My First (and Possibly Only) Video Shoot

I don’t always shoot commercials. But when I do, I feel like a movie star. Yesterday I went to Central Park to do a testimonial video shoot for BODYGLIDE’s new campaign. Many of my you may remember something about this when I mentioned it in my recent BODYGLIDE gveaway. It was everything I expected and much more. As I have never been in a video before, the whole experience was definitely an eye opener for me.

The Trip

Before the shoot, I took the A train down to West 72nd St to meet up with my friend Andrew, who lives nearby. I knew this would be an epic day because halfway through the commute I saw this:

Not sure what to call this guy. He was on his way to work for some event. It was nice of him to put on a show for me in the train.

Andrew and I took a little stroll across the park, and ended up at a cafe called Sicaffé. Its cheese danish was exquisite – however the coffee was Starbucks-like at best. After we left the cafe, I headed over to Central Park and met up with the production crew.

The Crew

When the crew from BOLD Worldwide rolled out of their van in front of the Central Park entrance on 5th Ave, I was greeted by my contact, Katie. She introduced me to everyone who was involved in the production. But I was pleasantly shocked when I heard “this is Bill Sternoff – he’s the CEO of BODYGLIDE”. I didn’t expect to shake hands with the man behind BODYGLIDE, one of my running essentials for many years.

Bill shared with me several personal stories, including how he founded BODYGLIDE. One interesting fact about Bill is that before he started BODYGLIDE, he was on TV! Bill was a news anchor for a few decades. It was slightly strange talking to Bill because of his unique reporter-like voice. I later found this footage of Bill on YouTube:

After meet and greet, we proceeded to a nearby playground for the first portion of filming.

The Shoot

Before my turn, the first part of filming was with Lana and her two beautiful twin girls. They shot her testimonial interview in the playground, then her action scenes on a nearby grass patch. I snapped a shot of the interview:

Filming of BODYGLIDE Anti-Chafe For Her testimonial video. CEO of BODYGLIDE, Bill Sternoff, on the right overseeing the process.

The twins are super stars!

When it was finally my turn, we headed over to Conservatory Water. The weather was partially cloudy in the mid 40s. As I was in my running gear for the shoot – it was freezing for me to just stand around

before I had to get in front of the camera. So I ran a quick loop around the pond to warm up so that I could stop shivering and chattering my teeth. After the short dash, the sound guy wired and taped me with a microphone. Then it was GO TIME!

The first part of my shoot was a conversation between the director, Jarett Bellucci, and me. He asked me several questions regarding my experience with running, chafing, and, of course, BODYGLIDE. I was both cold and excited at the same time during the entire conversation that I might have said something silly or acted ridiculous from time  to time. Not to mention there was a constant stream of people stopping to watch me. I seriously hope my nervousness will be edited out.

Getting ready to start.

I am actually freezing right here...

Following the interview was my action scene. At last I got to do what I love doing – running! My legs felt heavy and stiff without proper warm up – add that to the fact that I ran 20 miles and 11 miles in the two days prior to the shot. But this was my moment to shine, not complain.

I dashed around the pond, up a hill, along a winding path, and finally through a tunnel. Then the last part of my action scene was about how I use BODYGLIDE during a typical run. I was asked to apply BODYGLIDE on my thighs and do some stretching (although I don’t stretch regularly). The shoot wrapped here.

In Hindsight

I enjoyed every moment of this – as it was a refreshing experience to be part of a film production, and get a quick glimpse of what actors do. Although I was told to just be myself and pretend nobody else was watching, it was definitely easy for me to relax. But it was reassuring when Bill told me I looked great and the director promised to make me look like a pro. For now, I can’t wait to see the final cut of the footage in the near future.

What do you think of my first video shoot? Have you ever been in a video before? Don’t forget to share in the comment section below!

Author Bio: Kevin Lu is an engineer, currently working in the field of orthopedic devices. He received his B.S. and M.S. in biomedical engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology. Science, technology, and running are Kevin’s passions. In his spare time, Kevin trains for and participates in races of various distances. In addition to Beyond Distance, Kevin also writes for iRunnerBlog as a contributing tech columnist. Find out more about Kevin here and follow him on Twitter.