Our Florida video company, Litewave Media, in addition to producing content for businesses and other filmmakers, has continued with our own creative pursuits with our new short film, Memory Keeper. Filming began on the sci-fi short at a unique Clearwater warehouse location in May. Our St Petersburg FL Short Film Production Company brought out our ARRI camera, Canon CN-E cinema prime lenses, and our grip truck for a full film production.
Filming with the ARRI Amira camera as our actress gets into character, and our camera assistant slates the scene.
Short Film Production Company in St. Pete
The dusty location provided an element of realism to the dystopian feel of the film, and our St. Petersburg video production crew even wore face masks to ensure maximum protection from the elements.
Behind-the-scenes filming Litewave Media’s new short Memory Keeper.
Production Company Films Memory Keeper
The short film was a great opportunity for our St Petersburg FL Production Company to showcase the ARRI Amira’s capabilities. The film was shot in 4k in ProRes 4444 format which will give our editors extra latitude when color grading during post production.
Actors act out a tense scene in Memory Keeper.
The film was created by co-directors and cinematographers Christian Cashmir and Eric Coughlin who had been wanting to create a science fiction short in the area for a number of years. The duo is now looking at plans to turn the science fiction idea into a full length feature film.
The Memory Keeper crew: co-directors (Eric Coughlin & Christian Cashmir), gaffer (Scott Sullivan), and actress (Payton Booker).
While the project was a great experience to work with the Tampa ARRI Amira camera, our video production crew were also able to experiment with some new lighting setups.
Our Kino Flo 4Bank lights were separated into 8 single bulbs to create this lighting setup in Memory Keeper.
The Litewave Media team brought out our new lighting gear including our ARRI SkyPanel S60 and Kino Flo Celeb 201. Our gaffer, Scott Sullivan, also created a unique lighting setup with our Kino Flo 4Banks — separating each tube to create a futuristic dystopian tech hideout.
Boom operator (Nat Fennell), actor (Chris J), co-DP (Eric Coughlin), and actress (Payton) film a scene.
Cinematographers Eric Coughlin and Christian Cashmir brought out their Canon CN-E cinema prime lenses and cinema zoom lenses to capture all the detail of the film. The ARRI Amira was outfitted with a Canon EF mount which enabled the team to utilize all their Canon cinema lenses. Our Tampa grip truck rental was also onsite for all the grip and lighting team’s needs, including C-stands, sandbags, flags, silks, and more.
The Memory Keeper crew shoots a scene in their Clearwater, Florida warehouse location.
Memory Keeper, written by Cashmir and Coughlin, is set in a post-apocalyptic future world, where the government is stealing people’s memories to sedate the population. A young girl (played by Payton Booker) sets out on a treacherous journey across the wasteland to find a memory keeper, or hacker (played by Chris Jackson), who can restore a lost memory that she suspects has been stolen from her. She hopes this will give her life back, but what she discovers leads to much more than she could have imagined.
The Tampa camera crew rehearses a scene lit with only a flashlight in Memory Keeper.
Our lead actor sneaks out of the shadows filming Memory Keeper.
Actor Chris enjoys a beautiful sunset while Eric films on Gandy Beach in St. Pete, FL.
Our Florida post production team began the editing process for the film using Adobe Premiere CC. Visual Effects were primarily done in Adobe After Effects by our team at Litewave Media. Our short film production company has a link below you’d like to watch the film!
The editing process in our St. Petersburg FL video editing studio.
Looking to turn your Tampa short film production into a reality? Contact us today to see how our St Petersburg FL production company can assist in the process. Find us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the Litewave Media blog to stay up to date on all of our St. Petersburg video production company news!
The Litewave Media team has had some great opportunities to work with musicians over the years– from filming with Grammy-Award-Winning jazz musician Chick Corea in our studio, to classic rock legends Foreigner, and the country chart-topping Band Perry, we’ve worked with a great variety of talent. We recently finished a pre-concert publicity video with No Limits, a dance video with hip-hop artist Isis Sonatra, and even our very own 60’s zombie-themed Tampa music video production.
