Recently Litewave Media took to the ice at Amelie Arena, home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, for a Volvo TV commercial shoot with Victor Hedman, one of the top defenders in the NHL. The spot was produced along with Moore and Scarry Advertising for Crown Automotive Group and will be airing soon! Our Tampa video production company was thrilled to be back on the ice as we filmed with the Lightning last year for a production as well.
Director/DP Christian Cashmir & 2nd Cam Tony Ahedo plan out some action shots of Victor with the Sony A7s Mk2 & DJI OSMO.
Crown Automotive brought in seven cars and SUVs and set them up on the ice rink as a back drop for the shoot. The Litewave Media Tampa video production crew began work lighting the cars, with only a short window between the Lightning’s practices to set up. Our production crew brought out 5 cameras to film with including our Canon C300, Canon C100, two Sony A7s mk2’s, a DJI OSMO, and a myriad of Canon L series lenses – all from our Tampa video camera rentals package.
The Litewave Media Tampa video crew at work filming Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The crew filmed some lines with Victor and the teleprompter, but the shoot really charged up when Victor got on his skates, and the camera team chased him on the ice.
Director Christian Cashmir and 2nd Cam Operator Tony Ahedo go over lines on the prompter with Victor Hedman.
We used the Sony A7s mk2 mounted on our MoVi M5 gimbal stabilizer as well as the DJI Osmo to capture smooth creative action shots and POV shots of the hockey puck. Some 120 frame slow motion footage accented the skates tearing up the ice.
Director/DP Christian Cashmir gives chase to Victor Hedman with the MoVi M5 gimbal camera stabilizer.
Victor Hedman stylishly skids on the ice as the Litewave Media team captures it in slow motion
One of the highlights for our gaffer, was incorporating our newest light, the ARRI Skypanel S60 from our Tampa grip truck rental on the shoot. The Skypanel packs quite a punch and acted as the main key light to illuminate the shots of Victor with the Volvos.
Our ARRI Skypanel lights up the shot as Christian Cashmir directs with producer Andrew Hebert & Devon Mackinnon runs sound.
The shoot literally went out with a bang as the hockey stadium fired up their Tesla coils and shot electricity charges for our cameras to capture. This electro static footage will be used for a dramatic insert shot in the commercial. The Tesla coils typically only fire up at a hockey game when the Lightning scores, but we were able to turn all the lights off in the entire stadium so that the coils were the only thing lighting the arena – it made for quite a unique effect!
Looking to capture a Tampa TV Commercial production or Tampa video production? Contact us today to see how our teams can work together to build your business. 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!
[All behind the scenes photos captured by Joe Malo]
The one take! The scene in Goodfellas when Ray Liotta’s character walks into the club and the whole the camera never cuts… Or the opening scene in Touch of Evil? And most recently the Oscar-Winning Birdman – an entire movie filmed in a one-take style. Our Tampa video production company was excited to produce a film using the same technique for the 2016 Single-Take Challenge, with our short, Kiss Tape!
The cast and crew of “Kiss Tape” after a great night of filming.
The Single-Take Film Challenge, sponsored by ManaSota Films, challenges filmmakers to create a new and original short film. The catch is, there can be absolutely no cuts, meaning the entire film has to be one long take! To pull it off, writers Christian Cashmir and Eric Coughlin began planning a month in advance at our Florida video production studio so that every tiny detail would be ready on the day of filming.
Co-DP and Steadicam operator Eric Coughlin rehearses blocking with the talent Lexi and Chris
We gathered a cast of over 20 extremely talented actors and a crew to match in order to pull off one of the most fun and challenging films we’ve ever made: a one-shot film that weaves in and out of our video studio during an elaborate movie being made. That’s right, it’s a movie within a movie!
Our crew took about 8 takes to get the film completed. We tweaked the timing as we progressed through the night. Almost every take was usable, but the very last take was the one we used. Even though we had over 20 actors they never missed a line!
