Three Years Ago
Mon, January 25, 2010 Filed in: Television
A time in London.
Three years ago this week, I was tasked with making a Presenter, located in a small, cold, green screen studio in London, look like they were standing in a big, bright, warm living room in LA. Using a single camera and mic in London, the signal would be sent to San Francisco where the chromakeying and other EFX would be done.
Mind The Gap
The London stage was so small, you didn’t need a ladder to adjust the grid lights. You just reached up. One host had to sit because his head would bump them. One of the two floor lights blocked the door coming in. Host Graeme Smith called it “the potting shed.” The “living room” in LA was a dynamic environment with wall-to-wall windows of the Los Angeles mountains. Designed after the “Chemosphere” house in LA, it was built “film-style” with lighting to give the appearance of different hours hours of the day and night; and a full crew to make it look sweet. I was required to match the look with four lights and a staff member who was borrowed, and who would be hired after I left. The camera in London was locked down and it’s height could not be adjusted without the help of some friends. This was an important aspect since the camera in London had to use the same perspective as the scene in LA; and the scene in LA was ever changing.
Big Ben
Without the ability to train the UK “stage-crew-of-one,” the lighting was accomplished by putting together a playbook which indicated where the two studio floor lights, nicknamed “George” and “Tony,” would be placed. This to duplicate the look of the LA background; where the shadows were, the sunlight angle and so on. The rest of the workflow training was done over the phone, email and the PL system. I was fortunate in that, like the rest of the UK team, our borrowed part-time crew member was quick, easy to work with, and had a sense of humor...or humour. So was the San Francisco-side of the operation.
“Oh, ok...we’ll, um...redo it.”
How did it work? We did get one complaint from a very senior exec who said one of our shots looked fake. He wanted a re-shoot. Problem was, the host really was in LA. It wasn’t one of our effects shots.
To Be Continued...
Two and a half years later, I returned. This time, to help the UK team with their new studio and to fire up their new control room. And to finally get to see The Tower of London.
Mind The Gap
The London stage was so small, you didn’t need a ladder to adjust the grid lights. You just reached up. One host had to sit because his head would bump them. One of the two floor lights blocked the door coming in. Host Graeme Smith called it “the potting shed.” The “living room” in LA was a dynamic environment with wall-to-wall windows of the Los Angeles mountains. Designed after the “Chemosphere” house in LA, it was built “film-style” with lighting to give the appearance of different hours hours of the day and night; and a full crew to make it look sweet. I was required to match the look with four lights and a staff member who was borrowed, and who would be hired after I left. The camera in London was locked down and it’s height could not be adjusted without the help of some friends. This was an important aspect since the camera in London had to use the same perspective as the scene in LA; and the scene in LA was ever changing.
Big Ben
Without the ability to train the UK “stage-crew-of-one,” the lighting was accomplished by putting together a playbook which indicated where the two studio floor lights, nicknamed “George” and “Tony,” would be placed. This to duplicate the look of the LA background; where the shadows were, the sunlight angle and so on. The rest of the workflow training was done over the phone, email and the PL system. I was fortunate in that, like the rest of the UK team, our borrowed part-time crew member was quick, easy to work with, and had a sense of humor...or humour. So was the San Francisco-side of the operation.
“Oh, ok...we’ll, um...redo it.”
How did it work? We did get one complaint from a very senior exec who said one of our shots looked fake. He wanted a re-shoot. Problem was, the host really was in LA. It wasn’t one of our effects shots.
To Be Continued...
Two and a half years later, I returned. This time, to help the UK team with their new studio and to fire up their new control room. And to finally get to see The Tower of London.