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!
“You want some blood?” Zombies and gypsies reigned supreme this Halloween at our Tampa video production company. Earlier in 2015, Litewave Media partnered with director Iris Saunders to produce the short film “The Pirate Gypsies.” Litewave Media’s founder, Christian Cashmir and Iris Saunders co-wrote and produced an original song called Walk Like a Gypsy for the movie. And so, this Halloween, our Tampa video crew got together to film a 60’s throwback, zombie inspired music video for their original song, Walk Like a Gypsy.
Our zombie gypsies are ready to start shooting (or eat our crew)
We filmed the music video over the course of three nights, one night at our Tampa video production studio and two nights at a forest near the studio in St. Petersburg, Florida. Before the first shoot day, choreographer, Johanne Castagan, rehearsed with the dancers at our Tampa video studio. Costume designer, Bridget Bartley Desjarlais, met with the team and designed costumes for the music video.
The dancers practice their choreography one last time before filming
On our first day of shooting, with a little inspiration from Michael Jackson’s, “Thriller”, we filmed a gypsy zombie dance sequence in a forest near our studio. With 12 performers dancing, fog machines blowing, and three cameras filming simultaneously, the scene came together quite nicely.
Our special fx makeup artist, Ginny Dworchak, and hair stylist, Jane Figuera, transformed the dancers into flesh-eating zombies! The lighting team including, Rich Brito, Andrew Ortoski, Harold “Pinky” Hood and Chris Plourde lit the forest with some HMI’s and Jokers from our Tampa video lighting equipment and Tampa grip truck rental package.Our Director of Photography, Kenny Strawn, filmed with our Canon C100 mounted on our EZ FX jib. We also filmed with our Sony FS100, Sony A7s and a Canon C100 Mark II on a Steadicam to get a variety of angles of the performance.
1st unit DP, Kenny Strawn, gaffer, Andrew Ortoski, and PA, Chris Plourde, mount the camera on the EZ-FX jib
For the second shoot day, our set designer, Don Knight, transformed our Florida video production studio into a 1960s performance stage, inspired by The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan Show performances. Our very own Christian Cashmir was the male vocalist and guitarist while Ann P aka Ann Poonkasem was the female lead vocalist. Alissa Schneider and Jenique Hendrix played as backup singers, Ricky Fernandez kept the beat as drummer and Grant Johnson layed the beefy licks as bass player. Bridget and Jenique Hendrix outfit the band members with 60s period clothing while Jane Figuera and Ann P styled hair and makeup.
Our studio was lit by the 2nd day’s DP and gaffer, Andrew Ortoski, with our key grip, Sasha Sebesta. Andrew filmed with our Canon C100, Canon & Zeiss Cinema Lenses, and skateboard Dolly from our Tampa camera equipment rental. Our SteadiCam operator, Eric Coughlin, shot with a Canon C100 Mark II and Canon L Lenses.
The Jypsies are ready to debut their new single Walk Like a Jypsy!
For our last shooting day, Litewave Media’s Tampa video production crew travelled back to the forrest. John Jones lit the location with the help of Chris Plourde and Maxime Puister. The team used a Joker 800 and LED lights to create the look of moonlight in the woods. In this scene, the fog machines rolled again while Ann P’s Mother Zombie Jypsy lured Christian Cashmir and Alissa Schneider into the darkness. John was the director of photography for the scene, and he filmed with the Sony A7s which was great for the low light look of the scene.
The crew films on a skateboard dolly in our Tampa video studio for Walk Like A Jypsy
Editing and color correction were all finished by our Tampa post production company at our HD/4K editing suite. Check out the “Walk Like A Jypsy” music video BELOW!
Our Florida video production company wants to thank everybody that worked on this shoot and helped us bring our vision to life. It was one of the most enjoyable and creative shoots we’ve been a part of!
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!
If you haven’t seen the movie check out the trailer below!
Two years ago our Tampa video production company started production on the steampunk action-adventure short film The Skyship Chronicles. The film is set in Ireland, 1895 and follows the story of Molly Madigan in her quest to recover her grandfather’s stolen invention, the Potestatum, an all-powerful energy source. Our Tampa video crew filmed the movie in and around the Tampa Bay Area, as well as at our Tampa video production studio. After months of editing and work on visual effects, created by our Tampa post-production company, The Skyship Chronicles (Part One) was finally ready for the festival circuit.
The Skyship Chronicles cast and crew on the red carpet at the Tampa Bay Underground Film Festival
The Skyship Chronicles (Part One) premiered at the Gasparilla Film Festival in Tampa, FL where it won “Audience Choice Best Short Film” and has been screened in several other Film Festivals around the country, including the Sunscreen Festival in St Petersburg, the Artemis Film Festival in Los Angeles, Geekfest in New Jersey, and many more. The steampunk short film is scheduled to screen in more upcoming festivals throughout the year.
