Stay Ready

Annmarie Reddic is a young tennis prodigy from North Carolina, and when she became an Adidas Adiplayer her mom went looking for a videographer to film the announcement. That's how it started. As we got more people involved, it grew into a full commercial.

The hard part

Winter. It had snowed the night before the shoot and it snowed heavily the day after, so we were working in the one clear window between. That meant clearing snow from the grounds before we could roll, so nothing on camera would say "winter" — and it meant our talent was shivering between every setup.

How we made it work

Angie Cottone, our stylist and HMUA, kept a blanket on standby and wrapped Annmarie in it between takes. We had her jumping around to stay warm whenever the camera wasn't rolling. She did a remarkable job of selling that it wasn't that cold.

On set

Russell Tennis Center, Charlotte, NC, in a single day. Director, producer and DP: Maurice Victor II. Production coordinator: Jazzlyn Victor. Steadicam: Hudson Stafford. 1st AC: Sadie Tucker. Gaffer: Adam Wagner. Best boy electric and key grip: Tanner Hall. HMUA and wardrobe: Angie Cottone. Sound mixer and boom: Cody Clark. Production assistants: Archie Council and Helen Moscoso. BTS stills: Garrick Wes. BTS video: Daniel Aguilar Ramírez. Editor and colorist: Maurice Victor II. Post audio: Charles Gaddis. Rentals: Charlotte Film Rentals, Illumination Dynamics, Zylo Cine and Cayne Tucker. Talent: Annmarie Reddic.

The result

It performed far better than we expected. The film passed 30,000 views and was picked up by multiple accounts, including DZO Film — the maker of the lenses we shot it on — and several tennis pages.

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