Small Giant, a boutique, multi-award winning production company, enjoyed a strong Fall and early Winter 2020 with a variety of projects from its various major cable and streaming TV clientele. Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the U.S. in March 2020, Small Giant redesigned and optimized its two fully owned and operated studios to ensure that all shoots that took place there would be either 100% contactless – or have very limited contact – to conform to the restrictions imposed by the virus. The team calls this process “Pandemic Production.”
Small Giant’s two studios allow the company room (literally) to be creative in new and exciting ways with each and every project it tackles. Powered by a full grid, complete grip and electric package, wireless DMX, and much more, the two Small Giant stages are optimized for the production of intimate interviews, stunning tabletop, stop-motion, experiential, and unlimited forms of high-end digital content.
Among the prominent projects Small Giant produced during Fall/Early Winter 2020:
Tabletop Spots For History Channel
The History Channel turned over its creative to Small Giant to promote many of its shows during the holiday season. For Halloween, Small Giant turned History talent, such as Marty and Rick Lagina from The Curse of Oak Island, into Jack O’Lanterns. For Thanksgiving, the company placed show symbols, like swords from Forged in Fire, over a table loaded with a holiday feast. The most ambitious of these spots were when Small Giant turned several of History’s most popular series into Christmas snow globes, complete with swirling snow. Small Giant ultimately shot the spots on an elaborate set with a probe lens, making it look like they were set inside glass globes with snow gently falling.
- To View History Christmas Spots, Click Here
- To View History Thanksgiving Spots, Click Here
- To View History Halloween Spots, Click Here
Vimeo Links for These Projects:
HISTORY HALLOWEEN
- https://vimeo.com/482423150
- https://vimeo.com/482423153
- https://vimeo.com/482423126
- https://vimeo.com/482423115
- https://vimeo.com/482423140
HISTORY THANKSGIVING
- https://vimeo.com/482423478
- https://vimeo.com/482423468
- https://vimeo.com/482423452
- https://vimeo.com/482423444
- https://vimeo.com/482423441
- https://vimeo.com/482423469
HISTORY SNOW GLOBES
- https://vimeo.com/491858113
- https://vimeo.com/491857873
- https://vimeo.com/491857327
- https://vimeo.com/491857041
- https://vimeo.com/491857615
Regarding Small Giant’s work on these holiday promotions, Mary Traina, Senior Creative Director at History Channel, said, “I’ve worked with Nick and his team for about 6 years now – his creative is a consistently high quality. You hear people talk about doing a ‘table-top’ shoot and you might think it would be a small, low budget project. But with Nick he’ll get the right people in place to make it feel like a premium project. He respects the artists he works with. I think the holiday 2020 campaign we did with him was a challenging shoot, but I knew that Nick was going to think his way through and find solutions and be enthusiastic about implementing those solutions. With the winter shots, we wanted to do miniatures with snow globes, which was going to be a difficult assignment. Small Giant found someone who is amazing with miniature sets, and that artist’s creative solutions resulted in snow globes that were totally realistic. We wanted our holiday campaign to bring some fun to our audience, given the difficult year we’ve all just endured.”
“The Small Giant team is also exciting to work with and a lot of fun,” Traina adds. "Given the Covid situation, Nick and his team were diligent to ensure that our holiday shoots took place within a safe environment. I was able to remain in the comfort of my remote location while supervising the shoots. They stay on top of making sure that everyone remains safe during the pandemic. It’s great to trust them. I’ve also worked on talent shoots with Small Giant, and they are also great with the lighting and color correction in post. Their projects always look really premium – Nick and his team are real partners for us!”
Contactless Interviews For SYFY Wire
Small Giant produced three days of contactless interviews for SYFY Wire’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide (no crew in studio, talent alone). The Small Giant team shot Contactless Interviews with SYFY Wire Hosts Jackie Jennings, Juan Cadavid, and Matt Romano. Contactless Interviews such as these will certainly play a big role in Small Giant’s future. The company’s team members are not aware of any other company that is currently doing this.
To View these Interviews, please Click Here
Vimeo Links For SYFY Wire Holiday Shopping Guide Interviews
- https://vimeo.com/501611086
- https://vimeo.com/501610792
- https://vimeo.com/501610484
- https://vimeo.com/501613987
Peacock Shoot for THE OFFICE
Small Giant recently shot an experiential, one-hour project promoting the hit TV series “The Office” which is now running on the Peacock streaming channel. This project was a major commission for Small Giant. While the work Small Giant produced exists behind a paywall, this project has generated a great deal of media attention, including this article: Click Here
Says Mike Pinho, Executive Producer, Entertainment and Lifestyle Production, NBCUniversal, “From a production standpoint, it’s always a pleasure to work with Nick and his Small Giant team. Nick’s team consistently excels at finding creative production solutions for productions of all sizes – often with quick delivery deadlines. Most recently, Nick helped us execute production on a long form ambient reel to promote the series ‘The Office’ which is now streaming on Peacock. I’ve executed many successful projects working with Nick across various NBCUniversal cable properties over the last few years – we have a great production workflow and shorthand. Nick and his team have an unrivaled passion for storytelling and technology, and I am constantly impressed with the caliber of content his studio produces.”
