Tallgrass welcomes Campbell-Ewald and General Motors to San Diego for a “Traveling With Kids” social media shoot for the On Star product line.
Next, more coffee. Woot! Then on to R2C: Great to connect with Sara, Kristen, and Alison in a chill setting. They are on fire. Tons of productions, multiple buildings...taking over the world.
Saving the best for last: CMD agency! Cindy Marks, you are our hero! Thanks for taking the meeting, even on crutches. Double order of TGP hot sauce for you.
Heads up Christiaan!
Great trip to LA to visit Midnight Oil, TBWA\Chiat\Day and Ignited.
Midnight Oil: 40 ft tall superhero wraps, sick theater displays, posters, 3d builds. Amazing. Creative and manufacturing all in one bldg. A frickin huge building.
Ignited: A creative community built by the power of curiosity. Hanging with Sam and showing our skills on the ping-pong table.
I like the way you roll TBWA\Chiat\Day: be more human (and if in doubt) be more dog ~ Plus a full size Bball court. Respect to Womack, Michael and Max for hookin it up. Enjoyed spreading the MARDI GRAS love: Hurricane style.
One of JB’s images will appear onstage in 'The Gospel of Loving Kindness” opening Dec 9th in Washington, D.C.
The play is a edgy, hymn-and-hip-hop-musical. It’s about a 17 year old boy who sings for President Obama at the White House, and is shot to death 3 weeks later.
Produced by the Mosaic Theater Company (http://www.mosaictheater.org/), written by Marcus Gardley and directed by Jennifer L. Nelson. Shout out to NJ Mitchell (Mosaic Board Member) for inviting us to participate.
In late September this year, Tallgrass went dog-gone mad! We had the pleasure of working with Vitro in creating a :15 sec TV spot for their client Unleashed! by Petco. The production was a blast and at the center of it all? Three very talented, adorable canines.
The hilarious spot followed a chubby dog as he runs in for dinner...and sadly squeeze in through the doggie door. After weeks of searching for the perfect talent, we were very lucky to have Lola, Penny Lane and Spike join us on set.
Tallgrass was joined by some talented folks in production, props, g&e, animal training and location management who really helped the day run smoothly and efficiently. We even had custom doors built thanks to our accomplished set constructors.
At the end of the day, we had the chance to run through the spot with all 3 dogs to make sure our client’s creative got the best treatment.
Want to find out who made it into the final spot? Check it out below:
[[VIDEO]]
And here's another version with JB's favorite pup - Spike:
[[VIDEO]]
We’re so glad we got to collaborate with the great minds at Vitro and Unleashed! by Petco. Looking forward to our next one...fingers crossed for more new, furry friends!
Tallgrass Pictures is lucky to have team members who are passionate about storytelling…and do it exceptionally well. Over the summer, our very own Gavin Filipiak (TGP Sr. Editor) was tapped to create a music video for San Diego rockers P.O.D. The project was commissioned by Universal Music Group, who reached out to Gavin after seeing his work on Vice - the music video “Young Gods” for Prayers and Blink 182’s Travis Barker.
Gavin took on the challenge of creating the music video, just a few weeks before album release. With the support of TGP, he directed and shot the video for P.O.D.’s latest single “This Goes Out to You”.
To kick-off production, Gavin and Nico first traveled east to Michigan for the Common Grounds Music Festival. Enthusiastic fans gathered around as P.O.D. performed, while Gavin and Nico maneuvered on stage to capture the energy from both the band and fans. Before and after the show, we were lucky enough to hang out with the band in a different setting: with their family.
Then we were back to San Diego to finish up the rest of production. It was a blast getting to work with our local community. First stop: Undisputed Gym in downtown, where we were lucky enough to film San Diego boxing champs and learn how to throw a strong right hook from their trainers.
Next, we headed towards the Mexican-Californian border to capture the beautiful visuals of towering fence and explore the story of separated families. The weather fit the mood perfectly and our talented actors nailed the scene.
But our day was far from over...we were off to another location. Luckily, the sun peeked out for the rest of the day and we ended with a beautiful shot of 2 friends riding to Sunset Cliffs; celebrating the power of friendship on a motocross bike.
For the next scene, we were honored to be able to ride around town with the guys of Tribal Gear. We captured footage of their gorgeous low-riders cruising through the historic Barrio Logan district. To finish the day, we filmed the proud owners at a BBQ scene while enjoying delicious tacos, courtesy of San Diego Taco company.
Gavin and Nico created a truly authentic, compelling music video reflecting the anthemic song and a unique San Diego vibe. We’re proud of their work and invite you to check out the full video below -
The 9 day production took us all around southern California, shooting everything from medical labs to ballerinas to farms...and we couldn’t be happier with the final result!
JB worked closely with Sean, Rob and RG from Skiver to create a visually beautiful and compelling story about the incredible work coming from UCI - a place where great minds can truly shine brighter.
From the initial creative to pre-production, production, post and final broadcast delivery - we’re thankful for such awesome collaborators! A special shout-out to the fantastic staff and students of UCI who shared their stories with us, inspiring us to make the commercial as authentic as possible.
Missed our spot this Monday? Don’t worry, you can check it out below.
And keep a look-out for our second UCI spot “See Differently” made in collaboration with “We Believe”...breaking soon on a TV near you!
On the script itself, Jen says she was drawn to it because “It’s messy, it’s unwieldy kind of like life…but it’s so full of life.” And this messy story of life will be Tallgrass Pictures’ first feature film; a project headed by Tallgrass Pictures founder & director Jeffrey Lamont Brown and screenwriter Jennifer de Poyen.
The feature tells the tale of Daniel Weinberg who protects his son Herbie the best way he knows how - he builds a nuke, hides it in a garden gnome, and secedes his suburban home from the USA to form the sovereign nation of Weinbergia.
Stay tuned for more updates on the messy adventure of the Weinbergs and production for UMR.
4 days. 12 locations. As we reminisce on the fun we had in 2014, there's no forgetting the shoot that had us running all over sunny San Diego, showing off the greatness that is our beautiful city. We happily jumped into this collaboration with Fresh Form Interactive (the brilliant minds of Ali Palmer & Seth Gravette) and reunited with an old friend & Creative Director, Tracy Meiners.
