Our first scout was finding a house that worked well for the client and their brand. Finally, we found the right one 20 minutes north of Columbus, Ohio. Our second location was The Wilds, about an hour and a half southeast of our first location. The goal was to find a place that was exotic feeling and didn’t scream “Ohio” to help tell the story of a girl taking the trip of a lifetime that her parents have saved for. The Wilds was a perfect location and let us meet Tuffy, the giraffe, who is fearless of the camera.

The forecast on day two had mixed weather reviews, but we decided to push through. We found an hour window to film with the actors and Tuffy that morning. So our crew headed out in two custom safari-style trucks. We took only the essential gear: a camera, a wireless monitor, radios & audio. Once we were in The Wilds, we couldn’t get out of our vehicles due to safety, so we had one shot.

From filming to capturing audio, it was a tough one. We approached this documentary style, knowing we didn’t have control of Tuffy. We had the truck positioned just right, made sure the lettuce was ready, and the camera was rolling before we were even locked in position. We are glad we did because Tuffy was ready to eat!

All in all, there were a lot of challenges overcome and big wins with this project. We couldn’t have pulled it off without our experienced crew by our side.