A brand film for Bartaco — the hospitality group whose menus, lighting design, and dining-room sensibility have been quietly setting a standard in the Southeast. Shot in two cities (Boston, MA and Charleston, SC) by a two-man crew on a sub-$15k budget. Maxwell directed and ran sound; Andrew Hendrix shot, edited, colored, and mixed.
The film leans into the warmth of the practicals, the texture of the wood, the food at the moment it's plated. No talking heads, no voice-over. Just the room as it is.
Bartaco knew exactly what they wanted: not an ad, not a montage, but a film that captured the way the room actually feels at 7pm on a Friday. That's a much harder brief than "shoot the food beautifully" — and it's the kind of brief we love.
Two-man crew, two cities, every tool we own, and the latitude to make every frame matter. The whole campaign — brand film + recruitment cut — landed for less than the budget of a single day on a bigger production. That's the case for the small crew.
Direction
- Director Maxwell Ridgeway
Camera
Sound
- Sound (on-set) Maxwell Ridgeway
Post
- Editor Andrew Hendrix
- Editor Maxwell Ridgeway
- Colorist Andrew Hendrix
- Sound Design Andrew Hendrix
- Sound Design Maxwell Ridgeway