Small Hour Films

Marlene and Jonah from SHF are the absolute best people and their work is amazing! We got married in February in a small, backyard elopement after 3 change of plans due to the pandemic. Marlene and Jonah were so flexible and understanding even with all the last minute changes. By that time I honestly was burnt out of trying to plan and just wanted to get it done - but the day turned out to be better than I could have imagined and I'm SO glad we decided to still have videography even for such a small wedding. Both Marlene and Jonah arrived extra early that morning to strategically place equipment in the tight space and to get their details shots before our photographers to not be in their way. Jonah actually took drone footage either the day before or that morning which added such a special element since the area is where I grew up. Marlene was my main contact on the wedding day and she was so calm and helpful as I got ready. They are absolute professionals and the nicest people, the exact combination you want on your big day! They got our highlight and full ceremony video back to us very quickly and it was AMAZING. There were so many little details I either forgot our didn't actually see and the video captured every element and emotion perfectly. The best way I can think to describe it is it magnified the day. Since we couldn't invite many friends and family, it was perfect to be able to send to them so they could feel like they witnessed the day too. We got so many compliments on the video and of course many tears! In addition to those videos Marlene and Jonah were kind enough to add on a "boomerang" clip for social media and the CUTEST short compilation of our dog Mugsy's best moments of the day! My dog mama heart was so happy (bonus Marlene and Jonah are huge animal lovers!) I would not hesitate for a second to book SHF for their professionalism, attention to detail, incredible quality, and just their overall kindness. They are the exact vendor you'd want. Also, for all the Covid brides I highly recommend doing video even if it is just an elopement or minimony - I am so thankful we made that decision and will forever treasure this video capture of our marriage. Thank you SHF!

Small Hour Films did an amazing job with our wedding highlight and ceremony video. They captured all the great moments from our first look and ceremony to create a memorable highlight video. I'm so happy to have worked with them because they have a great eye for catching the genuine shots between my husband and myself as well as our interaction with our guests. It is so difficult to remember everything that happened when you're the main event, so I'm super happy to have this memory to play back whenever I feel nostalgic. Jonah and Marlene are great people to work with. They are nice and easy to work with. They always responded to my emails within the day if I ever had a question. Also, they followed up with me to ensure everything was prepped for the big day. You hardly notice them while they are there doing their work. My husband and I love their work, along with everyone else we shared it with. I highly recommend anyone looking for a videographer to work with them!

Where to even start. Jonah and Marlene are two of the nicest people you'll meet! They're professional and courteous, were fun to work with on the day, and we couldn't be any happier that we chose them for our wedding video. They worked so well together with our photographer and the end result was amazing. All our family and friends keep commenting on how great the videos turned out. Their attention to detail is incredible! Whenever we had any questions and shot them an email, they were quick to reply. Communication was always going to be a worrisome part for us because we were organising our wedding from Australia, but they put our mind at ease from day 1 with how quick they always got back to us. Thanks again guys for capturing all our memories so beautifully! - Alex & Jules.

Most amazing people ever. Honestly I don’t even know where to start. They deserve all the praise in the world. Jonah actually went to school with my husband and so my husband was pretty insistent that we use them. He couldn’t stop talking about how nice Jonah was in high school and would take all these photos of him for the year book. Being the crazy, neurotic person I am, I was like hmm let me just take a look at what else is out there. So I did my research, looked around at other options, pricing differences and watched like 50 wedding videos tearing up after every one of them. We decided to send out emails to a couple of different vendors just to see who was available. Small hour films responded almost immediately with the nicest, sweetest email ever that they were available and I was like ok fine - Let’s do this. I am so unbelievably happy that we did. After meeting Jonah and Marlene on the wedding day I immediately felt the kindness, patience and warmth from them. They made everything so fun and easy and you could just feel how much they loved what they do. We had last minute adjustments to the time needed for the day as we needed an extra 2 hours in the morning and Jonah and Marlene were so amazingly accommodating. I didn’t actually realize how much work it takes the day of, running around in the sun and to different locations to capture the whole wedding but they did it, with a smile on their face. They honestly deserved every dollar we spent and more. They are professional, creative, enthusiastic and mostly importantly kind. BEST VIDEOGRAPHERS/ PEOPLE EVER. You should book them now. Like right now.

