A feel good story

Over a year ago we shot a wedding for another company that did photo and video for customers.  They had accidentally double booked a date and hired us to shoot the video portion of the day.  Unfortunately the photographer studio is now out of business.  The customers, Krischan and Sarah, managed to get their footage back from the closed studio.   They contacted us to edit the wedding since we had shot it.  We were able to help Krischan and Sarah and just tonight we got this nice note from them.

My husband and I cannot express our gratitude to Philip Hinkle and Frogman Productions enough.  Here’s our story-
 
Scene 1- We booked our videographer through our photographer. Turns out that our photographer double booked the videography for our wedding and with only 2 weeks before the big day had to outsource it. Enter Philip and Frogman Productions. They called us ahead of time and made sure that we had everything in order. They were a ton of fun on the wedding day - we were happy to have them there and thankful for the save!
 
Scene 2- Although Frogman was responsible for shooting the footage, they had to give it back to the photographer at the end of the day for editing through his company. Over a YEAR later, we did not have our video and our photographer had packed up and gone out of business without letting anyone know. It was a nightmare and scary to think that we wouldn’t ever see those memories. We called Frogman to see if there was any chance that they had a backup copy but unfortunately they did not. They did however feel awful for the situation and offered to help us if we could get even the raw footage back.
 
Scene 3- Miracle. We were able to get the raw footage back (the story is too long to write in this testimonial…). We called Philip right away and he worked with us on figuring out the best editing options for the right price in the least amount of time (considering we had already paid in full for this once…). Frogman Productions and Philip Hinkle were responsive and kept us in the loop throughout their editing of the video. Everything was on time and everything was great. We were able to get the full video and two beautiful highlight clips as well. They worked with us until everything was “just right”. Philip even made one of the highlight clips into an iPhone version (which we never knew we wanted but we really love)!
 
End of story- we are so thankful for Frogman Productions. Not only did they give us back a day that we thought we wouldn’t ever be able to relive, but they also restored our faith in the wedding industry. It sounds trite, but it’s honest. Philip Hinkle and Frogman Productions have our 100% recommendation- you won’t regret working with them.

It was a pleasure to help Krischan and Sarah have a happy ending to their story.  Good luck to you both and a long happy marriage full of wonderful memories. 

Here is the highlight clip we created for them.

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My very own wedding video

That’s right.  You read the title correctly.  Today, December 6, 1980 is our 28th wedding anniversary.  When we got married back in 1980 my uncle had just got a video camera.  For those young people out there a video camera in 1980 was an oddity.  The internals ran on picture tubes like old televisions, the camera was hooked to a VCR via cable.  The VCR had a shoulder strap and a big battery so you could lug it around and capture the moments.  Ahh….how far technology has come today. 

Anyway, I have been stealthily working on the highlight video all week.  It is pretty hard when you work out of your home and are together most of the time.  There were a few close calls where she came around the edit suite but I managed to keep it secret. 

The quality of the video footage isn’t super fantastic like we are used to seeing it today but considering it came from a VHS tape 28 years old it is pretty darn good. 

There are so many special things about the clip.  My grandfather passed away 2 weeks after the wedding.  He appears briefly in a few shots.  All of the grandparents in the video are now deceased as well.  Sherry’s mom passed away in 2000 and one of the bridesmaids passed away already too.  There is lots of important people in our video that are no longer with us.  It is a treasure for our family.  We have about 30 minutes of rehearsal and rehearsal dinner footage also converted to DVD that has lots of shots of the family which makes it even more special.

If you are a past customer of ours I hope your video means as much to you in 28 years as ours does to us. 

I hope you enjoy the highlight of “The Frogman’s” wedding. 

 

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Chicago….Chicago.

No we aren’t working in Chicago (but I would shoot a wedding there if a customer hired me).  On Tuesday, November 18th, 2007, we were in Chicago to make a presentation to the Illinois Videographer’s Association (IVA).  If you’re a customer the Videographer’s Association is an industry trade group that gets together once a month to network and learn everything from customer satisfaction to shooting skills to editing techniques.  It is a group where you can get together and learn more about your craft.

