Earlier this week, I spoke about Paper Tape Films, who is the sister company of Fifty Foot Films. I had the opportunity to interview the founder of Paper Tape, Kristine Blumensaadt. Find below their exciting story. I love how much love and energy Kristine has for this company! Image from Elizabeth Messina.
How did Paper Tape films come about? About three and a half years into Fifty Foot Films, I pitched the idea of a more accessible brand that we could offer to the droves of brides and grooms out there that loved our work, but couldn’t come close to affording it. At first, my partner shot down the idea for some very legitimate, practical reasons. We were still growing as a company, wanted to focus on that growth first, and also, our quality standards were so high, it didn’t seem possible at the time to handle work on any kind of a volume basis without sacrificing quality. We are perfectionists, and take great pride in what we do, so we absolutely didn’t want to offer a “watered down” version of Fifty Foot Films. Over the next year and a half, I couldn’t let go of the idea. We turned away a ton of business in the more modest wedding budget range, and worse yet we saw folks out there shooting really bad Super 8 footage and trying to pass it off as charming. So, I more fully developed the concept of Paper Tape Films at the end of 2006 and that time when I pitched it, I sold it. The focus would be to find and train local talented film makers in order to keep costs down as travel costs would be cut out of the picture. That was the biggest unknown for us – could we actually find and train that many crews? We decided that at worst it will be an experiment and we can cut it short if for any reason it’s not going as we hoped. At best, it will work and only help strengthen Fifty Foot Films’ reputation and presence in the industry.
What is your role in the company? On the business side of things, I pretty much helm the Paper Tape ship full time. I am very involved in the marketing of the company and I personally design many of our materials, and work closely with a graphic designer for our more involved projects. We are rolling out some amazing demo materials this summer. I also handle the majority of the client inquiries, draft all of the paperwork, and having several years of legal experience under my belt as an entertainment attorney, I also handle all of our legal issues. Those primarily consist of confidentiality agreements, and airing our footage on television, when we work with celebrity clients. On the creative side of things, I personally watch every single movie and give detailed notes to the editor, and approve all final cuts before they go out. In the beginning of Fifty Foot Films, I shot almost every wedding with Paul and our other lead shooters. I do shoot from time to time for both companies to keep my feet wet, and to stay connected to the overall process of the companies. That’s important.
What is the first year of business like? We were shocked at the response. Truly shocked. We planned on having a “soft launch” followed up by a series of in-person meet and greets. Well, the soft-launch last spring turned into a ton of business right away. Couples were booking us sight unseen. We were prepared for it with well-trained crews and gear, but we definitely didn’t expect to get such a great response so instantaneously. It was very encouraging and it was the first time we really realized what a solid, well-known brand we had built with Fifty Foot Films. We were definitely proud of that! It quickly turned into a lot of hard work and a lot of learning how to run a “franchise” of sorts. Between Fifty Foot Films and Paper Tape Films, quadruple booked weekends in multiple cities — literally across the globe — was the norm during those summer months. Thanks to our incredible staff and crew, namely Amy DeLis who produces every single job, we pulled it off without missing a beat and with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
By default, we did meet a ton of new planners in 2007 that we had never worked with before. And a lot of our solid business relationships were very excited to be able to offer our product to more of their clients. We didn’t do any advertising at first because it would have been difficult to do advertising in all the markets we were occupying. We got a bunch of local press in those markets toward the end of our 1st year of business, and that was also a huge surprise.
All this in mind, the thing I am most proud of is the product we give back to our clients. Across the board we received rave reviews and our clients are still our best form of advertising. The experiment definitely paid off. I am still surprised at the response we get from all angles. This year, about a few times a month, we get contacted by shooters that want to work with us. Somehow they found us, love the idea, and even though they have great commercial careers going, the idea of being a weekend film maker to them is appealing, and the fact that the subject matter is weddings doesn’t deter them whatsoever. They get it. That is how we found our D.C. crew who we are extremely excited about! Our shooters are all pros, and we are thrilled to have them on board.
How does Paper Tape films differ from other companies that offer film coverage? Like Fifty Foot Films, we shoot exclusively on film. Most companies that offer film shoot mostly on video, and throw in a few rolls of Super 8 as an add-on. There are a few other companies, I think three, that offer film-only options – but they all also offer video as part of the final product. We do not. We are definitely purists when it comes to our approach in filming weddings and events.
