New Sprinter 4x4 Video Production Van /// Making it BETTER, SMARTER, FASTER!!!

One secret of commercial film, video, and photography production: fancy gear is cool, but the camera in your hand is the most important one. That applies to all the toys. All the great tools are meaningless if they are collecting dust in the studio. We spend way too much time looking for better, smarter, faster ways of operating. That includes keeping up with the latest tech, refining our processes, and yawn organizing all the stuff we need in the field. Every few minutes, or even seconds, we save on location means we are able to get those extra shots that may make or break a film project. That's huge. Tired of renting grip vans when we needed, and packing our studio SUV, we're diving headfirst into making the world's best production van on a Mercedes Benz Sprinter platform. Expect the full, over-the-top, no-holds-barred, no-expense-sparred, enter-cliche-here approach, and OCD-level organization. The plan? New power and solar system from Goal Zero, exterior mods for off-road and storage (it is a 4x4 after all), Black Rhino wheels, Front Runner roof rack, WM System loading ramp, 80/20 shelving, an editing/DIT setup, new A/V and ICE, swivel seats and cabin comfort, and all the dumb ideas we've been collecting over the years (see: Drone landing pad). Since air travel and location production has been reduced this year (thanks COVID!), we're doing almost all of this ourselves in our studio garage. Not gonna lie, we've already screwed up and have broken a few things. But, hey, that's half the fun. Dive in with us and let's see how it goes. And we'd love to try out your ideas, so drop a note below and let's see if we can figure it out! -the Once team Links: Check out the work we do here: http://oncefilms.com Connect with us on IG, Twitter, etc; @oncefilms Visit us in the real world in St. Louis, MO Transcript of video: "At Once, we aim to be resourceful, efficient, and thoughtful- not only with the projects we make, but how we’re making them. We spend so much time on the road - on location - and have always talked about how we could be more agile in our work. To that end, we’ve wanted to start this project for years... The idea is to create a mobile studio that becomes a command center if you will. It’s an extension of our offices here at home and helps us save time, have access to the best tools, and be a comfy ride for those travel shoots. Believe it or not, this all helps us make the best film work we can. Also, COVID-19 has played a factor in starting now. Not only did our team decide to make use of the lessened production time to re-tool and come out the other side much stronger, but we’ve also had a chance to research and investigate ideas and solutions. We’re usually running 100 miles per hour and rarely have time for this kind of project. So, we’re starting with this new Mercedes Benz Sprinter 4x4, 144 high roof, behind me. It’s the new design with a few more comforts, small enough to park in a normal lot, and light enough not to require special licensing. Part of the plan is inspired though my work with Team Rubicon, and their Mobile Command Center. Like that, we’ll have the ability to run an edit station right from the cab. The back area will have custom organization and hold all the gear we use regularly - everything ready to go in literally a moment’s notice. There’s going to be a ton of fun stuff going in here to make road travel comfortable. And we’ll have a new electrical system that will not only allow us to take our studio’s solar-energy on the road, but also generates power on its own with panels on the roof. Finally, if you’ve seen our other rough-and-tumble vehicles - the Defender 90 and 4Runner - it won’t surprise you that we’re installing a roof rack, beefy wheels, and some other fun stuff to get us through any on-or-off road challenge. So we’re doing this thing... We’re stripping this nice Sprinter van down to the bones, so we can add some of our own flavor… In the end, it’ll be a far cry from just a normal grip truck. And we’re doing this ourselves, so yeah, there are going to be some challenges. But we’ll film it all and have some fun, and probably learn a ton along the way. Let’s dig in!"