The Brain is Wider than the Sky | Aimshir Productions
Today we are excited to welcome Dan Ferrell from Aimshir Cinematic Wedding Films to our blog. As a wedding cinematographer Dan is inspired by the magic found in your special day. We are proud to have Aimshir Cinematic Wedding Films as one of our esteemed industry partners.
How did you get started?
I got into film production in college, doing student films and promotional videos for various student orgs. I grew up on The Hobbit and Harry Potter books. I find an appealing magic in their storytelling, which I try to channel into the structure of our wedding films. Every couple imagines their wedding as a magical day, so when we craft our films from beginning to end, that’s always at the forefront of our minds.
I’ve always loved the idea of crafting wedding films. I applied to intern/work for a few local wedding production companies, but I was never hired by any of them. So instead, I focused my attention on making my own brand.
What’s in a Name? - Aimshir
I spent a week brainstorming great unique names with some friends, and we settled on the Irish word aimsir for weather, or time. We then decided to romanticized the spelling to ‘Aimshir’ to preserve the pronunciation in the States, because I find a [sh] sound quite beautiful and soothing
Creativity is Bravery
Creativity is bravery to explore the unknown.
The opposite of creativity is normalcy. Creativity is having the courage to try a shot at a different angle, not 100% certain it will work as envisioned...It’s exploring what works and what doesn’t. What makes it work? Why doesn’t it? In what situations could it work? It takes time to develop the confidence to explore creativity. Often you’ll need a solid foundation to launch from. First learn the basics of your crafts: the standard recipe to bake a cake; textbook color theory; or the language of camera angles. Once you have a foundation, creativity is a natural direction.
I’m lucky to be in a profession that contains frequent exercises of creativity. At the very basic level, we have to film the entire wedding, making sure every major event is covered well. There needs to always be at least one good angle on the action and great audio. Once I’m confident those requirements have been met, I try interesting things with the other cameras and also between events. Over the years, I [seen Aimshir’s] signature style develop, even while our films are individually unique.
We make every wedding film unique, infusing the couples personalities and quirks in how we shoot and edit their film. Weddings are live events and full of surprises, so we are ready to improvise and try a few different things. Because of that uniqueness, creativity isn’t hard to find.
Our Goal: Positive Emotion
"Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." -- Winston S. Churchill
We measure our success when the clients and audience react with positive emotion towards their delivered wedding films. It’s incredibly edifying!
How do you manage to deliver positive emotional experiences time and again?
Right now [January], is the off-season, so I’m working on booking weddings for the busy months. Following leads, setting up meetings with couples, hiring second shooters, etc. Organization is vastly important when dealing with dozens and dozens of client leads. It took some time to develop a system that works efficiently.
Connect with Dan
Daniel currently lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he enjoys drawing, reading and watching cinema in his spare time. Aimshir Productions is a Michigan based wedding cinematography company. If you’d like to work with their team reach out on one of the platforms below and let them know Visten Creative sent you! You can use code VISTEN for 15% off your wedding package purchase during the 2020 season.
Instagram: @aimshir_weddings
Facebook: @AIMSHIRproductions
Website: aimshirproductions.com
Visten Creative
As always we look forward to partnering with you. If you are interested in being a future featured artist or entrepreneur we’d love to hear more about your work. Please fill out our contact form.
