We were given full license to expound on this year’s theme: “Are You A Freaky Genius?”

Using the Buñuel/Dalí film “Un Chien Andalou” as visual inspiration, we crafted this video—a single take showcase of history’s most famous “freaky geniuses”. From the earliest sketches of cavemen to the tortured “artiste” of Van Gogh; Houdini’s great escape to Einstein’s theory of relativity… a visual timeline was played out as cinematic tableaus, all in one long, three and a half minute take.

Utilizing found objects to create a homemade, “sweded” look and using Tampa bay’s Armature Works as a backdrop, the production (made on a shoestring budget) was designed, fabricated and constructed by the infinitely talented Ruston Head.

A cast of over 30 Bay Area actors rounded out the ensemble, along with cameo appearances by local ad agency owners and even members of the AAF, themselves.

With nothing more than a Red Epic X, Steadicam, a handful of lights and some serious elbow grease, the resulting film, set to the Pixies’ “Debaser”, travels through the cinematic wasteland of Salvador Dali’s mind and asks the question:

The Ground Up crew was called into action by Las Vegas based law firm, Harris & Harris to create for them something, er… slightly familiar based on our Burnetti, P.A. commercial from 2010. While hesitant at first to recycle a previous concept we were quickly lured by the dynamic skyline afforded by the other City of Lights and the challenge of creating photo-real neon signs displaying common personal injury claims.

Co-ordinating with our friends at the Nevada Film Commission and recruiting Pat Longman, the fantastic aerial cinematographer who lensed our Burnetti spot, a few short weeks later, we were high above the Vegas strip capturing as much footage as we could while the sun set past the Nevada hills.

We were fortunate enough to secure Treasure Island, a wonderful hotel and casino situated at just the right angle to give us our final shot: our clients posing on the hotel’s roof against the vibrant lights of Las Vegas.

With the footage in the can, we flew back to Tampa to get started on the meticulous process of creating unique CG signage. Our Visual Effects team: Corey Langelotti and Matthew Jimenez, were respectively tasked with design and motion-tracking. Utilizing a variety of programs, including After Effects, Maya and Boujou, the whole team tinkered away, fighting against animated neon letters that could glow believably and nighttime footage that proved deviously difficult to track.

The result is here: “Skyline”, a commercial that we feel took a recycled concept and tweaked it considerably to trump (no pun intended) our earlier spot. A big thank you to our crew and clients for their hard work and patience, and of course, the City of Las Vegas for it’s distinctive um… brand of inspiration!

Vimeo Link

The problem is, a full month never seems to be enough time to fit all the celebration in– making jack o’ lanterns alone can take hours, so we at Ground Up Films and our good friends and collaborators at Zebedee Films in Sarasota came up with our own unique way to cut down on all that messy carving time. Who needs to meticulously sculpt a dozen grinning faces into thick vegetables when we’ve got a Red Epic X and… PUMPKIN BOMBS?!!

So, in keeping with the ancient traditions of mischief and mayhem on the night of All Hallow’s Eve, we present to you 3 minutes of glorious, gut-filled explosions– in 300 fps, nonetheless!

Happy Halloween!

…Now, we say, bring on Xmas!

Vimeo Link

Starting a production from scratch is our forte, our bread and butter, our livelihood. But we also have a lot of fun working as hired guns for other production companies. Be it lighting design, production co-ordination, location scouting or cable pulling, it pays off being Renaissance men. That being said, we proudly present our thoughts, memories and final product in a feature we’ve named… Crew Call.

Got the phone call two days ago. Looks like the Ground Up crew is pulling production support duties on a day shoot for a new iPhone app called “Get In The Game”. The production team has been traveling across the country snagging various sports celebrities in inspirational video clips. Everyone from Alex Rodriquez to Dennis Rodman. Now they’re headed to Florida for a one on one with Tampa’s favorite son, the greatest professional wrestler of all time: Hulk Hogan.

The Hulk has been a staple of this town for years. It seems like everyone I’ve had a conversation with regarding this shoot has had his or her own personal encounter with the Hulkster and by all accounts, he sounds like a pretty nice guy. Having spent a full day with the guy, I’d like to add my 2 cents: if anything, the reports are modest. Hulk Hogan is hands down the friendliest celebrity I’ve worked with yet. Extremely down to earth, very quick and funny, curious and eager after all these years—our time with the guy was beyond rewarding. The shoot wasn’t too bad either!

We crew up at Ron Rose Productions, a slick audio house in South Tampa. Mr. Hogan arrives on time, entourage free, ready to work. He’s directed to make-up while Jon, Ground Up’s ever-resourceful DP, rigs the lights. Hulk is mic’d up and after a few minutes of me playing hairdresser, snipping a few blond strays from under his headband—we’re rolling.