You can see by my profile that I don't really write a lot of reviews on yelp..however...I HAD to write one for these guys. If I could give them 100 stars, I would.... I am the type of person that does not like to leave things to chance...so naturally, I did my due-diligence when it came to searching for my wedding vendors. My married friends recommended companies like 10th letter media, Aria, Isle media, small hour films, etc. Before committing to one, I spent many days and nights looking at all of their vimeo accounts, their websites, youtube videos, trying to see what their prices were and what services they had to offer. (Photos and videos are the only things you will be left with after your big day so I didn't mind splurging a little on it.) Of all the videos I've seen, I really fell in love with all the videos Small Hour Films had made. I contacted Jonah and Marlene and they met up with Ryan and I for a consult. They were both VERY FRIENDLY and they are very easy to talk to. That was another important thing. You want your vendors to be personable and easy to work with so you and your other vendors feel comfortable. They were great! They gave us their contract along with their price sheet and to my surprise, they were the most afforable ones! Based on their level of expertise, I thought they would be one of the more expensive companies! Obviously it was a no-brainer for us. We signed with them over a year before our big day. From the moment we signed until our big day, I was able to reach out and communicate some shots I wanted to incorporate. They were very patient and accommodating with our ideas and even made some great suggestions. Our wedding took place at the Kahala Hotel and the reception was in the Maile Ballroom. We wanted to use two of their projection screens but the cable they had wasn't long enough to connect the projectors so what did they do? They purchased it and didn't charge us extra for it. We were so grateful! Other companies would have definitely tacked on that extra charge, and then some. On the day of our wedding, Jonah and Marlene arrived and started doing their thing. In our package, we had the SAME DAY EDIT and the DRONE. It was a GREAT wedding. They took us outside to do some sunset drone shots on the beach and peninsula and OMG, IT WAS ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!! When we played the same day edit, all you could hear in the ballroom was "omg!" "oooooOhhh!" and "ahhhh!!" Everyone was AMAAAAAZED at their video!! It's only been 3 weeks since our big day but we have gotten dozens and dozens and dozens of feedback from our guests and one thing seems constant....YOUR VIDEO WAS AMAAAAAAAAZING!!!!!! I kid you not when I say that EVERYONE LOVED THE VIDEO!!!!! I seriously watch the video at least 2x a day haha! It sounds silly but the video is THAT good! We all can't wait until the FULL VIDEO comes out!!!!! Thank you so much Jonah & Marlene! You guys are seriously THE BEST In the whole industry!!!! We are sooooo happy with your work!! :) You guys should seriously book them before their prices start to go up!!! NO JOKE!!! You won't regret it!

I don't know where to begin, but I guess I should start off with the fact that if you're reading this post, then go ahead and already book Small Hour Films!!! Jonah and Marlene are THAT GOOD! They are super nice, laid back, always check in with you, and they make video magic. They make it a point to "blend in" and it never feels like they are in your way on the big day (sometime I didn't even know they were filming!). Pricing is very reasonable; a same day edit was not a "must" for us, but after seeing it at the reception we were blown away. I can't wait to see our day-long edits as well!! If you want to see a sample of their work, check out our same day edit: https://vimeo.com/smallhourfilms/ashleyandrew

Patient, responsive and very open to work with!

