Our Tampa video production studio had the unique opportunity to work alongside Sims Crane & Equipment Co. to produce their reality show “Heavy Lifting” which gives viewers an inside look at the crane industry. Sims Crane is Florida’s premier Crane and Equipment provider and partnered with Litewave Media to make their vision a reality. Litewave Media also produced a series of training videos at their Tampa location. The entire project spanned a total of over 20 videos.
With a number of reality shows under their production belts, including ABC’s Shark Tank, TLC’s Extreme Couponing, and the Cayman Island’s Paradise Pawn, the award-winning Litewave Media film crew brought their expertise to the “Heavy Lifting” film set. The crew explored the daily trials of Sims’ crane operators, from erecting entire buildings to lifting whales at a theme park.
When Sims Crane first contacted our Tampa video production company, we set up a series of meetings to plan the logistics of the shoot. Director and cinematographer Christian Cashmir alongside producer Andrew Ortoski collaborated with Sims Crane’s director of marketing, Dean Sims on the creative direction for the show.
The Crane Yard at Sims Crane in Tampa, FL
With the use of GoPro Hero 3, the Litewave Media camera crew was able to film stunning overhead shots of the crane’s movements. Other video production equipment including the Canon C100, 2 Panasonic HVX200’s, 1 Panasonic HPX-170, and a Canon 5D Mark III were used for filming.
Sims Crane Crew with Litewave Media’s Andrew Ortoski (Producer/Camera) and Mike Barnitt (Audio)
Camera operators Christian Cashmir, Taylor Girard, John Jones, and Andrew Ortoski captured all of the action, while Jeff Zampino scripted the show along with Dean Sims. Mike Barnitt and Tom Hurxthal handled audio and Jamie Parslow served as grip. Christian Cashmir and Andrew Ortoski edited and tackled post-production work at Litewave Media’s Tampa post-production company.
Sims Crane also teamed up with our Tampa video crew in creating a number of training videos on crane safety called “Sims Crane Minutes”. These educational videos inform viewers on how cranes function and the potential dangers of operating a crane. Several of the videos were even selected by O.S.H.A. as official crane safety and training videos.
Candace LeRae with Litewave Media’s Tampa Film Crew
These safety videos were a unique opportunity for Litewave Media to get creative with Sims Crane. One video had the distinct style of “Film Noir”, beginning the video in black and white, as if it were an old-style detective movie. Andrew Ortoski created dramatic lighting and even simulated a thunderstorm in the rain. Candace LeRae was the beautiful femme fatale actress who brought the scene to life along with Sims Crane’s very own Safety Director, Bob Berry. The scene was shot in the Sims Crane headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Litewave Media also produced another training video for Sims in the style of ABC’s hit TV series “Lost”. The video makes an homage to the Dharma Initiative videos within the series and was filmed as if they were found on an old film reel.
Litewave Media’s Video Crew Sets up for the Dharma Initiative-style Training Video
Do you have a Tampa video project coming up? Give us a call for a free consultation. Please like our Tampa video company on Facebook, and be sure to keep up with the blog for more Tampa video production news!
With her debut in 2014 approaching, singer/songwriter Sara Alina was seeking a Tampa film production studio to produce a series of music videos to coincide with her album release. After meeting with the Litewave Media team and touring the studio, Sara Alina’s management company formed a partnership, and collaboration began.
Sara Alina and director Christian Schwier collaborating in the studio
Litewave Media’s Tampa video company produced and filmed 5 music videos and an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) over the course of 2 months. “It was fun working with Sara and brainstorming concepts for each video, but it was also challenging because we had to maintain a consistent style and brand across all five videos. It was a big undertaking, but it was a very exciting opportunity for us,” adds Litewave Media founder Christian Schwier. One video will be released every 2 months right up until her CD release in Spring 2014.
The first two videos were filmed in Tampa Bay, Florida with three video cameras: a Canon C100, for the primary camera, a Canon 5D Mark III for additional angles, and a Sony FS100 for slow motion scenes. The Litewave Media camera crew included: director and DP Christian Schwier, camera operator John Jones and camera assistant Taylor Girard. Also on the music video team were set designer Jeff Zampino, chief lighting technician Andrew Ortoski, production assistant Harold “Pinky” Hood, choreographer Taylor Korin and make-up artist Anya Yushchenko. Editing, color grading and post production took place at our Tampa post production company with Schwier editing as well.
Christian Schwier, John Jones, and Taylor Girard ready their cameras in the studio
The first video release was Sara Alina’s EPK. An EPK is an introduction to who an artist is as a person and what they do. The Litewave Media team filmed this video at various locations around St. Petersburg, FL to give it an organic feel as well as some shots at our very own Litewave Studios. Throughout the day the video crew followed Sara around town documenting and interviewing her about her inspirations and goals as an up-and-coming songwriter. “Shooting this EPK was a learning experience. It was a great way for our team to learn more about Sara as an artist as well as for her to introduce herself to the world.” With a professional Tampa production company along with great talent and a fun positive atmosphere mixed in, it’s hard not to produce something we can all be proud of.
Here’s the EPK!