Stop Motion & Live Action Animal Shoots For WEtv, one of the AMC Networks
Small Giant produced stop motion and live action animal shoots for WEtv, one of the AMC Networks:
- To view the WEtv/Persil Stop Motion Spot, Click Here
- To view the WEtv Live Action Animal Shoot Bounce Spot, Click Here
Vimeo Links For WEtv Projects
Says Kevin Howard, Producer, Branded Entertainment, AMC Networks, “I’ve been a Producer with AMC Networks for seven years and have always worked on branded content in some form or another. Small Giant is one of those companies that was always in my orbit and I would always look for the right project to collaborate on with Nick. He is so versatile with what he is always available to do. We recently needed some spots for two laundry products. Small Giant did beautiful work on these spots. One of their biggest assets is that they own their own studio space, which they have full control over. They can work within so many ranges of budgets – the Small Giant team can figure out any assignment. Since they own so many of their own physical assets, they always get something great done, while retaining full control over their environment.”
He adds, “This put Nick and the Small Giant team in a very fortunate situation once the Covid Pandemic began. The way the company has everything set up and wired is perfect for safe shooting. Even if you’re following every safety precaution rule, there are still some things that will need to be personal – for example, if there’s talent in the studio, they either feel fine or they don’t feel fine within the presence of a small crew. The way Nick is set up, the talent is the only person in the room, with complete control of lighting and cameras taking place from separate rooms, and the director sitting in a separate booth. All of this allows for remote home viewing for the client. The client has a live feed at all times, and can check in at anytime, with direct access to the director via text or Zoom. Nick and the Small Giant team are really nice to work with – Nick hires excellent crews and makes you feel confident that everything will get done in time and on budget. He has a really chill attitude – you always know he will stay on top of everything.”
About Small Giant's Approach To COVID Era Production
Regarding his company’s approach to production during the COVID-era, Nick Morrison, Founder and Lead Creative for Small Giant, says, “Due to the impact of the Covid virus, we put our heads together and developed our version of ‘Pandemic Production’ – an innovative new way of filmmaking where there’s literally no crew in the studio. When we are actively shooting a new project for a client, everyone from talent to crew can work 100% contactless if needed. This was really important to us – it took a long time and a lot of work to put into place – but it’s been well worth it – a real game changer for us. Being able to station our crew safely across our facility, and giving them full access to all of their equipment, has been a wonder to behold. Eventually, we foresee crew being able to perform their jobs even more remotely – from the comfort of their own homes.”
He adds, “This workflow will outlive Covid. We’ve streamlined production itself. Prelights and shoots are faster. Our crew is more nimble. And our creative is more flexible. From interviews to tabletop, we just have more control than ever before. We love our crew, we love being on set, and we felt like we had no choice but to innovate – and lucky for us, it was the best thing we ever did. With the industry so in flux right now, we feel like we’re perfectly suited to produce any type of content our clients need, and that makes us really happy. We’re not just focused on now. We’ve got our eye on the future.”
About SMALL GIANT
Founded in Brooklyn, New York, in 2013, by Nick Morrison, Small Giant is a boutique, award-winning content agency comprised of a highly creative team passionate about all sides of the content equation – from production to post. The company reflects Morrison’s ethos: Always be Creative! And Always Embrace New Technology! The Small Giant team constantly strives for unique and original creativity, by which to give its clients more options. The team embraces the best that filmmaking has to offer.
Small Giant’s clients include such top entertainment industry brands as HBO, History Channel, A&E, Lifetime, Discovery, Peacock, SYFY, Amazon, Animal Planet, Audible, WEtv, BBC-A, TruTV, and dozens more. These clients turn to Small Giant to produce content in all shapes and sizes – short-form, medium-form, longform, promos, trailers, sizzles, viral spots, PSA’s, you name it – they’ve done it.
Morrison and his team genuinely love what they do, and especially love the unusual requests: Can you film babies? Sure. Cats? Yes. Dogs? Yes. Celebs? Of course. Can you build an FBI set? No Problem.
About The SMALL GIANT Team
An award-winning filmmaker, Nick Morrison is the Founder and Lead Creative for Small Giant. Morrison has been behind the camera since he could walk. The son of a cult Spanish film director, being on set has always felt like home. Devoted to great storytelling and strong teamwork, Morrison’s passion for filmmaking infuses everything Small Giant does. A veteran of broadcast television (History, A&E, Lifetime, BBC-A, TruTV), Morrison’s 20 years of creative and technical experience permeates all of Small Giant’s work.
To read about the rest of the Small Giant team, please Click Here
About The SMALL GIANT Facility
The heartbeat of Small Giant is its facility, which boasts two studios (one is 30×20, the other 20×20), allowing the company a perfect, private sanctuary by which to make incredibly creative content. Undisturbed by the usual limitations of renting a studio, the Small Giant team is able to craft its projects with an unusual attention to detail.
The Small Giant office is the “Brains” of the operation. The company’s stylish, intimate office serves as its creative HQ. Equipped with Post, Color, and VFX stations, a green room, and meeting area – this elevated space brings out the best in all of the company’s work. With shoots rolling in the studio, and post finishing taking place concurrently in the office, the Small Giant team offers clients a unique array of Full Service creative solutions.
The edits made by the Small Giant team are Cloud-based and turbo charged by tech. With over 20TB of media shared on the cloud between the company’s editors, colorist and mixers, the team is able to edit faster, quicker, and better than ever before. Long considered an incredibly creative editorial shop, the team now feels even quicker and lighter on their feet. From editing its own shoots, to cutting clip spots, tapes, sizzles, longform, short-form, you name it – the Small Giant team loves it all. Post is where everything comes together, so it’s something the team takes particular pride in.
Small Giant is located at 315 Flatbush Avenue, #405, Brooklyn, NY 11217. The phone numbers are Office: 718-210-3711 and Cell: 646-236-7884. Please email: team@smallgiant.tv