Mrs. Frogman and I were at the IVA meeting to present a topic I named, “Disaster Recovery….what to do when your run and gun world shoots you in the foot“.  Basically I was teaching other videographers how to use creativity to fix some of those things that don’t quite unfold the way we planned them on the wedding day.  It was a fun presentation with some real situations and how creativity produced a great video.  Here are a couple of pics from our presentation…compliments of Kris Malandruccolo.

 

 

Here we are getting set up before the presentation began.  That’s our little mascot “Tad” sitting there helping me.  Tad is short for Tadpole his real name.  You can see some of his adventures from our vacation last year on the Fun Stuff  page of the blog.

 

 

 

 

Here I am in the middle of the presentation while of the sample clips was being played back.

 

 

 

 

And for my last picture from Chicago here we are in front of Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria where Kris and John Zale from WEVA took us for dinner for some real Chicago deep dish pizza.  The deep dish is all it’s talked up to be….dang it was tasty.  If you’re in Chicago it’s worth a visit to Lou Malnati’s for sure.  That’s Kris Malandruccolo with us in the pic giving the pizza a thumbs up.  Poor John was stuck behind the camera. 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time with all the videographers from the IVA.  From Mrs. Frogman (Sherry) and I we would like to say thanks to the members of IVA for your hospitality.

 

Lets go to the Movies.

Here at Frogman Productions we are always trying to find new exciting ways to enhance what we can offer our customers.  One of the new things we are proud to be adding to our services are Movie Posters.  Imagine a full size 24″ x 36″ movie poster about your wedding movie.  These posters look very much like the ones you see in the theater.  Just supply us with a full rez picture from your wedding day and we will do the rest. 

Imagine if you were having a Same Day Edit shown at your reception and a Movie Poster to accompany it near the gift table or place card table.  Give us an engagement picture and we can have one to display at the reception to go along with your video presentation. 

I’m sure you are curious what they look like.  Here are a few I have put together for wedding shows and also to experiment with the process.  If you are interested in a poster to accompany your wedding movie just call and we can give you pricing.  Here are a few posters for you to check out.  These are small versions for the web.  If you click on a poster you will see it bigger but still not full rez.  Those files are way to big to put on the blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give us a call if you would like a movie poster of your wedding.

A Veteran’s Day thank you!

Just wanted to post a note today, Veteran’s Day 2008, and say thanks to all our veterans who fight for the freedom we have here in America.  Their sacrifices, sometimes with their life, means very much to our family.

You may have seen the video we had the opportunity to create last November for a Vietnam veteran who was MIA.  His remains were found, identified and brought home to Madison after almost 40 years.  We were asked to create a memorial tribute to honor the veteran and provide the family with a historical document.  We were fortunate enough to enter the video in a competition last August and ended up winning the Gold Award at the Wedding and Event Videographers CEA competition.

If you haven’t seen the video check it out and then thank a veteran for your freedom.  We have created a website to showcase the video.  Check it out at www.richardfischermia.com.  There is a spot to leave comments to the family.  If so moved please leave them a message.  It will mean very much to them.

 

A wedding from the Renaissance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

No we didn’t take a trip in a time machine back to the Renaissance period of history.  We filmed Rick and Michelle’s wedding at The Renaissance Place in Milwaukee.  We met Rick and Michelle when we filmed the wedding of Michael and Jessica Bencriscutto.  We had a good time at that wedding so we knew this one would be fun too. 

Rick and Michelle’s wedding was a little different because the ceremony and reception were both held at The Renaissance Place.  The Renaissance Place is a beautiful historical building right in downtown Milwaukee.  We arrived just before the wedding party arrived and got started filming.  The photographer, Dale, from The Artist Group arrived early as well.  We had fun with Dale filming Rick and Michelle as they made memories that will last forever.   After the wedding we all hopped on the trolley bus and headed offsite for pictures and some fun footage at Lake Park Bistro then it was back to the Renaissance Place for dinner and the party.  The party got started and the band, The North Coast Orchestra, had the place partying late into the evening. 

