Papaya Films London is extremely excited to announce the beginning of their collaboration with Bites, a creative tabletop collective with a base in Warsaw, Poland.
Bites is led by Jakub Laskus, acclaimed SFX master and tabletop director. His expertise and appetite for mouth-watering macro shots are second to none. With the help of experienced creatives Now, with an army of tabletop engineers, SFX specialists, Jacub formed a collective that can undertake any project that involves food, liquids and macro shot artistry.
“With Bites’ creative, technical and execution capabilities in the field of tabletop, and Papaya’s amazing production experience and knowledge of the global markets, together we give a unique mix of expertise.” Wojtek Skiba, Papaya London Executive Producer.
We have the strongest in-house team of tabletop technicians in Europe. The expertise of those guys is focused around the design and implementation of in-camera special effects. We build rigs and devices that allow us to control filming objects and liquids. says Jakub Laskus, Director and founder of Bites.
Bite’s showreel 2020
We caught up with Jakub Laskus and Papaya London, EP, Wojtek Skiba to chat about their collaboration and why Papaya’s and Bites’ offering is so unique.
Why did you decide to start this collaboration?
WS: With Bites’ creative, technical and execution capabilities in the field of tabletop, and Papaya’s amazing production experience and knowledge of the global markets, together we give a unique mix of expertise. We believe that we can bring a lot of added value to projects that require advanced tabletop techniques and a very solid and flexible approach to organising the production process. Choosing the right people for a particular project has always been key but it seems that nowadays it is even more important because of the marketers’ urge to control cost as well as the growing specialisation of the creators. And together, we believe we can deliver just that.
What is it in your process that makes it so unique?
JL: Our process was designed based on the analysis of dozens of tabletop projects, where we optimised every activity in pre-production and on set. But what is most important is the constant overlapping and exchange of ideas between our creators and the SFX and tech teams. We build and adapt bespoke rigs, there is much more space for testing and preparation in our process. There’s never one correct way of achieving a shot and we love to test all the paths before going to the client and trying to convince them that this is the right way. Sometimes we do tests even before writing a treatment. That gives us full control on the shoot day and absolutely unique visual effects.
Can you tell us a little bit about the people and technology behind it and how are you managing the workload coming from different markets?
JL: We have the strongest in-house team of tabletop technicians in Europe. The expertise of those guys is focused around the design and implementation of in-camera special effects. We build rigs and devices that allow us to control filming objects and liquids. We have three BOLT robotic arms, two of them on tracks. It gives us powerful production capabilities, as well as efficiency and flexibility. We are also experts in filming high speed. As part of two great studios, with the total area almost 18000 sq. ft. we have full workshop facilities. This enables us to work on multiple projects simultaneously.
What are your plans for 2020?
WS: We have shot almost half a dozen of jobs with Bites last year for the UK market alone. The aim for 2020 is to double the amount and make sure that the creativity and technological capabilities are seen and experienced by the industry and marketers. We have some commercial projects lined up, but will also keep nurturing the youngsters, making all the equipment and expertise as accessible as possible. That, combined with the power of Papaya Young Directors competition and our Academy will hopefully result in a surge of new top-notch table top talent.
Orchard Thieves Cider Director: Jakub Laskus
Bites have worked for brands such as Lurpak, Nestle, Heineken Group, Saeco, Mirinda and Hugo Boss to name but a few. Head over to the Papaya site to see more of their work.