Meet Abraham Mercado: Wedding Filmmaker and Video Marketer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Abraham Mercado and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Abraham, what is the most important factor behind your success?
From early on in my career, I understood that emotion drives the world forward. Everything we do in life, is a product of an emotion that causes us to spring into action. And so, my work revolves around creating an emotion from the viewer. Allowing the viewer to connect and anticipating what that emotion will be through the decisions I make in my filming and editing. When it comes to filming weddings, the actual event is important, but the emotions that the couple goes through during the day is even more so. In the hug the bride shares with her mother as she zips up her dress, to the way the father of the bride sobs as he walks her down the aisle. Weddings are an emotional journey, and my films try to recreate that exact emotion that was felt during the day. That is why it is so important for me to edit my own films. I feel that emotion during the day in each one of those situations, and I try to bring that forward in my films. Of course not every film will make a couple cry. Some will make a couple laugh uncontrollably! But what is important is capturing that emotion and bringing it forward in the edit so the couple can be taken back to that very day as they felt it.

Another reason why Lotus 7 Films has been very successful in wedding filmmaking, is due to our emotional approach to each and every wedding. For some reason, since I was very little, weddings have always made me cry. There is something incredible about a bride walking down the aisle towards her groom that brings a unique energy to this world. If you look around, that is the single moment in the wedding day where most people will shed a tear. WHY?! It’s incredible! Because of my emotional connection to weddings, I approach every wedding with that same emotion. I don’t consider myself just another vendor the couple hired. I consider myself a lucky and privileged human being to be there to witness this moment in that couple’s life, and at the same time create a captivating film that will bring them back to that same emotion.

I treat every wedding as if it was my own in everything I do. I don’t mean I am going to hit the bar for a few shots! What I mean, is that I will do everything that is humanly possible to make the day perfect for the couple so that their film can be timeless.

Sometimes, difficult moments can bring out in us our most creative side. That is exactly what happened due to Covid 19. When Covid hit, the wedding world was shut down. From a simple request from a corporate client who is a dentist, I began re-editing wedding films that took place long ago. They gave me their VHS tapes (which were about 3 hours long) I converted them to a digital format, and re-edited their long wedding film into a modern 5 minute love story like we do today for our couples. THE TEARS! My goodness. These couples have come back with unbelievable stories. From seeing their grandparents and parents speak again, which have now passed, to seeing their younger self in action. It is an emotional journey!

And so, emotion is what drives the world forward and the very factor that is at the core of everything we do at Lotus 7 Films.   

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Wedding filmmaking comes with incredible responsibility. We are tasked with capturing some of life’s most important moments in a creative way. I have always understood that in creating a wedding film, there is a balance between being creative and being responsible. What I mean is that even if I have the most incredible shots of the couple, I still need to keep in mind those around them that shared the day with them.

Many times I see wedding films where we don’t get to see the siblings or parents of couples. To me it is a disservice. They are usually the most important people there besides the couple and must be in the film. Yes we must be creative, but we must be responsible as well as to not create a problem for the couple. In fact, some of the most emotional moments happen with parents and siblings during a wedding!

What I am most excited about is how we have improved in every aspect of filmmaking and our anticipation for pivotal moments. Because of our experience, we can tell when a special moment is going to happen before it happens. And so we are in the best position possible to capture it and we capture it in a creative way.

It has not been easy to get where I am today, but where I am today is not where I will be in 5 years. I have always been a firm believer that if you are standing still, you are truly just moving backwards slowly. Every wedding, I look to improve in everything that I do. I am also incredibly lucky that I have been able to find very creative second shooters that come with me to film the weddings. One in particular, that I have taken under my wing, and has now become my go-to second shooter, has truly elevated our brand and success because it allows us to be more consistent and have better communication during the day. What I want the world to know about our brand is that Lotus 7 Films treats the entire process with care and respect. We understand these moments only happen once, and we are lucky to be a part of it.   

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I want to give a shoutout to my wife Dalia and my parents. When I first met Dalia, I was working at a company as an editor and she gave me the inspiration to create my own company to have greater financial benefit and to truly be in control of my vision for my wedding films. The reason why I left that company and began Lotus 7 Films is because I wanted to marry her, and I knew that by staying where I was, this would not have been possible as soon as we wanted. So, how ironic, that the birth of Lotus 7 Films happened out of love!

My parents have always been my biggest fans in everything I do. They have supported me in incredible ways that not many people get to see. I would not be where I am today without my parents support, love, and dedication. I am grateful that they have always supported me in every passion I have pursued, without questioning why. When I wanted to play football in college, they helped me in every way they could. When I wanted to create my own video production company, even though nobody in my family truly comes from that background, they supported me. They are my biggest role models of what it is to be a loving parent and I am immensely lucky.

Website: lotus7films.com/weddings
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lotus7films/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lotus7Films/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRe5j3Wy-PH7ES9-m-7bDeA

Image Credits
Personal photo by: Darren Miles Photography Smiling Personal Photo by: Masson Liang Photography