Target's Giant Boombox

My third holiday collaboration with Hallmark was the biggest yet. As Executive Producer, I helped pitch the idea, and as Director of Photography, I got to make it real. I flew to Minneapolis to work with Target’s in-house fabrication team on the design of the custom set pieces, then returned to New York to plan a massive lighting and effects show across Piers 16 and 17, historic ships included. We dedicated a full pre-light day with a crew of dozens of technicians stringing over 4 miles of Christmas lights and programming the show in sub-freezing temperatures. Capturing cinematic imagery was especially challenging given the hidden-camera approach, but with 8 cinema cameras, a heavy-lift drone, 3 miniature cameras, and Airstar balloon lighting all perfectly camouflaged, none of the participants noticed a thing. A comprehensive video village let the client watch reactions in real time, and they loved the final result.