the blog

Before enjoying a restful holiday season, Rock Creek recently wrapped up our 2018 with a fun and exciting three-day production at our studio in Herndon.

Our client, CTEC, required five different sets; a cubicle-filled office environment, a break room, a small conference room, a small private office, and a reception area for one of their online video training programs for federal government employees. When we moved in at the beginning of 2018, this is the exact type of project we envisioned our new studio being the perfect environment for. With its over 5,000 sq. ft. of space, we’re able to build and host multiple sets at once.

Last year proved to be a very busy year for Rock Creek and CTEC. We helped produce several video training series for the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA), including one requiring a bit of special effects work where our main character traveled 10 years into the past to pay himself a visit on his first day on the job.

Rock Creek always enjoys the new and interesting challenges that our clients provide, and we encourage everyone to think creatively when approaching us with an idea for a script or seeking our creative input.

We look forward to seeing what other types of sets and environments our clients need for their productions in 2019!

We’re excited to see our most recent video for the EPA is now online. Working with the Horsley Witten Group, Rock Creek created this short educational video to help EPA promote Water and Wastewater Agency Response Networks. WARNs are mutual aid and resource sharing agreements that help utilities respond in emergencies or help with routine maintenance. Shot on location at several water treatment plants in Asheville, NC, we used a light-hearted but factual approach to dispelling some of the myths around WARN membership. Check out the video below and let us know what you think.

Last summer we were fortunate enough to spend some time “working” at Camp Ton-A-Wanda, creating a promotional video.

This video recently reached 20,000 views on Facebook and was shared 179 times.

Watch the video below:

And if you want to find out more about Camp Ton-A-Wanda, check out their website: www.camptonawandah.com

Rock Creek was busy in 2017 working on a variety of projects in support of the Aspen Institute’s Youth & Engagement Programs capturing interviews and gathering footage to create social media and promotional videos.

In March, we followed a group of high school students through tours in and around DC, highlighted by a curated visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and we spent a day with the students at the Gala Theater in Mt. Pleasant as they engaged on issues of Race and Equity.

Nationals Park was a beautiful setting for our next gig with Aspen Youth and Engagement.  Over 300 high school students participated in One Day University – interacting with college students, hearing lectures from college professors and working with mentors to start the college application process.

In July and August, we helped document and promote Aspen’s Young Leaders Fellowship program, shooting at various locations on the National Mall in DC, at the Watergate Hotel, at the Kennedy Center, as well as in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood where the Fellows engaged people on the street to learn about gentrification.

Within 24 hours of shooting, we turned around a quick teaser video that Aspen used to promote the event through various social media channels, and then we’d take a little more time to provide polished videos supporting their marketing and promotional goals.

Over the past few months we’ve been working on several marine firefighting training projects for the Department of Defense and the US Navy. One of the great things about our job is that we are often given unique opportunities, and this work was no exception.

Aimie Burns was christened our Captain Director for this Marine Firefighting Project.

While at Norfolk Naval Base we were granted permission to film on board the USS Boise, a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine. It was the first time many of us had the opportunity to explore a submarine. Even though the “cool” factor was off the charts, it proved an extremely challenging environment to work in, as every space was tight.

Shane Peters and Mike Teeters take a moment to breath recirculated air inside the USS Boise.

If filming in a submarine is difficult, try being a firefighter in full bunker gear with a breathing apparatus on your back, pulling a charged fire hose and navigating those cramped spaces. Props to them!

In addition to spending two days on the USS Boise, we also filmed on the USS San Jacinto, a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser. This ship seemed enormous in comparison and we felt we could spread out, even though we were still working in constricted spaces. The shipboard crews and base firefighters working with us were helpful and enthusiastic and did everything they could to ensure we captured what we needed.

This project focused on teamwork between on-board and shore-based firefighters to fight marine fires.

This project also took us to the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point in Wilmington, NC where we spent four grueling days aboard the SSG Edward A. Carter, a commercial container ship. Even though we were told this was a “small one” in the world of container ships, it was still an easy five-minute walk to get from the bow to the stern – they said it was nearly four football fields long! Needless to say, we got our steps in that week.

