April 15, 2005

Scotts Valley, CA - It was 15 years ago when Tam Communications began collaborating with the marketing department at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The partnership has resulted in many great commercials over the years. But with a brand new ride on the Boardwalk (the Double Shot), it made sense to create a new campaign to celebrate its arrival. The new campaign would include not just images of the new ride, but also brand new footage of existing rides and of the beach as well.

The work on the new campaign began last August with two days of auditions. The goal: To find just the right mix of talent to represent enthusiastic Boardwalk guests. Associate Producer Jennifer Haskins worked with Executive Producer Susan O’Connor Fraser to assemble the 15-person cast, which had to reflect the mix of visitors that frequent the Boardwalk. The final cast ranged in age from four to thirty-four with a majority of the group being between 12 and 20.

With the cast locked, Director, Tam Fraser took over for two long days of production. In addition to O’Connor Fraser and Haskins, Fraser’s crew included Lighting Director, Andy Olsen; Grip, Scott Bayer; Gaffer, Paul Stapleton Smith; Teacher, Bonnie Katz; Make-up Artist, Lisette Towzen; and Make-up Assistant, Katie Mathew. Fraser shot from the beach, from cranes, and on the rides (including rigging special cameras to the rides to get the guest’s point-of-view).

Moving the cast, crew, security, and Boardwalk personnel efficiently from one end of the Boardwalk to the other was one of the project’s biggest challenges. Making sure that we complied with all of the labor laws related to children and television production was another. O’Connor Fraser and Haskins worked closely together to develop the schedule and then kept in constant coordination via radios to overcome each challenge.

While the majority of production was completed last August when the summer season was in full swing, the Double Shot wasn’t installed till February requiring a second trip out to the Boardwalk. The driving factor was to get the first set of spots edited and on the air in time for Spring Break. Then earlier this month, night footage of the new ride was put in the can to complete production for the year.

In addition to all of new imagery, a new version of “California Sun”, the Boardwalk’s theme song, was written by Composer Pat Mosca. Mosa worked with recording artist Becca Kavanuagh on the new jingle, which has much more of a rock/punk sound than the original. The jingle is not only being used for the television campaign but for the Boardwalk’s radio buy as well.

Post-production of the spots was completed in Tam’s Scotts Valley-based digital editing facility. The first step was to employ Tam’s proprietary “film-look” to the original video. “This step is critical,” notes Director, Tam Fraser. “We save the Boardwalk thousands of dollars by shooting on video but we can still give them the look of a regional television commercial by film-looking the footage.” Tam then edited the assortment of :30, :15, and :10 spots that are now airing on Bay Area television channels.

Tam Communications is a leading digital media company, servicing corporate and entertainment clients by combining technical, creative, and communications expertise in the realms of video, interactive multimedia, and web. The company's expanding spectrum of original entertainment programming—developed for broadcast, cable, syndication, and other venues—airs worldwide. Tam Communications is a privately held company located in Scotts Valley, CA. Please visit our web site at www.tamcom.com.