different that you couldn't really have a typical like what's a weddingthat more life film at the moment?
What does that kind of look like these days?
(21:47):
to be honest, they're getting, I've noticed weddings getting less structured, be honest.
Less structured is what I've found with a lot of the weddings that we're shooting.
a lot of the weddings that we're shooting, the, it's, it's really, it's obviously, youknow, most weddings have still got a prep ceremony, after ceremony, cocktail hour,
(22:08):
reception, but the actual in terms of the day itself, the like,
There's a timeline and a run sheet, but like in terms of the actual structure of the day,it's a lot more free flowing.
the ceremony usually has the set time, after that it's like with portrait shoots andthings like that, it's, it's very much so the couples are very involved.
(22:29):
Most of our couples are very, very much involved with, they want to be part of thecocktail.
They want to be part of the celebration.
They want to be around their guests.
so it's a matter of for us, it's, it's really working around what the couple want to do inthe afternoon rather than to oppose to the timings.
Um, in terms of like strict timings, it's more so, okay, let them be a cocktail hour foran hour.
Let's grab them from a little, you know, five minutes here with a photographer, know,coordinating, like we're, you know, sorry, working together with the photographer in terms
(22:57):
of timings and things that, the wedding planner generally, and just sort of communicatinglike, okay, let's grab the couple here for five minutes, the wedding party here for five
minutes.
Spontaneous, small spontaneous sort of moments and things like that.
Um, and.
Yeah, I found most of our weddings are really, really based around the celebration after,know, throughout the whole day.
It's, it's go, go, go.
(23:17):
We sort of don't really stop filming and it's like, always heaps to shoot.
Yeah.
So as, was there like a significant point you've been doing this for 10 years now, 10years, 2014.
Yeah.
Was there like a significant point that you felt your business just elevated within, know,a six month period or something where it just kind of like, this is where we want to be.
(23:37):
it just kind of got.
There was one wedding.
It was a pretty fun one.
A close friend of ours and actually is a part owner in this venue.
feel like, now we did film one wedding.
was for a close friend, Angus Harper.
And Jess Facciani, she's a radio presenter on a radio here in Newcastle.
(23:58):
But there was definitely a period around, I feel like that wedding, we went and filmed itand just had an absolute ball.
And the clip was just incredible.
And John just out.
outstanding, just put some amazing work into that.
I think for me, as far as yeah, from a filming perspective, I feel like that was a reallycool change point.
We're either the couples were booking or just the style of wedding that we were gettingthat felt like a bit of a transformational moment where John and I were like, we really
(24:25):
invested some time in that wedding.
Like we were there, like they booked like a 12 hour package was probably the longest daywe'd shot.
remember at like 1130, we were just staring at each other after like, and like,
If you've ever watched that film, like there was a lot that went on and we were just, wewere just rallying to the end.
There was like an 1130 past the wheel and we were just like, we're so done, but keepfilming.
Like don't stop, Pre-production plan.
(24:49):
We had a full pre-production meeting with Angus.
Like he runs festivals here in Newcastle.
And whether or not that was the moment, I feel like that was for me, definitely a pointwhere, yeah, it was like, all right, weddings are parties.
Like there is, there's
It's more than just a day to get married.
Like this is people celebrating like a pretty epic moment.
That's what, yeah.
I think that really, that wedding really embodies where, it definitely set the tone anddirection for what we create and what we like to film.
(25:17):
Um, and you know, what we enjoy about a wedding.
um, I guess I really got a good, a couple of years before that I got married, Chelsea andI got married.
So I got a pretty, pretty good perspective then of what a wedding means personally.
Um, and yeah, I've always been, it's a bit of a
(25:37):
cliche thing that gets said in a lot of speeches, but you know, wedding's only like, oneof the only times in your life where you're to have all your closest there at one moment.
and I can certainly say personally, that's never happened again for us.
So like, you know, having, had like 90 at our 80 or 90 at our wedding and I never had thatgroup of people in a room together again.
(25:58):
being there on the day and like really running around and getting anyone and everyone oncamera and really,
getting as many people on, on the camera really is sort of what we've always aimed.
And yeah, Jess and Angus's wedding was definitely one of those days where we knew a lot ofpeople as well, which was helpful because we, we sort of run around.
really fit in really well that day.