A job well done! Mike Chirieleison, Amie Burns, and Tim Phillips

On Monday, September 18^th, nearly 100,000 students nationwide tuned in online to see Alexis Antonucci’s work for the National Constitution Center.  Alexis is Rock Creek’s newest motion graphics editor.

Our team shot on-camera elements over two days with Bi Jean Ngo in Signer’s Hall in Philadelphia and on the National Mall in Washington DC.

And then Alexis went to work creating an animated framework to contain the video elements and illustrate the content. “I LOVE this work,” said our ecstatic client. “This looks amazing” and “making this show with [Rock Creek] has been a great experience!”

To learn more, check out the link for the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, PA.

https://constitutioncenter.org/learn/hall-pass

Wow!  2016 was a great year here at Rock Creek Productions — not only did we celebrate our 20^th year in business, but we had a lot of fun, too.  We traveled to over 30 cities across the United States from Hanover, NH, to Pensacola, FL, from Austin, TX, to San Diego, CA, and Spokane, WA and many in between. We saw a lot of what our country has to offer and worked on some pretty amazing projects, ranging from fire safety and rescue training to cutting edge technology (actual rocket science!) promotions to environmental advocacy.  And even though we were on the road a lot, our studio was well utilized this year and underwent many transformations from newsrooms, to a doctor’s and drafting offices, to police stations, to a 1970s-era apartment complete with a bathroom.  We were also fortunate enough to grow our team with the addition of Mike Chirieleison, Producer/ Editor and Alexis Antonucci, Assitant Editor.

We want to thank all our clients for another amazing year!  We wish everyone the best and look forward to working with you in 2017!

The Rock Creek Team

Tim and Steve using the Movi and Mimic during a recent shoot in the Indianapolis Airport.

Tim and crew waiting to load up after a shoot day.

Our Cyc wall in our Herndon Studio.

Interviewing students for the United Way of Asheville Buncombe County 2016 Campaign

We’d like to introduce you to Alexis Antonucci, our newest team member. Alexis graduated from UNC Asheville in 2015 with a BA in New Media concentrating in Film, Video Art and Animation. She is originally from New Jersey, and refers to the beach as “The Shore”. Alexis is an avid photographer, enjoys hiking, painting, making jewelry and taking care of her ever growing plant collection. She started with Rock Creek as an intern in March 2016 and was proven to be an invaluable asset to the Rock Creek family. We’re excited to have her on board.

Rock Creek recently designed, constructed, furnished and propped a living room, dining room, kitchen set for a US Navy training project on making good decisions called “Chart the Course.” Follow along as we made it happen.

The first step was to rough in our ideas. Living room about here, dining room there, kitchen there. Exterior window and front door will go to the right and a hallway to the bedrooms will go to the left.

The next step was to bring in Hank Atterbury, a Hollywood-experienced carpenter and special effects guru to build the set. Here he is on the first day of construction building the flats.

Making good progress. The reusable flats are starting to line up.

At the end of the day we cleaned up so as not to scare the maintenance people.

Next, Hank builds a wall extension, trims out our interior window, and add a front door.

Major construction is now complete.

Mostly painted at this point, starting to take shape. Next, we’ll bring in some flooring, add curtains, furnitures, fixtures, wall decorations and other props to fully furnish the space…

And here’s what the set looked like on camera!

The kitchen and breakfast island, the hallway to the back of the apartment…

The dining room area…

And, just because we weren’t done yet, after we shot the apartment scenes, we turned things around and made use of different spaces and angles in our studio to create this office set. Not bad for a three day shoot.

Let us know what you need, and we’ll build out your ideas just like we did for the US Navy.

Everyone at Rock Creek Productions is excited to welcome Mike Chirieleison to the team. He has nearly 10 years of experience working in photography and video production. Mike first started working for us as a freelancer in 2012 after he graduated from Towson University’s Electronic Media and Film Program. He has worked on shows such as; America’s Most Wanted to producing a short piece on a refugee family from Bhutan re-settling in Baltimore, MD.

We are excited to have him on board, and look forward to many fun adventures with him.