A major part of any successful project is planning. Here we can see some of the extensive planning that went into creating a series of successful images that had to be shot at several different locations around the country
As the MMA fighters was just part of the overall shoot, our lighting plan was a general rule that we would adapt depending on the loaction we had to shoot in.
As part of the brief, we had to shoot the subjects with a different lighting set up for each campaign. This was acheived by using two separate lighting rigs and shooting alternate frames with each set up.
Although complex to set up, this allowed us to shoot very quickly and was crucial when time was limited for each of the subjects.
As we were shooting in various locations and would not have complete control over the background, and with a limited time to set up the shoot, we shot against nuetral backgriubnds atht could be replaced in post production.
In post production, we removed the existing background to give the images continuity and replaced it with a more dramatic and moody one
The rest of the post production revolved around cleaning up the skin, cutting out the fighters (including all the hairs!), and giving a more gritty look.
Some local contrast and shaping was done to bring out certain details in the individual images.
The shoot was done at Glasgow's Emirates Arena, where we were lucky enough to be given a large area on the indoor running track to shoot, completely out the way from the TVC shoot, so our lights didn't effect them and everyone was happy!
This meant careful liason with the Arena's staff to ensure power was available and that the track was protected from any heavy equipment. Since approval for the location was only confirmed the night before, we had a tentative few hours to wait before we could comnfirm our kit list.
Fortunately, we had thought ahead. Since our lighting was supplied by Direct Digital's Manchester branch, we had to make sure that we had catered for most eventualities already, especially as the lighting truck was driven overnight to Glasgow.
With a lot of lighting to set up - one set of lights for each setup, we had to work quickly to be ready for the talent to appear at any time. Testing the setup was also vital for such a tricky scenario.
Thanks to the hard work and dedication of our small crew, the shoot went very smoothly.
Not to mention the hard work put in by our stills producer, Harriet Lea, from the Agency
Also, thanks to Sara Thomson & Rhian Howells at Crew Scotland for supplying our fantastic lighting assistants Ryan and Monica.
Thanks also to Adrian for shooting the behind the scenes images.
Ian Alderman, Digitech, Lighting & Logistics
Ryan McCann, Lighting & BHS
Monica Grabwoska, Lighting
Special thanks to all the MMA Fighters who put an incredible effort in on the shoot!
Kenneth Bergh
Emil Meek
Mohsen Bahari
Jack Hermansson