My apologies for the delay in continuing this blog.  We have begun shooting The Real World DC which has taken up a lot of time and effort.

It was an easy decision to put all the roommates in bathing suits for the opening titles, but the big question was how would the roommates react to this?  There hasn’t been one opening title where a roommate hasn’t complained about their make up or their outfit, or gone into tears over a hairdo that wasn’t quite right.  The roommates are not used the primping and set up that goes into these shots.  This is their first real taste of what it’s like to be treated as a model or celebrity – and sometimes they can become very difficult to deal with.

So how would the Cancun cast react to posing in bathing suits?  They were fantastic!  They were the easiest group to work out of any cast ever – comfortable in who they were and comfortable in wearing next to nothing for the shoot.  In fact, Jonna is topless in her shot.
Nearly all the shots were completed in one day at the ME Hotel.  Bronne is in the round pool that the Real World letters were for the final shot.  CJ was on the beach in front of the hotel, Derek in the outdoor shower, etc. 

The Mexican government does not allow shooting at any of the Mayan pyramids or ruins but we wanted to incorporate that look into the open.  The pyramid that Jasmine is standing on is a recently built miniature pyramid near the airport, and not an ancient relic.  If you ever land in Cancun you’ll drive right by it on your way to the city as it sits right next to the highway.  We had to be careful to keep the traffic out of the shots!    Jasmine is such a diminutive person I think the pyramid looks full size.

In comparison to other Real World opens is was probably the easiest ever to shoot- and actually one of the better looking ones.  Sometimes simpler is better.  What do you think?  What’s your favorite?

And here’s something you probably didn’t know:  The music on the opening titles is by none other than 3oh!3 of “Don’t Trust Me” fame!  The roommates got to work with them while in Cancun as they put on a show for Student City.  They are great guys, I actually got to meet them while riding waves in front of the ME. 

In comparison to other Real World opens this was probably the easiest ever to shoot, and probably one of the better looking ones.  So what do you think of the opening titles for Cancun?  How does it compare to other seasons?  Jason Williams was the DP, Matt Ruecker the producer, Ken Chien the Supervising Producer, and Brian Hall the Steadicam operator.