(26:18):
And we, that was a bit that really set the tone for where we are now.
And, and like, um, it changed our editing.
really actually that, that complete edit for us.
So we just went from there and developed our style a bit more.
And that was like 2021 that wedding.
yeah.
think knowing people on the day though, while like I was quite close with maybe half ofhalf the group I've worked in the industry with a lot of them before.
(26:41):
Yeah, Sam was there, like there was just a lot of people that we knew.
And I think that was quite a cool moment where I was like, okay, okay, we do know allthese people, this is great.
But why don't we take that energy into a wedding where we don't know everyone, but treatit as though we do like turn up and be people that want to want to know everyone.
And like really
set yourself as like more like a guest, like where people are so comfortable around youthat they're just happy to be a part of it.
(27:08):
Um, be in the film, be like, be engaged.
And I think that wedding was probably the first one where was like, like people are tohave fun.
Like if you just, yeah, get comfortable with them and make them feel comfortable.
And all of a sudden, like the footage we were getting from that point onwards andcertainly like weddings before that.
I think, that transition point, the footage we were getting, like couples and guests werejust so involved and so happy to be a part of it.
(27:30):
And it's like, Oh,
These can be really fun days, really, yeah, and just push that narrative of, yeah,excitement, happy,
That's so cool.
Cause like, just feels like it kind of set your style, but it also, it makes it easier foryou.
Cause you're like, we can just be a part of this, you know, and just like embody this day.
And like you said, be a guest at this.
Like it's, very easy to kind of put up a professional wall where I'll still have fun onthe day, but I'll kind of keep this professional between it as well.
(27:57):
But like, yeah, I can see all your films, like you are in it, know, like you're in amongstit.
like, it's now it's, it's kind of self-perpetuating where your couples are expecting that.
So it's like, now you're like,
this is what we do.
Yeah.
I remember the first wedding on when we did a rebrand for the website, um, John put downlike that.
like solo cause I don't drink and just like we rocked up to a wedding and a couple ofborder 30 cases of solo for me.
(28:22):
They like, they put it in the prep for the boys.
They're like, Hey Elliot, we've got solo on the bar just cause you want it.
This is awesome.
Like, uh, and I feel like that sort of embodied our attitude in going into it and couplessort of attitude back towards us.
So like, Hey, like they're investing money into this day.
And it's nice to say that, they value us being there, but also it's cool that we can givethat back to them.
(28:43):
And sort of if they are, if we are in that, whatever tier we're in and those couplesinvest that money that like they're going nowhere.
We want this, like this is definitely worth every cent because the effort we put in andagain, I turn up, give a hundred percent on the day and it's, I enjoy that.
Yeah.
And I feel like, like you might even pass, you kind of have your work weddings and thenyou have your weddings that were like, these are sick.
(29:07):
Like these are the weddings I want to be a part of.
so like, I kind get to this point I've been doing it 13 years as well.
And you're like, I'm kind of ready to be a part of the event rather than kind of not thatcouples make you feel like the help, I'm kind of over that part.
But it sounds like you guys, like you're never, you're never the help.
You're kind of like, are amongst it and part of it.
So it just, it's like the, even the longevity within the industry, you can only keep doingthis for so long.
(29:30):
If it feels like work.
so even though I just, I guess you guys having that and it isn't working, you can tell thepassion that you guys have that it just kind of keeps the longevity going as well.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
certainly, you know, one of the things Elliot and I and Chelsea and I often, when we're inthe car, like when we're driving to a wedding, like we, sort of just, we, we really just
(29:53):
brainstorm and just bounce ideas all the time.
Like just in December, like Elliot and I were driving to a wedding in Tamworth and like, Idon't know that we had music on the whole day.
Cause we were just like, literally just like talking about like different things we wereshooting, different things we're doing, things with the edits and weddings that we'd shot
and what was cool and what we were going to try and.
doing different things.
literally, I think it was like, yeah, we're in the car for like three hours on the way upand we're just like, got there and like, holy shit, that trip went quick.
(30:18):
Just like, yeah, chatting about it.
then, like, yeah, like when I'm with Chelsea, she's, yeah, less, less, less gear talkmore, more like more people talk, like talking about like the style and things like that.
So, and yeah, we were always trying new things and she's often asking me.
