The Neighborhood

“Make it look like a wave of awesome is crashing down the street.” That was the objective from the beginning. So we took it and ran with it. After debating how best to incorporate animation into our live action plates, or even if we should use animation at all, we settled on a look-feel that was the perfect blend of aspirational and fantastical. Making the spots look like the manifestations of a great idea was the key to success. But first, we had to find the right locations!

Two vacant storefronts, two empty buildings, and a Main street we could shut down were in order. Despite our great relationship with local realtors, business owners, and event planners, we struck out on finding empty buildings to shoot in. None of them had the perfect feel. So we did what we like to do in these scenarios: build it from scratch. Our multi-talented production design partners gave it the old two-for-one treatment at O’Maine Studios, so our imported DP Jon Staav could literally just turn the camera around and he had another set to shoot in. OK maybe there was a bit more to it than that…

Thanks to the good folks at the Biddeford Police Department and City Hall, we had our Main Street! It wasn’t ideal to fly the Alexa Mini on the drone when there were more shots that day, but it was the arrangement we had. And luckily the bird didn’t fall from the sky. We wrapped by shooting our two exterior storefronts (movie magic makes the scenes look connected), with enough time for our director and gaffer to head out on a lil bike ride.

Oh, right, and then we let the animators work their magic. Kudos to our own Nathan and our new friend Ivan Sokol for the late nights. The piece is nothing without it.