Every year in July, St. Petersburg celebrates Grouper Week, a delicious celebration of the native grouper fish. This year, the festivities kick off on July 22nd in St. Petersburg/Clearwater, the grouper capital of the world. Our Florida video production company along with St. Pete Film Commissioner Tony Armer teamed up to produce a La La Land-inspired dance commercial promoting the festival and the fish!
The 30-second TV ad was filmed on location at a local beach house in Gulfport, overlooking the beautiful Florida Gulf Coast. Choreographer Johanne Castagan created a dance in the style of the La La Land pool scene from last year’s Oscar-winning film. Twenty dancers including three stunt people performed the choreography.
The ad was filmed in a one-take shot with no editing; and so, the team had to get everything just right – needless to say the rehearsals paid off!
Armer directed the commercial with Litewave Media’s Christian Cashmir acting as cinematographer. Our St. Petersburg video production crew also included Eric Coughlin who operated Steadicam and Andrew Ortoski as gaffer, whose team rigged up the surrounding trees with string lights to accentuate the depth of the scene.
The Litewave Media Tampa grip truck rental was on hand to supply the ARRI Skypanel s60 as our key light and a variety of additional fixtures and grip equipment to set the scene. The lighting team actually rigged the Skypanel on the roof of the house for the perfect angle!
The song, “Another Day of Sun,” from La La Land was re-recorded with new grouper-infused lyrics written by Armer and performed by Alex Harris, a local Tampa Bay musician.
Check your local television station for the Grouper Week TV spot which began airing July 13… or catch a sneak peak below!
On filming the project, Cashmir said, “Nothing beats filming on St. Pete’s beautiful coastline. Great crew, gorgeous sunsets… what more could you ask for?!”
Check out grouperweek.com for more info and the events that are planned for the festivities.
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