For the last several years, we have been lucky enough to film some feature portraits at the MLB All-Star Game. For sports fans, there is nothing better. It is always a fun but frenzied several days of prep work, set building, and pre-lighting in order to get ready for a barrage of the best baseball players in the world including Mike Trout, Jose Altuve, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Matt Kemp and more. The players step in to the custom built set and in a matter of a few short minutes, they step out and it’s on to the next. This year there was a voting booth setup and the players were shown casting their All-Star votes. Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski shot using a set of Red Helium Cameras and Leica Summicron Prime lenses. This year the game is being played in Washington DC, the perfect backdrop for this iconic annual event.
Making of EQ2 / NBA Finals TV Spots
In his long and storied career, Hollywood legend and two time Oscar Winner Denzel Washington has never made a sequel to any of his movies, until now. For the upcoming Equalizer 2, Director Antoine Fuqua insisted on having Denzel return for the part of Robert McCall; but not before taking in a few auditions from some up and coming actors that just also happen to be NBA stars. We had the chance to to film this great commercial project for a series of TV spots to air specifically for the NBA Finals. This was a challenging shoot with multiple cameras, custom built sets, actors, extras, and even multiple cities. To accommodate the players schedules, the audition room had to be recreated in New York, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. WNBA star Skylar Diggins, Dwight Howard, Manu Ginóbili, and Lonzo Ball all came out to vie for the role, with some hilarious results. This project had us all working long days and long nights, but it was definitely a fun ride.
Making of eSports Arena Grand Open
Video Games have definitely come along way. In recognition of the grand opening of the new 30,000 square-foot Allied eSports arena in Las Vegas, we got the chance to film a special opening feature highlighting the history of video games from the arcade, to the living room, to the arena. Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski and Director Yaron Deskalo flew out to Dallas, Texas, the home of the National Video Game Museum to capture some of the nostalgia of the early era of gaming. Shooting on Red Helium cameras with Leica Summicron lenses, DP Jonathan Belinski used several different tools to move the camera including a 10′ jib and a Movi Pro gimbal system. He also utilized some of the latest RGB lighting units to create a more stylized atmosphere. This a really fun project to work on, from the subject, to the sets, to the awesome production crew. Plus, anytime you get to play classic arcade games on a location scout, that’s major bonus points.
Making of UFC 223 Commercial
We recently got the opportunity to shoot the official commercial for UFC 223. It was a very ambitious shoot featuring large practical locations with custom built-in specialty lighting units, multiple cameras, and a huge rain machine. The four UFC stars featured in the headlining bouts, Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jędrzejczyk, and Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, were all there to set the scene for their epic showdowns in the octagon. Shooting took place over two days with individual time scheduled to work with each fighter in a different location. For the rain scenes, Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski had to cover himself and his entire camera rig including Easyrig, Serene, Red Weapon Helium, Leica Summicron, Teradek, Bartech, etc in waterproof plastic so he could move freely around the fighters. It was a fun and challenging project with a lot of moving parts, and when your face to face with some of the toughest athletes in the world, every shot counts. Director of Photography: Jonathan Belinski Director: Adam Condal Producer: Eric Mazer
Making of Official UFC 217 Commercial: St-Pierre / Bisping
One of the most dominant fighters of all time, Georges St-Pierre is a legend in combat sports. The Canadian fighter from Quebec has made a career of shocking opponents with his unparalleled skill and creativity inside the octagon. The reign of GSP was as prolific as any seen in MMA, but it did have its inevitable end; at least seemingly so. The nature of combats sports demands that champions are always challenged. As champions fall and challengers rise, roles are sometimes are reversed, but the narrative always moves forward. The next chapter for GSP begins with an unprecedented return to the octagon to challenge current UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping. We got the opportunity to film the official promo for this epic event. This meant traveling to Canada to film GSP on his home turf. Our team, headed by Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski, flew into Quebec City to capture the intensity of St-Pierre’s preparation for this fight. Jonathan was filming with multiple Red Dragon cameras and used a variety of tools and special equipment to get the most dynamic shots possible. Cameras were flown on drones, run around on gimbals systems, even put in waterproof housing to go everywhere the fighter went and give an intimate portrait of a highly celebrated athlete training for the biggest fight of his storied career. Director of Photography: Jonathan Belinski Director: Adam Condal Producer: Eric Mazer
Making of UFC 217 Teaser – GSP Returns
Legendary champion Georges St-Pierre is making a surprise return to the octagon to challenge current UFC Middleweight title holder Michael Bisping in what promises to be an explosive event and we got the opportunity to shoot the official commercial. For this shoot, the two fighters were each given their own custom set uniquely suited to their famous personas. For the no-nonsense, tough guy Bisping, the setting was a rough, unglamorous training gym. This was created in an empty warehouse location in Los Angeles. The Art Department did a fantastic job dressing the space with training equipment, hanging heavy bags, etc. The lighting design for this space included stark shadows and dramatic shafts of light. This was achieved by placing several high powered HMI lights outside, shining though the windows.
