NAAAP Boston's Local Business Feature
Networking and opportunities are all about creating and finding connections. NAAAP Boston is here to help you get connected with your local business.
Our Local Business Feature section showcases businesses in Greater Boston. Whether you own a small business, are an entrepreneur with a startup, or are an employee of a local business, increase your company's visibility through the NAAAP Boston network!
To kick off our new section, we are featuring GENERATIONS cinemastories, who kindly filmed our holiday party this year! We are very excited to see the memories captured by the videographers of the night, Jack and Nancy.
The partners that gave birth to GENERATIONS cinemastories in 2004, Naomi Raiselle and Jack Brotman, have been widely recognized in Boston and all over New England for their work.
A few of their accolades include:
- Being the only wedding videographers ever to have been given the prestigious “best of Boston” award by Boston Magazine
- Are consistently among the top 3 winners in Boston’s A-list, and this year were honored with the Editor’s Pick Award from Bride’s Boston Magazine
- Are often featured in Style Me Pretty, one of the nation’s leading wedding blogs
- Filmed Biz Bash Boston’s first Boston showcase and the Event Leadership Institute’s educational sessions
We had the opportunity to chat with the partners. Let’s see what they had to say!
What made you decide to start GENERATIONS cinemastories?
In 2004 there was a lack of high-level, intelligent special event videography in Boston. We saw a need and jumped in.
Why the name?
While industry trends come and go, we saw that we could produce video and film projects that reflected the time and place of events without being constrained by time and place. We wanted our special event projects to document people more than events so that generations into the future could watch our projects and have a window into the personalities and relationships that may have long passed.
How did you develop your technique?
We recognized that in order to capture intimacy we needed to be “embedded” rather than “fly on the wall” at events. That meant that we had to establish close relationships with our clients before events. Many videographers hide behind their cameras.Naomi, who is a former therapist, enabled us to set our clients at ease so we could capture natural moments.
What are a few words to describe your style?
Indie Event Cinematography. modern, personal, timeless
What kind of events do you do/what do you film?
Weddings, parties, fashion shows, mitzvahs, anniversaries, fundraisers, corporate portraits, documentary films, marketing online videos, online business “about us” videos, photo-video montages to be shown at events.
Since you have filmed different ethnicities events, what’s the difference have you experienced when you shoot Asian communities’ events?
We've filmed one Chinese American wedding. The wedding was spread over 2 days in order to accommodate an elaborate tea ceremony, as well as a surprise, Chinese dance performance arranged by the maid of honor. The bride also wore a gorgeous red, custom-made, Chinese influenced dress to the very upscale rehearsal dinner at The Mandarin Oriental in Boston. Although we have filmed non-Asian weddings at this stunning venue, the Asian/Zen decor made it particularly suitable as a backdrop to this rehearsal dinner. The reception, held at the Boston Harbor Hotel's Atlantic Room, mixed Art-Deco with South Beach and Asian influences to create a stunning decor that was full of reds and golds and blues. The reception included a dragon dance.
We have also filmed Indian and Pakistani weddings - Moslem and Hindu. The traditions are, obviously, quite different, but both focus on a wide array of beautifully decorated ceremonial objects. In Indian weddings, traditionally guests crowd around the couple and join the couple under the wedding Mandap (a raised ceremonial canopy) to participate in the ceremony. Often there is spontaneity woven through the complex ancient rituals. In one Indian wedding we streamed the ceremony live to India, since there were several important elderly family who couldn't make the trip to the US. The couple's parents enjoyed getting phone calls during the cocktail hour from relatives in India who had gotten together for dinner and watched the ceremony as it happened.
What inspired you to be a videographer?
We were hired to film the first gay wedding in Boston. While Jack had been a video producer for corporate projects for many years, and had occasionally filmed a wedding for family or friends, it was the very first time I picked up a video camera. I knew there was a powerful story to be told on May 17, 2004, and I wanted to help tell it. From the moment I got behind the camera in the Arlington St. Church, I was hooked.
What makes you apart from the other videographers?
What makes us different is also what makes it hard for us to market our work sometimes. Many videographers use a template - they have a list in their heads of the important shots to get and use, and they often have a style that is consistent. The one thing we're NOT consistent about is style. While we won't use cliches that we feel are overdone -e.g., showing the bride having her eyes made up, or revealing her dress by panning slowly into it, we work very hard to make every project original and reflective of the people or brand (for corporate projects) that are in it. For example, we'll use a lot of dialogue with families and couples that have a lot they want to say. Or, we'll use unusual artistic effects for couples that would like that. Part of how we decide how to art-direct a project is by looking at the decor and the styles the event producers have used.
Check out GENERATIONS cinemastories’ recent masterpieces.
For more information on GENERATIONS cinemastories, follow the below links:
website: www.generationscinemastories.com
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/GENERATIONScinemastories
email: info@generationscinematories.com
Big thanks to Nancy Huang who connected NAAAP Boston with GENERATIONS cinemastories. She is one of the videographers, as well as a NAAAP Boston member.
