1 Day to Make Printers Sexy with Texas Tech Athletics
The Less Intriguing Part of Texas Tech Athletics
When it comes to the greater West Texas area, one thing typically comes to mind: football. When it comes to Lubbock, it’s Texas Tech Football. Do you know what doesn’t come to mind? Printers and copy machines… But we, at Hamil Bros Studios, weren’t going to let that get in our way on this video production job.
Shining a Light on the Technology that Keeps Texas Tech Athletics Running
We recently had the opportunity to do some subcontract video production work for a cool agency out of Colorado called Ecollective. We had a conversation with Mel Walz, who would come in to direct this project. It was really exciting for us because it gave us the opportunity to work within Texas Tech Athletics. Their client offers a wide variety of IT support services but, specifically at TTU, handles their copiers and printers.
Our job was to “make copiers and printers sexy.” Challenge accepted! We have enough experience with shooting products of all kinds of varieties, that we looked at it as an opportunity to prove that the right lighting and camera motion can remove “boring” from a product shot.
The shoot was really interesting. The directive was to show how their client engages with IT at TTU Athletics, and illustrate the importance of paper within the athletics department. Paper doesn’t fail, and their client insures that the paper machines stay working.
You might go as far as to say that paper is the oil that keeps the Red Raiders machine running.
Welcome to Jones AT&T Stadium
Scouting the Texas Tech Football Facility
We began our morning with a location scout. Mel, his client contact, and Athletics IT staff walked us through the athletic complex at the Jones AT&T stadium to figure out where we would be best suited to interview the head of Athletics IT.
We got a pretty good lay of the land with the stadium and wound up on field level in the Texas Tech Field Club which also happens to be where our Texas Tech Red Raider football team enters the field at the beginning of the game.
The Official Game Plan
We had Ross, Jacob, and Ross’ wife, Haley, as a production assistant for our crew. This gave us the opportunity to split up like the Mystery Gang and tackle multiple production objectives at once. After we got all the gear loaded into the location, Mel and Jacob took off to cover the b roll shot list while Ross and Haley stayed in the studio to build the interview.
Paper doesn't fail
Technology in Action: Gathering B-Roll
Jacob had a pretty good idea of how to tackle lighting the printers for this project. He had our mobile cart loaded with our Blackmagic Pocket 4K camera, DJI Ronin RS3 gimbal, two Amaran PT1C pixel tubes, one Amaran T4C LED tube, an Aputure MC Pro, and our new Aputure 80C.
This was the perfect recipe for getting big visuals in small spaces around the TTU Athletics offices. The idea was to key the printers with the 80C plus its Bowens adapter and the Aputure lightdome mini with honeycomb, then accent the walls behind the printer with either a red splash for TTU colors or blue to match the client’s colors.
This wound up working out really well. The first scene was just capturing beauty product shots of the first copier without any talent. Jacob hid both one-foot pixel tubes behind the copier as well as the MC Pro in a little nook inside the printer just to give it some depth. Next he lit the front of the printer with the 80C which was perfect to highlight the matte finish of the printer.
The first few shots were completed with that lighting. Then Jacob decided to go for a little more dramatic and turned off the 80C. This left just the color lights and made for an edgy aesthetic Remember… Make printers sexy.
While Jacob was lighting and shooting that, Mel was busy scouting the locations for the next shots on the shotlist. With some pivoting, we landed in a conference room where we had some IT staff working at the table while checking out the large projector screen which had the client’s branding on it.
This was a fun little set up because, unlike most conference rooms we shoot in, this one was HUGE and allowed for plenty of movement around the room. This was where the real collaboration of the shoot started. Mel, as a director, was ready to listen to ideas and see how we could implement them. This took a lot of gimbal camera movement to capture, but the shots were fun and dynamic!
Once we were done with the conference room, we took one of our actors back to the copier room to get some actual interaction footage with the copier and the prints laying on top of it. This was an interesting setup because lighting people in such a small space and still giving them depth isn’t an easy task.
The office lights were too even and flat, so Jacob pointed the 80C into the top corner of the room to give some spill to light our talent while we kept the color tubes behind the copier. It was a pretty quick couple of shots then we moved along.
This put us right at time to kick off the interview which Ross and Haley had built while Jacob and Mel were tackling b-roll. The interview was a really cool setup, not just due to lights, but just the location. This location is a high end VIP location for the football games and it also holds the bronze statue of the saddle that is an iconic statue on Texas Tech Campus.
Wreck 'Em Tech!
The Perfect Interview Room
If you know Ross and Haley, you know that they are huge Texas Tech Football fans, so it took no convincing to get them to stay behind in the Field Club.
Rarely does one walk into a location and everyone unanimously agrees on the exact interview spot.
So, when we walked into the Field Club and saw the bronze saddle, we knew.
From the red arching LED lights to the big “Wreck ‘Em” on the wall, this was the interview spot.
Two main challenges presented themselves: the bay windows looking out onto the field and the glass doors directly opposite.
The room was dark enough that we felt our Aputure 600C would be sufficient in combating the light coming in from the windows and mixed lighting (daylight and tungsten) would not be an issue.
Fortunately, that assessment was correct. We rigged the 600c up on a baby stand with the Aputure LightDome 150, set it to about 3200k, and that was our key.