(30:40):
What can we do here?
What should we do here?
And then she's like, what if we try these or do something like that?
So we're always, as I said before, like, it's just about trying to keep it fresh and newand, yeah, just really turn up and have a good time.
How do you go about that?
Like finding new, like staying creative and kind of trying to find new ways to film.
How do you go about that?
(31:00):
Um, look, we, in all honesty, we don't really plan too much before a wedding day.
Like I always, I say to, I even like, I openly will say to our couples, like we've gotyour run sheet, but like, and send us anything, ideas or anything you want to do.
it's any style of film that you like, you prefer over others.
But I openly will say like, we try not to like go into a wedding with any preconceivedideas at all.
(31:25):
Um, yeah, it might be at the same venue we'd shot at like two weeks before or somethinglike that, but like.
We'll always shoot everything on the day, like even like venue shots and B roll and thingslike that.
Every wedding for us, I see it as like a reset point.
It's new.
A couple are new.
It's their story.
Like everything about that wedding day is for that couple.
And, we always that's where like, if there's something that we see that we've done before,or we've done it a few times, we'll just like, just change it up for a bit of fun.
(31:55):
Really.
I think it's amazing as well though, like you can go to the same venue, have 90 % of thesame vendors there and you still leave at the end of the day going, man, I feel like that
was something completely new.
And like there's that danger, I think for a couple or I guess for someone that's maybeover being in the wedding industry that they just then start to rehash and you can go back
(32:17):
to the same venue and shoot it in the same way.
And every couple that they film might get the same film.
And there's maybe that danger when you're booking a lot of the same vendors.
But I think the way we approach it is certainly to go in with fresh ideas and just have adifferent approach to it.
But it still amazes me that we can shoot the same venue one week apart and then walk awayfrom it and go, that feels like a completely different day.
(32:39):
And that couple just had such different energy and it might be high energy or it mightjust be super chill and everyone was just super relaxed and it just felt really loving.
And you sort of forget which venue you're at.
doesn't really matter like you're focusing on the story of the couple.
And we think we, we'll shoot everything on the day.
Like, as I said before, like we, I love to have a camera, Mahanis love filming andElliot's the same.
(33:00):
We just love shooting and, like being able to capture it all.
know, we might come away with way too much footage.
Yeah.
Sorry, Chelsea.
Yeah, Chelsea's offering Halloween footage.
She's like, why did Elliot film this?
I'm like, I don't know.
Just in case.
Enjoy.
Um, but yeah, like, well, I, you know, as long as we capture everything on the day as muchas anything and everything, you capture all the dialogue from the ceremony and the
(33:28):
speeches and anything else we can pick up throughout the day, like audio grabs that we canpotentially use that in the film.
I always find the magic of a wedding film is really brought together in the edit.
Um, you know, we've got a certain style of shooting, but, um, like, I think being able totell a couple story, like,
(33:48):
just with no script, just with what you've been captured on the day.
Or sometimes you might do an interview with a couple, but there's usually no script withthat either.
You're just asking them questions like you're asking us here.
So like, there's no like dialogue to like refer back to, when you're actually shooting it.
like having just stuff that you've like, words that you've captured on the day and thenbringing that in and crafting it into a story about the couple, like
(34:14):
I think that's, I think it's like my favorite part and I love it.
And I just think it's really powerful medium for, for us as videographers.
think it's like, yeah.
I'll be honest here.
is very exciting seeing the films come out.
Like I was there and I'm watching and going, you shot this one with Chelsea.
I was like, you were there.
was like, how did you make it look like, man, my footage looks good.
(34:35):
Absolutely.
I'm like, yeah, I'm like halfway through there.
And I'm like, man, I can't remember my like angles looking that nice.
He's like, no, that's my shot.
Like I think, yeah, adding all the different formats as well.
Like are you guys adding in like kind of the camcorder footage and the super 8 and stufflike that?
Is that kind of what you guys do?
well, Chelsea and I like our wedding was in 2019 and I had one of my old handycams fromwhen I first started like on a shooting surfing back at school.
(35:02):
And, um, we just gave it to our friends to run around and one of my mates just like shotheaps of stuff on it.
And then at our wedding, we had the Super 8 and we kind of like, after that, like, we justsort of just like put it aside for a few years.
