Purple Tulips for Lupus
This was one of the most heartwarming gigs on which Crystal Pyramid Productions has participated in over 34 years as a premiere San Diego video production company.
Walk for Lupus Cure
On a beautiful May day hundreds walked together at San Diego’s Liberty Station in their fight against Lupus. AstraZeneca hired our crew to videotape interviews and B-Roll of some of the walkers, family members and event producers. One of the most extraordinary aspects of this event was a 12-foot tulip bouquet. “12-foot tulip bouquet?” you ask. Yes, a 12-foot tulip bouquet. To date, the world’s largest bouquet of purple tulips (is there any other color?)
AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company is on the forefront of finding a cure for the cruel disease known as Lupus. They ordered 13,000 purple tulips that were shipped in from Holland. And then workers constructed the bouquet. Naturally, this took several hours for a team of floral arrangers to complete.
We were thrilled to participate as the corporate video production crew on such an amazing day. AstraZeneca used the footage in a video called “Blossom of Hope:”
Blossom of Hope Time Lapse Videography
Our client wanted to have a time lapse video of the bouquet construction. So we had to think of a way to position a GoPro Hero camera ABOVE the scene without any trees or light poles in the area. What could we use? A cherry picker? The rental was too expensive. Also, a vehicle like that might smash the beautiful grass. Additionally, it would be going up and down and the camera would need to stay in a fixed position. So we decided upon a 16-foot tall ladder. A “babysitter” would climb up and down to change out batteries and make sure the camera was running.
One wrench was thrown into the works. In a city that has been suffering a historic drought for the past four years, the weather people were all in agreement of one thing. That rain would fall on the day of the time lapse. So we had to figure out a way of keeping the camera dry. The weather report was amended to include heavy winds. Consequently, we had to figure out a way of keeping the camera dry from slanting rain while the camera recorded the construction of the bouquet of purple tulips for Lupus.
Without giving away the jury-rigging technology secrets, the time lapse of purple tulips for Lupus was a success.
Lupus, a Mysterious Dis-ease
The next day, Saturday, our erstwhile crew loaded up the gear and headed down the road for Liberty Station where there were signs during the overcast morning that the sun would be joining us eventually. And during one point between interviews, there was some rainfall and we needed to protect the gear with an umbrella. But nobody’s spirits were dampened. On the contrary, most of the people we spoke with expressed their joy that upon seeing so many other people who bear the mysterious disease known as lupus, they realized they were not alone.
A person who has lupus may look perfectly normal and healthy. But they will be too tired to do anything. Or they get rashes. Perhaps they suffer from mysterious ailments. Maybe they don’t feel like eating. AstraZeneca used the tulip bouquet as a backdrop for the day’s participants (people with Lupus and the friends and family who care about them).
As the day ended, people plucked a few tulips out of the bouquet. They brought them home as a reminder, for at least another week, of what a special occasion in which they had participated.
