Are you ready for some football? Well, I sure am! There’s nothing like watching some football on Thanksgiving day. I wonder how I could kick that up a notch? Oh, how about shooting the Cowboys VS Redskins teaser with Tim McGraw for Fox Sports that will air on Thanksgiving Day? Yeah, that will definitely work.
I was so excited to be shooting for Fox Sports again. I love shooting for these guys! This time around we were shooting the teaser for the Cowboys VS Redskins game. They wanted a “homey, seasonal look, but not too Thanksgiving-ish.” Basically we ended up creating Tim McGraw’s living room. We shot in a local restaurant that had a killer fireplace. Once we had the fireplace down it was up to me and the art designer to create a livable looking space. We brought in a lazy-boy recliner, some book shelfs, a coffee table, a lamp, and some other items to make Mr. McGraw and the viewers feel right at home.
Once the set was in place it was time to light it. I was shooting on the Sony F3 and had the 32, 50, and 85mm Arri Ultra Prime lenses to work with. I used a 400w Keno Diva Flo as the key light. We had to position it a bit lower to accommodate for Tim McGraw’s cowboy hat. From the far left I positioned a 200w Keno Diva Flo to act as a fill. This fixture gave his face just a kiss of light. The back light was positioned behind the book shelf that is next to the fireplace. I then brought out the Arri 650w to hit the fireplace. A few Arri 150w lights were then used to highlight certain areas like the coffee table and book shelfs. Once we got the gas fire cooking we were in business.
To give the shot some movement the MYT slider was brought in. I love using this tool. It’s easy to set up and operate. Hell, all you have to do is push it or pull it. Ha! After about two hours and a whole lot of tweaking we were ready to hit record. For the first few takes I used the 32mm Arri Ultra Prime lens. We then moved on to the 85mm lens to get a tighter shot. We also got a few cut away shots such as a tilt up from Tim McGraw’s boots to his face and from the fireplace to his face.
It didn’t take long to get what we needed. Just when we were about to wrap Mr. McGraw wanted to try the script while chowing down on some pumpkin pie. Yeah, that sounds good! So he started eating pie and we did a few more takes. Tim McGraw was such a pleasure to work with. He was friendly and professional, he even told some jokes as we reset for another shot.
Eventually we called it a day and Tim McGraw left the building, probably off to spend some quality time with Faith Hill. I’m pretty sure he ate about half the pumpkin pie. I got a few shots of set items such as the fireplace, the NFL on FOX football helmet, and a trophy before we started breaking down the set. While the crew started striking I got the footage transfer going on the producer’s hard drive. Before I knew it everything was packed up and we were saying our goodbyes. Be sure to catch the teaser with Tim McGraw on FOX around 4pm EST Thanksgiving Day!