If you only read this first part of my review, I have two things you must know… 1) Jonah and Marlene and the SHF crew are literally THE BEST EVER!!! 2) If you’re on the fence about whether or not to pay the extra money for the same-day-edit, PAY IT! Cause it’s totally worth it! From the very beginning, we absolutely LOVED how responsive Jonah and Marlene were via email. In less than 24 hours, we had a response. It’s amazing to think that they’re able to make that happen… let alone sleep. Wedding planning can be stressful by itself so when you add vendors that don’t respond it makes things even worse. But fret no more, because this crew has to be the most responsive vendors we worked with throughout our wedding planning process! After our first meeting with them we knew they were the videographers for us because not only were they professional beyond their years, but their easy-going energy and friendly smiles put us at ease. First and foremost, we wanted to find a team that we felt comfortable with as they literally are with you your entire wedding day! Instead of just finding another videographer team, we wanted to find that ONE team that really fit us… people who we’d want to hang with outside of our wedding day because they’re just that cool! Lucky for us, we found SHF. On the day of our wedding day, the SHF team arrived early to our venue with smiles on and ready to work. And boy did they work. I’ve never seen a team work harder. They were doing everything and anything to get that perfect shot. And I think the icing on the cake was that you could tell they werne’t working hard because it was just “their job”, but that it came from a genuine place. They are passionate about what they do and love doing it. As our wedding day continued I noticed that Marlene was sitting in the corner on her computer. From a glance you would wonder what she’s doing, but after inquiring I found out that she was starting to edit our Same Day Edit! I was in shock! She was editing from the very beginning of the day to the very last minute before we played it. Words will not do it justice as this video was just straight amazing. It brought me and my guests to tears and captured ALL of the BEST moments of our wedding ceremony and into our reception. It’s truly AMAZING what the SHF team can do in the amount of time they have. After our wedding we had at least 10 guests come up to us separately to tell us that they’ve never seen anything like it and that they couldn’t believe how well it turned out. They were shocked that something of that high quality was completed in the short amount of time. And I have to agree… I’m still in shock. Marlene, you are an editing genius and have a gift for creating these breathtaking, emotional same day edits that just blow everyone’s mind. Jonah you’re just as amazing. Long story short, if you’re looking for a videographer team that is easy to work with, friendly, professional, talented and hard-working, then look no further. I can confidently refer this team to anyone and everyone I know as one of the best videographers here in Hawaii. Don’t let their young looks fool you… they are GENIUSES. BIG MAHALO to the SHF team for your dedication and passion for what you do. Jonah, Marlene, you both are amazing and Adam and I couldn’t have been more blessed to have you there with us on our big day. Thank you for capturing each moment with the love and care that you did.

They were the BEST! They really worked with our schedules. Jonah and his team were beyond helpful and did any awesome job! Both Jonah and Marlene are super friendly and met all of our needs and expectations for our videos. We got the video package that had the same day edit and so many of our guests LOVED it! Both my husband and I LOVED it and feel that it was well worth our money. I would HIGHLY recommend them to be your videographer. They were so professional and kind. You will not regret it! So many of our guests LOVED the same day edit video!

Where do I begin?! Hiring Small Hour Films was one of the best decisions we made for our wedding. We were crunch for time as we decided to get married last minute. With only one month to plan our intimate beach wedding with just us two, we knew we wanted to capture our Big day to share with our family and friends back home in San Francisco. After my husband showed me their website I immediately emailed them. Jonah responded so quickly, and we were so relieved they were available. After our first phone call we knew Small Hour Films was the perfect fit for what we envisioned for our Wedding day. They were informative, professionally and simply had the warm Hawaiian touch. You would initially imagine planning a destination wedding to be quite stressful but in our case it was painless. We were not familiar with the area and asked them for recommendation on what beach and what time our ceremony should start would be best for us based on our needs. We couldn't be happier with the beach we chose, it was perfect! From their prompt email responses, professional recommendations and details we couldn't help but get excited for our vision to come to life. On our Wedding day they were such a delight to work with. They were on time, prepared for every scenario, professional and warm. My husband and I felt at ease the entire day. Since it was just my Husband and I they were so kind to assist him with his boutonniere and Marlene helped me get into my dress. They went above and beyond to make sure we felt comfortable and were on schedule with our timeline. When we received our highlight video we couldn't help but cry tears of joy of how beautifully they captured our intimate wedding. The video exceeded our expectations, they are masters of editing. Jonah and Marlene are AMAZING filmmakers who are passionate about their artistry. Their creativity and vision will not disappoint. Even our 3 year old daughter cried when she watched it and said, “Mommy this makes me so happy, I want to watch it again!” We were sad to say our farewell to the both of them at the end of our Wedding. We felt like old friends saying bye. Small Hour Films is the epitome of world class service. We recommend this Film Company to all our friends and family. Mahalo Jonah & Marlene for truly making our Wedding Day one to remember. Tips: Add the Drone feature to your package, it captured our day so beautifully. It adds so much character to your Wedding video Book quickly as they get booked fast Be as detailed about your vision of how you want your day to be captured Send your Wedding day itinerary, it helps to plan the day

