Arrghh! Again! I had a lot of pressure to top last year’s card. It was a good one. One take like in Goodfellas (albeit not nearly as good). So this year I though we’d do a movie trailer. Hey we work in the movie business so why not?
The idea was the different departments would be factions against each other coming together in the end. I drafted out the concept and enlisted a writer. Everyone in the department was on board (thankfully) and we scheduled a shoot date. A couple of days before we were getting notice that they were going to shoot How I Met Your Mother outside our building on the same day we scheduled our shoot. Well that’s all the Stage department needed to hear – that there was a covert shoot going on. Not good! So I called and begged and got permission. Not only that, we would have security and fire & safety crew too. Alright! We’re going legit!
Day of shoot I was a nervous wreck. I had finagled a Condor (aka cherry picker) and it was late. Finally it was on it’s way and most of the department was ready…time to shoot!
Everything went smoothly. We had security block off the streets so we didnt have to worry about traffic or any of the tiny tots getting hurt. I didn’t even flinch on the Condor…considering I was 100+ feet in the air. One person was late and delayed us for a while but then I decided to push on without him.
The edit went pretty well. I had to go back to the lot and get more material when I finally figured out the angle. Really the only thing I was stuck on was the chyrons for each department. Fonts are always a big thing with me. I ended up going pretty basic.
The finishing touch was the voiceover. I knew in 2 seconds that Pete Sepenuk was perfect. He nailed it and as soon as I put the VO on the whole thing was 100 times better.
Anyhow, I love how it came out. Happy Holidays, until next year!
Records: 
