W@W Videofest: Veluz by Ian Cruz
No matter how great the admiration of the public is of an artist’s work, it does not carry as much weight as the opinions of her peers. With friends an artist finds her hardest critics or her most loyal fans. While true that brides here and abroad rave about her gorgeous designs, we still can’t help but ponder on what Veluz’s colleagues in the wedding industry think of her.
Ian Cruz, a long-time W@W Videofest contributor, gathered 16 of Veluz’s closest friends in the business sans the designer, set them up in a studio with instructions to share their guiltless opinion of Veluz. Imagine a dinner get-together of several friends with the singular purpose of shamelessly talking about the one person who’s not in the room. Something like the “Gossip Girls and Guys of the Wedding Biz” kind-of-episode.
Ian’s goal as the film’s director was to capture the spontaneity and honesty of a “barkada’s kwentuhan.” To achieve this he set up several cameras around the groupie and clipped mics on each person so that no remark could escape. What happened next resulted in more than 2 hours of juicy material that had to be crammed into 15 short minutes.
Ian has been in the industry 11 years in total, counting his years as a member of Bob Nicolas’ team before putting up his own in 2009. Like most wedding videographers, Ian has long admired Veluz but from a safe distance. For Ian her reputation as a sought-after designer preceded her and made her seem unreachable. After the shoot, his impression of Veluz was forever changed. From listening to her friends talk about her with so much respect and working with her up close and personal, Ian learned that Veluz is all humble and real. In his words, “she lets her brand speak for itself but she doesn’t let any of her success get into her head”.
Insider views on Veluz abound in this film. So abandon all pretense and give in to the craving to eavesdrop. The 2015 W@W Videofest proudly brings you “Love for Veluz, One Superb Designer and Friend” by Ian Cruz.