Hold onto your armor, Gears of War fans! Recently, Dave Bautista visited Litewave Media for a shoot for GEARS 5! It’s not everyday a Guardian of the Galaxy comes to hang and film on our Florida Sound Stage, and we were honored to host the project.
Our Tampa Bay video studio was used to film the trailer announcing Bautista as a playable character in the new GEARS 5 game!
Check out the behind-the-scenes video below and two announcement trailers featuring footage shot in our Tampa Video studio. See below!
Of course, only the live action content of Dave Bautista and the replica of his character’s in-game armor was shot in our studio. Also, the same people who made the Guardians of the Galaxy costumes built the armor Bautista wears in the video! The military case used in the video below was from a local St. Petersburg business as well! And most of the crew including the gaffer, photographer, makeup, stylists, production coordinator, etc were all local St. Petersburg and Tampa natives.
It was an honor to have the Guardians of the Galaxy star in our studio. And can’t wait to play the game!
Behind the Scenes of the GEARS 5 Shoot!
Additionally, our team coordinated the project and hired local crew for multiple departments. Namely in Grip and Electric, Costume, Audio, DIT, and Production! As we have done in the past for companies like Bic/Koozie‘s “The Original Chill” and a Culver’s National TV spots.
Along with our studio and office space, our client used our Lighting Grip Van and a variety of Camera Equipment from us. These included our ARRI SkyPanels, Quasars, hazers, and more in our lighting package.
Dave Bautista in our Tampa video studio in his GEARS 5 getup!
For filming the Director of Photography used our ARRI Alexa Mini for the project. Some of our favorite cinema lenses: the Cooke Anamorphic Special Flare lens set was also added to the package.
Check out this cool behind the scenes video from the GEARS 5 shoot featuring Dave Bautista!
Overall, we’re very grateful this opportunity came knocking on our door. We cannot wait to see Bautista in GEARS 5!
Do you have an upcoming project you’d like to discuss with our St. Petersburg Video Production Company? Contact us today to see how we can help. 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’s news.
Happy Holidays! Litewave Media has been busy producing our new holiday feature film, Elfette Saves Christmas, in sunny Tampa Bay, Florida! The independent film stars award-winning actor and star of “The Blind Side,” Quinton Aaron!
Just last week Elfette Saves Christmas was released nationwide! DVDs can be found in Wal-marts all across the country. It’s also available online at iTunes, Amazon, Target, VUDU and Best Buy! Grab a copy here on Amazon.
Elfette Saves Christmas is a family feature film about Elfette, a wrapping paper designer in Santa’s workshop, who while on vacation in Florida, must travel to New York City to save Santa Claus (Quinton Aaron) from the clutches of a profit hungry Mafia boss, Little Georgie (George Vricos). With Little Georgie and Joytech, an evil toy corporation, in cahoots, Christmas and Santa’s workshop are frozen with only Elfette left to save them.
Litewave Media founder, Christian Cashmir, wrote, produced, and directed Elfette Saves Christmas, along with an amazing team of local Tampa film crew and actors from the St. Petersburg area as well. The film was shot on our ARRI Alexa Mini camera package along with our Canon CN-E prime lenses and the Fujinon Cabrio 20-120mm lens.
Check out the ABC news story on Elfette Saves Christmas and the film festival, with actor George Vricos and director/writer, Christian Cashmir featured in the segment.
Behind the Scenes of Elfette Saves Christmas
The Litewave Media film crew shot the majority of the film right in the heart of Pinellas County and St. Petersburg, Florida. But, Elfette’s story brought our cast and crew all over Tampa Bay and even to New York City for 3 days where the crew filmed in Central Park, the New York Library, and Times Square!
Our camera crew was battling time and weather for a sequence of interior scenes at Lake Eagle Park on our first day of production. With Quinton in costume, as Santa, the team prepared for a 15 plus hour day!
