So where do you go to get a caterpillar on short notice? That was the challenge when producing one of a series of spots for sod company Bethel Farms. Depicting a family enjoying their lawn and the great outdoors one shot was of a curious little girl watching a live caterpillar. Cute idea. But we live in a state where importing bugs is difficult. Finding one in the wild proved a futile search. Then we remembered that the Museum of Since and Industry in Tampa (MOSI) has a butterfly exhibit. It only took one call and a quick trip the day before the shoot. We got two Monarch caterpillars and a milkweed plant to feed them. We were told that one was likely to be just two days from forming a chrysalis.
The day of the shoot, we didn’t wait long to get the shot. Marina took on the role of caterpillar wrangler and gently moved our many legged friend onto a stick and kept the striped star in the shot when it crawled away. Using the RED ONE camera and a long lens at ground level produced an endearing shot of little Emma, the caterpillar and some of the lush hero grass.
The funniest part was when cameraman Rich Roddman was trying to keep little Emma interested after a few minutes of staring at the caterpillar. He asked her if she had a name for it. Not being a fan of bugs, she quickly replied “Ewe”.
The client wanted to stress the portability of their oxygen generator so shot the actors in everyday locales all around the Tampa Bay area, including Lowry Park Zoo. One of the specialties of this device is that it’s FAA approved. To demonstrate this unique quality, we obtained clearance to shoot inside Tampa International Airport.
To benefit Creative Clay, an arts program for adults with developmental disabilities, this local TV spot was created to advertise FolkFest, held every Fall in downtown St. Petersburg. Featuring photos and video from previous years, this was a simple, in-house editing job. Even though this spot was inexpensive to produce, the results are perfect in capturing the folk art theme of the event.
This Florida regional TV spot is all special effects. It was shot on the cyc in our infinity wall green screen studio.
Though it appears that both of the on camera talents are on stage together they are actually independent layers made possible by shooting the footage in our studio. It was then composited together seamlessly. The hardest part was getting the novice pizza thrower to catch the “pizza” in frame. (It’s really a rubber practice pizza used for training.)
So where do you go to get a caterpillar on short notice? That was the challenge when producing one of a series of spots for sod company Bethel Farms. Depicting a family enjoying their lawn and the great outdoors one shot was of a curious little girl watching a live caterpillar. Cute idea. But we live in a state where importing bugs is difficult. Finding one in the wild proved a futile search. Then we remembered that the Museum of Since and Industry in Tampa (MOSI) has a butterfly exhibit. It only took one call and a quick trip the day before the shoot. We got two Monarch caterpillars and a milkweed plant to feed them. We were told that one was likely to be just two days from forming a chrysalis.
