Hi Reader,

Earlier this week we had the pleasure of working with CBS Sports and the Denver Broncos football team to capture player poses and mini sound bites that will be used by the growing list of networks airing NFL football games this coming season - including CBS, NBC, Amazon, and Netflix.

Each network had its own list of poses, questions and prompts. Some were as simple as having the player say their name and where they went to college - like "Bo Nix, Oregon."

Others were funny - "If you were running late for a team meeting, who's the last teammate you'd call for a ride?" or "If the offense and defense traded sides, who would win?"

And there was some basic promotional stuff too. For example, Netflix is airing the Bills at Broncos game on Christmas Day, so we had players tease that - "Coming up on Netflix..."

We built a greenscreen set at the Broncos practice facility in one of their large storage rooms. We shot on greenscreen so each network could drop in their own graphics and branding behind the players.

The players were there for mandatory medical checks, team photos, and other things, so they filtered in and out of our set throughout the day. We usually got ten minutes or less with each player, so getting through all the requests from all the networks was tricky at times.

Speed and efficiency were paramount.

One of the things we did to save time was create a dual backlight system to accommodate players with and without hair.

Getting backlight separation on a bald head is tough, because a hard light just glares back off the scalp. So instead of a hard backlight, I used a bounce card.

Simply fly a lightweight piece of white foamcore using a C-Stand over the subject, just out of frame. Then set a light behind the subject on a low stand or baby plate and bounce it up into that white foamcore. The light on the stand gets hidden by the interview subject.

The result is a beautiful soft glow on top of the head and shoulders, rather than a harsh point source reflecting off the head.

I used one Aputure 60x as my bounce light, and another 60x as a more traditional backlight that I flew in from behind the greenscreen. That way with a quick change in my Sidus Link app, I could kill the hard backlight and bring up the other in seconds.

Sometimes I would blend the two, as you can see in the photo below. Notice the soft glow on Marvin Mim's forehead.

I hope this tip helps next time you are working with folks who are follically challenged! Bounce your backlight off foamcore (or another reflector) and a bald head reads soft instead of shiny.

In other news, Cinematic Interview Academy is moving to the fall. Likely September. Our summer has filled up with more than the usual amount of productions, and has left me no time to give it the love it deserves.

And if I'm this slammed, my guess is a lot of you are too. Fall will be a better season for all of us. I can't wait to share it with you!
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That's a wrap for this week's Freelancers Friday. I'll see you back here next week with more real-world lighting breakdowns, freelance business tips, and behind-the-scenes fun.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great weekend. And happy lighting!

​Cheers,

Tom Miller
​Freelancers Film School​

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