NEW YORK — First, RuckSackNY’s (www.rucksackny.com) Fred and Natasha Ruckel came up with an idea for a new pet product — then, they put their production, design and post skills to use, creating a Kickstarter campaign that they hope will ultimately lead to the production of a commercially-available product.
The couple came up with the idea for the “Ripple Rug” after observing their own cat’s fascination with a curled up piece of carpet. They designed a cat-friendly and environmentally-responsible prototype, and have gone through a series of refinements over the past few months, bringing them to where they are today — the launch of their new crowd-funded campaign.
According to Fred Ruckel, the entire project was shot using a Canon 5D with multiple EF Series lenses and Fiilex LED lighting packages, which helped create the natural look. Ripple Rug product shots were captured using a slider rig and a motorized variable speed turntable. And commentary from the inventors — Fred and Natasha — was captured using a white cyc as a background, helping to keep the focus on the message and eliminate distractions. For audio, the team used their wireless Sennheiser boom setup, which was fed to a TASCAM field recorder.
The video was cut in Adobe Premiere, which RuckSackNY uses exclusively for editing client projects.
“I love the tight integration between Premiere, After Effects, Audition and Speedgrade,” says Fred. “You can accomplish a full project from one seat.”
The suite also allowed them to complete the entire project in-house without having to incur any outside expenses.
“In a way, this was a test to see what RuckSackNY could pull off with no budget and no crew,” he adds. “I think the video speaks for itself. This was a true testament as to why we invested in all our own production equipment. We can produce amazing results almost instantly.”