Our goal: to create a beautiful photo library for use by North Island Credit Union (NICU). With stops at places like Hodad's, OB Dog Beach, Mission Trails - each day brought it's own adventure....
Day 1: Undoubtedly, one of the greatest things about San Diego are our micro-breweries and killer food. Our gracious and wonderful hosts Societe Brewing Co. & Hodad's in OB made our first day a real treat -
Day 2: Carlton Oaks Golf Course showed us some real VIP treatment, as we zipped around in their golf carts from hole to hole. We also ventured to Mission Trails and Morley Park - with a few stops in between.
Day 3: Shop til’ you drop! A cute couple contemplated their first home and Tallgrass was there to capture that significant moment. The rest of the day was spent at the lovely boutiques in La Jolla and the North Park Farmer's Market.
Day 4: When one of our locations fell through, we were saved and treated by our friends from Pappalecco, in Little Italy. Pappalecco not only welcomed us with open arms but fed us like family. The rest of the day was filled with what San Diego is known for best - sunny, sandy, San Diego beaches.
Here’s a sneak peek of what we’re working on for “Under My Roof” - our very first Tallgrass Pictures feature film.
It was a fine Friday night for a test shoot…which is a favorite past time of Tallgrass Pictures. A test shoot is where our director and team experiment with shots before a production to ensure high quality work. On this particular Friday night, the scene was set for Under My Roof’s big battle scene and a VFX test shoot was under way.
Our very own TGP boys stepped in as the war heroes going against invisible helicopters and enemies:
Meanwhile, our production coordinators helped set the mood by creating a flickering light through some very sophisticated dance moves:
All in all, it was a very successful night with lots of fun. But this was just the first step. The footage is now in the tender hands of our VFX artists who are adding chaos and mayhem to the scene. Spoiler alert - there will be explosions galore.
We can’t wait for the finished footage. For now, we’ve got some great BTS videos to share. Check out how Tallgrass Pictures gets down on Friday nights:
“Under My Roof” is a Tallgrass Pictures feature production scheduled for 2015.
Keep up with all the Under My Roof news and happenings in Weinbergia by following us!
Ever wonder what a year is like in the life of a production company?
As we head into the new year, we can’t help but spend a little time reminiscing on what 2014 held. From traveling the US to muddy productions, we’ve had a blast in 2014. We asked the Tallgrass team to share their favorite TGP moments from the year and here’s what they said….
Laurelena, our glowing graphic design intern ninja said:
“My favorite memory is decorating christmas stockings and seeing the surprises inside.”
Christiaan, our battle dancing new account exec said:
“1. My favorite moment would have to be the time I had to shoot down a pretend helicopter with a super soaker. It was the first time being out with the crew shooting test shots for “Under my Roof”.
2. Surprise Bday up stairs. Was definitely surprised, took shots, and ate cake.
Katsie, our brand new ball of energy PC shared:
Spencer, our walkin' on sunshine 2nd AC said:
"My favorite time at Tallgrass so far in my 1 3/4 months working here would have to be the Under My Roof test shoot. It was a Friday so everyone was in good spirits and we got to get pretty creative with production because it was ours. My favorite part of the night was when we had to tie a rope around Josh and pull him to the ground as if he got shot. Or having Jordan and Katsie dance in front of the Kino lights to simulate fire. Also when Jordan sweetalked security because we didn't have a permit. Or when JB, Keith and I we re blinded because Michael had to point the 1600 watt joker at the camera for a shot."
Keith, our fierce and coffee addicted 1st AC said:
“Definitely flying out to Dallas, then coming back to JB’s street to find my car was parked in the middle of a destroyed street, perfectly on a tiny piece of pavement they had left. Erik and I had to drive through the rubble to get out. Haha."
Angellyne, current blog author & digital marketing coordinator said:
Jordan, our champion production coordinator said:
Beau, our senior VFX rockstar & Rachel, our VFX magician both agreed:
“Grip Olympics”*
*Grip Olympics was a friendly production competition on setting up and breaking down shoot equipment.*
Nico, TGP’s one and only fantastic French editor:
Gavin, our mix masterin' senior editor said:
“For me, it was Coordinated Health because it was close to home.”
Aly, our expert socialite business development director said:
“The Addy Raid - we hosted the Addy Raid at the studio with a live green screen…helped with the Addy Awards promotional pieces, watched them play on the big screen in front of all the Addy Awards participants and cut the video announcing the new SDX.”
And finally…our director, principal photographer & fearless founder JLB shares his top moments:
It’s a bird, it’s plane…no it’s new filmmaking technology in action, right in the heart of Palm Springs Motors!
In fact, it’s our director JLB using FPV (first person view) goggles for a production with Palm Springs Motors. With these goggles, JB was able to see live footage transmitted from a helicopter mounted GoPro that he controlled.
What’s it like, you ask? Imagine taking a ride on a roller coaster and that feeling you get over that 1st big drop - a truly amazing experience! And the shots? Well, take a look for yourself. We were able to capture great aerial footage of the expansive Palm Springs Motors facility!
The latest news at Tallgrass Pictures this week is that Jeni, Jennifer, JB, and casting director Gabrielle Schary are heading to Studios West in Santa Monica to cast the leads in Under My Roof. With hundreds of submissions our team is sure to have an action packed a couple of days. Over the next that week couple weeks the team will be casting in Los Angeles, San Diego, and New York. For more information about this casting find us on IMDB.
Stay tuned or more production updates @TallgrassFilms & @_UnderMyRoof 
Big things are happening at Youtube as 4K, or Ultra HD video becomes available on the prolific service. An article by Mashable’s Pete Pachal stated earlier this year that 4k, or Ultra HD footage will come in a new format called VP9, a royalty-free codec that will also reportedly offer a better experience with Google Hangouts, according to GigaOm. Pachal also states that the VP9 codec consumes considerably less data than other commercial codecs (such as H.265), letting the service stream higher-quality streams with less bandwidth.
For us at Tallgrass Pictures this is fantastic news! As a commercial production company, we produce everything from high speed motion capture, to aerial helicopter footage, computer generated graphics, and feature films all in High Definition.
