First on the Field

Home Applications First on the Field

class=attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail f-align-center alt decoding=async data-lazy-srcset=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/untitled-1-1-150x150.png 150w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/untitled-1-1-140x140.png 140w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/untitled-1-1-100x100.png 100w, https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/untitled-1-1.png 300w data-lazy-sizes=(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px data-lazy-src=https://www.litepanels.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/untitled-1-1-150x150.png />Jim KenneyJim Kenney's career spans 5 decades as a director of photography, producer, writer, editor, and reporter.

In 1997, Jim started Kencom, Inc., a multimedia company that specializes in sports, news, and corporate video production and has produced content for over 400 companies. Current clients include: Fox Sports, The NFL Network, Lowe's, Inc. and several other Fortune 500 companies.

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Up at 4am in the dark and rain. Loading up a truck for a 6am start. A 12-hour shift ahead.

That may not sound like an ideal day to most people. But when that day ahead involves shooting the Carolina Panthers for the NFL Network or some NASCAR action for FOX, that's a great day.

It's also just another day for broadcast cameraman, Jim Kenney.

There is no such thing as a typical' day though. Jim has captured everything through his lens, from presidential races and hurricanes to World Series Baseball and The Superbowl. With no two days the same, shooting anywhere from a small garage to a football stadium, Jim needs equipment that is versatile, powerful, fast, and reliable. For lighting, that means Litepanels' powerful Gemini 1 1 Hard.

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Best of the best Creating broadcast output for NFL Network and FOX, Jim chooses his equipment with care. They are among the best of the best, and I say that for both networks, he says. When you get to network level, they want the best and expect the best there's really not a whole lot of room for error. Having worked with networks including ESPN, CBS and NBC over his 35-year career, Jim speaks from experience. You figure out what works, and experience pays off. He says, Hopefully when you get home at night you don't get any phone calls asking why it was lit like that or shot like that - that's a good day!

Keep pounding Game day at the Carolina Panthers' Bank of America Stadium in uptown Charlotte sees Jim rolling a three- or four-person crew. In addition to myself as DP, I'll bring a technical assistant along, a second camera operator, a sound/audio tech, and then some type of grip or engineer to help, he says. We prep the day before we fiber out of the stadium for our live shots. So, there's a little bit of technical work setting that up. It's a 4am wake up on Sunday morning to get to the stadium for a 6am offload.

Live on air at 9am, Jim and the crew broadcast six to ten live pre-game segments thru the morning. To light the subjects, they use Litepanels' Gemini 1 1 Hard fixtures. We usually put the subject under a scrim to take the sunlight directly off the top of their head. And then I need enough punch coming in from my light sources, so that I don't have to blow out the background, says Jim. That's where the Geminis excel, he says.

Capable of delivering up to 3000 lux at 10 ft, Gemini 1 1 Hard is about eight times brighter than the original Astra 1 1 and two times brighter than an Astra 6X. I have some of the original Astra white panels, he says. They've been wonderful and they're beautiful indoors, but they sometimes don't have enough punch to take them outside in bright sunshine. The 74,000 seat Panthers stadium covers 33 acres, but Jim needs to work in a small footprint, typically just 15 by 15 feet.

The Geminis are small enough to have them offset left and right in the small space we have on the field side-lines, but they give you plenty of light.

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I probably used them 15 times now for different outdoor scenarios, and 14 out of 15 times they were enough punch. Maybe on a super-bright, cloudless day you might need a little something extra, but I'll tell you right up to that point I get plenty of light . The extra punch from Gemini Hard lights means that light can be modified in the same small footprint without compromising on space or output. There is always a softbox, a lantern or a grid available, says Jim. I know if I want to light somebody from head to toe, with a softbox, I've got that - and it's going to be gorgeous.

At one o'clock, the game kicks off and Jim and his team are down for a couple hours during the game. After the game we will go out to interview the hero of the day on the field, says Jim. Then we'll go the locker rooms, get some post sound, feed all that back and the day usually ends about 12 hours after we started at 6pm .

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