Jonah and Marlene are absolutely amazing at what they do. When we first started to review and search for our vendors, I was pretty clueless and was shocked to find out how much video and photography is. The wife and I just got done watching SHF's final product from our wedding and was just blown away. We literally felt like we were experiencing the wedding all over. It's true when people tell you the wedding goes by so fast. The video really helped us cherish that special (and very expensive) day. If you're in the market for a wedding videogrpaher, I highly recommend Small Hour Films and take the opportunity to meet them. You will not be disappointed and will be beyond happy with their final product. As with all great wedding vendors, I believe they are busy every weekend so best to book with them at least a year in advance. Ok, so here are my thoughts on SHF: 1. Pricing - we researched several wedding videographers. SHF was close to the median range. You can go to their website and check out their video portfolios. For us, their video and quality sells itself. 2. Meeting - we had our initial meeting with Jonah and Marlene (owners). They are one of the most down-to-earth people you can meet and can tell they are very passionate about what they do. After our meeting, we just felt in our gut that they were the right people for the job. We had 100% confidence in them. 3. Great feedback and fast response- Jonah and Marlene are on top of it. You send an email and they typically answered within a few hours, followed up with requests promptly. This was essential for us and one less thing we had to worry about. (which is huge for wedding planning!) 4. During the wedding - they are so patient, experienced, and professionals at what they do. They know exactly what to say to make you at ease (during a very stressful day!) They really should look in to being part time business consultants on excellent customer service. 5. Video - quality of the video is impeccable. They really know how to catch the simple yet powerful moments. They really have an eye for how to capture the moment and able to lay it out on the screen to make you feel like you're there. Everything was shot in HD+ and it feels like you're watching a professional documentary. Thanks again, guys!

Our wedding video is beautiful, we are extremely happy about it! Besides, working with Jonah and Marlene was a delight. We live in Korea and preparing the wedding at distance was quite a challenge. However Jonah and Marlene always answered our emails rapidly and accurately, which is something we really appreciated.

Jonah and Marlene are just Incredible! They are both easy going and enjoyable to work with. They have innovate and creative ideas, and the end product was just awesome. Many of guest voiced how great and "one of the best" videos they have ever seen at a wedding. I thank them for the lasting memories they caught on film, and until this day we continue to watch it over and over.

We are so happy that we decided to work with Jonah and Marlene! Not only are they extremely talented in what they do, they are very professional and courteous. Their response time was always less than 24 hours, sometimes even within the hour! They worked very well with our photographer, in fact he (our photographer) is now recommending Small Hour to his clients! Planning a wedding is stressful enough, and finding the right videographer is so important; all you have afterwards are your memories, photographs and wedding video. Thanks to Jonah and Marlene, we have a wonderful video of the most special day of our lives!

Jonah & Marlene are hands down the best. They captured our day beautifully and flawlessly. I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am with our video and how happy I am that we choose them to capture our day. They just understood what we were going for and went above and beyond to complete it. I'd definitely recommend them to anyone getting married on any of the islands - we got married on Maui and it was worth every penny!!!

We did a lot of research when it came to choosing a videographer in Hawaii, and Small Hour Films - the team of Jonah and Marlene - was our pick. And they did not disappoint. They worked flawlessly with our photographer and made several great calls for scenes to capture. And we got back not just the video of our wedding ceremony but also a wonderful highlight video seamlessly weaving all the small pieces of our day together into a great depiction of our special day. It really was amazing, much better than we even could have anticipated. You cannot go wrong with using these two wonderful, professional, accommodating, and visually and artistically creative people for your video.

