Chris Evert for Hood Simply Smart

This is one I have been meaning to put up for awhile.  I worked on a production for Hood Simply Smart milk with Robert Adamo Photography featuring tennis star Chris Evert.  It was a production that consisted of both still photography and video.  The video portion was produced by Ronan P. Nagle the creator and executive producer of Storm Chasers  on the Discovery Channel.  The core of our crew consisted of Myself and Sean Deren sharing Digital Technician and first assistant duties.  Sean and I have worked together for years so needless to say we work very smoothly as a team.  In Addition we have both worked extensively with Photographer Robert Adamo in both capacities.  Rounding out the crew was Rummel Wagner as Key Lighting Grip and ninja services.  As my duties were on the still production crew the focus of allot of this post is that. 

          We shot for two days on location at Chrissie’s beautiful  Boca Raton home and one day in a studio.  One of the most difficult challenges of the production was the tight schedule that was necessary to efficiently conduct two separate productions in one location simultaneously with two separate crews and one creative team. 

On location this meant that both crews had to be relatively light and nimble without sacrificing production quality.  Both crews brought much experience and expertise in doing just that. 

Above: Sean putting the finishing touches on our rolling capture rig/camera cart.  All lighting gear was on wheels as well.

above: Rob executing product shot using a cannon 1ds mk2 tethered to Capture one pro running on a mac pro.  Lighting was mostly natural with white reflectors as needed and fill from an octabank and a beauty dish attached to profoto A packs on rolling high boy stands.

above: Ms. Evert and hair dresser.

above: Rob shooting Chris.  The bench was provided by my friend Flash Gorden from his company GreenBenches & More .

above: Product placement.

above: On this shot we used two shiny boards as edge lights reflecting the sun at her back and the octabank as front fill.

above: the electricity generator for both productions surprisingly quiet.

 

above: Rummel holds a white reflector to bounce sunlight on to Chrissie.

above: the video crew films a two camera shot of Chris Evert (out of frame) hitting tennis balls.

Below:  Studio brings other aspects to the production under a much more controlled environment.  Here we see the creative team watching the filming and making adjustments to the script and other components of the production in real time.

 

 

above: Chrissie getting her makeup touched up.

Ms. Evert performing her lines on a green screen.  As you will see if you visit the web site for Hood Simply Smart, many elements of both productions have been combined into a dynamic content rich web experience .

below: Rob shooting Chrissie with product.

 

above: part of the creative team looking on.

below: a shot that will become a website element.

  

above: We suspended a ball from a stand using a monofilament string.  The ball becomes slightly blurry due to it’s proximity to the lens and the fact that the camera is focused on Ms. Evert.

above: casual shots.

above: Rob and Chrissie.

click on this link (Hood Simply Smart) and see the website that all this produced.  It was a great experience and both crews worked very well together to create a successful production.  Everyone especially Ms. Chris Evert was wonderful and fun to work with.

been a busy summer

Well it's been a very busy summer so far and I have been traveling pretty much all of June and July. I have much I want to post, but for now please enjoy my flicker stream and I will soon update you on what we've been doing.

Johnnie Walker Taiwan

 

I have a photography student who is leaving for China on Monday and we had our final lesson before she leaves.  As we spoke about the Asian peoples she will meet it reminded me of this shoot.  One of the highlights for me was working with the international crew.  This shoot was for Johnnie Walker and was to be aired in Taiwan and China and stared then New York Yankee pitcher Chien Ming Wang.  The senior creative positions were filled by crew from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the director of photography Mr. Chris White from New Zealand.  This 2 min documentary style commercial was directed by Yann Kung and was produced by King and I Productions in association with Vince Mann productions and Digital Media Services. I served as 2nd Assistant Director and by convenience of be the closest to the hotel key liaison to the foreign crew.  As I was extremely busy on this production I don’t have a complete photographic record but I do have some.  As luck would have it though DMS’s Brian Satchfeild was brought in to create behind the scenes videos for both the American and Asian markets.  So Watch the video then look at the pictures there will be a link to the actual commercial at the end so follow on along to that to see the fruits of our labor.

watch the short documentary below. (it is youtube so be patient)

 

Short out take further illustrating the Rain rig.

Brian shooting behind the scenes vids at a tech scout

Vince and Brian at the tech scout

One of the DMS production vehicles

 

tech scout later that evening location 2

Vince producing

Meeting with key creative staff and art department.

tech scout next day street location.  The man in the hat is the director and the gentleman with the camera is the DOP

using the Arri cam body with a 50 prime to get perspective

gettin low

What do I always say… Your not shootin till your on the ground.  Of coarse this is just a scout and there is clearly no film mag on the camera, but I stand behind my statement.

Shooting day one the rig in its actual configuration

settin up the camera and the dolly crane behind

Director and producer

Camera assistants with one of the video feeds to the cam cart

Mr. White getting light readings

checking the cam

the Arri cam in all it’s glory

setting up for an outside shot the first shot of the day.  Talent is getting final makeup touch ups by tony Jo our lead makeup artist

 

crew making final preperations

Mr. Kung giving our talent instruction before the next shot

executing a dolly shot

shooting shooting

Well that's all the photos I have as the next days shoot was even more busy and my responsibilities were many.  But I think with the behind the scenes vids you get a picture of the second day.  So for the final version of the commercial click below:

“Support Your Dreams” Johnnie Walker video click here