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By Simone
If you’d like to keep up to date with what’s going on at the studio, sign up here.
By Simone
In the fast paced world of content creation, we’re constantly faced with many obstacles to overcome. From location and talent logistics, to scheduling and responsible budget management, the photography and video production environment has a lot of moving parts. One of the attributes that makes us good as creators is the ability to manage all of these facets. There are many things that we have a complete grasp on and can make happen the way we need them to. However, there is one thing that we will never have control over. The weather.
When it comes to shooting exteriors, weather is everything. If it’s windy, we need to take extra precautions when setting up lighting modifiers to control the sun. If it’s cloudy and the script calls for sunlight raking across someone’s shoulders, we have to bring in artificial light sources to simulate sunlight. Should we happen to be in the middle of a forest, we need to find a way to power all of our lights. All of this is within our wheel house. Unfortunately, no matter how much planning we cram in … there’s not much we can do when the weather decides it’s time to start raining like crazy. Water and expensive photography and video equipment do not mix well.
So when we were approached by a leading manufacturer of automotive wiper blades about showing their product in action, we had to change the way we thought. It was our job to create the very weather conditions that we typically avoid at all costs. We needed to make it rain.
We toyed with the idea of building our own rig with a PVC piping grid – drilling strategic holes for the water to spray out, and suspending that rig above the vehicle we were shooting. It quickly became apparent that we were going to need a larger solution. Not only were we capturing video of the wiper blades in action on a car windshield, but we also needed to show the product installed on a large tractor trailer. In addition to that, we were tasked with filming and photographing the actors navigating their way through a parking lot to their vehicles mid-downpour. All of this started to add up, and we realized we were going to need some help. So, who do you call when you need copious amounts of water dumped from the sky? The Ephrata Pioneer Fire Company, that’s who!
When it came to spraying a lot of water concentrated over a relatively small area, Truck 15 was exactly what we needed. With a little bit of team work between us and the Ephrata fire crew, we were able to create a spray pattern that simulated a rain storm from high above our set; while managing to keep all of our equipment (and crew) safe and dry. Well, mostly dry anyway, we did need to have our actors take a few sprints through the “rain storm” to show the drivers getting into their vehicles.
The creative direction called for these scenes to happen at night, to reinforce the capabilities of the product in the worst conditions. This required a lot of additional lighting equipment to ensure the rain was visible on camera. It just so happened that this shoot was scheduled the same week we purchased a 3-ton grip truck. The Simone team has been on the hunt for a suitable rig for some time now, and finally found just the right one. This was the perfect project for it’s maiden voyage. We loaded up with an arsenal of HMI lights, generators, and lots of Cello Screen water resistant covering for our lights. We’ll be working tirelessly in the coming months to continue to outfit our grip truck with carts, shelving, and all the necessary tools we might need on location jobs.
The client was thrilled we were able to create a very convincing rainstorm to fully feature their product in action. We’re very pleased with how the project turned out.
So, in the end, we really did have complete control over the weather, and were able to produce some epic imagery to promote this brand.
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By Simone
Meet Ayden Gora – a tenacious 8 year old boy who loves everything about race cars! Looking at Ayden you would never know that he’s had quite a few obstacles to overcome so far in his budding life. This young man has battled acute lymphoblastic leukemia not only once … but twice.
We were thrilled when Make-a-Wish, Jason Johnson Racing, Buckwalter Trucking, and The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series presented us with the opportunity to help create a joyous memory for Ayden and his family!
Our part in making this wish come true was to document the festivities (as we are known to do), through photography and video so that the experience could be enjoyed over and over again both in motion and stills. We were there to see Ayden become an honorary pit crew member for the JJR team. Watching the joy on his face as he changed a tire and seeing his excitement when driver David Gravel showed him how to get into the sprint car was pure glee. He even got to ride in the pace car that started off the race! However, as gratifying as filming Ayden enjoying himself was, it was almost more heartwarming to watch his parent’s beaming faces as they took it all in.
After the race ended we participated in celebrating Ayden in the winner’s circle right on the track with his Mom, Dad, and sister. Checkered flag in hand and sporting the biggest smile he could muster, our little man of the hour was showered in flashes from the lines of photographers, and whoops and hollers from the cheering crowd of spectators in the grandstands. Although there were zero trumpets present, you would have sworn they were blaring a triumphant song over this glorious moment.
Contributing to community projects is reward enough, but being a part of such an incredible memory for Ayden and his family was truly a gift for our Simone crew. Oh, and there’s even more good news to add to this whole experience.
AYDEN IS CURRENTLY IN REMISSION!!!!
Take a gander at the video below to witness all the fun for yourself.
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By Simone
We have all arrived home from a trip to the grocery store and had to rely on our Tetris skills to get our goodies to fit in the refrigerator. The Scoppechio OvareGroup approached us with an interesting project for GE Appliances that was going to put those fridge packing skills to the test.
The project was to create a series of three dimensional boxes with images of delicious food printed on all sides. The tasty looking displays would be placed inside the GE refrigerators on showroom floors. This way the customers could better visualize the spaciousness, while also imagining how that fancy new fridge could lead to mouth watering dishes of their very own.
The boxes were to be a very specific size and shape. Due to these restraints we ran into a few speed bumps. One of those challenges was to capture a beautiful, fully party ready charcuterie board. The client selected a cutting board they really liked but it wasn’t long and skinny enough to fit the dimensions required. Being problem solvers is part of the fun of this industry, so we collaborated on a solution. The answer was compositing.
We had Amy Wardle, the food stylist on set, fill the entire cutting board. Then using the same board, strategically built a section with more goodies. We combined the two images in Photoshop to create one seamless charcuterie masterpiece. Would you have ever guessed it wasn’t captured as a single shot?
Another of the assigned images was decadent pudding cups. This shot presented us with the opposite challenge as the charcuterie board. We had the perfect sized platter, but not enough fancy pudding glasses. We shot an extra row of filled cups and added them to the platter in post. There was however no problem eating all the cups when we were done shooting. Use the slider below to see the before and after!
Ok, be honest, how long did you play with that slider? Fun right? Before you go, here is one more image from the shoot for you to play with. We thought nine sandwiches would be better than six.
Our GE photo shoot yielded some wonderful results and everyone had a great time doing it. Just like we planned.
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By Simone
Recently our team worked on the Tastykake “Take a Bite Campaign” with one of our favorite clients, Match Marketing Group. Our two day shoot was full of cake, doughnuts, pecan swirls and heavenly chocolate goodness!
The goal was to have the perfect bite placed on the delish products. In advertising, sometimes you look back on your day and giggle. At one point we were taking turns biting into the confectionary delicacies and comparing whose teeth made the most realistic looking shape.
It would appear to be simple, right? But each cake has its own unique texture and moisture level which requires a different device for carving the perfect impression. Stylist, Dan Macey of dantasticfood rehearsed various “test bites” prior to the shoot, texting images in preparation for leading the styling team on shoot day.
Pammi Shaeffer and Art Clagett were the lead photographers with set assistants and post work experts Robert Cornelius and Vicki Simpson perfecting the imagery. We created two sets, one for animated looks and the other featuring top down captures.
What we learned along the way was communication and visualization being key elements to our success. Our Studio Manager, Michele Clagett, worked on the styling and creative goals in advance, which was critical, due to the amount of captures produced on shoot day. Also, having clients on set to provide immediate feedback, ensured we were capturing the dynamic essence of each product.
We are excited to share a behind the scenes video with you produced by our Video Production Manager, Dave Beard. So enjoy the show and go buy some Tastykakes.
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