We love Jonah and Marlene! They filmed our wedding this past July and they did a wonderful job! They are prompt, professional, and thorough. They take the time to meet with you prior to your day to get to know you and get a feel for what you want from them. I think we met with them twice prior to the day and they didn't charge us any extra for these meetings. They make you feel comfortable and make sure you know that because it is your day, it is about what you want, not necessarily about their preferences. The day of was great. They are very professional and they continued to build that relationship they create with you throughout the day. We felt very comfortable with Jonah and Marlene and are so grateful for all that they did for us. Would highly recommend Small Hour Films to anyone who needs videography services!

Just 1 word... THE BEST! Their video is absolutely beautiful as you can see on their website, but they're great to work with! Jonah and Marelene are professtional and friendly. We are so happy to had the right decision of hiring them! Some story... we had a small destination wedding just with family and close friends, so we wanted to have the video so we can show it at our reception in Seattle. At the reception, oh my god, we got SO MANY compliments! Everyone asked us this company because the video is so beautiful. From the moment of the first time we contacted them, we knew we love them. When I was getting a quote from many other companies, we're a little sad because many companies tried to make a contrace even before consulting the detail. However, Jonah explained us every detail we want to know even before making a contract with them, so we had no concern for hiring them. It meant a lot to us! They are so reliable, flexible, and having a great taste. And the important part, their price is really reasonable :) You can just get a quote and compare it, it was almost half price of average I got. Even with reasonable price, they sure do great work. They stayed with us all the day long from the preparation to the reception and caught every great moment of our best day. We think it's really worth spending money for their high queality video and work! We advice you that the video is a great way to keep your memory of your wedding day. The wedding day was really fun, but passed too quick. I honestly thought the photo is more important to keep memory, but after getting our video, we watched it again and again and it helps us to keep vivid memory of our great day. Jonah and Marlene, thank you very much for amazing work! We are so grateful to work with you and the video will be our treasure in our life! :)

I completely concur with the below 5 star reviews. Hands down, the best videography for a wedding I have ever seen! Jonah and Marlene were not only professional, but are amazing people. As a company, they were everything you could ask for -- responsive, prompt, unobtrusive, and delivered a product far beyond our expectations. They have brought our guests to tears with their work. I reviewed the works and interviewed dozens of videographers before selecting Small Hour Films, but upon stumbling upon them, it was blatantly obvious that they stood out from the rest. 1. You will not be disappointed (just take a look at their work) and 2. It will be one of the best decisions you will make for your wedding (a permanent account of your day that you will watch over and over). I made a lot of great decisions for my wedding, but they were one of the best decisions I could have made.

This team is incredible. Marlene & Jonah are professionals, they know what they are doing and are immensely talented duo. I work in a creative field have am typically very critical when it comes to visual craftsmanship and this team delivered some incredible footage that we felt was exactly what we were looking for in terms of feel & tone. They are very easy to work with and are quite generous with their time, and immensely patient. We had a great time during the wedding shoot chatting with them. The team made it so simple, and made us feel very comfortable being in front of the camera. I highly recommend springing the extra cash for the optional aerial drone footage. It really bumped up the made the production perception of the footage to the level of a high quality film. It adds a lot visual impact to the final product. Thank you Small Hour Films! You guys are amazing.

Jonah and Marlene did incredible work for us. We got married at the Kahala in Honolulu. From the moment we reached out to them, to the final product that they sent us after the wedding, they were so professional, thorough, and responsive. We could not have been more happy with the wedding video they created for us - it was perfect. Small Hour Films created a 5-min highlight video for us that we were able to share with everyone. I got so many compliments from friends and family about how impressed they were with the quality of the video. They also produced longer videos of both our ceremony and reception, that I am able to enjoy with my family. They captured every important moment from the day, and edited it so superbly and seamlessly. I felt that they truly captured the special-ness of this big day in our lives. Above all else, I was most impressed with the high quality of the final product they created for us. As the bride, I literally have watched the video hundreds of times because it was so fun to see all my guests having so much fun, and the video was done so well. I could not recommend Small Hour Films more highly - and only wish they were in San Francisco so I could tell all my friends here to hire them for their weddings :)

