Information About Media Productions on Caribbean Islands

Tropical Locations

We know the Caribbean Islands for many years, so we are able to suggest the Island that best suits your project. For time and cost reasons we usually complete a production on just one island. Many Islands have streets in excellent condition and a good mix of the numerous luxury mansions of the international Jet Set and the traditional colorful Caribbean wood houses, gourmet restaurants and local rum shops, elegant golf resorts and fishing villages, bicycles and luxury limousines.

Tropical Landscapes:

beaches, cliffs, jungles, flower gardens, mountains and hills, flat grassland, rivers, mangroves, waterfalls, sugar cane fields, lily ponds

Buildings/Towns:

plantation houses, colorful wood houses, colonial mansions, luxury villas in modern and classic Caribbean design, beach bars, rum shops, elegant restaurants and resorts, farms, small villages, marinas, piers and jetties, bridges, market stands, concert halls, office buildings, factories, universities, churches, horse race tracks, stables, soccer, tennis, polo fields and many golf courses, olympic swimming size pools and fitness centers, photo studios
Location Archive Images sorted by subjects

Weather Report

We are producing the whole year round.
Officially the rainy season is from beginning of July to end of November, but in the last years there was hardly any rain during this period.
Barbados is one of the least hurricane prone islands, as it is located further out in the Atlantic and realtively flat, so by the time a storm coming from the Atlantic and passes Barbados it usually has not turned into a hurricane as yet.
Hurricanes occur mostly in the Northern part of the Caribbean in the area closer to Florida and Mexico. They usually last very short with occasional rain showers.
With the changing weather in the last few years it is advisable to monitor the weather situation, a hurricane can be just like a heavy rain storm, but can also do much damage.

The temperatures

stay comfortably in the range between:
29 degrees Celsius/84 Fahrenheit in the Winter (November - April)
and 31 degrees Celsius/87 Fahrenheit in the Summer (May - October)
and there is usually a nice breeze.
Average hours of daylight: 12 h,
average hours of sunlight is 8 h/day
The water is nice and warm all year round.

The highest season

is between 15th of December - 3. of January, (Christmas and New Years Holiday ) Those 2 weeks should be avoided for cost reasons. High season is from 3rd of January to 15th of April, low season from 16th of April to 14th of December with a significant reduction in rates.

Direct Flights

The major International airports are on the Islands of Barbados (airport code BGI) in the South and St. Martin (airport code SXM) in the North of the Caribbean Island chain.
There are daily direct flights from most major European and North American and Canadian cities Direct flights:

• Flights from New York, Miami Boston, with American Airlines, Jet Blue, Continental, Delta Air, Caribbean Airlines. United Airlines- Flights direct, time approx. 4 hours.
• Flights from Toronto and Montreal, approx. 5 hours, Air Canada, Westjet direct and from Vancouver approx. 12 hours, with one stop (Air Canada)
• Flights from London (British Airways, Virgin Atlantic direct/approx 8-9h) Caribbean Airlines, Jet Blue, Norse Atlantic Airways (with one stop)
• Flights from Paris, Amsterdam, (Air France, Air Caraibes, KLM) approx.7- 8 hours.
  And 1 stop flights from many more US and European cities.
• There are good flight connections between the Islands with small private charter planes. The local airline are Caribbean Airlines for the bigger islands and depending on the season even to the smallest islands, have additional seasonal connections with different airlines. In addition there is the possibility to use ferry boats from St. Martin to the surrounding Islands of St. Barts, Anguilla and Saba, as well as from St Vincent to the Grenadine Islands.

Accommodations

There is a great variety of comfortable accommodations, from

• small guest houses
• low and middle class hotels
• affordable beach resorts
• luxury hotels and
• private villas with butler and cook.

The rates vary slightly from Island to Island and are depending on the season.
Whatever you will choose - we will negotiate good conditions for our teams.

Daily rates:
Boutique- and Luxury hotels from US$ 300
Good middle class hotels from US$ 200
Guest houses from US$ 85
Luxury Villas with full staff & cook for teams/locations (4-6 bedrooms/bathrooms) from approx US$ 1500
All inclusive beach resorts from US$ 350

Equipment Selection

Within the last few years the film and photo industry on many Caribbean Islands has developed so rapidly, that there is now locally the newest professional equipment available along with trained crew to handle it: cameras, lenses, drones, lighting equipment, grip, reflectors, sound equipment etc... is now locally available for renting. Whatever we cannot get on the Islands we will rent in Miami or we will get a local customs broker for you, so that you can bring in temporary imports with no customs fees. Only Sint Maarten there is a generally customs free Island.
Please contact us for your specific requests.

Production Crew & Transport

With the development of the film industry in the Caribbean, there is now a much bigger pool of qualified local crew available, especially DOP, AC, Directors and AD. Most of them have studied on film schools and/or worked in the US, Canada or the UK with production teams.
On bigger more challenging productions we work with a professional local and International crew on different islands (German, English, US, French, Canadian).

Local crew:

Producer, Production Coordinator/Location Manager and Assistants, Location Scouts Art Directors, Set dressers, Construction Crews, Hair/Make-up Artists, Stylists, Props, Casting, Directors, Photography- and Camera assistants, Camera Operators and AC, Grip, Electricians, Set-Runners, Craft Service.

If you wish we recruit further crew from either Miami or New York, or from your home country. Depending on the island, we need to hire drivers with their own big air conditioned team vans or equipment trucks, or we rent small vans (6 - 12 passengers) that will be driven by local or foreign crew.

Talents - diverse ethnic Groups

Model & Singer Jillisa Rene

There are experienced talents of various ethnic backgrounds for photo or film shoots on each island, on the busy production islands more and on the small ones less but so far we were able to recruit all requested positions.
The talent agencies provide professional models, actors, extras, dancers, musicians and special artists like fire blowers, limbo dancers etc... For childrens fashion or advertising shoots we have great looking talented kids.
For local talents we usually work on a buy-out base.
For fashion photography, there are professional models on the Islands, some have already moved on to agencies in Miami and London. Our casting directors organize photo and video/audio castings.

Model source 'Trident Productions'

Props and Wardrobe

Most Caribbean islands have a great variety of historical and modern props at our disposal, from luxury cars, chic yachts, row boats to colonial and modern furniture, for indoors and outdoors.
In addition, the islands offer both elegant and trendy shops for clothes, accessories, swim or sportswear as well as historical theater props and wardrobe.

• Vintage cars
• Stretch limousines
• Old and new jeeps
• Old and new beach buggies
• Newest Mercedes and BMW limousines and sports cars
• Yachts, catamarans and speed boats in all sizes
• Fishing boats, Jet skies, Submarines, Surf boards, etc
• Beach accessories like loungers, hammocks, parasols, etc
• Underwater wrecks
• Wide selection of antique and modern furniture and accessories
• Excellent constructions in wood, cement, metal and plaster of Paris

Colorful interiors and an original mix of mismatching furniture of the small local Caribbean wood houses are a favorite for many fashion photo shoots.