For Gavin, TGP senior Editor, his interest in UHD started at NAB last year when he got to screen video on an 8K tv. “It was like looking out a window” Gavin remembers while explaining the differences between 4k and 1080p mastering. According to Gavin, there are not many differences in mastering 4k versus 1080p, except for increased render times and larger files; but beyond that 4k monitors are not household items, at least not yet. For us this had meant that the Ultra HD footage we’ve been shooting for 5 years can now finally be realized in online video, creating a richer viewing experience for our clients.
In the past with sites like Youtube our crisp, surreal imagery would lose and great deal of its luster when compressed to for web, it simply did not do it justice. Today that is a thing of the past, now with this new codec TGP and creators of all sorts are able to more easily share beautifully crafted content online!
This is exciting news to our team, and we’d like celebrate by sharing one of our Award Winning comedy shorts American Sock.
Enjoy!
American Sock now available in 4k.
UNDER MY ROOF, A TALLGRASS PRODUCTION
Production begins this November!
Herbert Weinberg’s father is striking a blow for freedom. Implanting a nuclear device within a garden gnome in the front yard of their Southern California home, he’s declared independence from the U.S. The household is understandably is an uproar. Mother’s gone, the local weatherman has moved in, and 13-year-old Herbert is simultaneously a hostage and the Minister of Information. Even while troops surround the belligerent house-state of Weinbergia, the call to freedom has been sounded. The house is rapidly filling up with American refuseniks. Can the refrigerator hold out? Will Herbert’s and Daniel defeat imperialism and reunite the family? Based on Aristophanes’s Archanians, Under My Roof is funny, ambitious film.
For more live updates and behind the scenes content through out production, follow @_UnderMyRoof on twitter and check us out on Facebook.
We'd like to formally introduce a couple of the newest faces at Tallgrass. Please join us in welcoming Marvin, Keith and Josh to the Tallgrass Pictures team.
Day one focused on the Roloxin Lift brand video showcasing various women’s bathrooms. This shoot took place in Mission Viejo, CA at The Bath Company, a bathroom fixture superstore featuring several bathroom vignettes making it the perfect location for this shoot. After a little prop styling and strategic camera angling we had four beautiful bathrooms and you’d never know that we were in an operational store with looky-loo customers surrounding our set!
On day two, we were back at Tallgrass Pictures studio where Tsukuru built a working sink in the middle of the studio for the Roloxin tutorial! The natural light from our open studio made for beautiful imagery with light reflecting off each drop of water as our talent splashed water on her face.
The only thing more breathtaking than the shots were the instant results our talent got from Roloxin Lift itself. It left all of the women (and men) asking where they can get themselves some Roloxin!
We got amazing time lapse footage in front of the building and captivating shots of the Guild Mortgage staff hard at work; all narrated by their President and CEO Mary Ann McGarry. We loved spending the day at such a beautiful location and working with everyone from Guild Mortgage who, we must say, are naturals in front the camera.
We captured the soon-to-be grandfather video chatting with the expecting couple on a 2D holographic image projected on glass. Since it’s still 2014, we used blue lighting to create the visual effect of a hologram shining on the actor’s face. In post-production, our very talented Beau Runnells worked his magic with the footage, making the couple look as if they are the ones in the hologram!
We had a blast capturing the essence of a precious family moment and highlighting the role of Ingram Micro’s technology in creating it. All while getting to pretend it was high-tech 2030!
We shot footage from 3 continents including India and Africa, but one of our favorites? The Japanese Friendship Garden, where friendships grow! Set in the lovely Balboa park, this venue captured the perfect mood for the ultimate Geo Cache adventure.
With two talent and one GPS, you’ll see a couple hunting for treasure with nothing but a set of coordinates. The prize you ask? A wedding proposal! Recording one of life’s biggest moments, and highlighting how GPS technology was able to help make this memorable moment come to life? Mission accomplished!
Thank you to the Japanese Friendship Garden for allowing us to film at such a fantastic location!
There’s plenty of discussion on the ideal definition of femininity. But what about the men?! A beard or mustache can range from rugged and unruly to clean and defined. What an extraordinary range of expression that is displayed through facial hair. Here was a fun, creative shoot that had us glorifying not just our own studio of bearded men, but the diverse local talent that came in to help.
Check out our wicked bewhiskered final images!
At the studio we compiled the graduates’ pictures, memories and current events that defined this year, everything from the viral hit “What Does the Fox Say” to the election of Pope Francis. But we didn’t stop there. On campus we set up our Slow-Mo booth and armed graduates with silly-string, confetti and a bumpin’ beat to get down and party to! It was a joy to watch friends and classmates uniting, laughing, and celebrating over their grand accomplishment.
Everybody was super stoked…“Thank you so much JB. I knew you guys would pull it off but this truly exceeded my expectations. You guys are amazing” said Melissa Henss, the Assistant Director of Presidential Events at San Diego Staten University.
Congratulations Class of 2014, and good luck from all of us here at Tallgrass!
Who was elated for the Season Premiere of Game of Thrones?
Spoiler Alert: the Tallgrass Pictures Team! And who could cast blame upon us?! In honor of the upcoming premiere, we held this TV show inspired shoot. With the help of some local talent and a fantastic makeup artist - we were ready to get our Game of Thrones on!
Our quest: To create portraits that mimicked the creative lighting effects found in the third season’s promo-posters. It was an entirely experimental shoot. A chance for us to have fun, get creative and practice with some new technology and different effects.
Our holy grail? These final images!
Please join us in welcoming our newest interns for Summer 2014.
On the marketing team, we have: Kendra, Angellyne, Jordan and Greice.
Supporting the production team are Chloe and David.
Assisting with editing and production is Steffen.
We have a ton of fresh faces at Tallgrass Pictures and we’re thrilled to have such wonderful talent on our team this summer.
Tallgrass Pictures got a crash course in what it means to be EPIC this past weekend, at the EPIC Series Fitness Challenge Course. Athletes of all levels gathered Saturday & Sunday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to compete in a workout like no other. No mud, no long runs - just intense plyometric, strongman inspired, challenge course fun!
