Wee Beastie :: weebeastie.tv

USA and Coppertone

Royal Pains and Necessary Roughness

TBS and Wendy's

Making Friends

Travel Channel and Land Rover

Bolivia

Travel Channel and Land Rover

England

National Geographic and Geico

Blink

Food Network

Chef Wanted

Shooting in a real kitchen is cramped and the lighting is usually mediocre. So we built a stainless steel kitchen. We ramped up the drama with a theater spotlight for our talent but kept it authentic with hanging overhead practical lights.

Building a hanging support system was difficult in a short period of time, but it was worth it.

Here’s a little dry ice we used to simulate boiling pots.

The art dept and food stylists made the kitchen pop with some colorful and fresh veggies.

National Geographic

Cause An Uproar PSA

Disney Channel

Geico

Food Network and Ziploc

Rachael Ray: Gumbo

A&E and Wendy's

Shipping Wars

On this shoot, we made a melted ice sculpture pour from a truck. Two large barrels were toppled over inside the vehicle; our art department lay on the roof to release the doors when the water rushed out.

This was the result

Hauling this huge Wendy’s sign on an exposed bed is not standard practice. It needed extra care to be safely secured. Just like our hero in the spot, no cutting corners!

Castaic Lake had a perfect, closed-road course for the Shipping Wars driver that tried to catch up. After taking the shortcut in a hurry to meet for lunch, he launched his front wheels in the air!

Beautiful scenery as the backdrop didn’t hurt.

HGTV Fast Fix

Water Conservation

TLC

Ikea

ID: Investigation Discovery

Stalked: Someone's Watching

Fridge

Free to be Yourself

ABC and Samsung

Nashville

Set at the famous, and always-packed, Bluebird Café in downtown Nashville; we shot at ABC’s Nashville replica set.

Our cinematographer, Blake, got the desired handheld look with a shoulder-mounted rig for heavy camera equipment.

Some shots were composed using random pieces of glass as filters in the foreground.

This technique gives an ethereal feel, seen in this shot. Simple and effective, the footage looks great.

Stickybits

Explore & Score

TLC

Going the Distance

Animal Planet

Must Love Cats

National Geographic and Geico

Pushups

Discovery Channel and Trail Mix Crunch

Alaskan Adventure Challenge

National Geographic

Toyota

ABC and Lexus

Revenge and 666 Park Avenue

Hollywood locals are accustomed to road closures and detours. This shoot was all about interior and exterior vehicle action, requiring careful planning to safely complete.

With LAPD's help, we created a "rolling block," where the crew, talent and vehicles shoot while rolling down an open highway. Motorcycle police bookend the crew.

Ensuring in-car dialogue shots are steady we use a "low-loader," a trailer that holds the car close to ground level, towed behind the bed of a camera truck. It hosts the crew, cameras and clients, who have stadium seating. This also means the actors can act without having to worry about driving.

Camera-truck holding crew/cameras/clients towing the low-loader/car

ABC's Revenge is set in the Hamptons. However, we had to shoot where the actors live, in L.A. To avoid the scenery looking out of place, we did a little fix in post-production, we made the palm trees disappear. See if you can spot the fixes in the before & after photos. This picture is the before.

This picture is the after.

A cool trick applied to vehicle shoots is the “wet down.” Simply put, the road looks better when wet. A water truck is used to spray down the closed road.

It’s an easy and inexpensive way to ramp up the aesthetics of the shot.

Food Network

Restaurant Stakeout

National Geographic

Dog Whisperer

This spot was so much fun to concept! We had several joint brainstorms with our client and had trouble staying focused because we kept cracking each other up. Our first idea was to license "Careless Whisper," but that didn't work. Luckily we found an alternate song with great potential! George was our trained dog. He was extremely well behaved and cooperative. There was plenty of improvising though - getting him into a Baby Bjorn was quite the challenge. We solved the issue by balancing George on an apple box so he would be more comfortable. The end result looks pretty convincing - the magic of film, eh?

