Yellowhaus Studio

BTS Story- RAGER AT A MANSION IN DAYTON Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project.?Every crew member has stories.?Some funny, some sad, some scary.?Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much.?This is one of them…… Relationships are everything.?Happy client & crew = Happy production company.? ? A great location can make a shoot.?It’s the aesthetic that drives the production. ? When you find the perfect location that doubles as a wonderful client & crew experience…winner?winner,?chicken dinner. ? While scouting for a locale that could act as a?therapist’s?office…?we found the former home of Governor James M. Cox?– a?sprawling?5-acre estate that welcomed Presidents FDR, Woodrow?Wilson?and Harry Truman as guests.?It had a gorgeous library that was perfect for the look and feel we were hoping to achieve.?The stately room was lined with mahogany bookshelves and large floor to ceiling windows.?We instantly knew it was our spot to shoot the TV campaign.? ? What it became…?was so much more.? ? With 15,000+ square feet of living space, 9 bedrooms and an in-ground pool, the house became Yellowhaus Central for the 3-day shoot.?Talent and crew stayed in the bedrooms to minimize travel?and our client?(a regional credit union)?took over the massive living room, which doubled as video village.?Craft services used the commercial kitchen to continually deliver scrumptious?meals and?snacks which kept us all going throughout the long days.? ? The “relationship” part was solidified each night after we wrapped. Old Fashions enjoyed in the lounge.?Cabernet poured in the kitchen.?Pilsners by the pool.?It was a wonderful mix of people, working hard during the day and reveling in each other’s company at night.?It’s why we started Yellowhaus.?And it was an experience none of us will soon forget.? ? And producer’s note…?.it was all done through?AirBnB.?Don’t sleep on that app as a location resource.?

BTS STORY– ALMOST MURDERED THE INTRUDER Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project.??Every crew member has stories.??Some funny, some sad, some scary.??Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much.??This is one of them…… Yellowhaus recently tackled our first short film project: Northpointe.??After a decade of living in the :30 second to 2:00 minute video world?(for the most part)?it was harrowing but exciting to shoot something that would result in a 30-minute+ piece.? The 5-day shoot took place in February 2024.??Over the coldest week of the year, mind you.??And with a couple of outdoor/overnight shoots thrown in….we knew it was going to be a challenge.? After months of casting, location scouting, storyboard tweaks, script changes and crew and equipment procurement and prepped with layers of clothing and endless hot chocolate we were ready to go.??Our first 15-hour day hit us with the largest snowstorm of the year.??Our second day, all outside, hit us with the lowest temperatures of 2024.??But those obstacles were nothing compared with what Day 3 would bring us.??Or should I say…Night 3.? Our plan was to shoot overnight in a local laundromat.??A 3PM call-time gave us a couple hours of sunlight?(in 18 degree temps)?before we were ready to go and begin filming….with a hard stop at 5AM.??Our location was off a very busy road and the plan was to shoot late so traffic would die down and not affect audio too much.?Little did we know that at 2AM we would encounter an angry driver who continually drove by the scene, revving his engine and honking his horn, causing us to cut every time he passed by.??Needless to say…he was greeted with cat-calls, hand gestures and body language that communicated our frustration.??Which then led him to blow through our set barriers and drive right into the middle of our scene.??Let’s just say…he was not greeted with open arms.??And we proceeded to wrestle him off our set with the threat to call the police.? He finally took off and we got back to filming.??The side-craziness pushed us back a bit and we finally wrapped at 5:30AM…exhausted and freezing and ready to go home and pass out for a few hours until the call time later that day.? As we were about done packing up…..a crew member approached me with a forlorn look…..”I locked my keys in my car and it’s running”?was the message delivered.??I could only laugh at our predicament as exhaustion set in.??We called AAA and waited patiently in the parking lot until our tow-truck arrived at 7:30AM!!!? It was a nutty day but it actually brought us closer together as a crew and is a story we will tell till we’re old and gray.? Given lemons and making lemonade….it’s what we do! ??

Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project.?Every crew member has stories.?Some funny, some sad, some scary.?Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much.?This is one of them…… Offering value added content for a client is a North Star in our industry.?How can we use available assets to deliver additional opportunities for relevant messaging??We should all be asking ourselves that on every project.? ? For Euforia by Pure Romance we amassed a TON of footage for their Brand Film “A Girls Night Out”?After using the footage shot to script, we still had some great stuff left over.?So we decided to edit a smaller, more product focused piece for each business unit.?Sort of a teaser for each product line that each fed into the main Brand Video piece.?We set each to particular music that complimented the main piece?and identified each product line under the brand umbrella.?The result was a campaign covering the entire line…and a happy customer getting more bang for their buck.? ? To experience the added value that Yellowhaus could bring to the table for your brand…..visit us at Yellow-haus.com for contact info

Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project.?Every crew member has stories.?Some funny, some sad, some scary.?Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much.?This is one of them…… When the Cincinnati Reds tagged Yellowhaus to develop their TV?spots?for their 150thanniversary…. needless to say, we were stoked.?As the oldest professional sports team in the country, the organization wanted to showcase three of their legendary players for this unprecedented campaign. ? We were fortunate to work with Johnny Bench at GABP and Barry Larkin at his home in Orlando.?Next step…… six-time All-Star Joey Votto.?It was the start of Spring Training and Joey wanted to get all media commitments out of the way prior to diving into baseball activity.?Amongst some of the requests, was that we?shouldn’t?hire a hair/make-up stylist for the shoot.?“Joey would never go for it”?we?were?told.?So,?with that in mind, YH headed to Goodyear, AZ to work with the Canadian 1st?baseman.? ? After greeting our hired Phoenix crew?(sans?HMU),?we were instructed that we needed to be set up in the Reds locker room no later than 8:30AM.?Joey wanted to get it done early…so we arrived at 5:30AM to prep the locker room.?By 7:45 we sat ready,?awaiting the future Hall of Famer.?At approximately 2:30PM, Joey walked into the locker room.?Apologetic, but eager to get this done.?Great start.? ? He then sits in the chair and immediately tells us; “Guys, I f****d up.” To which he then removed his hat to expose a less than perfect self-grooming haircut.?Clumps of hair scattered about his head, neckline and chin.?Hmmmmm…..HMU would have been nice right about now! But we persevered and adjusted the lighting and camera appropriately to hide his errant razor skills.? ? As he sat?back down?in his chair, he?then?noticed our teleprompter set-up.?It was a fairly lengthy script we were asking the?players?to?deliver,?and Mr. Bench and?Mr.?Larkin gladly used the visual aide.?Not Joey Votto.?He insisted?on memorizing the script.?And?so,?he took a laptop to the corner of the locker room and in 10 minutes knew the script,?verbatim.?We were ready to roll.? ? In the end…. he crushed it?and was an awesome guy to boot.??A few takes and he was out the door, ready to start another stellar season in a Reds uniform.? ? It was an adventure we will never forget by a man we enjoyed watching for 17 seasons.?Here’s to you Mr. Votto.?Next stop, Cooperstown.?

Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project. Every crew member has stories. Some funny, some sad, some scary. Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much. This is one of them…… Good on-camera talent is essential to a successful TV campaign. From Progressive’s Flo to Ryan Reynolds and Mint Mobile, an actor comfortable with his/her surroundings and lines is key to ensure on- set harmony. Same goes for on-camera talent’s health and well-being. Let me explain…. Yellowhaus recently wrapped production on a TV campaign for BETFRED, a UK based betting platform. It was their first foray into the US sports market, and they wanted humorous spots focused on football, baseball and soccer. After a concept was chosen, we embarked on a search to find our main character who could carry us through the campaign. We found a wonderful stunt-actor with the chops, physical comedic skills, athleticism and facial expressions to pull it off. We were ecstatic to work with him and put together a rigorous 3-day shoot schedule. Day 1 we would shoot baseball, Day 2 soccer and Day 3 football. After coordinating several locations (try asking a school if we can shoot a betting commercial on their field…..it’s fun), dozens of crew members and countless extras, we were ready to go. Day 1 went without a hitch. Bats were flung, 90 mph heaters thrown, and outfield collisions executed. On to Day 2. Day 2 we settled into our soccer field and began capturing various plays…. starting with PK’s. As our talent lined up for his third take of the day…. he took aim at our goalie for hire and ripped a ball in the upper right corner. That wasn’t all he ripped. As he fell to the ground with a blood-curdling scream we all thought… “man he is really getting into the role.” But in reality, it was a torn groin muscle. The entire shoot flashed before our eyes as he lay writhing on the ground. Instantly…. back-up plans, budgetary and timing concerns rushed into our heads. Our on-site EMT’s weren’t any help as their expert medical advice was to “just ice it…not much we can do.” Yet after about an hour, our soccer stud limped back on the field ready to finish the day. He suffered through various scenes, we went tight on others so we could use stand-ins and at the end of the day we got what we needed. We ended up postponing the football shoot for a month so he could heal and when he finally donned the pads in a 95+ degree day, he made it through. And the campaign was a hit. Always prepare for Plan B. You never know when you’re going to need it.

Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project. Every crew member has stories. Some funny, some sad, some scary. Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much. This is one of them…… In our almost decade as Yellowhaus, we’ve had the opportunity to shoot in some pretty cool locations. From Paycor Stadium to shutting down Fountain Square. New York Harbor to Long Beach, CA, we’ve experienced quite a bit. Yet one of our most memorable shoots was 110 miles north of YH HQ at El Dora Speedway in New Weston, OH. If you’ve never been to El Dora…you’re not alone. It is a 0.5-mile dirtracetrack set amongst the cornfields of Central Ohio. No highways. No cell service. No Hotels. With a crew of six, our challenge was figuring out where to stay for a weekend shoot and how we could safely store our equipment. Naturally….we chose to rent an RV and have it delivered to the El Dora parking lot. What ensued, was utter comedy. As we pulled up to our weekend home, everyone’s first thought was….six grown men…in THAT?!? We moved in and made do, of course, and we were ready to tackle our assignment for our client, an all-purpose cleaner. The location made total sense because…well..El Dora is COMPLETELY covered in mud. The dirt on the dirt track does not stay on said track. It flies into the stands, onto the infield and, as we found out, all over us situated on the sidelines. We had our camera, lenses and equipment protected. But not ourselves. We came out of a day of shooting looking like coal-miners in the 1950’s. Fortunately, there was a shower/washer/dryer in our RV……NOT!! With no other choice….we embraced the mud. We sat in it, slept in it, played in it and drank beers and bourbon in it. We even shot an award winning SEDS (Self Deprecating Short) in it. What could have been a nightmare scenario, was embraced by all and ended up being one of our favorite shoots. Shows what having the best crew can do to morale. Needless to say, we all enjoyed our showers when we finally got home after 48 long hours. And….shockingly….we didn’t get the deposit back on the RV rental!?!

Anyone who’s been involved in commercial or film production knows what can go down when planning/shooting a project. Every crew member has stories. Some funny, some sad, some scary. Some suitable for public consumption, others…. not so much. This is one of them…… As a Production Company in the conservative Midwest, shooting for an “intimacy brand” can be a challenge. Especially when it comes to location scouting. We had been searching for weeks for 5 specific locations for our shoot….the final straw was a grandiose staircase in a large home for the final scene of a brand video. Literally dozens of phone calls, e-mails and scouts attempting to find the perfect ending to our concept. All met with “yea….I’m not sure I want THAT in our house.” Even though this piece was focused on sleepwear, lotions and jewelry, not on our client’s selection of toys, I got the Heisman at every turn. With our final pre-pro meeting days away, I was able to find a woman who was totally fine to open her gorgeous house to us and our cameras. Heck she was a consumer of the product! (TMI….then and now… we get it). Two days later I confidently walked into our final pre-pro excited to showcase final wardrobe, hairstyles, props, accessories and, of course, locations. With the very engaged and opinionated CEO in the room, I breezed through our 64-page pre-pro book. It was met with nods of approval and thumbs up and was feeling great as I clicked on one of my final slides that featured the last scene. Cue record scratch SFX……………… Turns out the CEO lived in the same neighborhood as the gracious woman willing to open her house to us. And they we far from friendly! The image in the screen was met with an instant….”awwww hell no” and weeks of searching had ended up empty. I was back too square-one, with less than 72-hours before production began. I would pay money to see the look on my face when he dropped that bomb. And I could see the terror in the eyes of my Director, DP, Wardrobe Stylist and Set Designer who were all in the meeting. Feeling dejected and borderline panicky….I found and called several realtors in the area, ones who specialized in the sort of high-end neighborhoods we needed. The next day we found ourselves in an empty large mansion for sale with a spectacular winding staircase. Yet the rooms surrounding the staircase were caked in bright blue, bright orange and bright green paint!?! As I was on the phone to a painting company prepared to whitewash the house, the owners showed up and mentioned that their current house also had a grand staircase! We scurried to the next town over and, as luck would have it, found our staircase. Mission accomplished….and with 24 hours to spare! Moral of the story…...Be prepared for ANYTHING. Curve balls, even at the eleventh hour, are inevitable. You can hear more Yellowhaus BTS Stories in future posts. Stay tuned, and check out the final product below!