We needed a sweet looking clip of NewsChannel Five’s Mike Bush delivering a line or two for the end of a Big spot KSDK will run in the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympics.

The boss wanted something beautiful. Maybe architectural. Something that would say Saint Louis. I did too – but not the overused STL skyline. Really didn’t want an arch in the shot maybe just a river. As always time is very tight. Mike always wants to help us out to make time for us… but the reality of taking an evening news anchorman away from the TV station at golden hour (during ratings no less) is a real challenge. But that’s what the boss is for right? My boss talks to his boss and somehow they decide Mike is good to go but we have to have him back to get ready for the six o’clock news.

We checked out the scene earlier in the day. Found a couple options with a river, a bridge, even Lewis & Clark. I went online and checked the sunset time, even google earthed the sight virtually. HOWEVER… we actually got started a bit earlier than I had expected and that meant the sky was still very bright. Easy to fix with a strobe for a still shot… but for video and only a tiny little LED to augment a dusk shot we had to stall. We got started and shot the on camera lines in less than desirable light just to have them in the can.. we recorded all the audio.. we recorded all the audio again.. then just before running Mike back to the station for the six o’clock news we gave it one final go as the light was nearly right.

Mike’s shot was static. Locked down. My brain finally fired and realized our little light could actually go waay into the shot.. I knew we could cut it out of the shot when we got back to editing. Just fix it in post.

Whew! We got our shot. We got Mike back for the six. And I think the boss was pleased.. and isn’t that all that matters? ;)

And here’s a copy of the final spot!