But one band our Florida production company has partnered with on numerous occasions is Tampa Bay’s own Come Back Alice… and this week we got to do a photoshoot with them!
Tony Tyler and Dani Jaye of Come Back Alice in our Florida production studio.
Come Back Alice formed in 2011 and have been performing live ever since. They love to be on stage and bring their funky rock style to every city they tour in. They’ve also been called “Tampa Bay’s Hottest Rock N Roll Band” by Advisor Magazine.
Tony Tyler, lead singer of Come Back Alice, rocks out in our Florida photography studio.
With the popularity of the band growing, they plan to expand into new markets this year. They enlisted Litewave Media for our photography and creative services. We photographed the rock band for their upcoming publicity and music releases and captured their unique, eclectic style right here in our Tampa photography studio.
Our Tampa photography crew captured this enigmatic photo of Dani Jaye of Come Back Alice.
Photographer and photo shoot director Christian Cashmir and our Tampa video production crew captured the photos using a variety of different lighting set-ups. Our team photographed the band with gear from our Tampa photography equipment rental package, including our Canon 5D MkIII, Canon L-Series Lenses (24mm L f/1.4 II, 50mm L f/1.2), and Profoto D2 photo strobes.
Our photography team used practical lighting in this shot for a more evocative effect.
After the shoot, our team processed and re-touched the photos back in our Florida post production suite to match the band’s stylistic vision.
Our Florida production company captured this photo of the alluring Dani Jaye.
This photo had a little inspiration from Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours‘ album cover.
To see more of Come Back Alice, check out the video for their song “Coraline” that we produced, or this live music video we filmed with them in 2014.
A behind the scenes picture of our photo shoot with Come Back Alice in our studio. Photo courtesy of: Jimmy Rector
Recently our Florida video production company had the chance to work with Grand Villa, a resort style senior living community with multiple locations throughout Florida, to film a TV commercial campaign at one of their communities. We went to their St Petersburg, Florida location to learn more about the services they provide to their residents, take a tour of the facilities, and brainstorm ideas for the commercial.
Director Christian Cashmir and grip Sasha Sebesta film with our Dana Dolly and Sony a7S II.
Tampa video production services
Once we had a chance to sit down and speak with the marketing team and get a feel for the community, our production team was excited to draft a script for the project and provide our Tampa video production services. With multiple communities throughout Florida, Grand Villa is one of the more popular retirement communities among seniors, hosting a friendly staff, resort-like amenities, and high quality assisted living services.
Makeup artist, Nikki, puts final touch-ups on makeup before filming the 60’s flashback dinner scene
The video production process
Working together with Grand Villa marketing team’s Ben Rizzo and Clint Dockery, Litewave Media founder Christian Cashmir and writer Mike Garland planned out a fun, emotional story to film. Over the course of a week, the team transformed the idea into a fully developed commercial production- complete with storyboards, costumes, cast, and crew. The concept of the shoot was to journey through the life of a woman at milestones in her life, shown through various decades encompassing the 1950’s, 1960’s, and present day. Our Tampa video production crew was ready to begin filming!
Steadicam operator Eric Coughlin, director Christian Cashmir, and Grand Villa’s marketing guru Ben Rizzo review footage in between takes.
Stocked, locked, and ready to rock, we drove our St Petersburg grip truck to Grand Villa to begin our first day of filming. Their St. Petersburg location was a great choice for production as it boasts tennis courts, a pool, coffee shop, multiple hair salons, and a grand dining room complete with its own cafe. With multiple areas perfect for cinematic storytelling, our crew began filming with our Tampa video equipment rental package. Using our Canon C300 mkII and Sony A7sII video cameras with Canon cinema lenses, director Christian Cashmir helmed the production, bringing his technical skill and directing expertise to the project. Alongside Steadicam operator Eric Coughlin, our Tampa video production crew flew in our Arri and KinoFlo 4 Bank lighting kits, and also filmed scenes on our Dana Dolly.
