Vendor Spotlight: Sea Jay Films

Sea Jay Films is a wedding videography company made up of a husband-and-wife duo that takes creativity and passion to the next level.

This is a company that we have LOVED working with, alongside the people that represent it.  Camden is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, with over ten years of experience!  His wife, Claire, is a writer, social media coordinator and influencer, and a producer… talk about a power couple!!  They are based in Indianapolis, Indiana, but also dabble in destination weddings!  They have traveled to places like Colorado, Hawaii, and most recently Charleston, South Carolina!

Camden and Claire Johnson spend the majority of their time making sure that their couples are getting their perfect day captured through the beautiful lense of videography, and putting all of the pieces together for them to have forever!  In their free time, they are also musicians and are involved with the worship team at their church.  Camden and Claire have a strong love for music, God, their faith, and the church community, and of course, their two golden doodles!!  Fun fact: they are also murder mystery finatics, and love all things true crime.  They love crime-solving games, TV shows, movies, and murder mystery parties!

Camden started out in formal film school, and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Film and Video Production.  He originally had the intention of becoming an editor for Hollywood Feature films.  Over the summers of film school, Camden was shooting weddings as a side gig and would have his friends help him out as a second shooter.  While in film school, he took a Documentary Filmmaking class that ended up changing his life.  “That completely shifted my perspective of everything,” he said, referring to his class.  This class was the first non-fiction related film course that he took, which led him to create a documentary that later on won him an Emmy! 

While Camden was in film school, Claire studied makeup and became a Certified Makeup Artist.  She would do wedding makeup while he would be the videographer, and after a handful of times of being at the same weddings, they decided to team up!  For a limited time, they offered a bundled package where you could book them as a Makeup Artist and Videographer duo!  This only lasted for a short period of time before Camden asked Claire if she had any interest in getting trained to be a permanent second shooter with him.  She decided to give it a try, and six hours in a Starbucks later, the crazy talented duo we know as Sea Jay Films was born!

Camden wanted to take everything that he learned and knew and pursue wedding filmmaking full time.  They officially launched Sea Jay Films in 2018 as the husband-and-wife duo and have been doing it full time since May of 2019!

When it comes to the wedding day, Camden and Claire enjoy being a part of it all!  Claire especially loves the dance floor and the high energy of the reception!  She loves being able to capture everyone letting loose and seeing everyone’s excitement and fun energy!  Camden really enjoys the speeches!  He loves being able to get everyone set up, along with their equipment, and capture the real and raw parts of the speeches.  They go above and beyond to make sure that the video and audio quality is great!

Camden and Claire typically try to take a “fly-on-the-wall” approach when it comes to the filmmaking process of the wedding day.  Camden explained how he wants their couples to not feel like actors and to be able to just enjoy the big moments of their special day naturally while Sea Jay Films takes care of getting the right shots. Sometimes, if everything aligns with the schedule, they surprise their couples with a same day edit!!  Camden says, “The couple’s reaction and the family’s reaction is one of the most rewarding parts of it all!”

Camden and Claire have done many weddings together, and they have shot so many different and beautiful pieces.  One of the most memorable wedding day moments for them, however, was a surprise from the bride to the groom.  After the first-look on their beautiful wedding day, the bride, Karli, surprised her colorblind groom, Ty, with EnChroma glasses!  She pulled them out and had him try them on, and his reaction is one to instantly bring you to tears!!  Camden explains how this was a “very easy question” to answer, as it is something they will never forget!

Your wedding day is one of the best days of your life, and it is such a special celebration to honor the love that you share for one another.  Within your day, there are many different pieces that all have to align to make the puzzle work – which can be challenging!  We asked Sea Jay Films what their best advice for couples planning their wedding was, and this is what they had to say:

“Our biggest piece of advice: Hire a planner, it will change your life!”

We couldn’t agree more!

A special thank you again to Camden and Claire at Sea Jay Films for taking the time to teach us more about them and their company, and for giving us a closer look into the world of wedding filmmaking.

View more of Sea Jay Films’ work: seajayfilms.com