A lot of attention to detail went into making sure the tone and look were just right. First, we had to find the perfect dog. We knew a basset hound would be best because of those loveable, droopy eyes. And, in Cesar’s nightmare of putting a dog on a pedestal, who better for him to appear to kowtow to?

During the scripting process, we were worried that Cesar wouldn’t be into the idea of starring in a music video. But when he came to set, he was up for anything. Cesar was so enthusiastic about the concept that he even threw in some ideas of his own!

We also had to find a classic, well-known love song. Lionel Richie’s “Hello” was the perfect choice. It was so perfect, in fact, that we’re lucky we weren’t shooting sound on set, because we couldn’t stop laughing all day! Cesar made each visual joke come alive and we were all bent-double as we watched the monitor.

Food Network

Restaurant: Impossible

At Wee Beastie, we try to approach all situations from a variety of angles to see what option works best. The story is set in a restaurant kitchen - and we could definitely have located one in New York to shoot in. However such locations are incredibly cramped and rarely have space for cast and crew to work effectively. So for this spot, we decided that a green screen shoot would give us the most polished result. We would be able to create the camera angles exactly as we imagined them, without any location constraints. And, if necessary, we would be able to construct completely novel 3D spaces in post.

We spent the day shooting Robert Irvine doing all kinds of things that showed his hands-on approach to restaurant renovation. We used a liberal amount of tracking marks - taking care to place them at different distances from the lens. This creates parallax, which makes it much easier for the matchmoving software to interpolate the actual camera's movement in 3D space.

Then, we ran the green screen footage through Syntheys, motion-tracking software that creates a virtual 3D camera. We exported that camera data into Cinema 4D. In Cinema 4D, we used projection mapping to create the virtual kitchen Robert renovates and the 3D text that fills the kitchen. The backgrounds were photographs from an actual restaurant, which we were able to cut and paste to create the perfect spaces for Robert to inhabit.

For example - in this photo, the shelving on the left was not in that position in the original photo. The white door on the right was also added in post, along with the fire extinguisher. Note the parallax tracking marks on C-stands. These helped us to estimate the true 3D movement of the camera (which pulls back on a dolly) once we got into post. Once all of the 3D animation was ready, we imported the spot into After Effects and did the final compositing and color correction. So, what begins as a man in front of a green screen becomes a kitchen renovation.

One thing that was not green-screened on set was the food. We brought in a team of people to prepare the food and make sure it looked delicious, and Robert even came over to the food prep table to help out. He gave the food his seal of approval and showed us all some great tricks, like cutting a ring in a paper coffee cup to make the perfect cylindrical mold for mashed potatoes. It was inspiring to see the way he works with food!

ABC and Kmart

Desperate Housewives

We shot on the ARRI Alexa camera to ensure the best-possible product shots. Its 14 stop latitude is ideal for capturing the magic-hour look we were after. We would usually lay a track to guide the dolly, but for this shoot, we used a slider in order to keep short tracking moves super-smooth.

Almost all of the props we used during this spot were provided by K-Mart. We emailed back and forth with K-Mart all day in order to ensure that we showcased their products to their liking. From the wardrobe to the table settings, everything was placed with the utmost care and attention. Anything for our clients!

The actor we worked with for this shoot was just wonderful. Her background in modeling helped her repeat actions and expressions precisely. We don't give people who are able to do the same exact thing over and over again enough credit! Her talent was so crucial to this spot because she had to present so many different products.

We always make a schedule for ourselves, but the sun doesn’t always cooperate. When shooting exterior shots, we were losing light fast. Luckily, our superhero Director of Photography, Jim Belkin, created a lighting setup that mimicked natural sunlight. We ended up with an extended version of the coveted “magic hour.”

Travel Channel and Sears

Adam Richman

We shot this spot at the beautiful Kenmore Live Studio in Chicago, which is home to cooking demonstrations by famous chefs.

We had to be very careful to choose camera angles that hid the demonstration space. There was actually very little kitchen space – just enough to fit in the frame! In the reverse shot, you can actually see the balcony above the studio. We draped black cloth to hide the office space on the upper level. It looks like a fancy loft, but it’s really not!