Our Florida video production crew films a scene on Steadicam for the Grand Villa commercial
We recorded a little time lapse of one filming location (shot by grip Sasha Sebesta):
On day two of the shoot, our Tampa video production crew planned to travel in time to the 1950’s. But, since our time machine was out of batteries, we decided on the next best thing: Johnny Rockets, a 50’s-style diner. Our crew loaded up our grip truck and set forth. With a vintage theme, leather seats, and decor reminiscent of the 1950s, Johnny Rockets was the perfect place to film a scene for the Grand Villa TV ad campaign. The quiet restaurant was transformed and set ablaze with colorful costumes, laughing actors, crew members, and of course a classic dish of ice cream. (The crew may have had refills)
Actors Lexi, Linda, and Chris during the second day of filming at Johnny Rockets, a 50’s-style diner.
Post Production Time
After a lively, creative shoot it was time to head back to our Tampa Bay video studio to begin the editing and post production process. We hired a top notch voice-over actress, who we captured in our sound booth and Tampa recording studio. Our post team even created a visual effect sequence to augment the great work our production crew started.
The cast and crew at Grand Villa St. Petersburg celebrate completing the first day of filming.
Our Florida video production crew had a great time working with the Grand Villa team on such a fun project. The TV commercial will air regionally in Florida. You can also watch the finished commercial below!
A few weeks back, our Tampa video production company had the chance to write, shoot, and edit a Star Wars fan film for the official competition sponsored by Lucasfilm and Disney! The challenge, put on yearly, encourages filmmakers to write, produce, and edit their very own fan film set in the Star Wars universe. There are various categories in which filmmakers can garner recognition: best visual effects, filmmaker select, audience choice, and more. When our Tampa video production company heard about the competition, we just had to throw our lightsabers into the mix!
Our Tampa film crew getting a low angle shot of young actress Lennon Brock (just 5 years old!).
We started out with an idea from Litewave Media founder Christian Cashmir and developed it into a short story with the help of writers Mike Garland, Mario Graniello and Steffen Thiel. We wrote in a bit of mystery, intrigue, sprinkled in some tragedy, and of course an epic lightsaber battle (what Star Wars fan film is complete without one?)!
An professional team of stunt choreographers and performers helped to plan out the intricate battle scenes. After a few days of choreographing in detail, our Tampa video production crew were ready to capture our fight scenes on film.
Director Christian Cashmir, actress Mary McDonnell, and camera operator Jake Jalbert review footage on the set of our Star Wars fan film. (Photo: Courtesy of Anthony and Estelle Brock)
With scripts in hand, prosthetics and makeup on, and fight choreography fresh in our minds, the Litewave Media team drove our Tampa grip truck to our first location in Dead River, part of the Hillsborough Wilderness Reserve. Using our Tampa video equipment rental package, our fearless crew hauled gear through the dense woods to our filming location. Miles out, in the middle of a swamp, not unlike Dagobah, our crew setup camp for the first day of principle photography.
Working alongside park rangers, our Tampa independent film production went off without a hitch. Working around the clock, we were able to successfully film all scenes and finish the production on time despite the many challenges presented by the location.
Steffen Thiel, in his (potentially award-winning?) American film debut, as Stormtrooper TH-137.
Director Christian Cashmir and Cinematographer Eric Coughlin worked together using gear from our Tampa video equipment rental package including the Canon C300, and C300 mkII, SteadiCam, MoVi M5 with Sony A7s mkII, and plenty of lighting to give the film a cinematic look. We even brought out our portable generator to the forrest so we didn’t have to stop at Tosche Station to pick up more power converters!
Actor/Stuntmen M. Joshua Todd and TJ McDonnell ready themselves for battle during our Star Wars fan film shoot. (Photo: Courtesy of Anthony and Estelle Brock)
After a successful shoot, it was time to head back to our Tampa post production suites to start the editing process. We had a ton of excellent footage, but we needed to add in lightsaber effects and, of course, the epic sound design and music that makes every Star Wars film so unique. We utilized our Tampa recording studio to record ADR for the main characters, replacing their dialogue with studio quality recordings of their voices – much like the original Star Wars did.