Our goal: To capture the EPIC adventure for all future participants. Alex, Rachel, Gavin and Nico were appropriately decked-out with our RedEpic cameras to capture every moment that unfolded throughout the day. While Tsukuru and our pilot Russell, strapped a Go-Pro to our Heli to seize a truly EPIC view.
We didn’t even compete yet the course left us exhausted and exhilarated by the end of the day.
Check out the tractor pulling, tire flipping, even wall climbing insanity!
Here’s to new friends and old! Ten meetings. Two days. Aly and Allison rocked their way through San Francisco, ’wining and dining’ with SF’s top ad agencies and mastering its public transport.
By BART, bus, trolley and foot, these ladies made it everywhere from the beautiful shorelines of the Embarcadero to the historical docks of Fisherman's Wharf! Our friend, Angus at Dolby, welcomed us by taking us back to school. Wait, we mean Skool - a delightful lunch spot in SF where the menus were appropriately printed on binder paper! While our new friends at First Person were introduced to us over cocktails at a hip speakeasy bar named Local Edition.
We also had the opportunity to meet with Doremus, Eleven Inc., and OneWorld…just to name a few. Everyone is so busy! So it was a great time for our team to see what these agencies are working on, and share our own work as well.
Filming at Harrah's Resort, Southern California what a blast! A strong collaboration between I.D.E.A. creatives Ryan Berman and Joe Nafziger, Harrah’s Ryan Thompson and Jeffrey Lamont Brown. With 9 setups in one day, we were lucky to have the incredible Nicole Miller, Amy Lorenzen and Harrah’s very own Patty Olvera making everything flow as smooth as the lazy river.
The concept: “See it up close” opens with extreme closeups of guests enjoying the key amenities of the property. Massage, juicy steak, beautiful hotel room, lazy river and a win in the casino. We cover a lot of ground in 30 seconds with this spot. And oh yeah, we shot some cool slow-mo helicopter footage of the new hotel tower for the end card!
Look out for this television commercial; it’s enough to make you say, “DAMN!”
Bigger, Better, Faster! Tallgrass
Over here at Tallgrass not only are we picture people, but every once in a while we build a computer! A spiffy new animation workstation at that…
Stay tuned for more about our graphics and animation capabilities! 
Tsukuru has been shooting a ton of beautiful time lapses around San Diego with our new Kessler Crane.
Check out this sample of the awesome results he is getting!
Congratulations are in order for our student filmmakers Monica Nguyen & Alex Drachnik!
Check out their films below or you can attend the showcase at San Diego State University this Thursday, May 15th!
It was a great time last night at the first ever San Diego Film Awards, and we're happy to announce that Tallgrass short American Sock took home an award for Best Writing! So we'd like to send out a big thanks to screenwriter Jason K. Allen, the Film Consortium of San Diego, and our wonderful team!
The 86th Academy Awards are tomorrow so we at Tallgrass figured it be fun do Oscar Vine Parodies with a few of our new interns.
Enjoy these behind the scenes photos and be sure to mark your calendar for March 2, 2014 because we'll be live tweeting the Oscars at @TallgrassFilms and you don’t want to miss our Best Picture Vine Parodies!
Check out our :30 version on Youtube!
San Diego AD Club, ADDY Raid Slomo booth at Tallgrass Pictures Studio
San Diego AD Club, ADDY Raid Slomo booth at Tallgrass Pictures Studio
Tallgrass Pictures shoots it’s fourth national spot for San Diego State University. The assignment: To highlight the research and science opportunities the school has to offer. Boring you say? Not! We open the spot to a lab full of students making bionic limbs; then walk directly onto the deck of a 100ft boat doing cutting-edge virus research, launch the Mars Rover, and end with an ensemble cast at Hepner Hall, all in one continuous shot. Cheers to our CGI team for all their hard work to make those transitions flawless!
Shooting at sea can be rough and even seasick we didn’t fall overboard. The team stayed strong and got incredible footage. Great job! It was a combination of every team members’ individual efforts that let us get so many shots that appeared effortless.
We also couldn’t have accomplished getting that warm atmosphere of campus without the Aztec students who volunteered as extras. We’re excited to premier the SDSU spot; look out for it this coming spring!
We were thrilled when our friends at Simpler & Simpler asked us to do another video shoot for Mitsubishi Rayon Golf Shafts. Last year we found and executed a unique way to capture this company’s premium and super-premium golf shafts golf shafts, and we were ready to step up to the challenge once again.
For this shoot we took a normal-sized production and made it miniature. We shot the golf clubs with macro lenses, which let us make the products appear far bigger than their actual size. This made the shots very dramatic because of the great level of detail these cameras capture. Making slight lighting adjustments or moving the camera a mere 1 mm would change the composition.
With the hands of “surgeons”, we were able to get all the shots we wanted with great precision. The videos, once edited & finalized, will be used in both the American and Japanese markets.
On our last day of our lifestyle shoot Christmas week, we headed to the cliffs of Torrey Pines, where we had 2 cameras right at the cliff’s edge. Our talent were champions, running up narrow goat trails and posing in stretching positions above the legendary Black's Beach.
We ended the week of shooting in the chic offices of Digitaria. We capture amazing views of both our talent and "aerials" down into PETCO park baseball stadium at sunset. To get so many great images in such a variety of places took complete commitment from everyone involved, and, wrapping that day, everyone felt extremely proud to be a part of this dedicated team.
Day 2: Downtown San Diego. We were immersed in San Diego’s downtown Gaslamp quarter. The weather was sunny and beautiful for shooting, but so warm that it posed a threat to the "Ice Cream" scene. APC Britney, literally ran from the ice cream shop to our set to keep the tub of cones from melting!
By the time the sun was setting that same day, we decided to capture some extra shots at our final location: Goorin Brothers, a stylish downtown hat shop loaded with Fedoras, Boaters and many other cool hats. To get enough light in the store’s second floor terrace, G+E stood in the street with shiny boards to capture the remaining sunlight. Inside, JB shot above from a bird’s eye view, while Gavin rolled low angle "B" camera. By the time the sun had gone down, we knew our clients were going to be spoiled.
With 3 days notice, we pulled together a rocking 3 day lifestyle shoot the week of Christmas. From the Torrey Pines cliffs to downtown, our crew of 13 shot 14 talent in 8 locations in 3 days.
