Escape Studios Blog

Ahmad + Hadia | Paradise

Jay - Escape Studios — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:57:19 +0000

Coming Soon: The spectacular wedding of Ahmad & Hadia which was produced in both Pakistan and Dubai!

Ayza + Ali | The Great Escape

Jay - Escape Studios — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:21:19 +0000

[ For better viewing, press play then pause right away. Allow the video to load and enjoy! ]

A long time dream and aspiration had recently come true when we had the honour and privilege of producing Pakistan's very first Same Day Edit + Wedding Feature in our hometown of Islamabad. Ayza and Ali's wedding was the epitome of GRAND. Everything from decor, venues, clothing to the smallest detail of it all was carefully selected and hand-picked to ensure this wedding seemed larger than life!

On to the breakdown…

Planning & Execution: Similar to our Mexico "Save the World" trailer, I wanted to show Islamabad in its natural state. Been going there for the past few years, I can honestly say that there's certain things about the place which takes a toll on your senses that stay with you for life. So, I wanted to produce an introduction of the country as if someone were to watch it with their eyes closed as I took them on a stroll across the city. I really wanted to focus on the every day ambience of the city life: CD70 motorcycles racing through the traffic, naan kabobs sizzling over a BBQ - to the beautiful Adhan (call for prayer) being heard across the city were just some of the sounds I wanted to focus on for this piece. I think the instrumental of the Rubab really assisted in defining this part as it played beautifully over the imagery. Overall, I wanted to showcase the couple and their wedding in all its magical glory as they appeared against the backdrop of our nations capital.

Location Scouting: As traditional as Islamabad really is, it's just as metropolitan. Pakistan is truly transforming into a real estate haven with state of the art architecture, booming business complexes and five star residences suitable for anyone's lifestyle. This was a slight drawback for us as we wanted to show Islamabad for what it really is: a beautiful city surrounded by acres of mountains. Thus, we shot plenty of scenes up in the great mountains of Muree and Nathia Gali alongside the popular tourist spots of Monal, Daman-e-koh and Saidpur Village.

Day One: Nikkah – The Nikkah (Wedding Ceremony) was held at the gorgeous Faisal Mosque and was kept fairly small and intimate. At this point, we had already been in the country for a couple of weeks now and had the opportunity to interact with the families during the pre-functions. This allowed us to get close and catch some truly emotional moments at the mosque. I know it doesn’t seem like much judging off the trailer, but that’s only because I wanted the viewer to anticipate the couple’s first on-screen appearance and didn’t want to give away the close ups so soon!

Day Two: Mehndi – This HAS to be the most interactive and entertaining Mehndi I’ve been to in my life. Even being behind the scenes of it all, attending rehearsals and such, I was still blown away by the amazing choreography. The performances alone consisted of over 30 dance sequences, each out-doing the one prior! These people truly know how to put on a show and didn’t allow a second of divided attention from the 500+ guests in attendance. I wanted to use an epic, bone-chilling soundtrack for this part and I think the music we chose fit in just perfectly!

Day Three: Wedding – During our production consultation, Ayza mentioned she wanted to incorporate the “Something old, new, borrowed, blue” bit into her wedding. Having said this, we decided to scrap her prep shots and instead had her sit in the back of the 1957 Rolls Royce she entered in for her introduction. I could’t help but notice how astonishing Ayza looked this night, as if she had just risen right out of a Jodhaa Akbhar novel. We shot this evening from both a grand and intimate perspective, highlighting their ring exchanges and magical entrances.

Day Four: Reception (same day edit presentation night) – By this point, Pakistan’s intro, nikkah, mehndi and wedding had been edited and ready to inter-wine with the last and final footage from the reception. I’ve never been so anxious and nervous to present an SDE as I was this night. The anticipation from all the family, friends and honourable guests was both exciting and nerve-wrecking. The minute we hit that play button there was a long pause of silence; followed by waves of emotions as the audience cheered, laughed, danced and for some, who cried, throughout the entire presentation. Now, for those who are close with Ayza, know how over-hyper and jolly (or as I say “Aucha Pan”) she is. So much so, that she didn’t even cry on her wedding night, lol. For me, just witnessing the slight glisten in her eyes as she watched it was enough assurance I did something right to strike a chord in her

I want to thank Ali and Ayza’s families for having us come down and produce this. Special shout out to all the familiar faces from Toronto who made our stay more enjoyable. A big congratulations to all of you and thanks for helping us pull off one of the grandest features of the year!

Jay Sean | “DOWN” with Escape Interview + Shout out!

Jay - Escape Studios — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:05:40 +0000

The British singer-songwriter, rapper, beatboxer and record producer sensation gives Escape Studios a personal message during our exclusive interview with him at Hershey Centre, Toronto.

Escape Studios Interview on MastOne TV

Jay - Escape Studios — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:55:10 +0000

Back in October we were asked to join Waseem and Leena of MastOne (TV One Network) to talk about the Escape team, wedding cinema and what’s next! Be sure to check it out to get a sneak peak of some of our latest projects!

Hassan + Anam | Sweet Disposition

Jay - Escape Studios — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:33:54 +0000

[ For better viewing, press play then pause right away. Allow the video to load and enjoy! ]

Anam and Hassan’s wedding was the epitome of Class-A Punjabi-style wedding. The only concern on everyone’s mind was why the hall couldn’t accommodate after hour partying. It literally felt as if any rasams (traditions), speeches, presentations and even dinner were pushed to the side to make room for the performances and dance floor, lol. I’ve said this over and over again, but after this week I would like to reinforce how important it is to engage with our couples and get to know them as much as we can. This is also a Vendor-Couple relations lesson for all my 2012-13 peeps: The couple and their families were just as ecstatic to have us down there as much as we were. Being able to blend ourselves in with the families allowed us to share the connection, the chemistry and overall love everyone had for one another through our vision. The science is easy: the more we get to hang out = the more we get to know you = the more comfortable you become = the more comfortable we feel telling your story.

