Our Tampa video production company recently traveled to Orlando, Florida to shoot a series of TV commercials with world champion wakeboarder, Shota Tezuka.

Wakeboarding, slotted to be a trial sport in the 2016 Olympics, involves riding a fiberglass board over water while being towed by a boat. The sport uses a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surfing techniques. Shota, 19, held the Junior Pro Men’s title before accepting a position on the coveted MasterCraft team this year.

“We were hired by Espritline, a company that teaches Japanese people to speak English,” explains Litewave Media founder Christian Schwier. “For the last two years, we’ve filmed the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with them and champion Japanese race car driver Takuma Sato. When they came to Florida to film Shota this summer, we were excited to be able to partner with them again for another video production.”

Christian and Makiura “Macky” Takaharu get ready to film.

The shoot took place at Shota’s house, which sits on a private lake outside Orlando. The property also serves as his training course, with two boats on the lake and a team of wakeboarders in residence. Both the TV commercials and videos are designed to show how Shota has used English to become a successful athlete. “The videos show how he uses the English language in his daily life as well as when he competes,” says Schwier.

Schwier was the only Tampa film crew member. The team included three other video production members from Japan, including Litewave Media friend Makiura Takaharu, affectionately known as Macky. The shoot required a wide range of equipment, including the Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 7D, the GoPro HD Hero2 for stunt shots on the wakeboard, and a Sony EX3 for video interview footage.

Christian with the crew the day of the shoot.

“We filmed a variety of different scenarios,” says Schwier, a Tampa video production professional for seven years. “One of the most interesting shots was filming Shota from one boat while he was wakeboarding off the back of another boat.” The video crew got some great footage of flips and other tricks. Splashing water was a challenge at times, but everyone was pleased with the footage, which went back to Japan to be edited.

“Shota was great to work with and made the filming easy. We were able to capture some amazing shots of him,” says Schwier, who really enjoys working with his Japanese friends. “We’re excited to include this in our Tampa video production company’s demo reel and hope to see them again soon the next time they come to Florida!”

Christian and Takaki Katano put safety first before filming on the lake.

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