Like we had the Super 8 from time to time, but the handycam kind of just got forgottenabout.
I was like, Oh, we should bring that out.
And all of sudden like,
Content creators and everyone's adding handicam stuff.
(35:24):
I'm like, wow.
So we've had, we've, you know, from time to time we'll throw it in there and it's not likesomething that we book out.
It's more something that's like, if we think it's going to suit a certain type of wedding,we'll just have it there and we'll shoot some stuff on it.
Super 8 we do add it's like optional extra for us.
So we, you know, obviously you got to buy film and things like that.
So, um, love shooting super 8 it's always good.
And it's good little, you know, as you know, it's like a little, the fun little thing toshoot and it adds up like a really, know, vintage.
(35:50):
Nice retrospective.
I was just reflecting my Instagram profile picture as me holding the Suprate camera atJohn's wedding.
Yeah.
I was just like, I was looking at yesterday, same black and white.
was like, what am I holding?
I've got a Suprate camera.
It's literally Reese who shot, yeah, some stills.
It was at one of the weddings, but yeah, I've got a Suprate and I'm like, cool.
Love that.
So cool.
(36:10):
And like, cause even when the wedding is I'll do this, even like the, the bride, samething giving, um, to all the bridesmaids, like here's the handy cam, like just walk away.
it's not necessarily part of the film that we're creating, but just for them to have, andlike just passing around to friends and rather than having the Polaroid cameras where
everyone just goes to the toilets and takes like a random shitty photo, it's actuallylike, this is like actually good footage.
(36:31):
Take them anyway.
they're even in the book.
Just take them home.
I guess like going onto like a couple's perspective, if someone's looking for like areally high quality videographer and they're kind of just starting out their search, is
there any like little tips that you could kind of give to a bride and groom, a couplelooking for that?
You're welcome.
(36:52):
Stop there, that's all you need to do.
Yeah.
Um, I mean, yeah, you can definitely go down certain avenues, but like always, like ifyou're working with a wedding planner, often they'll have, you know, some recommendations
and things like that.
Or often, you know, if they, you find it, they'd find a photographer, they'll have, youknow, some recommendations as well.
(37:12):
But if you want to just openly look, I guess the main tip to any couple looking for avideographer is go beyond the Instagram profile, look at the website.
look at the full length films.
So look what you're actually going to be getting delivered as your wedding film.
Yeah, like I love our preview, like editing the preview films and we like, you know, weshare, we share some preview films and things like that, but we really pride ourselves on
(37:39):
our full length films.
And we always have, and I think we always will.
And that's where like we tell the couple story really.
Well, I think, yeah, you just, sorry.
I was gonna say, and that might be more important to some couples than others.
Yeah.
And I think that full length film, I certainly, for me is that one that you, yeah, that'sthe one you look back at because it's like, might be your dad passed away and you get to
(38:03):
hear him speak and like he's told your whole life story in that.
And those, those little aspects that really bring together, I guess, your life in the fulllength film, the, the previews and the sort of short reels and that they're fine.
And they're like, they're instantaneous and you can get them quickly.
but then that more crafted story with, guess, with which what we specialize in and what wesort of value ourselves doing is definitely, yeah.
(38:24):
Just, yeah, I would honestly just say, just look at what you're actually going to begetting and make sure you're happy with, if you value the preview film more than the full
length film, that's awesome.
But like, yeah, if you want to look at the full length film, if you're going to valuethat, like look at both aspects and pick a videographer that really aligns with your style
(38:47):
and your values.
I know that, you know, we're not for everyone, like not every couple, one of the bookcosts they w they've got other view of is that they, know and love and that's okay.
There's a videographer out there for everyone and don't be afraid to sort of dig deep andhave a look around, but we are here.
Hahaha!
So do a lot of your work come through planners?
(39:09):
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Most of our booking sort of last couple of years have been through wedding planners, butobviously couples do book us directly as well.
Yeah.
Is that something new?
Like with the whole planter piece, I feel maybe the last five years as they've kind ofreally grown, like there are more planners in Australia, used to be kind of thing over in
the States or Europe or something like that.
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
(39:30):
Yeah, definitely.
There's, there are more planners that we find that we're working with now.
