Tampa Video Production Company Uses Digital Magic for Kids Story

Tampa, Florida - A video promoting foster care for Hillsborough Kids Inc. presented a challenge to St. Petersburg video production company CMR Studios. The stories were heart-wrenching and personal, but because of privacy issues they couldn't show any of the families involved.

Studio president and creative director Mike Weber presented HKI with the concept of writing a script that was the blending of several true cases into the story of one child. The treatment would be done in a form parents can relate to: a storybook. More specifically, a pop-up storybook that would become a virtual set for the six-minute video. The live action actors would be inserted into the pages using green screen compositing. "It seemed like a simple idea at the time," says Weber. But original artwork takes time. CMR artists Adam Weber, Melissa Cozart, and Marina Weber devoted nearly a thousand man-hours over eight months to producing the one of a kind book.

Every page turn reveals one of eleven scenes depicting: the Tampa skyline, the University of Tampa, a house, various interior settings, Busch Gardens and Lowry Park Zoo. They each open into dimensional art that was then shot close-up in HD. All the actors that appear on camera also appear on the pages of the book, so artist Marina Weber had the job of creating their likenesses, along with a whole cast of paper extras. Dimensional background plates and animation elements add even more detail that wouldn't be possible to physically fold in the book.

Renu Parker, General Counsel at HKI, edited the script and selected talent through Alexa Talent and Modeling to match their typical client profile. Rich Roddman directed the green screen shoot on the in-house CMR stage. Adam Weber handled shooting the HD footage of the pop-up book virtual set and designing unique pinpoint lighting for each scene. Page manipulation was done by Marina and Melissa. Like puppeteers, they hid behind the book and wore green gloves so their hands could be removed from the shots later.

Once all the HD footage was shot the multi-talented CMR production team changed roles again. Melissa edited the footage and along with Adam composited all the pieces together using "Shake" . They put the actors "in" the book, added background plates, animated elements, did color correction and color grading. Mike Weber then added a customized music track and sound effects for each scene before the final audio mix and project completion.

The video will be used in live presentations as well as appearing on the HKI website. To view the finished production as well as a complete behind the scenes look at the making of this unique video visit www.cmrStudios.com.