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Ryan Shove

Ryan Shove

Ryan Shove is the Creative Director of Retro 8 Films, a film production company based in Atlanta specializing in brand, narrative commercials and social media shorts with a focus on endearing people to brands through meaningful films.

“One thing we’ve learned is that the best way for a company to endear people to its brand is through great storytelling, rather than just focusing on the product,” says Ryan. “Yes, we’re a film production company, but we’ve assembled a team that can take a project beyond the film or video and consider brand strategy, distribution, design, and everything else that will build loyalty with the client.”

Claudia Rogers producer at Retro 8 Films notes “We were psyched to be offered the opportunity to work with Anton/Bauer’s new Titon Battery and Litepanels’ new Gemini 1×1 Soft LED Panel. We had the idea to create a test shoot that could really show off their qualities. We started dreaming up stories that could showcase the two together in extreme and remote environments, to test their versatility and portability far away from the mains power.”

Titon 150

The film is set deep in the forest near Crestline, California where the Retro 8 Films team used Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro and Blackmagic Cinema Pocket 4K cameras, and also captured drone footage. The Titon batteries in Gold Mount® and V-Mount powered not only the cameras, but also other equipment, including Litepanels’ Gemini 1×1 Soft LED Panel that provided key and fill lighting and a SmallHD monitor. Go behind the scenes in the video below.

“The Titon’s ability to fully power so many devices was a huge plus for the shoots, since we were far away from house power or even a generator,” Ryan comments. “The batteries have P-TAP and high-speed Smart USB ports so we were even able to charge our phones and laptop computers to view content on location.”

When you’re in the middle of the woods on the shoot, the last thing you want to worry about is whether your equipment will stay charged,” Ryan comments. “Wherever we are Titon delivers strong battery power with the versatility to power just about everything we need – cameras, monitors, lights, and even our smartphones. And best of all, the onboard LCD screen gives us an exact, minute-by-minute countdown of runtime and the remaining available power.”

We quickly learned that Titon really is the lightweight, reliable, travel-safe choice because it can withstand the toughest assignments in the most extreme environments. Along with the Gemini 1x1 Soft, it will be on every one of our shoots going forward.

Drone footage was super-critical to the creative approach, the Titon batteries made it possible. Ryan explains, “Often, when you’re prepping your gear for flying a drone, you’re focused on charging the batteries that actually power the aircraft, but you sometimes forget to charge the controller. And if your controller is dead, you can’t fly. That’s one of the great things about having the Smart USB port on the side of the Titon battery – it means you can quickly power your kit and keep the shoot going, you won’t be stuck out in the field with a drone that’s stuck on the ground.”

 “The Titons were so reliable, we were able to be extremely mobile and move quickly and efficiently with hand-held gear,” Ryan comments. “This was especially important for creating the lighting effects with the Gemini 1×1 Soft. We were powering the Gemini 1×1 Soft with the Titon battery and were able to hold the light in our hands to position it perfectly.”

These capabilities were especially important for the Crestline shoot. Conceived as a spec commercial for an L.L. Bean backpack, the film tells the story of an adventurous girl running through the woods – with the final shot revealing that she is hurrying to catch her school bus. “This shoot was more technical and less stylistic, and we needed a strong CRI rating on the daylight to create realistic flesh tones,” Ryan comments. “The Gemini 1×1 Soft made all of our images look beautiful, and it was fully powered by Titon batteries.”

The Retro 8 Films team will continue to use Titon for reliable power, and for all their devices wherever the shoot takes them. Watch the final commercial below. 

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