Jeanie + Donnie


Jeanie + Donnie from Thom Video Productions on Vimeo.

I had the opportunity to film yet another cousin’s wedding last month. I love my extended family so much, and it was great to be a small part of Jeanie and Donnie’s day. It was a really beautiful wedding with a really beautiful bride and handsome groom. Check out the short montage above!

Shot on my Canon 60D and Vixia camcorders, on-location at Coxhall Gardens and College Park Church in Carmel, IN, as well as the Fitness Farm in Indianapolis.

family, weddings

Zack + Lana

Portraits

One of my best friends throughout and since college is a gentleman named Zack McDaniel. He’s a fellow computer nerd and musician, and just a great guy. So you can imagine my delight when he and his now-wife Lana came to me asking if I would do photography for their wedding! Below are some highlights.

05-Collages-1

Lana and her beautiful bridesmaids, and Zack with his groomsmen… Portraits Portraits Portraits Portraits Portraits

Aren’t these two just too cute? Portraits Portraits

Then, the beautiful ceremony… 01-Pre-Ceremony-6212 Ceremony Ceremony Ceremony Ceremony

Followed by a super fun reception. And check out that cupcake! 03-Reception-6767 05-Collages-3 03-Reception-6876 05-Collages-4

A beautiful bride and a handsome groom… Portraits 05-Collages-2 Portraits Portraits

What a fun day! It’s been a real joy getting to know Lana as well. I wish them both the best of luck and thank them for letting me be a part of their day!

photography, weddings

“Reese’s of Doom”

The church I attend, East 91st Street Christian Church, has been producing terrific in-service videos for the past few years now. I’ve had the opportunity to come on board with the intent of eventually helping to shoot and/or produce some of these videos going forward, under the able guidance of Rhett Owen. In order to organize this new crew, Rhett’s been running some classes where we all get on the same page of video/film basics, everything from scripts to shot selection to equipment to directing.

We recently took a couple hours outside to shoot a quick short that he had written the night before. Rhett and Anthony Lusby acted, and the other three of us rotated audio, camera, and slate duties. You may see some inconsistencies in the shots included in this video for that very reason.

Though I believe Rhett intends to put together an edit of this with over-the-top sound and visual effects, I thought I’d take the footage and put together a quick edit. It’s my first attempt at using any visual assets like muzzle flashes, and all the stuff I used for this was sourced freely from Film Riot and Detonation Films.

So I’m aware that there are a few issues with the video (some shot cropping due to my choice of the 2.35:1 ratio, some poor muzzle flash blending due to my hurried edit), but I wanted to get something put together this weekend. Check it out! And let me know what you think in the comments below, good or bad!

shorts

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Admittedly, I haven’t had a “summer vacation” since I finished college. But I figured it would be a nice title anyway.

My biggest project this summer (and now fall) is a documentary. In college, I attended the Christian Campus House (CCH) in Muncie, IN. I was very involved and even spent a year on staff after graduating from Ball State University. So this project is a project of very personal interest to me.

Mark Pike, the Senior Campus Minister at the CCH, came to me in the early spring with an idea. As the previous two Senior Ministers before him were both beginning to get up there in years, he wanted to put something on film that gets their stories, the stories of the Campus House. The more we talked, I laid out an idea that was less 60 Minutes interview-style and more documentary. Though this caused the scope of the project to creep up and up (both in time and budget), we both agreed that it would help make a film that people would actually want to watch.

Our hope is to distribute this film to CCH alumni and supporters as well as supporting churches and seminaries/Bible colleges. It is my hope as well to post it online for the general public!

We’ve wrapped all the primary shooting and are now in the script planning/writing stage. After that, we’ll record all the narration/voice-overs, and then it’ll be time to edit it all together!

This will be my first documentary/feature-length film, and I cannot wait to release it. I hope to assemble a trailer sometime by the end of the year, with a target release of the film by next spring!

general

A Fun Day at the IMS

Last Friday my sister-in-law Andrea finally got to use a gift she had been given for her birthday – a 2-seat ride-along as part of the the Indy Racing Experience. How cool! Three laps in a modified Dallara chassis IndyCar around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

There are few better smells than ethanol in the morning.

I was fortunate to be able to take a bunch of still photos as well as put together a video recap of the morning.

It’s a pricy hour or so, but it’s well worth the experience if you like cars, speed, or history at all.

The video (check it out in HD on Vimeo):

The photos:

family , , ,

The Herin-Captain Wedding


The Herin-Captain Wedding from Thom Video Productions on Vimeo.

A brief look at a beautiful wedding and reception at two gorgeous venues in downtown Indianapolis. I had the pleasure of working with the bride for a year, and it was also a joy to be asked to film their wedding and reception.

Highlights from my most recent wedding. My cousin (my almost-birthday-twin!) got married in the stunningly beautiful Indiana World War Memorial. I was unable to get this out until now due to the unfortunate passing of our grandfather five days after the wedding.

weddings

A Tribute Video

I’ll keep this relatively straightforward, despite its obvious emotional implications. My maternal grandfather, Lamont Mayes, Jr., passed away three weeks ago tomorrow. He had been sick for a while, and had been basically bedridden for the past three or four months. He was 87 years old, so it didn’t come as a shock. Nonetheless, it’s been really tough for me and most of my cousins (not to mention the aunts and uncles – grandpa’s kids). Grandpa was a true patriarch. He loved his God, loved his family, and devoted his entire life to both. His example of loving his wife, caring about people, and serving the Lord is something that we, his legacy, have to treasure and emulate for the rest of our lives.

We had his funeral a week and a half ago, on April 30. I had already been crafting this video for some time, so that it would be ready to go when that inevitable day finally came. Once he passed, I polished it up and got it ready to be viewed. We played it in the last portion of the funeral service (which was itself beautiful). I then posted it online for the family to be able to view again and pass around to others who may have known him. I wanted to also post it here, because while I’m proud of my work on it, I’m even more proud to be a part of the Mayes family.

Please enjoy, and especially if you knew him, please feel free to comment on the video and/or his life!


Lamont Mayes, Jr. Memorial from Thom Video Productions on Vimeo.

family

Brand New Website!

Welcome to the completely redesigned thomvideo.com! I’ve spent the past couple weeks rebuilding my site completely on WordPress (rather than just the blog portion, as it was previously). Hopefully you are finding the site a bit easier to nagivate as well as just better-looking.

As always, please Contact me and let me know if there is anything I missed, something you might suggest, or if I can help you with your video needs in any way at all!

general

The Schott-Huffman Wedding


The Schott-Huffman Wedding from Thom Video Productions on Vimeo.

A brief look at a beautiful wedding and reception at two gorgeous venues in downtown Indianapolis. I had the pleasure of working with the bride for a year, and it was also a joy to be asked to film their wedding and reception.

weddings

The Emmons-White Wedding


The Emmons-White Wedding from Thom Video Productions on Vimeo.

Set in the beautiful town of LaPorte, Indiana, this video is edited down quite a bit from the full version, but it’s still worth a view.

Let us know if we can offer our services for your upcoming wedding or for any other services you might want!

weddings