Most, well, pretty much all the weddings that we shoot now, I've got a wedding planner atthem.
aspect or some yeah, coordinate or some level of planning.
most basic aspects sort of get coordinating the day, but most of the weddings that weshoot, they sort of get full planning and styling.
And we're sort of communicating directly with the wedding planner as well as the coupleleading up to the day.
(39:55):
So, which is, which is great because we get a really good perspective and overview of whatthe wedding's really going to look like and how it's going to feel beforehand.
Yeah, and I maybe just answering your question before, what does a more life wedding looklike?
Like there are definitely some grand aspects to some of the weddings we're shooting forsure.
Not every wedding and some of the weddings that are through a planner, there's a lot ofpretty wild elements in there.
(40:17):
And you sort of from Facebook, you go there, this is going to be a pretty wild day.
And I think, some planners plan some pretty epic days and others, yeah, we just have likea broad spectrum of couples that we get through.
Apart from good work, which is a given, is there anything that you're proactively doing toget on, like in front of these planners?
Or is it being pretty organic just from your films just getting shared?
(40:40):
Yeah, it's, initially, yeah, it was sort of, you know, films getting shared and thingslike that.
we've, yeah, we've, yeah, they sort of, yeah, Instagram was, I'd say it was a big partinitially, with how people would find our work.
But, I think just having relationships with planners and, and different working ondifferent weddings, and sort of just basically, chatting to them and being a good.
(41:09):
It's just being good people.
Easy to work with.
obviously seeing good feedback from couples.
mean, like ideally the essence of being a decent, decent person on the day, being easy towork with, producing good work.
they're probably the three tiers that you want to go into any event or wedding with.
So I guess it's probably just been a, hopefully, hopefully a reflection of, a reflectionof those three things.
(41:33):
And, and I guess wedding planners, they're also booking people that either couple
like love and want to work with, also people that are going to work well in a team andthose environments, especially on some bigger weddings where there's quite a bit involved
and you've got a little bit of like a bit of organization to do.
I think a lot of the planners we work with appreciate, yeah, like the effort we put intoit and yeah, for sure.
(41:55):
from like a couple's point of view, think like even the weddings that you've already doneis like the proof.
Like, okay, cool.
We're spending a hundred thousand dollars or $200,000 on this event.
It's not even so much the amount of money that they're paying you.
It's just like the confidence to know that you can handle that type of event as well.
So it's almost like the proof of you've, you've already worked with this planner or you'vealready worked at these venues is almost like a massive tick straight away.
(42:21):
um, yeah, I just always thought about that.
Like, is it, is it building up to like kind of.
plan is it kind of work at the lower end and then kind of slowly stepping up or is itjust, yeah, just fall, just coming in and getting.
a funny one.
It's sort of for us, I don't know where the point changed where we ended up with morebookings through planners than couples directly.
But I certainly noticed a shift in the last couple of years for us anyway.
(42:46):
And yeah, we've built up relationships with a network of different planners that we liketo work with and that recommend us and we will always do the best work we can for any
couple.
as Elliot said, that it's a good thing that the planners know that they've got trust andvalue, the videographer, the bookings.
(43:10):
So that's what we've done.
important thing as well is a lot of the plans we work with, it's a recommendation.
So it's still, Hey, go check out these three videographers work.
And I think ultimately it's still on the couple to go, Hey, this is the people that wewant to go with.
And then it's that at work speech for itself.
hope.
Yeah.
What does life look like for more life moving forward from here?
(43:32):
so yeah, essentially we, we've got like, basically we've got another good, big, nice yearbooked.
this year's a little bit quieter than last year, which is nice.
at the moment, you'll see what happens throughout the year.
but, no, we're, sort of, continually, yeah, just trying to do our best work and, sort of,yeah, create good relationships, as you said, with, planners and,
(44:00):
you know, our couples and have a, just have a good time doing what we do and, sort ofbasically, yeah, just things that things are ticking along all right at the moment.
Yeah.
We're really just trying to, trying to really sort of create established, continuallyestablish and elevate our style and our brand and yeah.
There's so many different ways to shoot and like there's probably more videographers inthe market now obviously cameras are more accessible so yeah you just constantly got to be
(44:28):
creative and just keep trying new things.
I was getting to before it's so easy for people to look at you and be like, these guys aredoing this.
Let's do that with our brand as well.
