From the studio that brought you the award-winning Tampa web series The Skyship Chronicles, the feature film Jules Dongu Saves the World, and the award-winning short Magazine Issues, comes another series based on the real-life adventures of our own St Petersburg video production company! Ever wondered what it’s like behind the scenes of a major production company? Well, we just wrapped principal photography on an 8 episode web series that is doing just that.
Our Tampa video production crew finishes a night shoot at one of St. Petersburg’s many gorgeous beaches!
“BTS” (short for behind-the-scenes) utilizes documentary style cinematography to follow a ragtag group of filmmakers as they produce a “big” budget film, along with all the crazy actors, executives, and characters that follow suit. The series takes a satirical look behind the filmmaking curtains to capture the absurd daily life of those working at a film studio as they attempt to produce a sci-fi space opera, combining the adventure of “Star Wars” with the music of “Les Miserables”.
It’s a duel at sunset! Filming BTS on St. Pete’s Gandy beach… Or is it an other worldly planet?
Litewave Media founder Christian Cashmir initially came up with the idea for the series years ago after experiencing a crazy day on set where everything that happened behind-the-scenes seemed more interesting than the project they were actually filming. In summer of 2016, that idea began to come to fruition when he and co-creator Jason Henne finished mapping out the entire series and sat down with our team of writers to being working on season 1. We approached the St Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commission (FilmSPC) about partnering, and they offered the project a generous grant… From there, it was off to the races!
The cast of BTS filming outstide Litewave Studios
Once our writers had penned their last drafts, it was time to begin pre-production. Series creator and director Christian Cashmir brought in co-producers Briston George and Alissa Schneider, directors of photography Eric Coughlin, Daryn Murphy, and Scott Sullivan, key grip and gaffer Sasha Sebesta, and assistant director Lynne Hansen to helm the series. For the cast, we brought on actors Chris Cavalier from the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures, Lucius Baston (Stranger Things, Bad Leiutenant), Owen Harn (The Walking Dead, True Detective), Vivian Alvarez (12 Years a Slave), Chris Jackson (The Inbetweeners), and Alison Burns Jackson, who was a lead in the national tour of the hit musical Rent, as well as a plethora of extremely talented local actors to accompany them!
Everyone’s excited for the new arrival. Who could it be??
Production was a hurricane of fun as we filmed the entire series in just under 2 weeks! To film the series, we brought our St Petersburg grip truck to some of the city’s most gorgeous beaches and exotic locales. Much of the series we filmed in-house, on both our St. Petersburg white cyc studio and Tampa green screen studio (needless to say, our Tampa video production crew was thankful for the easy load-outs!). Key grip Sasha Sebesta also outfitted the overhead lighting in the entire office-area of the studio with Kino Flo daylight balanced bulbs to make lighting for the office scenes quick, soft, and easy (our studio actually decided to keep these in place for any other types of future shoots – or maybe season 2…)
Director Christian Cashmir giving dance lessons to the BTS cast while filming on the beach. Just look at that footwork, baby!
From our equipment package, we filmed the entire first season on our Canon C300 Mk II and C300 Mk I cameras, some Canon L zoom lenses and Canon CN-E cinema prime lenses. We even brought out camera operator Eric Coughlin’s Steadicam to get some more cinematic footage for the “movie-within-a-movie” scenes.
Director of photography Eric Coughlin using the Canon C300 MkII camera on our Tampa white cyc studio.
With principal photography finished, we’ve now taken all of the footage we have to our Tampa post-production company, where our editors will cut together each of the 8 episodes. Looking forward, we’ll bring in the talented actors to our St. Petersburg recording studio, in which we’ll produce all of the songs for the series’ musical numbers. We’ve got a ton of work left and our team hasn’t stopped yet!
It’s ninja beach! Cast and crew sandy, yet happy after a fun day of filming fight scenes on the beach!
Watch the video below for a behind-the-scenes look at “Behind The Scenes”:
Stay tuned for more updates as “BTS” progresses. Remember to like our Facebook page for behind the scenes photos and videos as we continue working on the series! In the meantime, check out some of the other work we’ve done, like music videos and commercials!
Do you have a St. Petersburg independent film you’d like us to produce? Contact us today for a consultation. Be sure to like us on Facebook. Stay up to date on all St Petersburg video production company news by heading over to our blog.
Our St Petersburg video production company has been filming and working on post production for the hit new web series Rescue-Clearwater for a little over 7 months now. The show, based on the real life stories behind the Dolphin Tale movies and Winter the dolphin, recently hit a milestone: 10 episodes! The first episode premiered online in February 1st of this year, highlighting the history of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium (CMA) and the amazing work they do to rehabilitate, rescue, and release sea animals in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Litewave Media’s founder, Christian Cashmir and SteadiCam operator Eric Coughlin film Abby, Winter’s caregiver for the showThe Clearwater Marine Aquarium is home to Winter the dolphin, the inspiration and star of the hit Dolphin Tale films. CMA is also home to a diverse group of wildlife ranging from dolphins like Nicholas (pictured below) to sea turtles and even pelicans, too! CMA has an amazing program to help rescue injured sea creatures, rehabilitate them using world class medical care in their state of the art facilities, and release them back into the wild.