The first day we shot at beautiful home in Bay Ho, a cool neighborhood overlooking Mission Bay, where our team had fun assembling our largest prop to date, a 14 ft trampoline. It was a great team building exercise to build it "on the day" with agency/client in the house. Our "boss" set dec team took the house from Christmas to "Season Agnostic" and back to it's festive state. JB and the A + B camera teams rocked it, keeping 4 kids (and "Parents") happy throughout the day. One 5 year old had so much fun her mom sent this email. "Alana had such a great day today! In the car she told me that she wishes she could wake up "at night" and do this every single day.
Say hello to our new nuggets Monica, Alex, & Lauren! We’re so happy to have these wonderful ladies in the studio.
All SDSU students, Lauren joins our marketing team, and Monica & Alex come on in production. Welcome Ladies!
Lauren Walberg, Monica Nguyen, Alex Drachnik
To celebrate the season of thanks, we invited our friends from Digitaria over for Friendsgiving 2013. We’ve really enjoyed getting to know the folks from this great company throughout the year and couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate our new friendship than with pink champagne & homemade crumble!
Each attendee arrived with their own home-cooked dish to impress. We had traditional Thanksgiving cuisine such as stuffing and green bean casserole, along with more unique dishes like Tsukuru’s nico jaga and Beau’s jambalaya. But the cherry on top, so to speak, had to be Sarah’s homemade apple pie.
After a fantastic meal and pink champagne, we headed to the main event...a slow motion booth! Earlier that day we’d built a set complete with a green screen and props, which included everything from confetti to silly string. We spent the next hour throwing glitter, blowing bubbles and dancing up a storm.
The great thing about being a one-stop production company is that our team is able to build a set in-house incredibly quickly, and then edit the work right after. Our editing team took clips from the afternoon madness and used them to make one hilarious video. For your viewing pleasure, Tallgrass Pictures & Digitaria give you... Friendsgiving 2013: slow mo style!
Unofficial Google+ Film Festival
San Diego, CA, Oct 14, 2013 - Tallgrass Pictures just completed an ambitious 3D animation project in collaboration with Ferguson Presents for Nestle's Hot Pockets Brand Sandwiches on their latest music video titled, “You Got What I Eat”. The spot is a mouth-watering spoof starring Snoop Dogg & Kate Upton, capturing the epic battle of Team Crust vs. Team Meat.
Our task was to create 13 seconds of 3D animation that links two live action worlds. Tallgrass Pictures’ lead animator, Beau Runnels, created an 8-bit world complete with pepperoni nunchuck fights and flying bad guys. By taking frames from the live action footage and using them as a base for the animated characters, Beau was able to make a seamless transition from the dueling celebrities to the animated world and back. When the animated character, Oliver, twirls his pepperoni nunchucks, our animators made sure that the motion was identical to the live action nunchucks. These smooth transitions that the team meticulously perfected are what give the viewer the feeling of floating along in a dream sequence.
Within days of its release, the video was featured on a handful of leading news sites and reached #6 on the Ad Age Viral Video Chart with 3.3MM views. AdWeek named it one of the top ten commercials of the week. According to an AdWeek article about the video, it’s the combination of hilarious lines “and psychedelic imagery [that] produces a crispy finished product” that is being so well received.
To keep updated on our activities, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Pinterest or visit our main site at tallgrasspictures.com.
Credits:
Animation: Tallgrass Pictures
Client: Nestle
Agency: Threshold Interactive
Director: John Montgomery
Copywriter: James Littlejohn
Producer: Jessica Mingo
Production Company: Ferguson Presents
Director: John Montgomery
Producer: Jesse Trott
Production Designer: Tomas Verde
Hair/Make up Designer: Stella Tzanidakis
Storyboard Artist: Rudi Liden
Editor: Cameron Rumford
Compositor: Ferguson Presents LLC
Creative Director: Michael Grgas
As a part of our ongoing efforts to meet new collaborators, our Head of Business Development, Aly Bucholz, traveled to New York last week. There she met with producers and creatives from 15 of the country's top advertising agencies, from Ogilvy to the Wall Street Journal.
These stylish New Yorkers are always busy, but they have appreciation for seeing quality work, so they were more than happy to meet with Aly. During her visit, Aly found that the offices were impressive and the pace incredibly fast, yet all of the people were laid back.
Besides making new friends and eating some great food, Aly enjoyed discussing the new and innovative projects underway at some of the world’s best ad shops. We are looking forward to working with them soon!
Once a month we concept and produce a shoot that is all our own. It gives us a chance to express our creativity and train our production team. This month it’s a water-based shoot at La Jolla Cove by our creative director, Brad Copeland. The cove is an amazing location, full of wildlife and beautiful vistas.
The greatest challenge on the shoot was managing a dozen cast and crew on paddleboards, kayaks & rafts, which was extremely demanding both technically and logistically. It was amazing to see how we kept everyone safe, had fun and kept $50,000 worth of cameras and equipment safe and dry. We got to do all of this in the company of several sea lions, some of them brushing us underwater!
Another obstacle we faced was the weather, as real world ocean conditions make for challenging shooting conditions. While paddling in these waves, JB broke a paddle. Jeni saved the day when she hooked his boat onto her paddleboard and towed him away from the cliffs.
It’s adventures like these that demonstrate how the Tallgrass team is always there for one another. We’re excited that the product of our teamwork on this shoot is a collection of fantastic photos for our ever-changing portfolio.
Over the past weekend AMERICAN SOCK was screened at the 2nd Annual Barrio Film Festival to a crowd of giggling audience members. Although the highlight of the festival was getting to meet and share our work with local filmmakers, we have admit that winning ‘Best Narrative’ was the icing on the cake!
If you haven't gotten the chance to see AMERICAN SOCK, check out the link below!
In an effort to start the month of September off right, a quartet of Tallgrassers travelled up the coast to meet, greet, and mingle with Los Angeles’ hottest creative shops. First stop on the Tallgrass express was Saatchi & Saatchi LA. There we screened our latest lifestyle and automotive work while getting to know more about their pleasant Art Production team.