Next, on production day two, we filmed a scene with Elfette and Sparkle (Aléa Figueroa) on Pass-a-Grille Beach in St. Petersburg, FL. Then, for day three, we went back to Eagle Lake Park to complete the climactic ending, and the producers through a little impromptu Christmas celebration for the cast and crew!
Even elves go on vacation! (BTS from the 2nd day of production on Pass-A-Grille Beach, FL.)
Keep an eye out on our YouTube Channel Film Jams for more Elfette BTS videos! There’s plenty more coming!
Elfette Saves Christmas In the News
Bay News 9 released a story in December 2019 on Elfette, and the local community has really gotten behind the film to support it.
In the final days of production, the Elfette Saves Christmas team hunkered down overnight in the restaurant, De Sesto Italiano, in Pinellas Park. That night, the crew filmed multiple scenes with Elfette, Mob boss Little Georgie, and another villain, Penelope Coalbottom (played by Sheli Sanders).
Director Christian Cashmir rehearses with actors, Georgie Vricos and Sheli Sanders, (De Sesto’s in Pinellas County)
Also available on-demand: iTunes, VUDU, and most other streaming services. And in-store at Wal-mart.
Check out a little making-of video about the movie:
Looking to turn your Tampa Film Production into a reality? Contact us today to see how our production company, Litewave Media, can assist in the process. Find us on Facebook and make sure to subscribe to the Litewave Media blog as well as our Film Jams YouTube page where we offer tutorials and film equipment reviews to stay up to date on all of our Tampa video production company’s news!
Will work for Butter Burgers! St. Petersburg video production company, Litewave Media teamed up with Wild Bill, a collaborative, creative content company based in California to film a national TV spot for Culver’s Restaurant.
The two day shoot, produced locally by Litewave Media’s own Christian Cashmir took place at the restaurant just minutes from our Tampa Production Studio right here in sunny St. Petersburg,
Cashmir along with our awesome St. Petersburg video production crew worked hard to bring Director James Lipetzky’s vision together. Lipetzky traveled from California to work with Litewave Media on the TV Commercial.
The Tampa video crew spent Day 1 outdoors filming a variety of beauty shots of those delicious Butter Burgers the restaurant is known for.
Producer, Christian Cashmir, works with the DP on setting up the perfect shot for the ARRI Alexa Mini to capture on the Movi Pro gimbal.
The wood base used to display the burgers was created by a local craftsman and fashioned on set with rigging gear from our grip truck. Our gaffer and lighting expert, Andrew Ortoski, combined a few mini combo stands and some behind-the-scenes magic to get the burgers at just the right height for the camera.
Gaffer Andrew Ortoski with DP Florian set the perfect shot with the ARRI Alexa Mini
Day 2 took the Tampa video crew inside the Restaurant as the owner himself, Mr. Craig Culver, surprised unsuspecting guests by taking them into the kitchen to make those famous burgers. Four cameras, including an ARRI Alexa Mini, a Canon C300 mkll, and two Sony A7S mkll’s were tucked away from the customer’s view to capture their candid reactions.
Director James Lipetzky oversees the shoot as PA, Sasha Sebesta prepares to slate the next shot.
Our St. Petersburg Grip Truck rental was on site to supply an ample amount of lighting and grip equipment. An ARRI M18 and Joker 800 were used to light those outdoor shots on the first day, while our ARRI Skypanel S60, and some Litepanel Astras were used to set the stage inside for the production on day 2.
Culver’s Co-Founder surprises a customer in the TV Spot
After the shoot, Cashmir said, “We really enjoyed filming with the Culver’s family and the St. Pete restaurant’s friendly staff. The crew also enjoyed their share of burgers and frozen custard. Not a bad two days!”
Camera Assistant Daryn Murphy with producer Christian Cashmir and the food stylists.
You can catch the national TV spot airing on many local Tampa Bay and St Pete networks. You might even see a few familiar faces!
Do you have an upcoming project for our St. Petersburg Video Production Company? Contact us today to see how we can work together to help 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’s news.
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 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!
