Mysterious gypsies. Deceitful pirates. Treasures and magic! Litewave Media’s latest film production, directed by Bahamian native Iris Saunders, was quite an adventure. We filmed over the course of 3 days in St. Petersburg, Florida’s historic Fort De Soto Beach. Our Florida video company is no stranger to movies; our latest short film, The Skyship Chronicles [Part 1], is currently playing the festival circuit around the country and already has won 2 Audience Choice Awards. Our team at Litewave Media previously filmed Iris’ debut music video at our video production studio last year. Our Tampa video production company was excited to partner again with Iris for her short film, The Pirate Gypsies.
Our cast, director and director of photography rehearsing a scene for The Pirate Gypsies in the woods of Fort De Soto
In addition to filming the project, Iris hired our Tampa production crew to coordinate the shoot and secure permits for the film. Iris and Litewave Media founder, Christian Cashmir, met before the shoot to write, plan and storyboard the film. Iris decided that she wanted to film at night to create a dark mysterious atmosphere for the film.
Christian and Iris work on the script and storyboards for the film
Once the script was finalized, our production team held a casting and audition at our Tampa video production studio to find actors that could fit the unique roles. Once Iris cast the actors, we were ready to schedule our production. The day before filming, we had a rehearsal and costume fitting for the actors at our video studio. We used a Canon C100 and two Sony A7S video cameras to film the movie. The Sony A7s performed great in the low light night scenes. We also used a Canon 5D to take some behind the scenes pictures.
Actors George Vricos and Linda Roser film an intense scene
The production consisted of 9 main actors and 19 crew members. Iris was the director while Robbie Bartlett was the assistant director. Christian Cashmir was the director of photography and producer. John Jones was gaffer and second camera. Brandon Hyde was the camera assistant. Harold “Pinky” Hood was the grip for the shoot while Ana Christina Sanchez was the production coordinator and script supervisor. Samantha Bryans, Kira Howe and Maxime Puister were production assistants for the shoot. Bridget Bartley and Andrea Gonzalez were in charge of the wardrobe department while Samantha Greene was the make-up artist.
Some of our Tampa post production crew editing the film on set
We had our Tampa post production company set up in the trailer on set. One of our assistant editors, Brandon, and visual effects guru, Josh Noftz, were able to start editing the footage immediately and ensure an easy transition to post once the shoot wrapped. Our post production team finished editing the movie at our Tampa video editing suites. Stephen Maxwell composed the music for the film, and Christian and Iris wrote and recorded the final song of the film together at our Tampa recording studio.
Filming at the Historic Fort in St. Petersburg’s Fort De Soto State Park
The first day our Tampa video team filmed at the Historic Fort in Fort De Soto. We took our Tampa grip truck to the location, which included 6 Litepanel LED lights, a few 1K and 2K lights, our HMIs and Joker 800, as well as 2 generators to light up the night scene. We also were excited to use our new Tampa MōVI M5 rental from our Tampa video production equipment and capture some unique angles at the Fort. Our second unit team also filmed some of the opening shots for the movie on the beach with the sunset in the background.
Our cast and crew filming in the woods at Fort De Soto
The second day, we filmed in the middle of the woods in Fort De Soto. Our production designers decorated the location with props and set pieces to set the scene of a cursed island. Gaffer, John, with grip, Pinky, lit up a large section of the forest using our lighting equipment and generators.
The Mother Gypsy, Denise Durette, films in the woods at Fort De Soto Park
Litewave Media had a blast filming the pirate-themed short film with Iris Saunders, and our video production team looks forward to the next adventure! The Pirate Gypsies will be submitted into various film festivals thought out the year.
The cast and crew wraps the first day of filming
Do you have a Tampa short film or feature you would like to film? Please contact us for a free consultation. You can like Litewave Media on Facebook to check out our latest video projects. Be sure to keep up with the blog for more Tampa video production news!
LITE