As we close in on the last few weeks of 2016, we’re excited that we can now share one of this year’s bigger projects with you.

In July, Mophie came to us and explained that they wanted to make a series that highlighted the intensive process of creating the next iPhone juice pack product after Apple releases a new phone.

The result was a five-part video “transparency series” that examined every step of production — design, engineering, manufacturing, testing and shipping — and took Threaded Films across the country (Michigan) and world (China) through the course of the five months it took to plan, film and edit. This project was definitely a beast of an accomplishment, but we couldn’t be happier with the end result. Here is the fifth and final film in the series. You can check out the rest at www.mophie.com/innovation.

And of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t share some stills from our escapades in China.

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Ever feel like those consumer tests you see on TV are fake? Well, being on the other side of the camera we can actually guarantee that this one is legit.

VIZIO hired us to shoot their Crave SmartCast Blind Speaker test at the Irvine Spectrum this fall. No gimmicks, no tricks, just a room with covered speakers and a series of questions for your every day Irvites (Irviners? Irvinians? We’re still not really sure) at the mall to tell us which one they liked better.

The results were pretty astounding. VIZIO Crave 360 outperformed the Sonos Play 1 seven times out of ten — granted (in honor of full transparency) the Sonos Play 1 costs $170 retail versus VIZIO’S Crave 360 at $250 retail, but most consumers we talked to said the price was worth the quality. And the VIZIO Crave Pro Multi-Room speaker did even better, outperforming the competing Sonos Play 3 NINE times out of ten. Pretty impressive, considering those are at pretty similar price points; the Crave Pro runs $300 whereas the Play 3 sells for $270 retail.

Hanging out at the VIZIO Audio lab at the Spectrum on a sunny fall day made for a pretty fun shoot for us. Plus it was cool to see people’s honest reaction to a set of VIZIO products that seems to be pretty dang awesome (Christmas shopping anyone?). But don’t take our word for it, check out what the Irvinetonians (maybe?) have to think in the final film below.

You know how they say first impressions are everything? The story of how Derek and Vanessa met certainly bucks that trend. Derek met Vanessa at a bar with friends when, against his better judgement, he sloppily threw a cup of ice water at then-stranger Vanessa. The story of that night may have ended poorly but fortunately Derek and Vanessa’s doesn’t. A few weeks later, an embarrassed Derek and a slightly bitter Vanessa met up again. Any tension they had quickly melted when they quickly realized how much they had in common — their love of hockey, music, and good beer. Flash forward two years and here we are on their wedding day — the ice-water incident is of course nearly forgotten (well, at least forgiven).

The vows that they wrote to each other were the perfect narrative to this teaser. We could think of no better way to describe Vanessa and Derek together — sincere, heartfelt, loving, and of course, a little sassy. Derek about sums up the story of their relationship when he says he’s honored that Vanessa wanted to marry him forever because, in his words, “That’s a long time, and I’m pretty obnoxious.” Cup of ice water anyone?

Congrats to these two, we had an amazing time sharing your day with you. And it was such a fantastic day; we loved working alongside the incredible likes of photographer Jenavieve Belair (we’ll do family dinner again one of these nights), florist Karen Barch Mallory, coordinator Michelle Maciel, DJ Shane Ysais DJ, Kristy Warner and Angela Smith for hair and makeup, Chad of The Socal Wedding Officiant and of course Stone Brewing Company (a fantastic place to visit, event or otherwise).

Ever wonder what goes into setting up a red carpet premiere in Hollywood? We have the low-down for you. This is our third year being part of the VIZIO team at the annual AFI Fest in Hollywood and every year it gets a little easier to manage the madness of a big premiere, though it certainly doesn’t get any less crazy out there.

This year’s finale of the AFI Fest was Patriots Day, a deeply moving film about the grisly 2013 Boston Marathon Bombing that killed three and wounded 264. Mark Wahlberg produced and starred in the film that dwells deeply on the effects of the tragedy and the response by his beloved hometown.

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It was an honor to speak with the cast and crew who had the hefty task of telling the stories of the victims, responders and all those touched so deeply by the horrific attack. After the red carpet parade it was a quick run to the editing room to cut together (well, Steve handled most of the dirty work of editing) the highlight piece before the movie finished. It was certainly a long day, but another fun one for the books.

Shoutout to friend and photographer Alicia Mink for the killer photos you see in the slideshow below. Thanks to Katie at the BrandAmp for running point for us throughout the event, to all our friends at VIZIO, and a much more solemn thank you to those who were at any way a part of the difficult events that transpired in Boston three years ago, for all they endured.

When SAVI STYLE approached us to say they wanted Threaded Films to be a part of their brand launch, we had the same question that I’m sure many of you have right now. Savi who?

Terry Leon launched SAVI STYLE this fall with the flagship product of SAVI SLEEK, a hair tie accessory that makes a pretty common nuisance – the less-than-glamorous hair tie around the wrist — into an actual fashion item. It’s sleek, looks cool, and you can wear it pretty much anywhere. Not a bad idea, right? We were actually pretty excited to be a part of it.

SAVI STYLE had some big dreams for turning around a kickstarter video on short notice and we’re proud to say we’ve now made it a reality. Turning around such a polished piece with so many moving parts wasn’t exactly a walk in the park — we shot all the scenes for their kickstarter film in one day, at four different locations, no small feat. Thanks to Carl and Terry’s meticulous organization and a lot of pre-production planning in the studio, we’re thrilled to say we were able to pull it off without a hitch. Take a stroll on over to SAVI STYLE’S kickstarter page and support SAVI SLEEK before every millennial in the country has one around their wrist (it’s only a matter of time!).