After her EPK release earlier this month, Sara debuted her first music video this week on YouTube. It’s titled “No Love” and was filmed entirely in our Tampa video studio. The video takes a modern spin on all of the stereotypes of “love”. A professional break dancer (Mario Boskovic) was brought in to be the symbolic representation of “love”, and throughout the video he gets beaten down and crushed which is displayed in his break dancing. Choreography was implemented by Taylor Korin. “For one of the more interesting shots in the music video, our crew rigged a basket of rose petals and a Canon 5D Mark III sixteen feet above the break dancer,” begins Schwier. “As he danced, we filmed the rose pedals falling in slow motion from the ceiling above. It turned out really neat.”
Break Dancer Mario Boskovic Takes a “Love” Beat Down
Seeing Sara tear a few heads off of teddy bears and smashing a vase of roses all while delivering a sassy smile surely made this music video unique, and we really enjoyed making it.
UPDATE 11.5.13
Sara’s 2nd music video “Fly” just went live this week. Be sure to check it out. It was filmed entirely in St. Petersburg, FL in downtown St. Pete, Fort Desoto Beach, and at Litewave Studios.
Make sure to keep a look out later in the year for the other music videos that we produced for Sara Alina!
Do you have a Tampa film project coming up? Give us a call today for a free consultation.
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Litewave Media recently filmed two segments for ABC’s daytime hit TV show, The Chew. Now in its second season, The Chew hired our production team to film a Guiness Record attempt at making the world’s largest cup of hot chocolate. The other segment was filmed at the world-famous Columbia restaurant and focused on the history of the Cuban sandwich.
Producers from The Chew, which stars celebrity chefs Mario Batalli, Michael Simon and Carla Hall, connected with our Tampa video company through our website. “After speaking with our team and confirming that we had the camera, lighting gear, and experience they needed, we were hired,” says Litewave Media founder, Christian Schwier.
Our Tampa video crew filmed the official Guinness World Records attempt for the largest cup of hot chocolate!
Directory of Photography, Christian Schwier, shoots the process of filling the gigantic cup.
The first shoot was at Tampa’s Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI). To wrap up its Festival of Chocolate, the museum attempted to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest cup of hot chocolate. “We filmed different interviews and segments all over the museum,” says Schwier, “but the main event revolved around a gigantic cup of hot chocolate that was stationed in the courtyard.”
Christian uses a Panasonic HPX-170 to capture Chef Jason stirring the record-breaking cup of hot chocolate.
When the record was broken, five large catapults launched marshmallows into the 880-gallon cup of cocoa as a 30-foot fountain of chocolate spouted from the cup. “It was a fairly windy day,” says Schwier. “So more than a few of the closest onlookers got soaked in cocoa! Our cameras even got a little on the lenses, but we survived!”
Our Tampa video crew, headed by Schwier as the Director of Photography, also included Mike Barnitt as Sound Engineer and Rachel Lappe as Production Assistant. They were joined by ABC field producer Lawrence Weibman, and on-camera host Jason Roberts, a famous chef and restaurateur from Australia.
Footage was shot on two Panasonic HPX-170’s in HD. To capture the sound, our crew used three Lectrosonics lavalier mics, a Schoeps boom mic, and a multi-channel Cooper sound mixer.
Chef Jason gets ready to sample from the giant cup of hot chocolate.
The second segment was shot at the historic Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City. “The focus was Columbia’s Cuban sandwich and its cultural significance to the Tampa Bay area,” explains Schwier. Originally called the mixto, the sandwich is made of ham, roast pork, swiss cheese, and mustard on Cuban bread that is buttered and pressed.
Chef Jason, Christian and Andrea Gonzmart, the great-great granddaughter of Columbia founder, Casimiro Hernandez Sr., make Cuban sandwiches in the restaurant’s enormous kitchen.
Although the history of the Cuban sandwich is a bit murky, some claiming it was brought from Cuba and others swearing it all began in Florida, there is no denying how popular it was with 19th century Ybor City cigar workers. As Sicilians and immigrants from other parts of Italy joined Spanish and Cuban immigrants in the cigar factories, Genoa salami and pickles were added, transforming the mixto into the Cuban sandwich. The Columbia has been making them since 1905.
Christian captures the beauty and architecture of the famous Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.
“In addition to seeing the huge kitchen where we watched Jason and the great-great granddaughter of the original owner make Cuban sandwiches together, we got a tour of the restaurant, including areas most have never seen before,” Schwier says. “We also interviewed patrons, but best part of course was when we got to sample some of the fine food ourselves at lunch!”
Chef Jason interviews Andrea Gonzmart in the dining room of the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City.
This was our Tampa film company’s second gig with ABC in the past year, having shot footage for an episode of Shark Tank last fall. “The ABC crew was really great to work for and we had a wonderful time with Jason and Lawrence,” says Schwier. “We hope The Chew will come back to Tampa for another story in Season 3!”
To keep up on all of our video projects, be sure to like our Facebook page, and if you have a video project coming up, contact our Tampa production studio today: e-mail us at [email protected] for a free consultation. Are you ready for your close-up?
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.
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.
If you have a challenging outdoor video project, let us make it easy for you. Give us a call for a free consultation and be sure to “like” our fan page on Facebook.
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