Behind the scenes of a keyart shoot - Vuxna Människor
Introduction
The production was managed by Pinstudio and the art direction was provided by Barsch. I was at the forefront as a photographer, supported by my own crew that consisted of one film gaffer, a best boy, and one stills gaffer. Due to regulations, which I will mention soon, and the fact that we were going to shoot stills and film, a flash and continuous light setup was essential.
It's important to mention that with shoots of this magnitude, as you can already see, there are numerous talented individuals working diligently before, during, and after the event. If I had been absent that day, I believe the outcome would've been nearly identical and that applies to any member of the team. Such is the strength of the foundation in a shoot like this. Love it.
Pre-production
We scouted several subways, considering both aesthetics and technical requirements. We sought the right esthetics but I also needed adequate space for lighting. Additionally, we required continuous power for the continuous lights. Upon finding our location, we conducted a preliminary shoot with stand-ins to determine the right framing. This ensured we had a rough idea of the framing. If, for any reason, we didn't prefer the setup on the actual shoot day, we knew what options B and C would be.
Apart from the wide hero key art shot, we were also doing singles and film.
The Shoot and Setup
The challenge involved shooting on the subway platform with a large crew and equipment. We could only intermittently block the escalator and platform. The subway company responsible for accident prevention supervised us and had rules, such as "Minimize the number of tripods set up on the platform." Flash photography was not allowed on the tracks to avoid potentially disturbing subway drivers. As a result, we utilized flash lighting up at the top on the stairway and continuous lighting around the talents down on the platform.
On top of the escalator, there was one Pro Head flash hitting the ceiling, creating ambient bounce and another Pro Head creating a backlight on the cast down on the platform.
Here, you can notice that we blocked out the overhead practical light above the cast with a black plastic bag, and the camera is on a stand shooting vertical, tethered with a cable to a laptop where the stills gaffer, art direction, and the client can see the images. Also, you can actually see what the continuous lights are creating down on the platform because all the backlight and fill are coming from the flashes all the way up out of the frame.
Camera Settings:
Canon R5, in horizontal mode 24-70mm zoom at 45mm f/6.3 Shutter: 1/200 ISO: 800
Pink = The actual framing during the shot. As you can see, it was originally shot in vertical mode on a tripod. Once we had captured the shot, we panned left and right to 'plate' the surroundings so that post-production could composite together one large high-resolution image. This approach would make it easy to create wide banners and vertical formats like 9:16 formats from it. The reason for choosing to zoom in to 45mm and shoot vertically is to maintain the look of the 45mm lens when extending the sides with 'plating,' as opposed to shooting at 24mm or a similar focal length.
Yellow = The flash light direction.
Blue = Continuous light from the platform.
I believe it was something like two Nanlux Evoke 1200s: in large Chimera softboxes as a key light and one Vortex 8s bouncing off the white ceiling just next to the camera for ambient fill. Additionally, there was one Vortex 8s: passing through a panel frame, creating a direct light on the tile.
The final images
A collage of different images is shown here.
I love these meticulously planned shoots, when you're aiming for quality above all. There is nothing wrong with a "quantity-shoot-run-and-gun-get-as-much-as-you-can" approach, but I truly appreciate this experience and the collaborative team effort.
Onward,
Mattias Andersson, Director & Photographer