"Bay News 9 was so good to us the first time we decided we gotta do it again."
That from Dolphin Tale 2 Director Charles Martin Smith, who returned the Dolphin Tale franchise to Bay News 9 after the 2011 hit movie Dolphin Tale highlighted the news network studios.
This time around, crew members arrived four hours before the shoot and gave a makeover to the main news studio. They connected cables to record directly from Bay News 9’s studio cameras.
Set decorator Jeff Taylor and lead man Rod England worked on creating the perfect morning show ambiance with warm, comfy chairs, fresh flowers and Bay News 9 mugs.
Five mugs were pulled for the shoot. Two were used, and the others were backups.
Director of Photography Daryn Okada and the First Assistant to the Director Benita Allen came in next, testing the light and prepping the crew to begin shooting.
The scenes at Bay News 9 help tell the Dolphin Tale 2 story, according to Smith.
“It comes --well -- it kind of launches us toward the end of the movie," he said.
And Bay News 9 crew members may not be getting their names in the credits, but they rolled prompter for the “actor” anchors and even sat in the control room to execute camera shots and microphone cues.
And there are more Bay News 9 involved scenes to come in the movie’s 3 months of planned shooting.
“Bay News 9 just weaves all the way through the movie. It's a part of the fabric of Dolphin Tale," Martin said.
Dolphin Tale 2 is slated to open in the fall of 2014.