Hulk Hogan regales the camera (and crew) of his origins from high school bass-player to international superstar. He could’ve told these stories hundreds of times, but the enthusiasm behind his voice couldn’t be any fresher. He even tosses in his trademark gravelly shout and taglines to promote the app. The dude is on his game like no other.

The shoot is fast. One set-up that varies between a medium shot to close-up (being that the video is meant to be viewed on a phone, fast cuts and obnoxious graphics would deter even the most dedicated tech elitist), so we merely have to point and shoot, let the talent do all the work.

Before we know it, the shoot is wrapped. Hulk’s kind enough to spend a few extra minutes posing for photos with the crew (literally 3 of us and our intern) and heads to the green room for a quick change. Outside, having a smoke, I manage to get a little one on one with Hollywood Hogan. We talk mostly about cars and his film career (me, ever the fan boy, nerdily addressing his cameo in ‘Gremlins 2’ as my favorite Hogan performance of all time).

A car zooms by, screeches to a halt and immediately, a group of four people excitedly pour from the vehicle, clamoring around Hulk asking for pictures. Without the blink of an eye, Terry Bollea, the down to earth Tampa-boy immediately transforms into his alter ego, posing for snapshots and re-takes. He signs a few autographs, shakes everyone’s hand and they thank him, walking back to their car, chattering with excitement.

“Hulk Hogan! Can you believe it?!”

They drive away and before finishing our conversation, Terry “Hulk Hogan” Bollea lets me in on his personal philosophy—an amazing acknowledgment that has stuck in my mind since:

“The fans. They’re the single biggest reason I continue to do what I do. Most people wave them off—too busy at dinner, too busy standing in line to buy groceries. The thing of it is, if it weren’t for them, I’d be nothing. It’s that simple, brother. Fans come first, everything else can wait.”

The Hulk gets in his car and drives off to dinner with kids. Two weeks later, I catch him on TV roasting David Hasselhoff for Comedy Central. Amidst all the grandstanding, arm pumping, boa wearing and shirt tearing, I can’t help but see a little deeper. To everyone else he’s Hulk Hogan, but for those lucky enough to spend professional time with him, he’s simply a great dude from a great city.

Download the “Get in the Game” App from iTunes!

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That being said, we’re proud to debut our latest video!

What started out as a quick test used to try out a built-from-scratch ringlight, quickly turned into a great excuse to get a bunch of friends together and let loose to one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

Ladies and gentlemen, fans of rock n roll and everyone else with a thumping pulse, we give you:

Pixies “Tame” from Ground Up Films on Vimeo.

Tampa Bay Personal Injury Attorneys, Culpepper | Kurland are most certainly those clients. For the last several years, they’ve created a solid convention for marketing themselves, through billboards, print ads and television spots. Recently, they began looking to do something a little different, something a little outside the box, and luckily for them, they came to us!

The ultimate challenge with making a television spot for a law firm is creating something that will stand out amongst the dozens of other standard talking head style videos, all the while appeasing the Florida Bar, a statewide regulatory organization for lawyers. The Bar has very strict guidelines– rightly so– for commercials aired to the general public, and making sure that those guidelines are met can make for a sometimes frustrating, but ultimately rewarding production experience.

We’re very proud of this spot that has begun airing on every major network station in the Bay Area, and we’re extremely grateful for our client and the chance they took to make a commercial that not only stands out amongst other law firms, but sets the bar for every commercial to come.

Check it out:

Vimeo Link

Welcome to the OFFICIAL GROUND UP FILMS WEBSITE RELAUNCH!

It might not look like much has changed, but believe me, we’ve been hard at work re-designing, re-tooling and all around re-awesome-ing the site in order to streamline our content and your enjoyment.

First and foremost… we’ve got a BLOG!  And you’re reading it!

Aside from weekly updates, musings, rants, tips on getting started in the industry, thoughts on the current state of film, and anything else our rabid minds can think of, this is the place to be if you wanna catch debuts of our latest work.  Right here!  On this page!

Below each blog is a comments section where you can voice your thoughts, interact with other talkbackers and heck, maybe even throw in a few compliments here and there.  Um… not that we’re fishing, we just like good words :)

Two months in and 2011 is looking to be a phenomenal year!  We’ve got a ton of new content on the way, some major news to announce and quite frankly, we’ve never been more proud and excited to share with you all we have to offer.

Keep checking back, it’s gonna be one heckuva ride!