Packin' Heat

Just back from filming at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.   The arena is home to the Miami Heat basketball team and serves a large array of touring musical performers, as well as the Ringling Brothers circus.

Sony just worked with them on upgrading all their systems to HD and also installed an amazing digital signage system that works in nearly every area of the complex, including a giant mesh video screen on the exterior of the building and a massive conglomeration of screens and signs that hangs over the center of the arena floor.  

I flew down there with Dara and Rob from Sony to film a few interviews and collect enough B-roll to create a short doc on the success of the project.

The production team at the area has an amazing setup.  The video team broadcasts "Heat" games live to the web, as well as creating highlight and pre-game videos for TV.  They also produce a ton of  internal programing.  

Integrated with all the video production is the digital signage team and I have to say that their work was stunning.  The system (developed by  Sony) was called Ziris and it took the concept of the "video wall" to a much higher level, using 12 or more 60" LED screens mounted in various shapes and configurations.  The programmer was able to have a single image run across all the screens or have each screen with an individual image.  The combinations were endless and the connections were all web based, so changes could be made at any time, from nearly anywhere.

Dara arranged our lighting and grip from a local Miami company.  I brought the camera and audio gear from home, along a small pile of "just in case" items.  All of which ended up getting used at some point during the day.

I stuffed my EX3 into the same large Kata VB-26 back pack, camera bag that I used in Hershey, gambling that the flight team would not make me gate-check it due to its slightly larger-than-legal stature.  Still, it was not the largest carry-on being carried on.  Now 
that most airlines are charging for any bags you might check, flyers are going to ridiculous extremes to avoid fees.  Seems like I've been talking about packing a lot, but it's often the most complicated part of the production.  Especially when I'm flying.  

Despite the travelin' blues, the shoot was fun as each location added a new set of opportunities.  (That's corporate for problems). 

Each situation involved unique lighting, white balancing and audio and it made the day go by very fast.  I've been including a handy battery operated Lite Panel LED light s part of my regular kit and it is extremely handy as a small fill or kick light.  It was especially helpful while I was using the light from a computer screen as my main light and using the panel as a fill.  I also used a small ND grad filter, sideways on the lens, to knock down the screen's intensity. 


Back home in New Jersey and very happy that our friends at Sony are extremely happy with the two hours of footage that we gathered and we're looking forward to the next gig.     


All in all, a fun trip. 


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