Wireless Litepanels Light Times Square for Sprint Spot
Emmy-nominated cinematographer Adam Beckman and Litepanels met a huge challenge on a recent ad campaign. "We needed to shoot Sprint's CEO walking 30' across the floor of Grand Central Terminal in New York and pacing through Times Square at night." Management wouldn't allow any cables across the busy terminal floor, nor was it possible to have cables and generators traversing Times Square. "I've worked with Litepanels 4x4's before," he explained, "so I knew they would be the best, (actually), the only solution."
Gaffer John Cardoni and key grip Michael McGrath rigged the 4x4'Litepanels on a Western dolly, allowing Beckman to track across Grand Central's floor with the CEO as he approached camera. "Although we had a few units for added punch, the battery powered Litepanels were all we needed," Beckman says. "The output far exceeded our expectations, and we dimmed it by about 60%. Since the ambient light levels were constantly changing inside Grand Central Station, we were able to adjust the brightness of the Litepanels to balance it on the fly, which was a great time saver."
When Beckman got to Times Square he shot at a T4-stop on his 500 ASA stock to expose the lights where he wanted them. "Again, the 4x4' Litepanels was the perfect solution," he adds. "As the sun sent and the ambience in the street fell, we adjusted the output accordingly.
"Crowd control was tricky in Times Square," Beckman explains. "Since the shot entailed pulling back on Steadicam as the CEO paces along the sidewalk, it was great to be free of cables that could have tripped our extras. And, of course, the producer and locaiton manager were thrilled that we dtched the generator and went on full battery power."