For the almost mythical figure known as GSP, the setting was literally a superhero gym. We were able to utilize the same specialty space used for Batman’s batcave in ‘The Dark Knight’. Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski and Gaffer Chris Andrus used all RGB and DMX controlled lighting throughout the space and created a “mega key” with 5 Arri Skypanels, and some specialty diffusion. The result is a bright, clean, futuristic space that is in complete contrast with the Bisping space. Shot entirely in 6K with 2 Red Dragon cameras outfitted with Leica Summicron-C Prime lenses, the cinematic spot made it’s television debut just before Saturday night’s huge Mayweather – McGregor fight. The stage is set.
Director of Photography: Jonathan Belinski Director: Adam Condal Producer: Eric Mazer Gaffer: Chris Andrus Colorist: Bryan Smaller Prod Design: Laurent Turlure 1st AC: Joel Swanner Audio: Brian Lahiere
Special Post – MLB All-Star Game Teradek Blog
Thanks to our friends at Teradek for this great blog post written about Jonathan’s work on the MLB All-Star game feature segments.
MLB All-Star Game gets an All-Star Video Production with Emmy-Award Winning DP Jonathan Belinski and Teradek
The MLB All-Star Game marks the halfway-point for another great season of baseball. It’s an annual exhibition game played between MLB’s two distinct leagues, the American League vs. National League. The players for the teams facing off are nominated by fans, managers and other players – it’s a tremendous honor for any player.
As one of the most highly-anticipated games of the year, the All-Star Game brings sold-out crowds of fans from all over the country to the host city (Miami, Florida this year), with millions more watching at home on TV. It’s such a big sporting event that Fox Sports always supplements the broadcast with a series of bumpers to and from commercial breaks featuring profiles of the players. For the past few years, Jonathan Belinski has been the Director of Photography for the filming of the speciality player portraits, working alongside Producer/Director Joel Santos.
“Fox Sports is a major network, so expectations are pretty high when it comes to production value,” explained Jonathan Belinski. “Joel Santos, the producer, wanted the theme this year to embrace the South Beach party vibe while simultaneously showcasing the top talent in the game. It gets viewers excited for what’s about to unfold while also setting the scene of the host city.”
Belinski is no stranger to high-profile shoots. A multiple Emmy award-winning Director of Photography and founder of Belinski Media, Jonathan Belinski’s work has been featured at the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, UFC, World Series, World Cup and many other major events. The mission is always the same: create high-end images that will capture the imagination of the viewers. But this time, they wanted to add a fun twist.
“I have worked with Joel for many years and can say he is one of the best in business at achieving this. He knows what we have to work with and then adapts his game plan to maximize what we can get out of any given situation. We are often put in difficult locations with extreme time constraints, but that never impacts the finished product. We always find a way to make it work and adjust to the situation we are faced with.”
Swinging for the Fences
The Clevelander pool bar at Marlins Park where teasers were filmed.
Since the All-Star Game was held in Miami this year, the goal was to incorporate party and clubbing elements into the teasers. Producer Santos envisioned a vibrant nightlife scene complete with Samba dancers, a DJ, and sexy lighting. Luckily, Marlins Park has a scaled-down model of the famous Clevelander Night Club in the outfield, which provided the perfect setting to film all the players.
The biggest feature of The Clevelander is the famous indoor pool, which Santos decided to utilize for the shoot. Santos had a platform constructed above the pool and a red carpet strewn for players to walk across. One of the cameras would be shooting in the water, which meant the addition of an underwater camera operated by veteran editor/cameraman Brian Alexander.
Party Shots
To shoot the party-style MLB teasers for the game, Belinski and his team used 2 RED Epic Dragon 6K cinema cameras with Leica Summicron Prime lenses and Canon Zoom lenses. One RED Epic Dragon camera was mounted to a gimbal system to capture moving shots of players walking across the red carpet, while the other was mounted to a tripod for tighter detail shots.
Teradek Bolt 3000 connected to RED Epic Dragon 6K on gimbal.
