|
Mili and Sid Ghosh,the photographers
Mili, originally from East Africa
made her way to Canada for her
Bachelors and then finally moved to Chicago in 2003. She and her
husband Sid Ghosh, a professor of Electrical Engineering / Physics
(he teaches at the University Of Illinois Chicago) took upon the
challenge to constantly be on the edge as wedding cinematographers.
From shooting with steadycams, cranes, kino lights, 5-10 person
crew doing music videos, to very unique conceptual videos for weddings,
the two of them are always ready for the next challenge.
What cities do you cover?
We love destinations and are very fond of traveling. We have so
far covered weddings in Udaipur, New York, LA & Kansas.
Your Cinematography Style
Our
style of shooting is usually more bollywood/ fusion but can be
Ind / documentary as well. We love colors and composing shots with
creative camera movements, direction and action that truly resembles
a film scene. Recently we were commissioned for a gorgeous wedding
in Udaipur. Our clients Tara & Raj were looking for a unique
product which involved intense planning, choreographing, screenplay
writing and direction. Our consultation with the bride went over
200 emails plus-- phone calls to production co-ordinators who had
helped us with location scouting, props, dancers and all our production
requirements.
We shot for five days with a full crew including lighting/ cranes
in different locations e.g Lake Palace hotel, Jag Mandir, Udaivillas,
Shiv Niwas Palace, Shilpgram Village, the Picchola Lake etc and
we filmed specific scenarios to create a romantic mood throughout.
We worked hard to highlight the city, culture & people, most
of which was evident in their wedding events, but to enhance the
scenes prior to the wedding, we had to come up with creative ways
to exhibit the city, culture, people and the romance between our
couple. The first shooting on the day of the wedding was a huge
attempt as we arranged for traditionally dressed Rajasthani girls
for Tara's ‘getting ready’ scene-- we wanted to recreate
an era when close girl friends, relatives and house maids would
adorn the princess, 'Rajputani's' by celebrating & singing folk
songs.
A few other scenarios which also helped to enhance the mood and
story was to get their aerial shots while taking a camel ride, watching
a puppet show in a village, at the temple where they wed, following
them on a shikara boat at night by the lake palace. The idea was
to create the best visuals using architecture, lakes, palaces and
to keep the mood romantic throughout-- using choreographed action,
body language and expression. We had a lot of re-takes, and bloopers
but we were lucky to have such a fun, energetic and enthusiastic
couple who were more than willing to re-do a take for us. It was
the best opportunity for us to not only capture the wedding but
also direct & film specific scenes.
Your choice of camera/ lens
We shoot primarily with Canon HD, and use camera supports like the
Steadicam Flyer Merlin, glidetracks, jimmy jibs and depth of field
adapters for attaining the nice shallow depth of field shots you
see in movies.
Post processing, what's your style
We spend anywhere from 50-500 or more hours on editing, color grading,
Blu-ray authoring, creating dolby digital 5.1 surround sound, archiving
etc. Every wedding movie is edited to 30 minutes with opening/ending
montages, credits, sound bites, audio dubbing etc.
Reception movies are usually an hour long with more dance montages/fun
sound bites etc. We also add in 'behind the scenes' or any other
bonus or left over footage that can be used creatively. Color grading
can also be a long process, depending on what look we are trying
to achieve. We mostly enhance colors, contrasts but the process
of doing it all on HD timeline is always cumbersome.
Your favourite wedding photos/movie scenes
It comes from our You & Me Session from Tara & Raj's Udaipur
wedding; we had wanted to create a very traditional/ethnic piece,
given the backdrop of the city Udaipur, it was only suitable to
see Tara & Raj in a traditional, royal setting as they began
their big day- from the choice of venue (Tara & Raj's lake palace
suite), specially ordered costumes, arrangement of props, usage
of cine lights, jewellery (arranged by the make-up artist) to extras
(traditionally dressed rajasthani girls).
We had planned on a lot of details well in advance to enhance and
create a mood for this getting ready scene. For the first time we
had a lot more control on a shoot and we realized the importance
of good direction, which makes it more challenging but we loved
the results and ever since then, we have always been tempted to
direct scenes both on & prior to the wedding.
Advice for to-be-wed couples on how
to pick venue, lighting, decor, makeup, clothes etc that contribute
to beautiful wedding movies
1. Try to add color, contrasts in your decor/lighting plans.
2. Always remember, natural light provides the best results for
both photo/video (prioritize your schedule and get your photos/video
taken first).
Mili and Sid Ghosh
milighosh@gmail.com
www.memoinmotion.com
http://in-motionstudio.com
tel
312-282-1214 |
