As part of a 2010 marketing campaign, Funnelbox Production Studios was hired by creative agency BestLight Creative to produce a series of humorous videos for Hotsy Pressure Washers. Funnelbox took the lead in creating the character of Courageous Carl Payne, a retired daredevil brought in to test the cleaning ability, ruggedness and sheer power of the Hotsy pressure washer.

Production challenges included finding the right location, the right actor and the right visual techniques to pull-off Carl’s ‘stunts’. First, Funnelbox producer James Horn scouted nearly a dozen locations to find just the right ‘warehouse’ setting called out in the scripts. Meanwhile, director Robb Crocker, along with representatives from BestLight Creative, held extensive casting calls to find the man who would become Courageous Carl Payne.

With a remote location secured and a talented improve actor filling the lead role, production began early on a cold December morning. The crew worked quickly, bundled against the chill in the unheated warehouse; Courageous Carl and the ‘Hotsy R&D Team’ huddled over propane heaters in their thin wardrobe. Visual Effects Supervisor McKay Marshall conferred with the camera crew, props and art departments to ensure each ‘stunt’ was filmed correctly for post-production compositing. Cameras rolled.

After a day filled with improvised posturing from Carl, and the execution of several stunts by a real stuntman, filming was wrapped and the footage turned-over to the post-production team. Thanks to extensive pre-production planning and rigorous attention to detail during the shoot, compositing sequences for the Hummer and moped stunts were completed in record time. The results include special effects on par with a major motion picture, and three hilarious videos to make visitors to Hotsy’s Corporate Website cringe for the hapless Hotsy Hero, Courageous Carl Payne.