Case study · Interview series cinematography
One Room, Two Backgrounds
Power Digital hired my company, GLM, to shoot a podcast-style interview series for a corporate client in Houston: company leaders in conversation, two at a time, on two cameras in one office break room. I planned the room in 3D first, then set the chairs so each camera saw its own background.
The plan
The brief was a podcast-style series: two people in conversation, two cameras, and clean, natural, commercial light. Nothing moody. Power Digital's editors would cut the footage into short episodes and clips, including vertical versions, so both cameras framed 16:9 with room to crop.
On a recorded planning call in April, Matt Welch, Power Digital's associate production director, and I looked over the client's office and settled on the break room: space for two cameras and a crew, and a wall of windows for natural direction.
Then I built the setup in set.a.light 3D: both chairs, both cameras on 24-105mm zooms at about 74mm, a large gridded octabox on each speaker and two Fresnels. I rendered the previs against photos of the real room, so the agency could see the frame weeks before the shoot.
One room, two backgrounds
Two speakers sat facing each other, with a camera on each. We turned the chairs so each camera saw a different side of the same room: the A camera looked past one speaker to the windows and bar seating, and the B camera looked past the other to the mural wall.
One crew and one lighting setup gave every conversation in the series two distinct looks.
Synced and color-prepared
Sound went to a separate recorder. Before delivery, GLM synced it to both cameras and graded every clip, so Power Digital's editors opened finished-looking footage instead of flat camera files.
Drag to compare: the A camera's S-Log3 original and the same frame after the grade
What the agency said
Matt Welch wrote this about the shoot.
“GLM was a standout partner on our Houston interview shoot in May. Their crew was skilled and professional, their equipment was top-notch, and they were responsive and dependable throughout. The synced, color-prepared media they delivered made our editors’ work seamless. They’re a team I’d recommend without hesitation and would happily work with again.”
Power Digital first hired me in 2024, as director of photography and local producer on a James & James Furniture campaign. Read that case study