To get the reverse shot, we used a Canon 5D camera, strategically placed within the fridge. This was a simple solution that saved us the trouble of finding a refrigerator with no back!

Adam Richman was a lot of fun to have on set. He was very hands-on, and even worked on the script with us. We were inspired by his involvement and his excitement; he really helped create a vibrant on-set atmosphere.

It was tricky business to make sure that all of that food-throwing worked out correctly. We did a lot of takes to get the food to land just right on the cutting board. Some of that magic was created in post-production, but the majority of it was the result of repetition, hard work and just a little bit of luck! We had a large piece of black cloth stretched over the camera. That helped protect the camera, and also caught any errant comestibles...

A&E and Wendy's

Shipping Wars

For this shoot, we were on set by 5:30 am. It was an extremely cold and windy day, but we don’t let the elements keep us from creating! We shot with the ARRI Alexa, which we love working with. Its enhanced contrast ratio allowed us to capture plenty of picture information on such a washed-out day at the beach in Long Island.

The local police were a big help on set. They were kind enough to close the road for us and keep cars from driving through while we were shooting. We also had police running a “rolling block.” There were police cars in front of and behind us, which made it possible for us to safely drive our big rig down a crowded highway.

To make sure the food looked its best, we had a team of food stylists on set. They operated out of an incredible mobile kitchen, nestled inside of a tractor trailer.

We used a camera car to get moving footage of the giant gnome. Our pickup truck (the picture vehicle) was hitched to the camera car. The camera and DP were stationed on the back of the camera car. Chris (who was directing) and our clients sat on the stadium seating and we all went for a ride. What a trip! It’s also a very good thing that gnome was on his side, because the wind would have knocked him over if he were upright!

In post production, we worked really hard to color correct the spot to make sure it didn't look like bleak Long Island midwinter. We were happy with the results, which have a bit more of a fall/spring look.

Discovery Channel

Mythbusters

Because we’re so forward-thinking, it’s not often that we get the chance to travel back in time! Working on this period piece was a unique challenge that required serious attention to detail. We did a lot of research to find the correct vintage props and costumes. We used old yearbooks, old cars, and all kinds of other old things to give the spot a vintage 1970s feel.

With all of the old stuff around us, it was refreshing to have some young people on set to liven things up. Casting for this spot was a great experience; we had a lot of fun finding the perfect younger versions of all of the show’s stars.

One of the most inspiring parts of the day was seeing the kids’ reaction to the soda experiment. They had never done it before, and the element of surprise played an important role in the shoot. We talked it over with the client and agreed that it would be best to keep the kids in the dark.

Because the experiment was so messy and because we only had a few vintage two-liter soda bottles, we had to get the shot in four takes.

The kids did a great job acting surprised in last three, but the genuine surprise and excitement on their faces in that first take, when they saw the soda explosion for the first time, was irreplaceable. That take ended up in the final spot.

HGTV and Audi

Selling NY

Discovery Digital Media

Upfront

Bringing 2000 people to Union Square...

At Wee Beastie we don't like to be bound by the limits of what is actually "possible" within the budget. So after congratulating ourselves for coming up with a cool concept, we sometimes find ourselves scratching our collective head on how to execute it!

Our first challenge was to create video that could be projected on a huge scale at the Discovery Upfronts live presentation. To create the equivalent of three side-by-side HD pictures, we shot with the the recently released RED Epic. We taped up the monitor to create a tiny letterbox, which our DP used to compose the frame that our main actor appears in, walking and talking through the streets of New York.

After setting up a green-screen in Union Square we had twenty extras walk towards the camera, one at a time. Then our design team, led by Travis Blain, keyed out each actor and composited them into a virtual 3D space (all in After Effects.) The backgrounds were a large matte-painting made from many photographs of Union Square, taken on the same day as the shoot.

The final piece of the puzzle was to shoot various digital devices in action. Our design team then replaced the screens with Discovery web and digital content.