Jeff Zampino(producer), Christian Cashmir (director), and Ed Olsen (actor/Gustav) at the Gasparilla International Film Festival
The Skyship Chronicles (Part One) has been honored with different awards from a variety of festivals. Check out a list of awards The Skyship Chronicles (Part One) has received from the festival circuit:
Gasparilla Film Festival
Audience Choice Best Short Film
Innovative Film Festival
Best Web Series – Grand Jury
Best Cinematography (Short Film)
SunscreenFilm Festival
Best Web Series – Grand Jury
Tampa Bay Underground Film festival
Audience Choice Best Short Film
Christian (director) and Jeff (producer) celebrate in the studio after winning Audience Choice Best Short Film from the Gasparilla Film Festival
The Skyship Chronicles (Part One) has also been selected to screen in several conventions. It is currently screening at the GeekFest convention. This convention travels around the country screening genre movies in a number of different states. The film recently screened in Atlantic City, NJ and it is scheduled to screen 15 more times around the country with GeekFest. It was also screened at one of the largest conventions in the country, MegaCon in Orlando. After the screening, the convention held a panel for the movie where fans interacted with our team including: director, Christian Schwier, costume designer, Bridget Bartley Desjarlais and actor, Josh Todd.
Litewave Media cast and crew at The Skyship Chronicles MegaCon Panel
Besides being part of the festival circuit, a number of steampunk magazines such as Clockwork Magazine have written articles about The Skyship Chronicles (Part One). Our Florida video production company is extremely proud of our video production crew and cast and our achievements with The Skyship Chronicles (Part One). We have plans for the next episodes and can’t wait to continue telling the story of this swashbuckling web-series.
The Skyship Chronicles cast and crew on the red carpet at the Sunscreen Film Festival
Mysterious gypsies. Deceitful pirates. Treasures and magic! Litewave Media’s latest film production, directed by Bahamian native Iris Saunders, was quite an adventure. We filmed over the course of 3 days in St. Petersburg, Florida’s historic Fort De Soto Beach. Our Florida video company is no stranger to movies; our latest short film, The Skyship Chronicles [Part 1], is currently playing the festival circuit around the country and already has won 2 Audience Choice Awards. Our team at Litewave Media previously filmed Iris’ debut music videoat our video production studio last year. Our Tampa video production company was excited to partner again with Iris for her short film, The Pirate Gypsies.
Our cast, director and director of photography rehearsing a scene for The Pirate Gypsies in the woods of Fort De Soto
In addition to filming the project, Iris hired our Tampa production crewto coordinate the shoot and secure permits for the film. Iris and Litewave Media founder, Christian Cashmir, met before the shoot to write, plan and storyboard the film. Iris decided that she wanted to film at night to create a dark mysterious atmosphere for the film.
Christian and Iris work on the script and storyboards for the film
Once the script was finalized, our production team held a casting and audition at our Tampa video production studio to find actors that could fit the unique roles. Once Iris cast the actors, we were ready to schedule our production. The day before filming, we had a rehearsal and costume fitting for the actors at our video studio. We used a Canon C100 and two Sony A7S video cameras to film the movie. The Sony A7s performed great in the low light night scenes. We also used a Canon 5D to take some behind the scenes pictures.
Actors George Vricos and Linda Roser film an intense scene
The production consisted of 9 main actors and 19 crew members. Iris was the director while Robbie Bartlett was the assistant director. Christian Cashmir was the director of photography and producer. John Jones was gaffer and second camera. Brandon Hyde was the camera assistant. Harold “Pinky” Hood was the grip for the shoot while Ana Christina Sanchez was the production coordinator and script supervisor. Samantha Bryans, Kira Howe and Maxime Puister were production assistants for the shoot. Bridget Bartley and Andrea Gonzalez were in charge of the wardrobe department while Samantha Greene was the make-up artist.
Some of our Tampa post production crew editing the film on set
We had our Tampa post production company set up in the trailer on set. One of our assistant editors, Brandon, and visual effects guru, Josh Noftz, were able to start editing the footage immediately and ensure an easy transition to post once the shoot wrapped. Our post production team finished editing the movie at our Tampa video editing suites. Stephen Maxwell composed the music for the film, and Christian and Iris wrote and recorded the final song of the film together at our Tampa recording studio.
Filming at the Historic Fort in St. Petersburg’s Fort De Soto State Park
The first day our Tampa video team filmed at the Historic Fort in Fort De Soto. We took our Tampa grip truck to the location, which included 6 Litepanel LED lights, a few 1K and 2K lights, our HMIs and Joker 800, as well as 2 generators to light up the night scene. We also were excited to use our new Tampa MōVI M5 rental from our Tampa video production equipment and capture some unique angles at the Fort. Our second unit team also filmed some of the opening shots for the movie on the beach with the sunset in the background.
Our cast and crew filming in the woods at Fort De Soto
The second day, we filmed in the middle of the woods in Fort De Soto. Our production designers decorated the location with props and set pieces to set the scene of a cursed island. Gaffer, John, with grip, Pinky, lit up a large section of the forest using our lighting equipment and generators.
The Mother Gypsy, Denise Durette, films in the woods at Fort De Soto Park
Litewave Media had a blast filming the pirate-themed short film with Iris Saunders, and our video production team looks forward to the next adventure! The Pirate Gypsies will be submitted into various film festivals thought out the year.
The cast and crew wraps the first day of filming
Do you have a Tampa short film or feature 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!
