Dailies Episode 2 and the filming of Christmas Eve
— a C&I Studios original short film —
Christmas Eve is a very special production to us because it marks a turning point in our overall business strategy. We are investing in the creation, production, and funding of original television and film productions now more than ever.
This isn’t a spontaneous change or anything. Everything we have been building up until this point has been so we can do what we love most, which is producing films and television series of our creation. After we released Christmas Eve in December 2018, we knew we were on the verge of this turning point.
We discovered that our local audiences in New York, Los Angeles, and South Florida both respected and appreciated the art we were creating, and that there was an international market that felt the same. Since the release, international sales have scaled quarter after quarter. People from all over the world — especially London — are watching our film.
Now, this isn’t the first short film we’ve produced. It’s just the first one we have distributed to international audiences. Films like Grace From Above and The River Cabin set us on this path. With the advent and success of Christmas Eve, however, we have started to supercharge our output of original productions. You can check out the most recent series on the TV+FILM section of our site.
Behind the scenes on the set of Christmas Eve
This film posed some unique challenges for us. We filmed in New York City and Fort Lauderdale, FL over the course of a year. And throughout the entire production, we were signing contracts with clients, so we had our hands full.
Whenever you’re filming in two totally different locations, you need to be inventive to ensure the setting remains consistent. Christmas Eve takes place entirely in NYC, so the scenes we filmed in Fort Lauderdale required a lot of pre-production.
We utilized our studio in Fort Lauderdale for a lot of the key scenes. Our studio is essentially a blank slate, so we were able to transform the setting to meet our needs. Our favorite transformation was the nightclub scene. A while back we worked with Martin Lighting to create a commercial advertisement for their lighting gear. We turned out studio into a nightclub and the whole thing came out amazing. You can check it out here to see for yourself.
When we needed to design a similar set for Christmas Eve, the lightbulb went off and we got to work. Here are a few of our favorite frame grabs from this part of the film.
