2020 - An amazing start to the year and then... Pandemic & Lockdown!
A promising start
2020 started off an incredible year for us. The number of enquiries for 2020, 2021 and even 2022 weddings we received in January and February were over FOUR TIMES more than our previous best month - and those are not normally the busiest months for new enquiries!
We also acquired a new commercial client who provided a few initial jobs on top of our existing commercial client base of work and a few one off type projects.
One Sunday towards the end of February found us inside a Barn filming music videos. The band (Twin Town), a Function band from Leeds, had asked us to film a music video for them and wanted a barn look - not a clean, bright wedding type barn, but a real, working barn. We located an ideal venue and the band loved what we suggested so much, they decided to up the ante and shoot two videos.
Being a working barn, it was cold, draughty and outside we saw rain, snow, hail and sunshine all within a few hours – but we were on top of a one of the highest hills around. Despite the inclement weather outside, inside it looked great. We put up lights, introduced smoke and between takes, munched on fresh, homemade flap jack and tea brought to us be the owners.
At the end of February we headed to Northumberland to film our first wedding of the year. This was the furthest North we have been to film a wedding, (Sweden excluded) and although it was an easy drive door to door via the A1, we stayed over the night before to be fresh and ready for an early start.
Ellingham Hall is stunning on the inside. The decor and styling, fixtures and fittings are so unique. The low winter sun provided some very strong shadows and highlights which looked great against the decor. Whilst such light can be a challenge for some to control their exposure, we jumped in with both feet and the result is a sensational wedding film that the couple loves.
The Last Wedding
Our next wedding proved to be the last before 'lockdown' and the virus was already on everyone’s tongues throughout the day - it even made mention in the Speeches. With half of the guests being Doctors or in the medical industry, we were however in really good hands.
The Bride got ready at her parents’ house - a beautiful old Chapel House in a small village in the Yorkshire Dales. Hair and make-up took place in a sunroom at the rear and provided beautiful soft light. The Groom was spending his morning at the Yorkshire Wedding Barn which was also the Venue after they were married. Since we were unable to get there and back within the time scale of the day, it was decided that they would film parts of his morning on a phone, which we then integrated to provide a complete story of their day.
At the Yorkshire Wedding Barn, one of the standout and unique aspects of the decor was that the Bride and Groom had carefully folded 1000 paper birds that were used to decorate the venue.
One of the standout and unique aspects of the decor was that the Bride and Groom had carefully folded 1000 paper birds that were used to decorate the venue.
And then all went crazy!
Our next weddings were all rescheduled to later in the year, all commercial projects that were booked in were put on hold and everything stopped. New wedding enquiries had already started to slow down and then to no enquiries.
Into Lockdown
After we finished off the last remaining Commercial project filmed before lockdown, we looked to check and tidy our archiving. We have a very well organised structure running over several NAS drive, external drives and online storage, providing multiple copies of important data. It is always worth checking that everything is where it should be and up to date. A small amount of SEO and website updates and soon there was little more to do. Thankfully after about 14 days of lockdown, we started to see enquiries trickle back again.
The future
As I write, the future is largely unknown. It's strange to not know when we will film our next wedding or commercial video project, or even get beyond the gates of our house with a camera. All weddings up to the end of June have been rescheduled. Our hope is that we hope will be back to enjoying filming weddings again in July.