Today we’d like to introduce you to Nico Constantinides.
Hi Nico, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve began making films in high school, and won a camera in a student filmmaking competition at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival as a senior. From there, I went on to attend University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, graduating with a degree in Film and Television Production.
Shorty after college, in 2013, I had an offer through my personal network to film someone’s wedding, which I had never considered as an option. The experience went great and the couple loved what I produced for them. Then I looked up how much wedding videographers charged, and was shocked to discover that they could charge several thousand dollars. I realized that this could become a viable business for me, and so I started Agápe Films.
I chose the name Agápe because I am Greek, and it reminded me of the way my grandmother used to say I love you to me.
For the first few years I was in San Diego, where I was living at the time, but around 2015 I moved back to my home town of Santa Barbara where I’ve been filming weddings now for 10 years.
I truly enjoy filming weddings because I’m using my art form to capture one of the most important and meaningful days of people’s lives. And I love making meaningful films, that was always my favorite aspect of the art. Touching people emotionally. So that is my speciality in my films.
I’ve always found it easy to satisfy my clients, and you can look at my reviews online for proof of that. However, running the business side of things has been the true challenge, as I’m sure most creative professionals would empathize with.
I hope to continue to serve couples along the central coast for the foreseeable future, and the past couple years have been starting to build a team that I can send to weddings and still achieve the same quality people have come to expect from Agápe Films.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As I mentioned, learning the business side of things – marketing, systems, organization, finances, etc – has been the challenge for me. Creating beautiful films that my clients love is the easy part.
Also, while I love the freedom that being my own boss has permitted me, for several years I was juggling other business ventures and partnerships that I was running alongside Agápe Films. I thought I could do it all, but, in reality, being scattered as an entrepreneur in that way meant that none of the businesses were running as smooth and effectively as they could have been.
It was very recently that I cut off the other ventures and partnerships, and re-embraced Agápe Films as my one and only business. The enhanced focus is already paying off.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I would like to also point out that I still have aspirations to write and direct fictional, feature films someday. I do reserve a slice of time to work on my dream in that way, I just recognize that it is my passion and not something I expect to get any financial return from, at least anytime soon.
As far as my wedding videography style, there are several things that set me apart from others:
I use antique lenses, with manual focus, which is very rare in the industry. It gives my footage a special quality, I think of it as kind of dreamy and nostalgic.
I also, as I mentioned, focus on meaning and emotion. Instead of fast paced, flashy styles of wedding videography, I typically slow things down and draw out the beautiful moments of a wedding, with the aim that I might make a bride tear up as she watches her films (or even other couple’s films!)
I also like to point out that I’m very conscious of the fact that the wedding is a wedding first – not a film shoot. I hear through photographers and coordinators that videographers are notoriously hard to work with – only caring about getting their shot, and sometimes overly-disturbing the guest experience (for example – circling the bride and groom during their first dance). I make sure to provide positive vibes to the wedding party, view myself and the other vendors as a team serving the couple, and try to take the smallest footprint I can and not obstruct the guest experience too much. In fact, most of the time I shoot weddings by myself (at times with multiple cameras on tripods) – which is also kind of unique – and means one less paparazzi on the day of.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is the legacy part of the film that I make – I want the couple to be able to relive their wedding and the feeling of the day 30 years from now. I want their children to watch the film and get to listen to the vows, the officiant’s words, and the speeches. In fact, I have had many clients tell me their children are obsessed with watching their wedding film that I created for them.
The long term value of what will become a treasured family heirloom – that is what matters most to me.
Pricing:
- Pricing begins at 5k for weekend weddings during the season, but off-season or weekday collections have separate pricing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.agapefilms.net/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agapefilmscalifornia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agapefilmscalifornia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@agapefilmscalifornia