For lunch we were joined the by the lovely Danixa Diaz, executive producer at iartists. Not only were our meals fantastic, but we had a wonderful time exchanging stories and sharing experiences. After we had thoroughly satisfied our hunger, we made way over Omelet LA. There we met a trio of creative celebrities and screened our very own comedy short film, American Sock.
To round out our day, we met with Kristy Davis the creative team at RAPP to discuss an upcoming shoot for Flemings Restaurants. We also took a tour of their office, and their sophisticated coffee machine, before brainstorming shoot ideas.
All in all, it was beautiful excursion through the City of Angels and our team is already itching to get back! 
Nuclear attack. There is not a soul left on this earth besides me. Where am I? Trapped in this abandoned fallout shelter. If only I could get more than static on the f***ing radio. Wait. What is that? It sounds like...breathing. Who is in here with me?
Stay tuned as we move into pre-production on our new short, FALLOUT.
Tallgrass’ UNDER MY ROOF has just been selected for the 2013 Oaxaca Film Festival! Written by the lovely Jennifer de Poyen, UNDER MY ROOF is the story of a young boy who, with his father, builds a nuclear weapon in order to secede from the United States. The screenplay is based on the satirical novel of the same name written by author Nick Mamatas. Jen has created a messy dystopian future full of complex characters that will translate to the screen beautifully.
We’re so proud of what Jen has done and could not be more thrilled to have UNDER MY ROOF recognized by the Oaxaca Film Festival. As this is Tallgrass' first feature, we're looking forward to the opportunity to meet potential collaborators for the project.
Check out our ‘Meet the Screenwriter’ segment and stay tuned for more information as we continue developing UNDER MY ROOF!
DRIVER WANTED, which recently wrapped filming on July 24th, is about senatorial candidate, Kirk Wakeman and his search for a new driver; however, he comes to find out that this is no ordinary job interview.
We are happy to share the news that Alex has just finished doctoring the RED footage (the term is called one-lighting for those who are more tech savvy) and is now cutting away! This time around we used three cameras meaning we have three angles of the same take allowing our editor to flow from shot to shot seamlessly. Pretty awesome, right?
Speaking of awesome: Tom Gurnee who played the role of Kirk Wakeman in DRIVER WANTED sent us the most beautiful note about working with the Tallgrass team and we had to share it with you all!
“Thank you as well for treating the three of us with such dignity and respect. Thank you for your hospitality there at the studio and for being so gracious to set us up with accommodations and with such wonderful food... Absolute first class from the get-go.”
“If I may say, one thing that really impressed me was your team and how well all of you work together. There's an amazing and unique synergy happening with all of you there and I believe it to come from your professional leadership and obvious, excellent management skills.”
Thank you Tom, William, and Nicole for your hard-work and dedication to the story. Can’t wait to work with each of you again!
Creative Comando: Bradley Copeland
Today at Tallgrass we were honored to welcome our new Creative Director Brad Copeland. Brad comes to us hot off scintillating a career in advertising, and after 20 plus years in art direction Brad is to pumped to join the Tallgrass team. Working on accounts like California Pizza Kitchen, Asics, Oakley, Red Bull and Newcastle Brown Ale he is a welcomed addition to this passionate bunch of picture makers. Citing the creative freedom and flexibility that this position offers Brad is gladly assumes his role on this side of production.
A true creative thinker Brad notes his background art and musical appreciation as his source of inspiration. This free spirit bikes to work to clear his mind and hates being tethered to a desk, he certainly brings a lot to our team and we can’t wait for him to get his hands dirty.
We have always been proud to say that everyone here gets to wear many hats. A marketing team being cross-trained on microphones and booms just happens to be the perfect example. :)
Today Yoshi set up an equipped station to train the whole studio, pair by pair, on the fundamentals of capturing audio on a production. Whether a video intern or an animation artist, everybody learned how to handle the basics so that they can now step into that role on any given shoot.
Tallgrass Pictures could not be more excited to announce the release of AMERICAN SOCK, a short film of a woman looking to find love online only to fall in love with a sock puppet.
From the witty mind of writer Jason K. Allen and brought to life by the zany crew at Tallgrass Pictures, we are proud to present Angela Gulner and Sto Strouss in AMERICAN SOCK!
Enjoy!
"I love it! Seriously, you all did fantastic work - it turned out better than I could have imagined. Very clever with the graphics, title page, closing credits, music, etc. The whole piece just has a lot of energy to it - fun and lighthearted, just what I was hoping for. Good acting, too. Yep, I'm certain I made the right decision giving the script over to you guys. Thanks for everything - it was great working with you. Who knows, maybe we'll work together again someday. In the meantime, I'll continue to be a big Tallgrass Pictures fan and I look forward to seeing what you do next."
Does a self-absorbed politician, a vendetta and a can opener sound like a recipe for disaster? Here at Tallgrass Pictures we think it sounds like a recipe for a brilliant short film!
One day, three cameras and many brilliant minds came together to produce what is known as our new short entitled, “Driver Wanted.”
Unbelievably we shot the whole thing in one day. Starting at sunrise and ending late into the night, the Tallgrass team made it appear as if the film happened within only 15 minutes. How you might ask? Although light changes throughout the day, we rigged lights into all the windows making it appear to be 5:00pm for the entire shoot. Crazy, right?!
Stay tuned for more updates as we move into post-production. You’re not going to want to miss anything!
Here at Tallgrass we love what we do. Every partner, every meeting, every project is a special experience where clients become family whose interests become our interests, whose priorities become our goals. We forge bonds and build relationships because that’s how you create great work; and thats why we’re here. We put our everything into each project. And with we are honored and humbled to share this feedback from our recent commercial shoot for the Huntington Beach Visitors Bureau:
We didn’t think it was possible to have the emotion, feel and vibe of Huntington Beach captured so beautifully on film, but Jeffrey and his incredibly hard working team at Tallgrass Pictures managed to do just that, and far beyond. They thought outside of the box for us to ensure that our video was special, unique and would stand out from a sea of other destination videos. The team over delivered on that promise and far exceeded our expectations. In addition to being creatively talented, the entire crew at Tallgrass has been so easy and enjoyable to work with, making a process (that would normally be very tedious), a fun, exciting, and incredibly seamless one.
