blog

cinema + education

2013-04-22T17:00:41Z

it is official... and exactly as it sounds. this is a new offering from oceanwide studios!

we will be exploring using dslr cameras for shooting video. many of the concepts we will be discussing also apply to shooting photos.

who's this for? it's for you, of course. you don't need to be a professional to shoot great looking video. this class will give you the basics you need for capturing beautiful footage of your family and friends. it will also help pro and amateur photographers who already know how to shoot become better shooters. because we are limiting space for this class, we will be working with everyone regardless of skill level.

we are really excited about this next phase for oceanside studios. please email us with questions at education@oceanwidestudios.com.

you can sign up here!

matt + alison: des moines, iowa wedding

2012-09-12T13:49:06Z

we've known alison for several years. her brother, adam, was one of our first weddings and we work with her and her family doing some commercial work as well.

this wedding did not lack for style! alison and her mom are professionals when it comes to staging, decor and style and it showed. every detail was considered.

the day was beautiful, in spite of the rain... they had an intimate ceremony with family and friends in a beautiful little chapel in desoto. thanks to a wonderful couple for including us in your day.

what we've been up to...

2012-08-20T19:58:49Z

this year has been our busiest ever. lots of weddings, of course, and some exciting commercial work. and while we know that we should be posting regularly to tell everyone of all the fun work we've been doing, we are notoriously bad at that. so i won't attempt at bringing you up to date in one post, but i will let you in on some of it.

last year, a local company asked us to produce a branding piece for their website. we loved working with grey dog media. they do amazing work and we had a lot of fun bringing some past magazine spreads to life in this branding video. here's the piece we created for them last fall:

so this year, they contacted us about partnering with them to create a whole series of content for one of their clients. this was both challenging and rewarding as we've worked with them to develop something unique for another local business, hy-vee. the goal is to produce an entire library of video resources that have the same look and feel as hy-vee's seasons magazine (a magazine that grey dog has been producing for them for over five years). here's an example of some of that work that we've done this summer:

so there you have it. to see more of the work we've done for grey dog and hy-vee, click here. we are finishing up another dozen videos for them right now. enjoy!

A locomotive way of shooting.

2012-05-03T20:31:09Z

I'm not claiming to know exactly why Boone, IA is famous for trains. It may have something to do with a huge train bridge that runs near by or maybe that the town had some train business in the past (what that was I don't know). But the fact is, there were A LOT of trains going through town that day. At first, I was getting really annoyed because we were trying to get from place to place to shoot Lisa and Neil's awesome wedding. Then I figured, "dang. Lisa and Neil are proud citizens of Boone and trains are a big part of that." So I jumped out of my car and shot as much train footage as I could. Then poof- we had our first train themed SDE.

On a personal note. Lisa and Neil were great. Lisa is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet and she was such a huge fan of our work it was hard not to go over the moon making a great film. And Neil is this big burly dude that has that smile that explains how he must charm everybody all the time.

Hope you guys love their same day edit.

Jamie Stoia Photography

2012-04-17T16:34:27Z

Jamie was a girl that we met shooting a wedding in the very south-eastern corner of Minnesota. Then she became our go to girl in Minneapolis as we were expanding up North. Then after a few conversations and the realization that we all think way too much alike, we became friends.

That is just how it happens with Jamie. With us, just like with her clients, she has a great way with people. She is passionate and hard working and her photos show it. Enjoy this short video we shot and edited for Jamie's website.

brett + meredith: a SURPRISE same day edit

2012-04-09T14:25:02Z

last april, we had the priviledge of shooting noah and kara's video and getting to know their family throughout the process. i love their family! it was at her sister's (kara) wedding, that meredith came up to me and said they wanted us to be part of their day too. what an honor!

even though we were scheduled to produce a highlights video of their day, meredith's father called me a few weeks before the wedding and asked if we'd be willing to do a surprise same day edit to play at their reception. of course!! so, i spent much of the day editing in the car from location to location and trying to be very covert in my mobile editing suite.

you can see from the video that these people are fun. but now that all of kara and meredith's siblings are married, we'll have to move on to their extended family to continue the tradition. who's next?

screenshot of the video of them watching the same day edit at the reception.

What's his name?

2012-04-06T15:31:57Z

So on a Sunday afternoon in Burnsville, MN I hosted about 12 people at my house to film what would become Mike and Katie Harper's eShoot film. Their video was our first to incorporate stories and interviews from the couples whole family and close friends.

One of my favorite moments in the interviews was learning that upon meeting Mike, the McQuillan family was unaware that he had a first name. Actually they were just unaware that his first name was actually Mike. He had been only called Harper, his last name and nickname. You will just have to watch.

Then came their wedding day. We had an absolute blast going bowling in the morning all the way through to the golf course reception. Here is their same day edit, enjoy.

A new breeze for Oceanwide...

2011-11-18T15:22:58Z

Since our beginning over 2 years ago at Kaleigh and Nick Hitsman's wedding in Ames, IA, Oceanwide Studios has been plugging away providing our short Same Day Edit videos. We truly love these films and went about centering our package structure around these short versions of wonderful days.

Lately we have been hired to do our Feature package more often. While more expensive in cost these films are longer and more rich with natural dialogue and fun memories from the day. Still very cinematic in nature and no less detailed in timing and structure the feature offers that "extra" that some of you couples are looking for.

In the near future we at Oceanwide are going to start a major restructure of how we offer our services to our clients. Our goal will be to have something that fits a wider set of needs from a wider set of soon to be married couples. We still hope to show MANY same day edits, but know that there are some of you out there that just have to have well...MORE.

This feature length film was shot on October 1st, 2011 and shines on two absolutely AMAZING people Jon and Emily. The day went absolutely smooth and provided ample moments for us to get excited about making a movie. From Emily's time getting ready at her childhood home, to Jon's buddy's setting up a makeshift pool on how long the ceremony would last (which I came close to winning:)).

We hope you enjoy this

Andy and Brad

As a Clone, I was in the WRONG zone!!

2011-10-05T21:42:34Z

So I never mentioned it to Matt, Liz or any of their friends but I'm a very big Iowa State Cyclone fan. That means that shooting these recently graduated, rabid Hawk fans in their home town kept my Cardinal and Gold mouth zipped shut:)

What I came to find out is that those Hawk fans can be quite awesome! Matt and Liz and their families were gracious and easy going. The day went smoothly as we shot at some notable sights around the University of Iowa campus. Note the first look at Iowa's "old capitol" and some great Nile Kinnick respect at the football stadium. This highlights has national champions written all over it...NOT.

The city, in the country.

2011-06-27T03:36:52Z

The Nahas/Fyfe wedding was very much centered around family. In our case we got nice and close with the Nahas side of the family (not to take away from the wonderful Fyfe people we met!). My relationship with the Nahas clan started 3 years ago when I was asked to play my guitar at their beautiful home on the outskirts of West Des Moines for an outdoor party.

Fast forward three years and daughter Melissa has found the perfect young man, TJ. We find ourselves at their home again but this time on the inside getting ready for a wedding. Their home in the country is the exact opposite on the inside. A sheik, modern, minimalist style that touches a clean place in my heart, defines their decor. An artistic family with an appreciation for the time and effort it takes to make things beautiful.

Andy and I snuck out before sunlight to the Nahas compound and shot the beginnings of an amazing storm. The day was rainy, then not rainy but was filled with nothing but love all the way around. That is until TJ took out his angst on a few golfballs at the Glen Oaks Country Club first tee!!!

Enjoy this short film of a great couple.