2021 Year In Review For ASL

2021 has been a very eventful year. From almost beating the pandemic to being back in the thick of it and everything in between, ASL was able to adapt to changing production environments and create some incredible content. Virtual and socially distanced productions are the norm and we have been one step ahead, creating the safest and most efficient possible production environments for our clients and crews.

Let’s take a look back at some of our favorite video productions from the past year.

All year long we documented the FSL 2 diabetes sensor in action, targeting users young and old as well as T1 and T2 patients. One of the content highlights took place in September when ASL sent our in-house director, Ben Grody to Los Angeles to oversee two testimonial videos filmed on back to back days. The shoots profiled two real life users of the product, TV personality Sherri Shepherd and punk rocker Poli Van Dam.

For these shoots we used two RED Monstro cameras. The large format 8K sensor looked amazing and gave us tons of flexibility in post. We handled all of the production details on this project from sourcing locations to drone permits to set propping.

Check out Sherri Shepherd’s final video by clicking the picture above.

In April, ASL brought a California based crew led by one of our favorite Outdoor Sports Directors, AJ Van der Water, to Wimberly, Texas outside of Austin. Our shoot was with Stillhouse, a liquor brand focused on going where glass bottles can’t. Our crew filmed assets for a promotional contest Stillhouse ran where lucky consumers got the opportunity to win a genuine Texas outdoor adventure with ATVs, off-roading and glamping. The two-day shoot included 200+ photo deliverables and video assets that included our active cast hiking, riding ATV’s and off-roading in supped up Jeep Wranglers.

As always, we were all over the action providing drone and car to car shots capturing the untamed country energy Stillhouse prides itself on. Click the picture above to see their Unbreakable Summer Challenge social media video.

Towards the beginning of 2021, we partnered with Team Enterprises and Olay to help them with a very unique project. Olay wanted to highlight the gender gap in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Olay’s campaign delivered science lessons focused on skin hydration, via drones to teachers across the country. ASL assisted with the drone delivery mechanism and produced teaser and recap videos that were aired on Olay’s social media channels, as well as on a segment of Good Morning America!

On February 11th, we provided camera teams in Florida, Arizona and snowy Pennsylvania and filmed the drones delivering the science kits to the teachers front doors, as well as their reactions. We also handled all post-production including animation and graphics in the video above. 

In 2021 we continued Intel’s “Behind The Brains” series with agency McGarryBowen. ASL traveled to San Francisco to interview Lama Nachman, Director of Human and AI Systems Research at Intel Labs.

Anticipatory computing interprets meaning from gestures and Nachman is a leader in this field. To demonstrate how anticipatory computing works, ASL hired actors to perform facial movements that we heightened by using LED lights whose colors can be dialed in and quickly changed via an iPad application.

We hope to work on more videos with Intel showcasing their latest and greatest technologies. Check out the final video with Dr. Nachman above!

ASL assisted Chicago based production company, Tandem, helping to produce three comedic commercials for PSE&G. The spots centered around companies getting in their own way when it comes to energy efficiency solutions. Each commercial pitted two actors against each other. The gag of each spot is realized when the person getting in the way of our primary actor is revealed to be…themselves.

We used a variety of tricks to pull these spots off. For the first
commercial, we filmed an actor playing both parts on different sides of an elevator. We used our Tricaster TC1 to digitally composite the image and stitched both shots together to create one seamless image for our clients to watch during playback.

For the second spot we used a body double who was strategically cast to match the body type of our actor. Blocking the scenes ahead of time really helped as the camera angles were paramount to getting the proper coverage we needed.

In the third scene, we used identical twins to play the protagonist and antagonist. This technique was the only way we could really pull this scene off as the one character was dragging the other and the reveal shot was a wide that showed both our actors’ faces.

Check out one of the final spots above!

ASL was a part of some amazing projects in 2021 and we have shown you just a few. While we spend time with our families this holiday season, we reflect on what has made this year so special, the time, effort and relationships fostered with our partners.

We hope all you had a safe and Happy Holiday and New Year!