-Steve Bone, President & CEO, Huntington Beach Marketing and Visitors Bureau
Marketing team at Deutsch LA
After meeting with Art Buyer, Mara Serdans
Putting around the mini course at Ignited
Aly sharing with Art Producers at TBWA/Chiat/Day
A trio of us tenacious Tallgrassers traveled to the City of Angeles today meet & share with with agency creatives, and what a day it was! Always happy to spread the good news about Tallgrass, We went all over, everywhere from Santa Monica to El Segundo.
First stop on the Tallgrass Express was Baker Brand Communications, where Senior Designer Eric Graves charmed our team with tales of projects past
We then sashayed on over to the architectural eye candy that is TBWA/Chiat/Day where we linked up with Parvin Guiv & the Art Department, as well as our digital pen pal Joe Haldeman from the Broadcast team. It was a great time getting the scoop on their current events. After lunch we a took a tour of the campus and almost started a rousing game of hoops on their indoor basketball court, which is brilliantly situated next to a facade adorned by a print of Lee Clow’s Beard!
After soaking in all the TBWA/Chiat/Day goodness we met with Sam Helphand & Diego Espana at Ignited. After a sparkling discussion of all things film & broadcast we played a mini round of golf on the in-office green near their huge waterfall; it too was a great time.
To keep the good times rolling, we caught up with Mara Serdans at Deutsch and per her suggestion were able to find the quaintest restaurant for dinner; Gjelina. Marketing team at Deutsch LA
Later while sampling the delicious appetizers at Gjelina, we sat down with Adam Bright & old friend John Carpio of SpinachLA for cocktails. The only thing that makes a great meal and good drinks grand is even better company, and we found that with these two gents!
All in all it was an eventful day! One filled with the kind of excitement and camaraderie we cherish here at Tallgrass. Until next time Los Angeles!
View from the top. Photo by Jeffrey Lamont Brown
One of our interns, a current student at San Diego State, was power walking to class when she spotted something unexpected. It was the cover story on the front page of the Daily Aztec, the university’s newspaper. She had seen this work before, here at Tallgrass Pictures as a matter of fact!
The Mars Rover commercial featuring the alumni of SDSU was a national spot Tallgrass Pictures proudly released this year. The article says that “Our students go big places and do big things”.
That was the intended message, and we’re thrilled to see the school and its students proud to air our commercial!
Last week our studio was one person short due to a case of the travel bug. Our creative marketing intern, Allison, headed off to Guatemala for spring break with a group of inspired SDSU students whose mission was to volunteer at an elementary school in a rural village.
They spent the week transforming the drab grey school into a declaration of gold and maroon, and compiling school supplies for 200 students. When they weren’t bringing color and joy to the children, Allison was exploring Guatemala, hiking ceremonial Mayan caves, zip lining through the forest and walking the cobblestoned streets of Antigua.
She came back rejuvenated from her amazing experience with the kids, sporting a tan and even more in love with guacamole!
Thanks for keeping us entertained with your Keanu Reeves impersonations! :) On behalf of the whole Tallgrass family, we love you and wish you a happy birthday!
Cheers 
Today we take some time to send a shout out to a special collaborator of ours, the talented Greg Keuhn. Greg has been a very special sound designer and composer for us, and has worked with us for the past three years, always creating something unique and original out of nothing.
Greg got his start in a little band called T.S.O.L., who’s tunes have rocked the punk scene since the late 70s. We’re lucky to work with such a talented musician like Greg, and we’re always glad to see how well he’s doing.
To find out more about Greg Keuhn and his work, check out his website at http://www.peligromusic.com
Today we welcomed the lovely Jennifer Atlas into the family as our new script developer. And with that, we also just purchased the rights to two new scripts that we can’t wait to get started on: “Touring Toilets" and “American Sock". Stay tuned for more updates on these projects coming soon.
‘Tis the season to spend time with the ones you care about, so today at the Tallgrass studio we took a special three hour lunch to ring in the holiday season with our good friends at Oster & Associates and our new friends from Parallel 16. We spent the morning fixin’ up holiday home cookings for our guests, complete with rotisserie chicken, scalloped sweet potatoes with creamy goat cheese, artisan mac and cheese, and Tsukuru’s Japanese masterpiece “Konnyaku" topped off with sweet pumpkin pie and hot coffee! Yum!
After a joyous and belt-loosening meal we were swamped with leftovers. We didn’t want it to go to waste, so we loaded up some plates and extended our “Friendsgiving" to those in need. From everyone here at Tallgrass Pictures, we hope you enjoy this holiday season with the ones you love!
We were all very proud of our Napa tourism commercial, and it turns out we are not the only ones. The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International awarded our spot a silver medal at their annual Adrian Awards! This one goes out to our dear friends at Burghardt+Doré who made it all possible.
With several SDSU alumni working at Tallgrass Pictures, returning to the campus to shoot our third commercial was a nice homecoming. This year the spot featured the lives of the 8 alumni who helped NASA land the “Curiosity” rover on Mars.
By focusing on SDSU’s talented aerospace and astronomy department, we captured some of the years of training and experiences that these alumni gained from their alma mater. We started right at the beginning with children dreaming of space, transitioning to college students studying in high tech labs, and finally launching their dreams into action inside NASA mission control, celebrating as the rover set down on Mars. It was truly a cinematic tribute to their hard work and accomplishments made possible by SDSU.
We had so much fun on this shoot. It's not too often that you get to play with giant telescopes, wind tunnels, and rockets. Many thanks to Jack Beresford and everyone at SDSU for letting us shoot for the stars!
Some things are inherently romantic: two chilled glasses of chardonnay, starry winter nights, and horse back riding at dusk. What better way to experience this then spending some quality time at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. This San Diego gem has been accommodating locals and tourist for over half a century and are currently going through a complete transformation. So, Tallgrass Pictures has been to ask to create some beautiful lifestyle still images to lure visitors to this brand new experience.
We had two shoot days, which consisted of capturing many activities the Inn has to offer, such as a romantic picnic, court side cocktails, lounging beside a sublime pool, and 5 star dining delights that made everyones stomach’s beg for a bite!