So it's always so hard for you guys like leading the way to kind of constantly evolve, nothaving other people to look at and like looking at different, you know, looking, okay, do
I look at movies?
Do I look at fashion overseas?
Or like just trying to integrate different parts that way.
(44:49):
Yeah.
And I guess you don't really know what the next shot would be.
Yeah.
It's until you shoot it, you don't, go, actually that worked.
A little while later, I see it in a film and go, John nailed that.
Yeah.
We spoke about it a little bit lately.
(45:10):
Like, some of the, some of the way we shoot isn't necessarily like, we don't think aboutthe shot.
We're just shooting what's happening.
And I think that's probably the beauty of it.
It's, it's not really that, all right, we need to shoot it because of this.
It's just we're in the moment and we do the thing and then we go, yeah, sweet.
We're part of that moment.
And then that that's all captured.
then yeah, like John said, when the sort of beauty of it really comes together when youedit it in the film, and then you can have those options to work off with two film is I
(45:38):
think it, yeah, all comes together as a nice package.
Having two people, two just super stoked people at your day, whether it's me, Chelsea,John, whoever it is.
And then, yeah, just being creative.
Last one, do you have to travel a lot with the types of weddings you're getting?
Are you currently traveling a fair bit for work?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, generally speaking, Chelsea does all the travel weddings with, with me, just, andElliot does most of the weddings, sort of Sydney, Hunter Valley based, weddings and,
(46:09):
sometimes South coast.
but anything further or far than that, Chelsea's pretty much locked into those.
So yeah, we're most, most weeks we're sort of traveling this year.
we do have the first half of the year is less travel than the end of the year, but midyear onwards.
Yeah, there's certainly been a big pivot in the past few years, or at least the past year,past two years of the couples that are inquiring and booking are further afar.
(46:33):
Yeah.
As far as North Queensland.
Yeah, we shot one up in Townsville last year.
John's in Byron a fair bit down on the South coast.
Yeah, there's a pretty big variety, which is cool.
And is that a good thing?
Do you like look for more of that work or you got a happy balance between kind of SydneyHunter and Traveler?
(46:53):
it's, it's just happened naturally that we've gone further afar.
Um, lot of our inquiries have just naturally come from different areas now.
you know, we're, we're happy to go anywhere.
We only book a limited number of weddings a year.
Um, hence this year being a little bit quieter, we've, we've purposely done that becausewe do have more travel involved and, and bigger weddings as well that we want to make sure
(47:17):
that as Elliot said before, we can put our all into, um, we don't want to be doing.
doubles and triples and things like that.
we really want to do one a week and sort of cap it at sort of 30, 35 a year for us max.
So yeah, being with the extra travel and, know, Chelsea and I have got a few overseastrips and things like that locked in for the year.
(47:39):
it's, you know, when you want to, you know, you don't want to be going overseas, cominghome and then straight into a wedding sort of thing for us.
ultimately to the detriment of the couple as well.
like I do.
That's how, yeah.
One of our, as I said, one of our services is the fact that we keep everything in houseand we start, you got us from start to finish.
And, um, I think it's our responsibility to sort of not overextend ourselves and giveourselves the time that we're, we're in the, in the studio editing and things like that.
(48:07):
Um, we're not just running around, you know, shooting every single day.
So, um, yeah, it's.
You said it before as well.
might be that expectation with the couple and maybe it's to our own detriment, but we loveit.
So yeah, we don't, we'll go, we'll go anywhere and everywhere.
And, if a couple wants to fly us anywhere in the world, we'll be there.
(48:28):
Love it.
All right.
So for now, where can people find you on socials and websites?
on Instagram is probably an email is probably the website.
So morelifefilms.com or Instagram at morelifefilms or TikTok as well.
know Chelsea's been experimenting with TikTok a bit.
yeah.
(48:49):
Don't forget your solos.
Awesome.
Well, boys, thank you so much for coming on.
Awesome chat.
yeah, really appreciate it.
OK, thanks for having us.
Thanks for tuning in to the Wedco podcast.
If you love this episode, don't forget to subscribe, follow and share it with yourfriends.
We'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave a review or connect with us on social media.
(49:10):
New episodes drop every week, so be sure to join us next time for more weddinginspiration, tips and stories.
Until then, happy planning and we'll see you soon.
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