For the shoot, Christian Cashmir and Eric Coughlin directed and Co-DP’d, bringing both their skill and expertise to the project. For the shoot the Litewave Media team brought gear from our Tampa video equipment rental packages, filming on a Canon C300 MkII with the Canon 15.5-47 Cinema zoom lens. Because it was a film within a film, our St Petersburg video production crew were able to “hide” by pretending to be actors crewing the behind-the-scenes film, but actually acting as crew on the real film. It was film crew Inception: crew within crew within crew!
Director Christian Cashmir gives the cast final notes before filming the first take of “Kiss Tape” while actor Chuck preps the pooch.
Once we finished principal photography, it was time to head back to our Tampa post production studio, where Christian Cashmir mixed sound and colored the film, bringing it to it’s final form so it could be submitted to the competition. It was accepted a week later and…..
Just last week, our film Kiss Tape premiered at the 2016 Single-Take Challenge in beautiful Sarasota, where it competed against many other excellent filmmakers from all around the country. There, we took home two awards, including Best Film and Most Entertaining Film! Congratulations to all of our extraordinarily talented cast and crew for helping bring Kiss Tape to life!
Our Tampa video production company took home the Best Film and Most Entertaining awards!
Check out the finished film below:
Do you have a Tampa independent film or Florida short film you’d like to produce? To view our previous Tampa video production work click here. Contact us today for a free consultation. Be sure to like us on Facebook to check out all of the work we’re doing and head on over to the Litewave Media blog to stay up to date on all Tampa video production company news!
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!
It’s that time of the year again… The 48 Hour Film Festival!
From July 31st through August 2nd, filmmakers around the country created teams to participate in the 48 Hour Film Project’s Festival. Our Tampa video production company has participated several times (and even won in 2012!). This year, 28 teams around Tampa, and thousands around the world competed. Litewave Media’s team had 25 crew members and actors who helped bring our film to life. With only 48 hours, the teams had to write, film and edit a 7-minute short film – which would then be screened at a local movie theater the next week!
Our team was honored to be nominator for 9 awards this year! Here’s the scoop…
Our Tampa 48 hour team gets ready to film!
Friday 7pm. Our Tampa video production crew went to the kickoff event for the festival. Our production coordinator, Ana Christina Sanchez, pulled our genre: “Fish out of water” from the hat. Besides the movie’s genre, teams were also given 3 essential elements that had to be included in each film to qualify for the contest. This year the character requirement was an investigator named “Michael/Myra Jillerson,” the prop was a “pair of pliers” and the line of dialogue was “Nothing can stop me.” After getting all the elements, it was time to get creative!
Our writing team, Christian Cashmir, Jason Henne and our DP, Ryan Grosjean, writing the script at our Tampa video studio
9pm. Litewave Studios. After the kickoff event, our team met at our headquarters, Litewave Studios Tampa video studio,to brainstorm ideas for the story. When the brainstorming session, was over our writing team, Jason Henne, Christian Cashmir and Anthony Brock buckled down and finished the script to have it ready for our call time the next morning.
Our director, Christian Cashmir, films with a Canon C100 from our Florida camera equipment rental
Director Christian Cashmir says, “The story centers around a group of friends playing a Dungeons and Dragons game who summon an other-worldly visitor. The exciting part of doing these 48 hour contests is the way it challenges us to be extremely creative while at the same time managing our time. It’s definitely one of the most fun events we take part in throughout the year!”
Our gaffer, Andrew Ortoski and director of photography, Ryan Grosjean, setup the Dana Dolly for filming overhead shots
Saturday 9am. In the morning, our team of 21 crew members and 7 actors met at our location to start setting up and prepare for the adventure. With only 32 hours to go, the clock was ticking! We filmed most of the movie with 2 Canon C100s from our Tampa camera equipment rental and we also used a Sony A7S to capture slow motion footage. Our Florida video camera crew used a Dana Dolly and our Freefly Movi M5 camera stabilizer to get uniques angles and dynamic moving shots.
