Monday, January 30, 2012

Behind the Scenes-The Making of a Selvatica Video!

"You Don't Have to be a Celebrity to Live the Adventure"

I have always wanted to know what it would be like to be on the set of a movie and for a weekend I got what   I wished for. Not only did I get to help with all the behind the scenes stuff, I also made an appearance! I didn't realize how much work it was going to be, but I'm sure glad to have had the experience! We accomplished the making of the video with a very demanding director named Jerry, some of the staff from the park and a visit by a very special celebrity! (I won't mention the name of the celebrity, but if you want to take a guess, you can post your idea in the comment section of the blog post.) 
Jerry, in the orange shirt, preparing the camera.
For those of us chosen to be a part of the project we needed to leave Cancun at 5 am! That's pretty early for us! We arrived at the park, enjoyed a nice breakfast provided by our kitchen staff and prepared ourselves for the day to come. For the first day of filming the staff was able to keep their cell phones and cameras because we were taping all of the scenes that our celebrity was not featured in, which is how I was able to capture these photos. But the following day when the celebrity was about to arrive we had to hand them all over to the boss. We were instructed that if we were caught taking photos, of the celebrity or anything else, well we would be in serious trouble!!! All of the filming was made in the palapa we call Zatara while our guests were making their tour in Zulu. 
         
A Snapshot from the video at the 2 min mark.
Just to clarify, Selvatica has two palapas,  Zulu and Zatara. A palapa is a thatched roof structure, kinda like a tribal hut. Zatara is the palapa that we currently use for daily operations. It has a tree growing through the middle and a tree house at the first zip line for those of you who have been to the park more than once or more than a year ago. The picture to the right was taken during the filming as I descended from the tree house on the automatic belay. This repel is part of the Off Road and Flight Challenge, the premium tour that Selvatica offers. That tour has 8 zip lines, 7 areal bridges, then the repel to return to the ground, whereas all the other tours do all 12 zip lines (and it's just as exciting). To see all the tours, age requirements and prices that Selvatica offers visit the official Selvatica site.
OK, back to the story. The staff that weekend were actors, assistants, props, make-up artists, costume providers and stage hands! This might seem exciting, we thought it would be too, but take a look at this photo to the left. There was a lot of holding those light reflectors and fighting the wind not to carry them away. If a cloud passed over we had to patiently wait until the light came back, adjust and hold in position through the action. I'm sure you must know that a scene shot can never be right on the first, second, or even third try...so needless to say it took 3 days of filming to make a 3 minute video!
On the morning of the second day I was standing at the ironing board preparing a shirt for our special guest celebrity, with my Ipod in my ears, when he walked right up to me with another staff member to be introduced. Because I had my earphones in, it took a second to catch my attention, I was not at all prepared! I couldn't believe there was a celebrity in our park! We were all a bit nervous, but it was a real joy to work with him. He was very kind and not at all high maintenance, like you would expect from a celebrity. In Zatara at the top of the stairs, before the swinging bridge, we prepared a make shift dressing room for him. I bet he had never had a dressing room like that before! 
I would have to say one of the best memories of those 3 days was painting the faces of the guides who were in the musical drum scenes and then trying to shoot it! To see the finished product was absolutely amazing! It was a lot of hard work but we couldn't be more thrilled about the final outcome! I really hope you enjoy the video!
If you would like to see the complete album of photos follow this link to our Facebook Page.

3 comments:

  1. My husband swears its Sean Connery, I thought it was a look alike but maybe I was wrong? lol

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    1. When we have a few more guesses, I will reveal who it is!!

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