For our fill light, we rigged our Amaran 300c on another baby stand with the Aputure LightDome II. The fill light was set closer to 4000k to help cool off the shadows on our interviewee’s face.
Both lights were flown up almost as high as they would go on their stands, which was a luxury provided by the high ceilings in the Field Club.
The back light on this set up was unique. We set up our Aputure Nova P300C panel back in the hallway and set the color hue to 356°, which was a very rich red.
In normal conditions, we are pretty opposed to red lighting because it typically triggers an anger response on screen. However, when in Rome do as the Red Raiders do.
This light was the perfect back light. It was diffused and genuinely looked as if the hallway was backlighting our talent.
Did we mention the tight setup time? We had roughly an hour to get everything set up between when we loaded in and when Jacob and Mel got back from the first bit of b-roll.
For our A camera, we used our Blackmagic Pyxis with a Tokina Cinema Vista 50mm. Finding the right spot to drop the camera where we could still see the background elements was a bit of a challenge but one that was quickly remedied.
If you read any of our Hamil Bros Studios project posts, and we assume that you all do, you know what’s coming for the B cam…
You guessed it: the Blackmagic Cinema 6k, a Tokina Cinema Vista 85mm, on our eMotimo/Dana Dolly combo.
Top all of that off with the audio rig, synchronized with our Tentacle Syncs and we were off to the races.
Mel had forewarned Ross that he would probably come in and make changes to the lighting, given his tastes in lighting faces for interviews, however, no changes were made at all except for the headroom because our interviewee was taller than the rest of us.
Although there were two hours budgeted into the schedule for the interview, it was knocked out in 45 minutes which meant there would be more time for b-roll.
The ultimate Field Test
B-Roll, B-Roll, and more B-Roll
While Ross, Haley, and Mel powered through the interview, Jacob ventured out with the other talent to capture footage around the Cody Campbell Field to showcase them using paper around the stadium.
The first setup for this b-roll was up in one of the maintenance entrance ramps to the field. The natural build of the ramp tunnel turned out to have some unique natural framing to the shots. It was fun shooting some pretty wide shots as well as mediums and closeups of talent discussing the paper and their “plans” for the field.
Since all this b-roll wouldn’t use audio, Jacob could direct talent as he shot. He gave them directions like “you’re discussing plays for the football game” or “you’re talking about how IT will integrate on the field”.
Next on the list was having them walking down the home end of the field zone. Similar directions, just a different location. We wanted to really showcase a variety of locations around the stadium and how paper never fails. Of course, we couldn’t deny shooting at center field. The branding is incredibly recognizable and it’s an iconic location on campus.
Once we shot out the center field, we moved into the stands to capture more b-roll. It was more of the same but the name of the game is variety with shoots like this.
Once that was shot out, we met back up with the rest of the crew and talent on the field to execute a few more shots. The field staff was kind enough to throw the client’s logo up on the jumbotrons at each end of the field, which was really cool to see.
Next on the agenda was our “laser scan shots.” Ross did a little bit of testing inside the Texas Tech Field Club for those takes and it was time to put them to the test.
Practical Simulations
Simulating Scanners
Back in the Field Club, Ross rigged the Amaran 300c on one of the baby stands and modified it with an Amaran Spotlight Mini.
The idea was to create a bright vertical beam of light that could “scan” over our talent.
Ross focused the barrel on the spotlight, got the blades narrowed down, set the color hue to 356° and got ready to operate the light.
We had to coordinate the panning of the light with the motion of the camera. This took several takes, but we finally got it.
We moved to a second location in the room to do the same thing and knocked it out relatively quickly.
Mel was happy and we were done in that room.
Ross and Haley hung back and packed while Jacob and Mel went to get the rest of the b-roll.
(Don’t tell anyone, but Ross and Haley may have snuck back onto the field to get some more photos. It was Haley’s first time on the field and she was on cloud 9, so this opportunity couldn’t be passed up).
The Texas Tech Ticket Office
We only had a few more b-roll setups left to capture. Next to last was another copier setup. This copier is the official ticket printer for TTU athletics. It’s like the Holy Grail of printers. It was honestly a bit surreal to shoot something that important.
Jacob tackled this setup similar to the first printer setup of the day. Luckily this room had a little more room to shoot around.
Mel also decided he wanted to capture the audio of the printer so they had a few takes of Mel starting the printer up. Again, it was the two PT1C LED tubes and the Aputure 80C to key the copier. We also shot blue highlight and red highlight takes of the printer.
The last setup was upstairs in a cubicle area of the Athletic department. This was a different printer setup because we were dealing with natural ambience and some cool ceiling texture for the printer.
We also brought in some talent to interact with the machine as well for this shot.
It was the same wall wash LED tube setup, but we used the 80C as more of a rim light than a full on key since there was so much natural light already.
That shot was the official wrap of the shoot. Afterward, we just packed up and loaded out gear. The TTU staff was so incredibly accommodating all day and that went a long way with us.
We hope to see Mel from Ecollective again in the future.
Boring Product? We Can Add Excitement!
This shoot was an opportunity of a lifetime for us and a product shoot with Hamil Bros Studios may be your opportunity of a lifetime. We’ll be glad to make your products look sexy, even if they’re less than exciting.
Go ahead. Contact us. Let’s see what we can do!