I believe that we have the best trained crews in the country when it comes to shooting film at events. It is somewhat risky, actually it’s very risky, and you need to know film stocks, lighting, camera functions, all of it, inside and out. You don’t have the luxury of auto – anything on the vintage cameras we use. You also don’t have the luxury of auto playback to see if your footage turned out. You must trust that you got the shot and that demands a skill level and confidence you can’t develop by shooting on digital or video. There are a lot of intangibles that just don’t exist when shooting video, which has become basically idiot-proof in terms of operating. SInce we only shoot on film, we always have to rely on our skill and never on the camera’s slick auto functions. But we are experts at it all and our product shows our expertise. If you are only shooting a roll or two of film at an event, and have video to fall back on for the majority of your product, that risk is greatly minimized. And, if those precious few rolls of film are out of focus or under/over exposed, you can write it off as a “charming” Super 8 look. We don’t do that and we absolutely make the very most out of this beautiful small format.
Another difference is that we offer true sync sound of the live audio portions of the day – meaning we capture the live audio of the key moments of the ceremony and reception toasts and manually synchronize that audio to the film footage, so your final film is still an all-film product. We don’t believe in cutting corners by only offering a voice-over option, and definitely not by using video footage of those moments.
Also, I would be remiss if I ignored our pedigree. Fifty Foot Films is our founding company and it is truly the best in the world. Those are the standards we set for Paper Tape Films because we don’t know how to do it any other way. Fifty Foot Films started the movement of shooting weddings and events on true motion picture film, and now with Paper Tape Films, clients don’t have to settle for less than the best.
What is the creative process like? First and foremost, we start with excellent film shooters that really know film. They have all been to film school, and we look at their work to “see what they see” in terms of their style and approach. Then we consider personality, because you need to have a great one to work a wedding, and to collaborate with our other crew. As for our post production, we process the film at a great lab in Seattle called Alpha Cine. And as of this year, we transfer all of our film at Cinelicious, which is an ancillary company that started in large part due to the amount of film we shot and transferred. Then, we put the job in queue to be edited. For Paper Tape Films we have a 4 month turnaround from the date of the event.
Why should potential clients look further into your service? On a very practical level, I think potential clients should strongly consider documenting their wedding on true motion picture film because it will last not just a lifetime, but it will last the lifetimes of their children too. Real film, the celluloid that we send you on the reels, will last for generations to come. When the dvd’s spread (they do that after 15 years or so), or video fades (that can happen in less than a decade), they will have nothing in terms of a moving images document of their wedding. This is a piece of their history and those reels of film will become family heirlooms. If they are considering videography, they should really consider how long their investment will last.
On an aesthetic level, it is our strong opinion that film is just more beautiful, organic, and captivating than video. That’s a big reason why potential clients of ours watch our sample footage over, and over, and over. Brides tell us that they are constantly looking at our websites, “and I don’t even know the people in the films!” How many of your friends’ wedding videos can you bear to watch even once? Ours become regular hits and friends of our clients actually insist on replays. I believe it is because we are great at what we do, and we use a canvas that is irreplaceable and timeless – true film. You can’t mimic that look by tossing a bad layer of fake film grain on top of video footage. And beware of HD. Actors hate it because it is so harsh on the skin tones. There is actually special makeup used for HD. Might sound sexy and high-end, but where we think that video is “too much information”… we think HD video is WAY too much information. Do you really want to be able to see that blackhead your facialist didn’t get?
While this is our sentiment and approach, and we love and believe in film and love and believe in what we do… I also strongly believe in the soft sell. I never pressure people into anything. Ever. That only sets up everyone for disappointment. I think that if couples are drawn to our work, they should compare it to other companies’ work and go with the best fit. I am happy to educate them about our product and what we do. If they are looking for hours-on-end of coverage, and want every second documented… we don’t do that and I cannot convince those couples that they really won’t want to watch all of that. If they love our work, I hope they get to know us.
What are your goals moving forward? We had a really big first year, and barely had some much needed down time in the slow season. My number one goal is, and always will be, improving the quality of our product, and that takes place at every juncture from client communications, to continually training shooters, to presentation. Secondly, we really want to focus on nurturing our existing markets. So far this second year of business, we have only opened two new markets, in D.C. and Charleston. I am now able to do all the things I wanted to do after the “soft launch” last year. I am focused on getting a cohesive set of marketing materials out by this summer. We have great sample films from many of our markets that I have worked on with our editors and those have been invaluable tools that I didn’t have available last year because we were knee-deep in production. This year it’s about fine tuning, continuing to get the word out, and of course some measured growth. We are having a lot of fun and want to continue the excellent work!