Don’t worry, we didn’t go hungry, the staff at IRSF spoiled us with exceptional dinners such as mouth watering filet mignon and local mussels cooked to perfection. Not only that, but they put us in their best rooms and allowed the crew to get a first hand feel of what the Inn is truely about.
Special thanks to Rob Stirling, Brad Copeland, The Starmack Group, and the entire staff at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe who made this so enjoyable. Stay tuned for our final photos that will be posted on www.tallgrasspictures.com.
We’ve all heard stories of awful Mondays spent in a cubicles staring at an Excel spreadsheet for hours on end, but we don’t believe in that here at Tallgrass.
This week we’re starting out our Monday doing a very special shoot of Mitsubishi Rayon golf shafts. They will be captured with an Innovision Probe snorkel lens that will give these shafts their ultimate close up. To give you an illustration of how amazing this lens is: it makes specks of dust appear Godzilla-sized!
With a bug’s eye view on these shafts we’re capturing something totally unique from a perspective you haven’t seen before, and boy is it going to be good!
We’re closing in on the end of 2012, and we’re going out strong! We’ve jam packed back-to-back-to-back productions, so everyone is kicking it into high gear to keep this barreling production on the tracks.
But our schedule is not the only thing we’ve jam packed; the whole studio has been taken over by shoots and pre-production. Even our old painting studio in the back has been put to good use as the new home base for the super powered pre-production ameoba. Everyone watch out, because we’re on fire!
Sending out our TGP love and thanks to the entire Brandtailor’s team for having us, with special thanks to Cheril Hendry, Kristen Roberts, Laura Wakeman, and Sean Gilpin for always “hangin’".
CHEERS!! 
Thank you for sharing the love Wonderful Machine! We are very thankful of your support. 
2 more days!!! Aren’t you excited? 
This still image was pulled from RED camera footage and has been iconic in our marketing materials for the past couple of months. You’ll find this happy luchador on our postcards, leave-behinds, and even featured in action on our brand new showreel. Our new showreel debuts on September 12!!
If you’re expecting a copy of the new Fall 2012 Workbook that’s shipping out soon, check out our spread on pg 346-347!:) 
Check out this special feature of Jeffrey Lamont Brown at Altpick.com 
Just finished a week of shooting in The Napa Valley’s blistering heat, now it’s time to cool off! To celebrate, everyone jumped in the pool and played a good ole fashion game of water volley… well, that was until somebody popped the the beach ball.
…It wasn’t me. 
Relaxing on the job JB? Not for a second! This was one of the most productive Saturday’s we’ve had all summer. By 5am JB and Aly were on a flight to Napa to scout a weeks worth of shooting locations in one day!
The scout was in preparation of a luxurious TV spot for the Visit Napa Valley that will air nationally during the America’s Cup at the end of August.
By the luck of good graces, we had found all of our locations by 6pm and allowed ourselves a quick break to enjoy a nice chilled glass of white wine and soak in our surroundings.
We were very grateful to be under the guide of Burghardt+Doré Advertising. Thanks for the wonderful tour Jeff & Nicole! *Cheers* 
Our image was handpicked by Creative Finder’s portfolio crew for a feature on their main page, which will appear before thousands of creative professionals who use the network daily. 
Aly’s son Kaiden graduated from Tiger Scouts to Wolf Cubs, hip hip hooray! 
Aly had a pleasant surprise today while she was looking up a word on Dictionary.com and ran across a photo that we shot back in March for an agency called i.d.e.a.
"There I was, just a browsing along, checking out the word of the day, and BAM! There it was in the banner ads on the side of the screen! I was so excited to see it, especially because I usually don’t notice those ads. I guess this one is just so good that it stands out on the page."- Aly We’re happy we could collaborate with such a creative group as i.d.e.a.’s Amy Lorenzen, Kelly Day, and Adam Wagner who turned these landscape and interior stills into a "type" of living space, and a "bold" message about the luxury lifestyle of the Villages of La Costa. :)
In hopes of inspiring people with disabilities to take up para-sports to remain active, ad agency BBDO Toronto created an amazing commercial for the Canadian Paralympic Committee. The entire commercial was filmed in a single continuous shot without any CGI effects. In the commercial, an amputee runner (portrayed by Canadian paralympian Alister McQueen) is shown running past all the obstacles he had to overcome since his disability due to a car accident.-DesignTAXI.com
After our tour, we nestled beneath the beautiful trees and enjoyed a tasting of Stone’s finest… and by “we" I mean our lovely talent. :) They may have had just the right amount because by the time we were shooting the conference meeting, they were drawing silly pictures of each others mothers and laughing hysterically. We couldn’t help but join with a chuckle or two.
I’d like to give a shout out to the wonderful people who made this happen: Thanks Randy at Stone, Annie & Aki from ConVis, Dennis & Kristina from Mering Carson. You guys ROCK!
May starts out the month right with a “Super Moon" and a super shoot! As we continue on our journey of the capturing the essence of San Diego tourism, we ventured to Hillcrest for a bit of color and craze at Urban Mo’s Bar & Grill! So many were celebrating Cinco de Drinko with their festive sombreros and endless margaritas.
Afterwards, we retreated to North Park, where we enjoyed the peace and quiet of Urban Solace. The “urban to urban" was like night and day, and we were happy to wind down with our fancy steak and wine, watching the super moon rise.
Afterwards the gang hit up Taco Tuesday at the best authentic Mexican restaurant in Old Town, Cafe Coyote! We learned how to make homemade tortillas, and how many margarita’s it would take to make the mariachi band sing for free!
JB, Tsukuru, and Aly made a quick trip to an Orange County high school yesterday to film a documentary shoot for our dear friend and strategic partner, Cheril Hendry of Brandtailers. The plans were a bit short notice, but the shoot was for a good cause, so we jumped right in because we’re always down to help the community out. We left with spirits lifted and smiles on our faces. What a good day! 
Headed by Jeffrey Lamont Brown: farm boy. turned photographer. now filmmaker
Tallgrass Pictures LLC
710 13th Street #300
San Diego, California 92101
Jeffrey Lamont Brown
Managing Director
619.227.2701
jb@tallgrasspictures.com
© 2015 | Tallgrass Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
