A Chit Chat With Elie Azar of ParAzar Productions
If you have been following the weddings scene in Lebanon or read these 2 articles on The Best of Lebanon's Summer Weddings - August 2018 or September 2018 you must have come across ParAzar Productions, the brilliant photography and videography production company behind many amazing weddings in Lebanon and the region.
Pioneers in their industry, ParAzar has raised the bar with their innovative techniques in photo film, video production and cinematography; the masterpieces of audio-visual work they have recently produced for many high end weddings are a true testimony to that.
We asked Elie Azar the Founder of ParAzar Productions to share some information on his career, his obvious passion, the services they offer and the latest photo and video trends... in this interview, make sure to keep reading!
Tell us about how ParAzar Productions started?
ParAzar came to be as the natural evolution of a career that started back in 1993 in Television, and that saw me co-found another agency along the way that had become among the top providers of similar services. With the creation of ParAzar Productions, I was looking to build a company and a brand that reflected strongly my work ethics and methodology, as well as my passion for always pushing things to new limits, with the help of a team that I had built during well over a decade, and who made the transition with me to the new company.
ParAzar is a passion project and in many ways the youngest member in my family, growing in strides by the day with all the challenges and rewards that a new born (who is about to turn 3) brings.
"ParAzar is a passion project and in many ways the youngest member in my family, growing in strides by the day"
What are the services you offer for weddings other than traditional wedding photography services?
We offer a very wide array of services for weddings beyond the usual ones.
Such services range from our creative Save The Date clips that are often approached with a cinematic methodology that incorporates the wedding theme and the couple's preferences, the fun and always innovative Lip Dub where people get to let go and show their fun nature while lip sync'ing to songs they love, Immersive 360 degree photos and videos bring the spectator into the wedding itself especially for those equipped with Virtual Reality headsets, as well as, the always captivating Time Freeze that uses a very specific set-up to capture the motion of the event. This goes with the wonderful work that our designers have been doing in graphic animation in 2D and 3D.
The list is always growing and changing as we aim to always be pioneers in our offering.
What are the latest wedding photography, cinematography and visual trends for weddings that you are using?
At ParAzar we try to be trend setters rather than trend followers. For this purpose we acquire the latest equipment and ensure our staff are always informed of the various technical innovations whether in color grading, post-production work, photo editing... etc.
However, our approach in blending the classical aspects with innovative filming and photography is what sets us apart. Bringing in the right dose of natural on-the-spot captures side by side with pre-planned shots has allowed us to offer a unique product that has been often replicated in the market.
"Our approach in blending the classical aspects with innovative filming and photography is what sets us apart"
What are the biggest or the most luxurious weddings you have worked on in 2018, and what did you do to make them unique?
As I have often stated, we do not look at weddings from the perspective of luxury, budget or size, and we ensure that each wedding we commit to being part of, gets the royal treatment from us.
We feel that each wedding can have a wonderful side and a less appealing one and it is our work that can make the difference in showing the public the more beautiful aspects of a wedding regardless of the challenges faced in the preparation of that wedding.
What I can share without revealing our trade secrets is that we invest ourselves in each wedding well before the event starts, and approach it the same way any big production would be approached. This allows us to permanently ensure that the best photos and shots are captured at the right time in optimal circumstances. From here on, we leave it to the public to have the final word upon watching the final product.