Below is the movie trailer from Rick and Michelle’s wedding.

 

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United as one in spirit and love

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Saturday, October 11th, we had got to film the movie for Travis and Jenny.  When Jenny called to inquire about our services we were at a point with bookings where we weren’t sure we could take on another wedding.  Jenny was persistent though so we decided to film their wedding.  Boy are we glad we did.  Travis and Jenny were so happy, exuberant and just a joy all day long.

Travis and Jenny made it clear that there wedding was going to be presented as a testimony of their faith and trust in God and wanted us to build a movie for them to reflect this.  There were a number of things that happned during the day that reflected their love for God, and of course for each other.  From the Best Man praying for Travis after he got ready to the Pastor and Travis praying together before the ceremony started (which we could hear and record via wireless mic) to the Best Man’s incredible speech during dinner talking about how Travis had prayed specifically for the girl he would marry and his prayers were answered.  There was even a prayer of thanks given via song after the best man’s speech.  It was all a very moving time and a tremendous celebration of a bride and a groom that both became the answer to each other’s specific prayers.

The ceremony was held at the beautiful Elmbrook Church in Brookfield.  It was in the small sanctuary that only seats 650.  The main sanctuary seats over 3500 …. that thing was huge.  After the ceremony the photographer took the wedding party to Whitnall Park and then on to the Polish Center of Wisconsin for the reception and continuation of the celebration.  The DJ, Dave from Complete Music, got the dancing started after dinner and the celebration continued late into the evening.

Here is a little movie trailer we put together for Travis and Jenny.

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A few weeks off

Well we had a few weekends off from shooting weddings as the season begins to wind down.  Since I hadn’t posted anything for a while I thought I would post about something besides a wedding.

In the middle of those 2 weekends off I celebrated my birthday (don’t ask how old).  To celebrate Sherry and I hopped on our motorcycle and visited the Harley Davidson museum in Milwaukee.  Did you know we had a motorcycle.  It’s our way of getting out of the studio cleaning our mind.  It’s not a Harley Davidson (wish wish) but it is a nice Honda that has a retro look like the big Harley’s do.  Here is a picture of our little bike.  Pardon my neighbors yard in the background. 

Anyway the Harley museum is just awesome.  If you have any interest in mechanical things and/or history it is a must see.  We spent about 3 hours there and could have stayed longer.  There are bikes from every model year on display including the bike known as Serial # 1.  Here is a pic of that bike…amazing.

There was plenty of cool stuff to look at and learn about there.  From the first HD ever built to the 100th anniversary model that is signed by every employee at Harley Davidson.  There are bikes that never made production, some special custom bikes that are over the top and stuff like Elvis’s bike and exact replicas of the bikes in Easy Rider.  For a motorcycle enthusiast it is like adrenalin overload.  For a historian it is fascinating.  Here are a few other pics of some of the sites at the museum.

I would like to copy the color scheme of this bike to our bike someday.

Here is one of the many historic old bikes there.

And here is one of the custom bikes that somebody got a little silly with.  It had 2 engines back to back and was reallllyyy long.  It was donated by the owner when he could no longer ride it.

There are lots more pics from the museum in my photobucket account.  If you are interested in seeing them just click this link.  Some of comments with the pics for special things and some of them are just pics of cool bikes. 

http://s94.photobucket.com/albums/l94/frogmanproductions/Harley%20Museum/?albumview=grid

I hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into a different side of the “Frogman”.

 

From Madison to Wausau.

 

 

 

 Well this year seems to be the year Frogman Productions is “hopping” (pun intended) all over the place to film weddings.  We do lots of weddings in Milwaukee but this year has taken us to Minneapolis, LaCrosse, Stevens Point (twice), Milwaukee, Neenah and now Wausau.  We’re just “hoppin” all over the state.  Ok enough funny stuff.  You want to hear about the wedding.

