Bigfoot Studios in Mactan, Cebu, Philippines provides creative solutions for all cinematic needs – it offers state-of-the-art facilities and equipment rental as well as post-production services for filmmakers and production houses. Conveniently connected to major cities in Asia, it draws professionals from around the world to produce feature films, TV shows, documentaries and commercials.
This was a really fun showreel created for Bigfoot Television. It was designed to not just showcase their amazing on-site resources (including two soundstages, an underwater shooting tank, fully equipped editing suites and the latest equipment) but to also make it seem like a fresh, fun and exciting place to work. We therefore didn’t just want to make a ‘real estate’ video, gliding around a pristine empty site. So expect skateboarding interns, underwater fashion models, tropical locations and a whole lot more epic stuff!
For this shoot our director Steve designed and shot about 50% of the scenes with a small team, specifically filmed for the showreel and to serve as linking passages between locations. We were kindly given access across the whole site by the studio’s Head of Television and could therefore plan out several fun sequences. We tried a lot of over-the-top slow-motion experiments here and wanted to keep the pace lively and kinetic. We also knew there would be a great deal we couldn’t film in the window of time we had, so then it became an editing exercise for the other 50% of the piece using existing materials, mainly from the studio’s wealth of behind-the-scenes footage captured on previous productions – some of it also filmed by Steve and co for previous assignments.
The existing footage was the real meat of the piece, showing the studio in action. From swooping helicopter shots of the studio to feature film stunt sequences, from fashion shoots on islands to cookery shows at the beach, it sells the variety and scope of what the studio creates. We could then use our choreographed linking sections to get from one location to the next, where you would then see the area at its busiest. This gave the editing a real head start and allowed us to cram in as much exciting content as possible.
This facilities reel is a great example of how you might already have valuable content lying around, just waiting to be successfully repurposed if given to the right filmmakers.