High quality filmmakers at cost-effective prices! Feel free to stop your search now! Story: Jonah and Marlene of Small Hour Films were referred to my fiancé and me by our wedding photographer Frank Amodo. From the point of first contact (email), Jonah and Marlene have been nothing less than professional, kind, fun, and creative. Small Hour embodies the Spirit of Aloha--so if you are having a wedding in Hawaii (or anywhere else!), they are your peeps! The staff were always attentive to any ideas and questions we had. They met with us in-person and inquired about our vision for our videos. They helped us build upon that vision and actualize it. We wanted videos that showed love, family, and had a hip vibe. They captured that COMPLETELY. We ended up with 4 videos: 8 minute day highlight video; full ceremony; full reception; and, an artsy "What is Love?" video that showed interviews with our guests sharing their wisdom on love. Small Hour did this all with no problems in a timely manner beyond our wildest expectations! At the last minute, we added a drone through Small Hour to capture the Ko'olau mountains in the backdrop of our outdoor wedding and our whole wedding party from an aerial view. While the drone was a bit of a distraction (due to having a robot hovering over the end of the ceremony), the video output was invaluable and really added something unique and special to the final cut! Vibe: This company is very professional and accessible--easy to talk to, fun to work with! When you meet Jonah and Marlene, you feel like you are meeting new friends who really want to make your wedding special and capture the tiny nuances that only trained observers pick up. You won't find arrogant filmmakers here, only awesome, positive people! The service: Prompt communicators over email, phone, and text. Specialized attention to all our creative needs. Arrived early on wedding day. Hand delivered final DVD + blu-ray disc + thumb drive in LOVELY personalized CD case. You cannot ask for anything more! Except maybe a foot massage but you wouldn't want that anyway from your filmmakers! LOL! Overall: I would hire Small Hour Films again in a heartbeat! I am already recommending them to all my friends and family. Looking forward to working with them again for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, birth of our first child, etc.! Tips: I know there is A LOT of competition in Hawaii for videographers but really, you won't find anyone better at the same value and QUALITY as Small Hour Films. If you decide to use the drone during the ceremony, I would recommend working with Jonah and Marlene about how to time its flight so as not to break the flow of the recessional at the end of the ceremony. Or, you can just alert your guests at the beginning of the ceremony that a robot will be flying overhead and just to act as natural as possible . In any case, our guests got a kick out of seeing the drone and everyone LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the videos. Mahalo nui loa, Jonah and Marlene, for creating works of art that we can treasure for the rest of our lives...and our children's lives!

In planning and budgeting for our wedding, my now husband and I decided to see if we could afford to hire a team that would help us share our Love Story. Hearing about and seeing the work of Small Hour Films from a close friend, we decided to give them a chance, as they are cost friendly and proved to do excellent work. Small Hour Films made the whole process simple and fun. The pair was always on time to our meetings and flexible with scheduling. During our first consultation we discussed possible ideas for places to shoot and things to film. Marlene and Jonah are great listeners, and truly focus on telling your own story. Together we created a plan for the day of filming and a general outline for our love story. Though we were a little camera shy, Marlene and Jonah's easy going personalities made us feel more comfortable and relaxed. We had such a blast filming and going to our favorite spots around the island. We chose to view the video for the first time at our wedding reception, and it was everything we hoped for and more! Small Hour Films did an excellent job putting together our Love Story. Not only did we enjoy watching it, but our guests loved learning about our journey of first impressions, dating, the proposal, and days leading up to the wedding. We got and continue to get such positive feedback from our family and friends about the unique touch that the love story provided on our special day. Overall, we are so happy with our "Love Story" video that Small Hour Films worked so hard to make. Marlene and Jonah are truly talented and their passion for film-making is transparent in the many stories they share. They definitely go over and beyond to ensure you're happy with their product. We are so grateful we chose Small Hour Films, and would do it all again in a heartbeat. You can't go wrong in choosing Small Hour Films! :)