On Saturday, September 20th, we got to film the wedding for Jason Kolbeck and Marla Zabel.  We had been looking forward to this one since we signed the contract because we filmed a wedding for Marla’s brother (and now sister-in-law) about 4 years ago.  When we worked at her brother’s wedding we learned the whole family was just tons of fun and Sherry often commented how she hoped Marla and her boyfriend from the wedding would get married and hire us.  Well it happened and they did.

The wedding took place at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church but our day started a Marla’s parent’s house where she was getting ready.  After Marla got in her dress we joined our good friends Patrick and Tracy from Expressive Photography in the backyard for some pictures with Marla.   What a great place for a photosession.  The pictures above were supplied by Expressive so a big thank you to them.  After pictures at the house we were off to the church to get some formal photo time with Jason and the guys before getting ready for the ceremony.

After the ceremony was over Sherry and I headed to The Grand Hall on the square where the reception was being held.  While we were setting up for the reception the wedding party spent some time with Patrick and Tracy around town taking some fun photos.  Once Jason and Marla arrived at The Grand Hall dinner got underway and the party started.  There was a full dance floor all night long and everyone was celebrating with lots of dancing and fun.

Here’s a little movie trailer we put together to tease you till the full movie is completed.

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For an added treat I am trying an online hosting place that allows real HD video on the internet.  Click below to see a full 720p HD version of the movie trailer.  Once it starts to play you can click on the HD button and it will take you to the main playback site where you can watch it in full HD.

 
Jason and Marla’s Movie Trailer from Philip Hinkle on Vimeo.

A day filled with “bubbly”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes it was a day filled with “bubbly” but I’m not talking about champagne but who knows what they had at a few stops between the ceremony and reception.  I’m talking about the bubbly personality of the bride for Saturday’s, September 13, 2008, wedding.  The bride, Kelly, was about as bubbly a person as you will meet in your life.  Don’t worry, Brett, the groom was pretty cool too.  According the Jenny, Kelly’s sister and Maid of Honor, if she had a dollar for everytime someone referred to Kelly as bubbly during their lives she could have paid for the whole wedding.  That is what Kelly is “bubbly”.  Of course that infectious personality makes for great fun all day long when working with them.

In the weeks leading up to the wedding we learned lots about Brett and Kelly.  Stuff like Brett works for KSW Construction and helped build the big new athletic center here in Stoughton so he probably saw us many times sitting outside sipping coffee at the coffee shop.  Brett also owns a Harley Davidson motorcycle which makes him ok in our book (we own a bike too).  We also found out Kelly played soccer for the Univesity of Wisconsin which is pretty cool.  Turns out she played some High School basketball at Madison West as well as did her sister.  Since Sherry is a big basketball fan we are sure we saw them play a few times and of course Sherry had fun during some downtimes talking hoops with Kelly, her sister and her mom.

OK…about the wedding.  The ceremony was at Midvale Community Lutheran Church where everything went smoothly.  Can you believe Kelly and the girls actually showed up 30 minutes early.  How often does that happen?  Around noon the photographer Sarah Murphy from Liv Photography arrived and the girls started getting ready for the big day.  We had a great time working with Sarah and her assistant, Shawn, who also happens to be her husband.  The pictures above are compliments of Sarah so we thank her for those.

After the ceremony it was off to the reception at the Quality Inn in Fitchburg.  There we were lucky to work with a DJ who also happens to be a good friend of ours.  Aaron from Celebrations Entertainment got the party rolling and I don’t think it ever stopped.  We were making a fun dance video for Brett and Kelly’s video and we initially had trouble getting good fun dancing footage because the dance floor was full it was difficult to get good angles but we still got some great footage.

Anyway, you are probably wanting to see some video since this is a wedding movie blog.  Well here is a short movie trailer from Brett and Kelly’s wedding.

 

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