We recently had the honor of filming a segment for a documentary on the International Space Station under production by UK-based Dog Star Films. The documentary will feature American Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who holds the record for the most amount of time spent in space by a woman. Chris traveled to Beaconsfield, Iowa, and filmed Peggy on her childhood farm where her space journey began.
“The experience with The Storyteller Studios was very efficient and collaborative from our initial conversation through to delivery. They understood the brief and delivered what we needed.”
— George Chignell, Producer, London, UK
George, the film’s Director, Clare Lewins, and Director of Photography, Stuart Luck, worked with Josh and Chris during the preparation stage over Zoom meetings. The documentary visual shoot in Iowa had to be shot by a US-based crew because George, Clare, and their team couldn’t make it to the US due to Covid-19.
“On the shoot itself, Chris worked really well with our contributor and worked to our shot list really well.”
— George Chignell
Director Clare Lewins, pictured with Rahman Ali, younger brother of Muhammad Ali and the subject of her film, “I am Ali.”
“This shoot was definitely a career highlight and I was over the moon to be given the opportunity to play even a small part in the creation of this documentary. It was certainly an interesting situation given that the director Clare Lewins and producer George Chignell are located overseas in Great Britain and wouldn’t be able to be present at the shoot. They hadn’t even been to the property before and only knew what it looked like from a handful of still images online, so they were quite literally putting all of their trust in us to execute on Clare’s vision for the piece. They provided us with a rough cut of Peggy’s interview as well as a storyboard of stock images to help me understand the desired tone for the visuals. Because of their excellent direction, I felt completely confident in our approach to the shoot. Peggy was super fun to work with and even humored me by answering probably some of the more ridiculous questions she’s been asked about space. I could not be happier with how the images turned out and cannot wait to see the final documentary.”
— Chris Costello, Producer/Director, The Storyteller Studios
“We’re proud to have been invited to help George, Clare, and Stuart with their film. It’s obviously an incredibly important project. We know they would’ve preferred to shoot this themselves. We know how difficult it is to put your trust as a filmmaker in someone you’ve never worked with before. The London-based team were delightful and we’re really happy with the results. It serves as validation for us that the investments we’ve made in tools and talent here have, indeed, positioned us for great opportunities to serve stories and do our best work. I’m personally very proud of Chris. He’s worked hard throughout his career to position himself for the kinds of opportunities he’s getting now. Not bad work for a kid from Auburn, Illinois.”
— Josh Hester, Principal & Executive Producer, The Storyteller Studios
