Charles Lauren Films: The Blog

David and I went to the Beach for the Winter Festival Concert 2008! We were invited once again to film the concert for President F. King Alexander of California State University Long Beach. This was the first year the students in the music studies program were able to perform bearing the name of the Bob Cole Conservatory. This concert combines the Bob Cole Conservatory students with also the other choirs who are from any major at CSULB. If you aren’t a conservatory student all one must do is try-out for the part to be a part of the concert. Not that trying out is easy! So sit back and enjoy 3 excerpts from the Winter Concert 2008! Enjoy!

Well the results are in and Charles Lauren Films is in the top 5 of all videography businesses in Los Angeles! Thank you all so much who voted, this is a great honor! We will continue to work as hard as we can to make amazing videos and provide great customer service.
Cheers!
David and Kelsey

Erica and Shaun are two sweet and cool people! We created a video for Shaun’s sister’s wedding in 2006. This wedding took place at a church in Newhall and the reception was at The Odyssey in Granada Hills.

The entertainment was provided by J&M Entertainment with Sean as the MC. He has the most amazing tricks and activities to keep the pacing of the reception frantic and the guests on their feet all the time.

The coordinator and the person who designed the flowers, lighting, tables and decorations was Ada Doron from Fleur Creations. We worked with her on Erica and Shaun’s maid of honor and best man’s wedding a few years ago and it was just as gorgeous.

The photographer was Digishots Photography who had a lot of pocketwizards and was able to quickly setup a studio right in front of the Odysssey as we fought the setting sun and rising darkness.

Enjoy this short-form 15 minute video of their full wedding! Happy Thanksgiving! We will have a lot to post after the turkey!

Catholic Wedding + Odyssey from Charles Lauren Films on Vimeo.

This past weekend was a very stressful and tragic time in our Southern Californian wildfire history. Thankfully, David and I, as well as our home was safe. We are always thankful during the fire season every year that we are urbanites in our living situation and don’t have to worry about the possibility of our home being destroyed in a wildfire. However, many of our videography/clergy/and photography friends are not. Many of them are very much in the outer realm of urban sprawl. They live in some of the prettiest areas, but the most dangerous as well.

This blog is dedicated to them :

The Clergy Network (Yorba Linda) whose entire family is safe-yay!, Honored Occasions (Brea), Jeff (a videographer)(Diamond Bar), Robles Video (Brea), Mike (a videographer)(Brea), Anaheim Hills Golf Club (venue site)(Anaheim Hills), Nixon Library (venue site)(Yorba Linda) And Kelsey’s family (in Brea/Carbon Canyon).

And everyone else-who has been affected…

David and I had a shoot on Saturday morning in Norwalk at the McKenna BMW. We got on our way at around 9am getting onto our Freeway (the 405 by Venice Blvd.) Immediately, since we had known the Sayre Fire was burning, we looked toward the valley. A terrifying gloomy bowl of smoke seemed to be just over the Hollywood Hills layering the San Fernando Valley with ash and smoke. At once David and I said a prayer thanking God that it wasn’t November 22^nd , 2008. We have a wedding where the church is in Valencia and the reception is in the San Fernando Valley right next to Sylmar. As we all know the 5 FWY was closed and the wedding probably would have been canceled.

Next, as we made the interchange from the 405 FWY to the 105 FWY, David and I saw a big plume of white smoke toward Anaheim/Brea Hills. David and I literally at the same time exchange a gasp and said “holy smakers!” under our breath or something to that effect-if you get our drift. We knew another fire had started. By the afternoon when we were still filming, the black smoke enveloped us and the BMWs. Outside the ash was everywhere. When we had our lunch break, there was a TV in the lobby and our worst fears were confirmed. The fire had begun to overtake Orange County. We knew Southern California was now in the midst of another awful fire.

The film shoot was over in the evening. Once we got home, we immediately called our relatives in Brea- to find out they had been asked to evacuate and were able to escape with their documents and important things in their car. Their house was 5 houses from being destroyed. Thanks to the firefighters it was saved. As I also told you, we have heard from our friends at the Clergy Network whose entire family experienced the fire in one way or another, but came out well and with their houses too. They told us the apartment they use to live in was one of the 50 units consumed by the fire.

As our population increases, so does our urban sprawl and the potential for wildfires to come into the backyards of the ones we love. My family loves where they live and couldn’t see it any other way. We on the other hand will take being on a boring paved street in the middle of a dense beach community anytime- even though we miss the deer and bobcats! I guess we will have to be thankful we have the squirrels and raccoons.

And lastly, thank you to our firefighters in LA and Orange County. They did an amazing job. Many people lost many things, but most importantly all of our families are safe and in the end that’s what matters.

This was Luis and Amanda’s wedding. Until about a week ago they had not planned to have their big day filmed. We had just worked with Alexandra who is the owner/wedding coordinator from Sterling Engagements . She called us about a week ago and told us she was a bridesmaid in her friends wedding and they didn’t have a videographer-so we answered the call. Thanks to Amanda’s parents and family they chipped in for the wedding video. The family and friends kept the video as a surprise to Amanda until the day of the wedding. When we showed up, Amanda was excited and thrilled to be having a video. After all it is once in a lifetime- we wish Amanda and Luis all the best!

Luis and Amanda // Wedding Highlights // November 8, 2008 from Charles Lauren Films on Vimeo.

I had a great time at Eva and Steve’s wedding on Saturday. The location of the reception, Arbat Banquet Hall in Burbank, was really interesting. The area where the guests can mingle during the cocktail hour is painted with clouds and a blue sky, like a hotel in Las Vegas. The food came in waves and the bridal party did the wave! Both families were great to work with, which you will see in this Highlight Reel. The toasts were heartfelt and there were so many musical groups the party never stopped. The photographers were Connie and Jeff from Chou Photography. They are so much fun to work with and make being a videographer very easy. Please watch this video and let Eva and Steve know what you think!