Montage Premiere: We Bring the Screen
It is on-site playback of your Gott You Media montage with our own equipment: a 65-inch 4K screen on a floor stand, a powered speaker pair, a playback laptop with a backup copy of the film, and one member of our team who sets up before guests arrive, sound-checks with your DJ or venue, plays the montage on cue and packs everything away after. It is an add-on to any montage we make.
Most montage studios make the film and leave the playback to you. Most AV rental companies deliver a screen and leave the film to you. The Premiere is the two together: the people who built your montage are the people who put it on the screen, so the aspect ratio, the audio levels and the cue were settled before anyone walked into the room.
What comes with it
- 65-inch 4K screen: On a floor stand, placed for the room's sight lines, with a photo loop before and after if you want one.
- Sound that fills the room: A powered speaker pair, sound-checked with your DJ or venue before the first guest arrives.
- One of our team on site: Setup an hour before doors, playback on cue, teardown after. The person running the screen is never the person filming.
- Up to four hours on site: Enough for setup, dinner, the premiere and the strike. Longer nights are quoted by the hour.
Built for rooms of up to about 75 seated guests. For a larger ballroom we recommend the venue or DJ screen, and we hand off the file formatted for it.
Rooms with no DJ and no house screen
- Rehearsal dinners in a restaurant private room
- Bar and bat mitzvah parties at smaller venues
- Temple social halls with no house AV
- Birthdays, anniversaries and milestone parties
- Backyard celebrations and tented dinners
- Any night where the DJ is not running a screen
How the night runs
- We build the montage: Classic or Premium, from your photos, home video and songs. The Premiere is added to the same quote.
- We lock the moment: About a week out we confirm with your planner, DJ or venue when the film plays and where the screen stands.
- We arrive an hour before doors: Screen up, speakers placed, sound check done, a backup copy loaded, before anyone is seated.
- Premiere night: The lights dim, the room goes quiet, and the film plays the way it was built to. Then we pack it all away.
Start with the film
The Premiere plays a montage we made. For a wedding weekend that is the Ever After Montage, the love-story film most couples premiere at the rehearsal dinner. For a bar or bat mitzvah it is the Mitzvah Montage. Either one, Classic or Premium, can add the Premiere in the same quote. Photo prep lives in the Montage Photo Guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Montage Premiere?
It is on-site playback of your Gott You Media montage with our own equipment: a 65-inch 4K screen on a floor stand, a powered speaker pair, a playback laptop with a backup copy of the film, and one member of our team who sets up before guests arrive, sound-checks with your DJ or venue, plays the montage on cue and packs everything away after. It is an add-on to any montage we make.
Which events is it for?
Any room without a DJ or a house screen: rehearsal dinners in a restaurant private room, bar and bat mitzvah parties at smaller venues or a temple social hall, birthdays, anniversaries and backyard celebrations. If the venue already has a screen and sound that your planner or DJ will run, you usually do not need it, and we hand off the file formatted for their system instead.
How big a room does a 65-inch screen carry?
Comfortably up to about 75 seated guests, with the screen placed so the whole room has a sight line. For a larger ballroom we recommend the venue's or DJ's screen or projector, and we deliver the montage formatted for it.
Do you play montages made by someone else?
No. We play the montage we produced for you, so the file, the aspect ratio and the audio are already built for our screen and we can stand behind how it looks and sounds on the night.
How much does the Montage Premiere cost?
It is a flat add-on to any Gott You Media montage, covering up to four hours on site. Tell us your date and venue when you request your montage quote and we include it as a line you can add or leave off.
What does the venue need to provide?
A standard power outlet within about 25 feet of where the screen will stand, a clear floor area of roughly six feet with sight lines to the seated guests, ground-floor or elevator load-in, and a confirmed time for the montage to play, agreed with your planner or DJ about a week before the event.
Can you also film the party?
Yes, and most families do both. Our content creation packages capture the entrance, the hora, the speeches and the dance floor, and if we made your montage we film the room watching it. The Premiere is its own team member, so the person running the screen is never the person filming.
Where do you offer it?
Across Chicago and the suburbs: the North Shore, downtown, Arlington Heights and the northwest suburbs, and the western suburbs.
How do I play a montage or slideshow at a rehearsal dinner in a restaurant?
Ask the restaurant first whether the private room has a TV with an HDMI input and sound you are allowed to use. Many do not, and the ones that do often have a small screen above the bar with no speaker. If there is no screen, you can rent a TV and a speaker from an AV company and have someone in the family set it up and press play, or book the Montage Premiere and we do all of it: a 65-inch 4K screen, sound, a backup copy of the film and one of our team who sets up before guests arrive and plays it on cue.
Can I rent a TV for a bar mitzvah montage in Chicago?
Yes. AV rental companies in Chicago will deliver a TV or a projector and screen for the night. What they do not do is make the montage, format it for the screen, sound-check the room and stand by to press play at the right second. The Montage Premiere is the alternative when we made your montage: one team builds the film and plays it, so the file, the screen and the person running it were planned together.
What is the difference between the Montage Premiere and a projector rental?
A projector rental is equipment. The Premiere is the whole moment: the screen, the sound, the backup copy and a team member who knows the film because we made it, who confirmed the cue with your planner or DJ a week out, and who stays until it has played. A 65-inch 4K screen also holds up with the lights on in a restaurant room, where a projector washes out.
Does the DJ play the montage, or do you?
If your DJ or venue runs a screen and sound, they usually play it, and we deliver the file formatted for their system. If there is no DJ, or the DJ has sound but no screen, we bring the screen and play it ourselves. We agree on who presses play about a week before the event, so nobody is guessing on the night.
Tell us the date, the venue and whether there is a screen: Check Availability. Also see the rehearsal dinner montage guide, wedding content creation and mitzvah content creation.