While at the aquarium, our Florida video production crew were able to be a part of filming amazing stories like a sea turtle hatchling release and Hope the dolphin’s rescue and rehabilitation. For episode 7, the Litewave Media team drove our St Petersburg grip truck to beautiful Clearwater Beach, FL to film at the CMA, this time focusing on Winter and Hope’s special relationship.
Nicholas the dolphin happily waits for a meal of fresh fish. Photo: Clearwater Marine Aquarium
Litewave Media’s Christian Cashmir, Steffen Thiel, and SteadiCam operator Eric Coughlin used gear from our St Petersburg video equipment rental package to film the aquarium team in action working with the animals and rescuing sea creatures in need. Our St Petersburg video production crew were able to film the CMA team performing their mission to preserve the environment and protect local marine life!
Special thanks to David Yates, director and producer of the show, and Joe Malo, shooter and editor at the aquarium for partnering with Litewave Media on this awesome project!
The Litewave Media and CMA teams wrap Episode 7 in front of a gorgeous sunset in Clearwater.
After quite a few exciting days of filming with the aquarium team, the post production process began. Joe reviewed the footage and chose the best shots. He then brought the media back to our Tampa video production studios for editing. Our editing team began work on the finishing and fine-tuning of the edit to tell the heartwarming story behind the episode. In our Tampa post production studios we created the opening titles and all of the visual effects seen in each episode. We even utilized our St Petersburg recording studio to capture voice-over for multiple episodes.
“Working on Rescue-Clearwater is a great opportunity and our St Petersburg video production company is proud to help the CMA team. Working with the animals is a truly incredible experience”, said Litewave Media’s Christian Cashmir.
Ready to be inspired by the cutest dolphins this side of the Mississippi? Check out episode 7 below:
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!
Our Tampa video production company was excited to film for Golf Magazine and Golf.com today for a segment with Graeme McDowell who won the US Open in 2010. Hailing from Northern Ireland, Graeme is one of the top 10 players in the world and has 9 European Tour and 2 PGA tour wins already under his belt.
Graeme with our Litewave Media Tampa video crew
Our Tampa video crew filmed a reality show-style segment where Graeme snuck up or “ambushed” amateur players on the course. He then would show them a few tips to help better their game, and even gave away some prizes including new golf clubs and his signature balls. Our longtime friend and client John Ledesma produced the show and worked closely with the Litewave Media team to ensure his vision was brought to life.
Litewave Media’s crew (Lyssia, Brandon) set up one of the GoPro video cameras
To capture all the action in a candid fashion, a combination of 3 hand held cameras and 2 GoPros were used. The crew only had one chance to get it right to maintain the element of surprise, but everything went off without a hitch. The Litewave Media team was able to capture a total of 4 candid “ambush” segments in the 3 hours they had with Graeme. The videos will run on Golf.com and be featured in Golf Magazine in the next few months.
Mike (sound) and Christian, Litewave Media’s director of photography, prepare to film with Graeme.
Our Tampa, Florida video production company recently had the pleasure of flying out to Los Angeles for the 2013 Filmapalooza. The film that our team created called “F” is a short film that won the local Tampa/St. Petersburg title of Best Film. As part of the awards we got to compete with over 120 teams from around the world from March 7th – 10th in LA at Filmapalooza.
Over the course of the week our St. Petersburg video production studio learned from mentors in the industry as well as viewed the screenings of the other films. Screenings took place at the famous Chinese Grauman’s Theater right in the heart of Hollywood on Hollywood Blvd.
Some highlights from the trip include a pitch session with the Saw series producer Dan Heffner, and a keynote speech with film director Dennis Dugan [Happy Gilmour, Grownups, Problem Child, etc.]. “It was a dream come true to hear Dennis speak,” says Christian Schwier, director of “F”, and founder of Litewave Media, “we were able to chat with him after the keynote and get some pointers on filmmaking. It was an incredible experience.”
To see “F” check out Gasparilla Film Festival on Friday March 22nd where it will be screening alongside one of Litewave Media’s other films, “Jules Dongu Saves the World” [JulesDongu.com]- an action comedy spoof. “F” screens at 10:30pm at Centro Ybor, and “Jules Dongu” screens at 7:30pm. Director, Producer and cast will all be there. We hope to see you there!
If you’re looking for a Tampa production company to take your film to the next level, give us a call or stop by our offices. And be sure to keep up with us on Facebook to learn about all of our crew’s latest projects.