On both systems, a Teradek Bolt 3000 transmitter was connected to the camera via SDI, sending instant HD feeds wirelessly to a Bolt receiver in their video village on the other side of the room. With one receiver going to the director’s monitor and the other to the 1st AC’s monitor, both Director Santos and the focus puller could see a live shot from a distance without needing to stand anywhere near the action.
“The first camera – equipped with a gimbal – was used for the wider shots. It moved along with the players as they walked towards the front of the club and in front of the pool,” Belinski explained. “Our second camera was on a longer lens and took closer shots of the players. We rarely rolled both at once in an effort to get the perfect shot each time for each camera. We also had a third camera shooting from inside the Clevelander pool, but without any wireless systems for obvious reasons.”
All Bases Covered
After several hours of filming at The Clevelander, Belinski and his team acquired all the footage they needed for the next day’s broadcast, largely thanks to having reliable wireless downlinks at their disposal. Being wireless allowed the Camera Ops to move freely without needing the Director or 1st AC to be married to the camera and monitor the shot without having to worry about maneuvering the set with cables.
But most importantly, the Bolts allowed them to save the most valuable asset for this production: time. Because both teams were at the stadium to practice and prepare for the game, as well as other media obligations, the production crew had very limited time to get the footage they wanted with these star players.
Real-time wireless monitoring allowed Belinski and his crew to make adjustments to their shots on-the-go and get what they needed with minimal reshoots. This meant that the extremely busy players could return to what they do best: play ball.
“In an environment where these guys are there to practice, prepare for the game, and take in the honor of this prestigious moment in their lives, time is very valuable. You do everything possible to avoid 2nd or 3rd takes,” said Belinski. “The Teradek Bolts helped us to be mobile on set and made it easy for everyone to monitor the shot which meant happier players who could get out quick and keep the experience fun for themselves, while also getting the footage we needed for our purposes. It’s a win-win. As always, Joel Santos and Brian Alexander crafted beautiful edits, and it was another successful year for all of us.”
Home Run Extra:
Belinski and his crew received some generous gifts from players at batting practice when well-hit home run balls came crashing through their blackout materials on set, barely missing crew and equipment! But don’t worry – no cameras were hurt. Check out the hole made by a home run ball:
SUPER BOWL LI PRODUCTIONS
Super Bowl LI proved to be a very busy time for us. We were involved in a number of high profile projects including Jonathan being DP on two feature pieces, “The Greatest” which opened the broadcast, and “Ragged Old Flag” which was the lead in to the actual game. There were also player portrait shoots in a custom built set with 3-D mapping featuring the biggest stars of the game including Tom Brady and Julio Jones. There was also an interview with Erin Andrews and Robert Kraft the owner of the Patriots, and an interview with Michael Strahan and Lady Gaga. It was a busy, at times hectic, few weeks of overlapping preparation and production of multiple shoots of varying size and complexity. Here is a look at some of the projects and behind the scenes.
Dan on the Moon – Dan Patrick Super Bowl LI Promo
Super Bowl LI is in Houston; and in honor of the city’s tradition of space-travel, the commercial for The Dan Patrick Show’s Super Bowl special features Dan flying to the moon with the help of his Danette flight crew. It is always a fun time on set with Dan and the guys. For this shoot we utilized a green screen studio to create the effect of Dan walking on the moon. Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski shot with 2 Red Dragon cameras outfitted with Leica prime lenses. One of the cameras was dedicated to a gimbal system which helped Jonathan get the most out of some cleverly set dressed locations. The end result is a very cinematic look for what promises to be a really memorable spot. Producer: Kelly Beck Director: Ben Epstein DP: Jonathan Belinski
Big Papi at Home – Making a Statcast Commercial for Amazon
MLB great David Ortiz has always had an amazingly competitive drive. Now at the end of his incredible career, Big Papi will have to find other ways of competing and trying to top his personal best. We got the awesome opportunity to travel to Boston to film a commercial for Statcast and Amazon. It was a busy day of filming that required quite a lot of preproduction. Thankfully, we were working with an ace crew all around and a truly special talent. The camera and lighting crews had to take over a house in suburban Boston and in some cases use every available resource to get the shot. It was such a full day of filming with Big Papi that a secondary camera crew was brought in for pick up shots with MLB great Joe Torre. In the end, the highly ambitious project came together through the hard work of everyone involved. Director of Photography: Jonathan Belinski Director: Mark Teitelman Line Producer: Mike Michelin Editor: Mike Oliver Production Company: Maggie Vision Productions