This past week was special for many reasons, one being our last Same Day Edit of the year (boo-hoo) Being able to travel across the globe and meet our inspiring couples has been such a blessing for us over the past two years and we couldn’t have asked for a better couple, better location or better date rather to close this year’s chapter off with! Being our last SDE of 2011, it was a bit of a challenge to engage the audience with some fresh material. Everything from choice of gear, the storytelling and shooting style was taken into consideration during our pre-production, production and post-production. I think Washington D.C played the perfect backdrop for Anam and Hassan’s wedding as it’s not everyday we get to incorporate some of the worlds most significant historical structures in our movies. At the same time, I also didn’t want to over-play it either. Many of the sequences you’ll see these structures in were depicted faintly rather than in your face to share the mood. Overall, we enjoyed every minute of our stay in D.C. – My fav part would be the day we took off to go for our personal shoot with them. I think the night-time romance scenes, mixed in with the day time candid shoot really puts the couples personality into perspective. Congratulations to Anam and Hassan, wishing you a lifetime of happiness guys!

Sidenote: Hassan and I had pre-planned the SDE to make it a surprise for Anam. It wasn’t only her wedding weekend, but birthday as well! Her reaction, along with the crowd’s – was priceless! will share the reaction video soon!!

Ali + Najla | Badmash Dil

Jay - Escape Studios — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:19:18 +0000

[ For better viewing, press play then pause right away. Allow the video to load and enjoy! ]

So, this was fun… This past weekend we managed to pull through some pretty life-threatning scenarios and yet were still able to pull a rabbit out of our sleeves somehow with this Same Day Edit. I was hospitalized and put in ICU the night of Ali + Najla’s wedding night, followed by our creative director Wahab, who’s tire abruptly exploded on the way to the reception on the 401 – the only Smash Brother left in the battle while trying to make it out unharmed was our lead cinematographer, Omar. Long story short, because I know you’re all concerned and wondering the same thing: the car is fine. I can proudly say this piece is one to remember as it truly showed the definition of teamwork. Just another story to tell when we get asked “So.. like, what’s the guarantee you guys will actually care about our wedding?” I would love to go on but have two sexy ladies by the names of Ceftriaxone and Cindamycin waiting for me by my bed.. so ill give you the sparknotes version of the weekend:

Couple: Great, cute, funny, down to earth as can be.
Venues: Chandni, Chandni, Chandni and then a cute park.
Crowd: Awesome, half the people there were past or upcoming couples!
SDE: A last minute request by Najla wanting a Bollywood song – *sighed as I crumpled up the storyboard I had in mind to a previous track*
… and it feels cool saying this because you all can’t judge, but I was too high on drugs to remember anything else.

happy watching.

Special thanks to Aamer Kapadia for any reinforcement he added, also for an excellent job with the imagery. A pat on the back to all once again.

Laugh//Love//Live: The Trailer

Jay - Escape Studios — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 00:17:05 +0000

[ For better viewing, press play then pause right away. Allow the video to load and enjoy! ]

How far would you go to save the life of the one you love? Escape Studios presents the trailer of our first documentary feature showcasing Shamsa and Fahad Jafri’s life-changing story. We hope that it will inspire you to laugh, love and live like never before…

The documentary is scheduled to release nationwide this fall 2011.

Written, Directed and Produced by:
Jay and Wahab Chaudhry
escape-studios.com

Priya + Anjan | Never Gonna Leave This Bed

Jay - Escape Studios — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 06:57:46 +0000

[ For better viewing, press play then pause right away. Allow the video to load and enjoy! ]

This past week we got the opportunity to produce our first indo-fusion edit with the lovely Priya and Anjan. The celebrations featured both Sikh (Anjan) and Hindu (Priya) wedding traditions! Seeing that both religions have similar marriage customs, the concept here was to deliver India’s rich, beautiful and colourful culture as a whole and not to segregate one tradition from the other. We would like to congratulate both families and send out a big thank you for making our stay with you all so warm and welcome!

Priya, this pic is for you! lol

Rahim + Imaan | Save the World

Jay - Escape Studios — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 03:30:25 +0000

[ For better viewing, press play then pause right away. Allow the video to load and enjoy! ]

I don’t want to blab on too much here, so food for thought: Being our first destination wedding of the year, I would be lying if I said there wasn’t any pressure and not to mention, reputation to up hold. I’ll be honest with you, as much as we loved the time spent with our previous couples and producing the work we did, something just wasn’t sitting right. For those of you who have been following our work from the beginning, we have always stated that our focus, and mission; is to create films which unfold a story of its own frame by frame. This experience not only gave our team the opportunity to explore new grounds, but allowed us as storytellers, to push beyond our traditional creative notions. Let’s hope you all think so too!

Enjoy some memories!

Gurpreet + Sandeep | This Love

Jay - Escape Studios — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 22:40:56 +0000

Moving slightly south from the lovey-dovey Escape stuff you’re used to seeing, let’s get a little gritty here. In fact, lets get sexy, classy, seductive, impulsive, alluring, enticing, tempting >insert more synonyms for HOT< – All while keeping in mind it’s just an engagement shoot! I’ve searched long and hard for the right couple who I could pull off the whole “D&G commercial” theme with, so kudos to Gurpreet and Sandeep for putting up with my slightly deviant directing, lol.

Inspired by: Everything dark, vampires and Kanye West