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| Extras Abby, Georgie, Matthew and Marlin were on set this week |
Last week, WBAL's crew produced 10 + commercials and 5 upcoming Sunday Gardener segments in our greenhouse. Scott, Sandy, Jen, Rachel, Matt and others from Valley View Farms created the set for us. Wow, it is beautiful and will remain up through next weekend, March 2 and 3.
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| Sandy, Scott and Jen |
The sod was brought in last fall and laid out in our unheated greenhouse. When it was moved to our heated glass greenhouse, it was still dormant. The heat, light, and water turned it green in two weeks.
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| An amazing mid-February lawn |
The house facade was slightly updated from last year. A stockade fence served as a backdrop. Scott and his crew added a flagstone patio, a gravel seating area, a dry stream bed, (later a pond; thanks Carl and Nick), and a nice stone bench. The team then "planted" the trees and shrubs, adding pansies, bulbs, perennials and annuals as needed throughout the week of filming. The sky was clear blue, without a cloud (or wrinkle). Curtained windows and doors added to the realism of the house. Didn't they do a great job?
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| Beautiful set in our greenhouse |
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| I could spend some time here |
WBAL's crew, led by Senior Producer/Director Don, moved in Monday to set up the cameras, lights, monitors, audio system and much more. Photographer Mike, gaffers and grips Stu, Mark and Rhett got everything ready and were able to start shooting Monday.
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| "Playback!" |
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| Rhett, Mark, and Stu |
Our Garden Shop kept everything going, providing product, people and knowledge to lead the shoot and worked very closely with Don. Annie, WBAL's Commercial Production Manager, kept thing organized, provided call times, set up the script, worked with the teleprompter, timed the segments and did anything else that came up.
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| Annie, Don, and Mike (behind the camera) review |
Dick P, our advertising agent, had already written the commercial scripts and had them okayed with our vendors. He, with Brian, Annie, and Don, made sure the scripts were followed and that the actions that accompanied the scripts were relevant.
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| Kevin, our Armstrong Bird Feed vendor, sets up the product shot with our Garden Shop manager Brian |
Another member of the crew, Dawn, provided make-up and hair styling for our "talent" including Carrie, Rachel F, Brent, and Rachel W.
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| Photographer Mike and Rachel W |
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| Dawn had her work cut out for her |
Most of the commercials were shot by Thursday. Mike, our cameraman, was taking still photos on the go too. The results of all of the work on the shoot was phenomenal.
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| Mike looks, listens, and photographs us for Sunday Gardener |
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Yes, Rachel and Scott really did vacuum the lawn
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Ava Marie stopped by in late morning to do the Sunday Gardener segments with Carrie. We usually do this without lights, the fancy set, and all of the perks we had set up. We were able to use the set for all 5 of the episodes, airing through March at about 9:20 am Sundays on WBAL TV 11. The vendor commercials will air from March thru June.
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| It was a lot of work, but what fun we had! |
We look forward to doing this again in 2025. The technology has really changed in the 30 years we've been collaborating with WBAL TV 11.
Thank you to our vendors who invest in our ads.
Thank you to all my un-named coworkers for keeping the store running, plants watered, and providing customer service to all who stopped in this week.
And, a big thank you to Dan J, CEO at WBAL, and Andy F, CEO of Valley View Farms for providing all the people and resources that we used to create these videos.
Photos provided by Mike from WBAL, and Jen, Scott, Rachel, Cynthia, and Carrie from Valley View Farms
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