From Classroom to Circus

Recently we did a video shoot for our kids summer camp here at Park, “The Greatest Story on Earth.” The camp is a circus theme, so we wanted to shoot the promo as if it was in a circus tent, with a ring leader, juggler, and dancer.

If you don’t already know, we don’t have a studio at Park, we usually just have to be creative with the places that we shoot, and this video was no exception. We took a normal classroom and transformed it into a circus tent.

Before:

Classroom before

Here is some more detail on the setup:

Walls: We used rolls of white and red plastic table cloths as the actual circus tent. We stapled these to the walls, so that they were completely covered.

Walls after table cloth

Lighting: We hung a couple leica (I think that is how you spell it) lights from the conduit in the ceiling, and used them as backlighting. We then had another leica hung from the ceiling, which we used a spot on the ringleader. Also, placed a wash light on the floor facing the juggler and dancer. And finally we had a spotlight which I moved back and forth during the shoot to give it a “circus” effect.

add lights

Haze Machine: Then to add some the finishing touch, we brought in a haze machine for dramatic effect. And added the juggler, dancer, and ringleader.

final product

ringleader

We also used the following silhouette shot for the ringleader, and it looks amazing. You will see it at the end of the video.

juggler

As you will also see, Jason added some filters and effects in post-production. I love the flickering filter, and the audio reverb really gives it a circus feel.

And here is the final product:

Summer Camp Promo from Park Community Church on Vimeo.

Note: All of this was Jason Widney’s idea. Props to him for directing, shooting, and producing this video. I just assisted him in making his ideas happen.