Our Tampa video crew with the cast in between takes
Our Florida grip and lighting crew brought our Tampa grip truck to ensure we had ample gear for the shoot on location. Our lighting team lit the set with a variety of sources including Kino Flo Divas, an Arri 1K with soft Box, and Litepanel LED lights, all sourced from our Tampa grip and lighting rental packages. Over 50 candles were lit and scattered around the set. Crew covered windows and doors to simulate nighttime so we could shoot during the day. The film is set in a dark and mystical environment so the lighting and cinematography team wanted to adjust the location lighting to match the story.
Our production design team adding candles to the location
Our Tampa costume designers had a blast outfitting the actors in quirky attire to match their characters’ unique personalities. Bridget Desjarlais created unique looks for each character, and local leather worker Joshua Von War-Bear pieced together a custom costume for a barbarian character.
Christian filming Monster Washburn who plays the Barbarian
Saturday 10pm. With less than 24 hours to go, our Tampa post-production company started editing Saturday on-location to get a head start. Music, sound design and visual FX were added on Sunday at one of our Tampa editing suites. Our Florida post production company also color corrected the film, and Stephen Maxwell composed an original score for the movie.
Our cast and crew reviews playback of a scene on set
Sunday 6pm. With only minutes to spare, the movie was finished right after 6pm and turned in on-time!
Cast and crew of “That’s How I Roll” at the 48 Hour Film Festival movie premiere event
Our short film titled “That’s How I Roll” premiered on August 9th at the HCC Ybor Main Stage Theatre for the 48 Hour Film Festival screening event. Our cast and crew reunited at the premiere to celebrate our achievement and see the final product for the first time. Production Coordinator Ana Christina says, “It was a lot of fun watching all the other movies that were submitted to the festival. There is so much talent in Tampa Bay!”
To view our award-winning film “That’s How I Roll” click below!
Our 48 Hour Film took the festival by storm! Our Tampa video production company was nominated for 9 awards and won 5 at the 48 hour “Best of” Awards Ceremony!
We were honored to take home these amazing awards:
Audience Choice
Best Writing
Best Cinematography
Best Sound Design
Best Special Effects
Our award-winning Tampa production team celebrates at the awards ceremony for the 48 Film Festival
Our Florida video company is extremely proud of our team. We produced an award-winning film all in less than 48 hours, and had a blast doing it! We’re looking forward to screening our film at some upcoming festivals this year. We had an amazing team of filmmakers and actors and could not have done it without them! THANKS!
The cast and crew filming on location. There’s a lot of love in that room!
Thanks to photographers Taylor Blake, Samantha Greene, Anthony Brock and everyone else who contributed photos to the gallery!
Do you have a Tampa short film or feature you would like to produce? Please contact us for a free consultation. You can like Litewave Media on Facebook to check out our latest video projects. Be sure to keep up with the blog for more Tampa video production news!
Our Tampa video crew took our Tampa grip truck to the USF Sundome to film for the fight. Our Director of Photography, Christian Cashmir, filmed the press conference with our Panasonic HPX-170 from our Tampa camera equipment rental. The camera recorded a direct feed that transmitted all the footage to ESPN’s channel live! Mike Stahr captured the sound at the press conference.
Our Tampa video crew gets ready to film Thurman and Collazo’s press conference at the Sundome
The press conference highlighted Keith Thurman (26-0) and Luis Collazo (36-7) as they talked about their lives, their boxing experiences and how they trained and prepared for this, their latest fight for the World Welterweight Championship. The fight was broadcasted as the main event in ESPN’s Premiere Boxing Champion. The press conference also featured boxers Tony Harrison and Willie Nelson who were fighting before the Thurman and Collazo fight.
Thurman and Collazo fight for the World Championship Title
Our Tampa video agency had a blast filming this exciting live event and working with ESPN. We look forward to working with them in the future. Congratulations to St. Pete’s own Keith Thurman for winning the match and keeping his undefeated title!
Do you have a Tampa live video production or Tampa video interview you would like to film? Please contact us for a free consultation. You can like Litewave Media on Facebook to check out our latest video projects. Be sure to keep up with the blog for more Tampa video production news!
