Stories

A few months ago (it WAS still cold out) local vodka distiller Nick Kotrides put director Eric Frick and I to work crafting his very first commercial shot in the Buffalo, NY area over one days time. Cracked corn, farm dogs, and fresh vodka, MMMMM mm.

Photos: Stephen Gabris

Got over to Ingram Micro last week for a fun stills project with some of their staff. Awesome makeup stylist Josselyn Scott was on hand to lend the glam edge to our real people, and our friend Dina flew in from Ingram Micro in Irvine for the occasion.

Here’s a nice little 15 second version of the :30 spot I shot with director Eric Frick for Quinlan & Co:

I got out to Quinlan & Co’s new location recently and was able to visit the two Addy Awards they received for the Life Storage spots I produced and shot, woof! My friend Eric Frick directed these and post-production was handled at Quinlan & Co.

Got to meet Ray Mancini last week, former WBA lightweight title holder from 1982 to 1984 for an evening of boxing talk, autographs, and photos. With Entertainment brought Mancini into town for the packed event and I even got a little one on one film finance discussion with Ray who’s most recently a film producer.

photos: ©2018 Chris Santucci

Paid a visit to the beautiful land of Oregon USA very recently to scout around for an upcoming project and fell in love with it all over again. Desert, redwoods, craggy surf-pounded coast, moss covered trees, and flowers growing out of rocks. What’s not to love?

photos: ©2017 Chris Santucci

A little recent work with the FLVDC.net gang:

I love machines and mechanized processes. Every time I get a chance to work in New Era Cap’s Derby, NY plant, I marvel at the engineering behind baseball cap manufacture. As a former motorcycle mechanic and present day fabricator, it’s all so completely fascinating to me.

I think we made 3 or 4 visits to the Derby, NY plant over a year or so to record the footage that went into this piece showing the 22 steps of baseball cap manufacture. Even though we’ve shot many of these same machines running through their paces many times, this piece I think is the pinnacle of our exploration of cap manufacture, thanks in large part to John Long’s motion graphics and vision not to mention the dedication of New Era Brand Historian, Jim Wannemacher.

Got over to the sprawling hockey complex in downtown Buffalo, twice in a week for unrelated projects involving what else but hockey. Yesterday, I rolled on interviews, ice action, and we shot some drone action with top Sabres scorer, Jack Eichel for Key Bank promos. Last week I interviewed René Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation for the International Olympic Committee.

It starts with an idea, then a little running around, then a half day of shooting, then finishes with a day or so of post production. Two days and 428,000 views later, with 60 bucks spent on paid reach, not bad. Connecting with & motivating people en masse is fun! On to the next one…