FILMMAKERS FOR THE ENAMOURED AND ADVENTUROUS.
It’s very apt that the guys from Cinemate describe themselves as filmmakers for the enamoured and adventurous, because lemme tell ya, we’re pretty damn enamoured and enraptured by them. They’re wedding film makers, but don’t you dare roll your eyes because these guys are the real. deal. None of that cringey home-video style you’re envisaging, and all of the cinematic oomph you can possibly imagine. We’re talking the kind of visual magicians who can make you genuinely look (and feel) like the big-screen movie stars your love story was born for, by capturing all those intimate, authentic moments that can’t be faked.
WHO ARE YOU + WHERE ARE YOU BASED?
We are Cinemate, films for the enamoured and adventurous. Otherwise known as Simon & Gregg, we are a coffee obsessed, music-loving, wedding filmmaker duo. Based in Glasgow, Scotland we share a passion for travel, attending unions spanning the picturesque landscapes on our doorstep and further afield across Europe and the rest of the world. Whilst we love shooting luxurious weddings far and wide, for us, it’s the company that counts.
DESCRIBE YOUR WORKPLACE.
“Alexa, lights on”… The lights fade up to a warming 65%. It’s comfortable to the eyes. Within seconds, however, the loud sound of The Good Coffee Cartel’s Ethiopian roast being ground fills the room, the first of many coffees that will be brewed in the studio throughout the day.
Our studio is an office space that has been made our own home away from home, it’s our space to be creative and meet couples. When we need a break from the glow of the computer screen we can head to the roof, play some table tennis or go for a walk along the Clyde.
WHERE/HOW DID IT ALL BEGIN?
Gregg and I met during our time a university where we both studied Music Technology. After university, we both pursued careers in TV and Film for a period before re-joining forces. To begin with, the wedding industry was not a direction either of us wanted to head towards. At that time the industry in Scotland was filled with cheesy wedding videos and trends, a lot of tack and a huge lack of awesomeness.
Simon was married in 2010 and with the state of wedding videos at that point being uninspiring, a video was not on the wedding planning list. The regret of not getting a video became the inspiration for us to get into the industry and so Cinemate was born! Our goal was to fight the traditional image of what a wedding film was at the time and we did this with great success and quickly started shooting weddings for awesome couples throughout the UK and abroad. We’ve not looked back since – the wedding industry is so good at the moment, we’ve made some of our best friends through it!
The name? Why Cinemate? You’ll need to ask us that in person, we might have a different answer every time…
FAVOURITE WORK TO DATE?
Our journey as wedding filmmakers has been a long one and it’s been filled will many great memories but also great challenges that we have had to face. Last year there came a point where we said we wanted to do things our way, we felt that expectations of us limited our vision rather than inspired and it was during Hannah & Chris’s wedding where we decided to shake things up. How did we do this? We got rid of our crutches, we limited our selves, thought more about the shots we were filming and why. The end result was a wedding film that was adventurous, creative and bold. They loved it and so did we!
WHO/WHAT INSPIRES YOU?
On a creative level we feel you have to look outside of your own realm for inspiration; no, not to other worlds, but outside the wedding industry. It’s hard to avoid some amazing wedding photos or films on Instagram but we look more to commercial filmmakers and cinematographers for inspiration as well as music. Music plays a huge role in our films so we’re also on the search for new sounds and albums.
On a more emotional level, I (Simon) often spend time looking inward at my own life for inspiration. With the eye of a Husband and Father, I’m constantly revising my views on love and loss, my children, my wife, what it means to be present and happy with a constant mind on the juxtaposition of these things.
DESCRIBE YOUR TYPICAL DAY.
For us there’s no such thing as a typical day, I think (or hope) most creatives are similar in this way. Mornings for Simon vary with child duties sharing school runs with his wife. In the studio Gregg takes charge of the organisational tasks and chatting to couples day to day while Simon is usually deep in the editing software re-living the wedding day and creating the awesome films for our couples.
WHERE’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO GO?
As we’ve mentioned we are passionate about coffee and would probably have to call ourselves foodies. So this could be a long list, we’ve got a lot of friends who run coffee shops so at lunchtimes we like to visit some of them. Like our Something Brewed friends (fellow Wedding Collective members and all round great people) or Where the Monkey Sleeps for an amazing bagel. As for travel, we like to get a good balance between exploring a new city and getting out into the wild for an adventure.
FAVOURITE WEDDING VENUE?
Our favourite venue is Il Borro, situated amongst the Tuscan hills in Italy. It’s a two-part venue consisting of the spa/ winery and luxury villa then across a small valley to the ancient private town. It’s the perfect blend of old and new thus becomes a hugely versatile venue mixing modern needs with the natural charm of the Italian countryside.
You don’t have to go overseas to find equally beautiful venues, however. Any venue which offers couples the chance to really be themselves will end at the top of our list because at the end of the day what’s really important is the people, not the places.
TRENDS YOU HOPE TO SEE THIS SEASON?
It might sound slightly clichéd to say this but we’re not fans of wedding trends, a wedding is such a personal thing that we want it to be truly unique to each couple’s personality and style. If we could tell couples out there one thing it’s this… This is your wedding so be yourself and have fun!
BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE BEEN GIVEN?
“Get rid of your crutches”. On our journey as filmmakers, we’ve learned a lot about ourselves and about expectations. Our greatest strength as creators, especially in the wedding film industry, is knowing when and what to shoot as well as how you choose to shoot when the opportunity arises. We don’t use lots of ‘cool’ equipment but shoot with a more minimal and thoughtful approach. What we capture needs to mean something on an emotional level, so we’re not going to shoot everything on the day as people do act differently when they realise there’s a videographer. Instead, our aim is to create a film that captures all the emotions found on a wedding day.