Next, we reached out to our friend Angelo from Panetta Studios to partner with us on the sound design for the film; He and his team created soundscapes, brought the lightsaber battles to life, and transformed the swamp into a character in its own right. They gave our antagonist a unique voice effect as well! Our editors and visual effects team put in a few sleepless nights to make the deadline, and with the hard work of our dedicated team, our film was ready to compete!
Our editing and special effects teams work to finish our Star Wars fan film.
Finally, we submitted our completed film to LucasFilm and Disney for the Star Wars Fan Film Awards, and it was time to celebrate! aarrragghuuhw! That was Wookie for “Partaaaaay!”(seriously, we looked it up). We had the whole team over for a cast/crew screening of the finished film, which we projected on the large white cyc in our Tampa video production studio. What a blast!
Two young padawans (Zack with actress, Lennon) practice lightsaber skills during the cast/crew screening of our Star Wars fan film.
Check out the finished film below:
Do you have a feature film or Tampa short film you would like to produce? Please contact us for a free consultation. You can like Litewave Media on Facebook to check out our latest independent films. Be sure to keep up with the blog for more Tampa video production news!
Over the last few weeks, our Tampa video production company has been busy shooting new TV shows for Netflix and Discovery Channel as well as TV commercials and Florida corporate videos right here in our own Tampa video production studio. We’ve also had the opportunity to work on an independent feature film with some pretty amazing actors.
Our Florida video production crew recently worked with the one and only Burt Reynolds! We were able to operate a teleprompter for Mr. Reynolds for his entire time on the production. “It was a great opportunity to work with Mr. Reynolds. I used to watch his movies, and now we are filming together”, says Litewave Media crew member Steffen Thiel.
Our Tampa video production crew member Mike Garland with acting legend Burt Reynolds.
On another recent project, we were happy to welcome the team from the Special Operations Warrior Foundation(SOWF) to our Tampa video studio. SOWF is an excellent group dedicated to supporting the families of wounded and fallen Special Ops Heroes. “The foundation is great! They help these families both financially and spiritually to get them back on their feet. They’re just an incredible team of caring people who know what it’s like to lose a family member like that and want to help in any way they can,” says our own Tampa video crew member and Air Force veteran Mike Garland. Litewave Media founder, Christian Cashmir was on set for the TV commercial as 1st camera assistant as well as Andrew Ortoski who gaffed the shoot. Litewave Media’s own Johanne Castagan, Rich Brito, and Steffen Thiel also worked on the shoot. Look out for it on ESPN where it will air nationwide!
5 Hour Energy’s TV commercial production filming at Litewave Media’s Tampa video production studio.
Check out the commercial below:
Our Tampa video production team also had the great opportunity to work on a new Netflix series called “Captive” which will be airing this summer. Director of photography Christian Cashmir operated our MoVi M5 camera gimbal for the show with our Sony A7s II on-board shooting in 4k!
On the new Netflix show “Captive,” Litewave Media’s Christian Cashmir operates our MoVi M5 camera gimbal with Sony A7s II
Our next shoot brought us down to beautiful Anna Maria Island. Litewave Media’s Tampa video equipment rental and Tampa grip truck packages were on hand for this national TV show for Discovery Channel. Christian Cashmir served as director of photography on the show “Stranger Than Florida”, while Sasha Sebesta and Steffen Thiel worked as grips. The Litewave Media camera crew provided lighting, video, and audio gear for the high-end broadcast production of this national TV show.
Our Tampa video production company shooting an interview for the Discovery Channel show “Stranger Than Florida”.
Quite a few of the projects we film go to LA, New York, or elsewhere for editing and finishing, but many stay right here in St. Petersburg, Florida to work at our full service post-production facility, Litewave Studios. Our Tampa post-production suites feature state-of-the-art equipment, voice over booth, and modern editing programs to service large scale productions.
It’s been a busy few weeks at our Tampa video production company, but that’s just the way we like it!
