Graham Sheldon DPs Remote Cinematography for New Docu-series
data-src=https://cdn.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c562aaf4-bpthumb.jpg data-srcset=https://cdn.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/avatars/263018/5fa08c561c0e7-bpfull.jpg 2x class=lazyload avatar avatar-80 photo height=80 width=80 />
Brie Clayton January 4, 2021
0 Comments
When Graham Sheldon got the call from showrunner Johnny Fountain to be his DP for Remote Production on the new Behind Every Man series, he was up to the challenge. Sheldon's technical background, and his willingness to try new and potentially un-proven shooting methods made him uniquely capable of professionally capturing the interview-heavy docu-series amid COVID-19 restrictions.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/04192458/Graham_Sheldon_setup700.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2349296/>The stars sent photos of their living space so Graham could plan the lighting & location set upBehind Every Man shines the spotlight on the strong black women behind famous men, focusing on the passions, struggles and sacrifices they have endured to support the men they love. Hosted by Melody Holt, featured couples include: Tammy and Kirk Franklin; singer-songwriter Ne-Yo and his wife Crystal Smith; Wyclef Jean and Marie Claudinette, Usher and his mother Jonnetta Patton, and many more.
Each of the ten episodes includes 5-7 interviews of the various personalities from their own homes, sometimes across the city, state, or country. Under normal conditions it would be a challenge, but in 2020 it also had to be safely COVID-19 compliant. And it had to look fully professional-computer-style interviews would not cut it.
That's where Graham Sheldon came in. There could be no crew members on the scene. All equipment had to be set up by the talent and their COVID-19 pod in their house, says Sheldon, We had to make sure it was easy for non-camera pros to set up, right out of the box.
Keeping it simple was the mandate. For camera, Sheldon chose the Canon C300 MK II thanks to its quality of facial auto focus. Along with it he selected the Sigma 24-70mm lens because he knew he could rely on its autofocus. We shot in UHD so post could have autonomy over composition. To avoid memory card swaps Sheldon went with the large SanDisk Cfast 256 GB. Their simple audio kit would be set to auto .
For the critical real-time streaming and monitoring he called his friends at Teradek. I needed a level of confidence that it would work in real production scenarios with people who were particular. I knew that the Teradek team would have it figured out, Sheldon reasoned.
At the time Graham's production was unique because there wouldn't be a professional film crew operating the equipment with the talent, explains Andrew Ng, Creative Solutions' Director of Marketing. We turned to Cube 755 as our most versatile solution to provide solid reliability, premium quality HEVC encoding, and encrypted security. The biggest challenge wasn't the technology requirement but ensuring the level of confidence expected by producers familiar with Teradek's zero-delay on-set solutions. After reviewing the production workflow variables, we were able to deploy a virtual workflow that could be scaled as needed. A Cube would be pre-configured to each camera before arriving at the locations. At its destination it would just need to be plugged into power.
The remote video was accessed via iPads, Apple TVs, and web browsers using Teradek Core, the cloud-based streaming management platform. Sheldon was able to direct photography and also provide the rest of the production with a real-time virtual video village experience.
data-src=https://gcs.creativecow.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/04192607/Graham_Sheldon_iPad700.jpg alt= class=lazyload wp-image-2349297/>Sheldon watched the Cube camera feed of Wyclef Jean through Core on his iPadThe 12 episodes were scheduled to shoot in April and May 2020. They prepped 5 identical equipment packages destined to travel throughout the US, to shoot multiple episodes simultaneously. The camera team was small. Melissa Kirchhoff, the AC prepped the packages and did the turnarounds. There was a lot of turn-around work in a rental house that was otherwise empty due to the shutdown, says Sheldon. They met in person only once during prep.
We color-coded all the buttons and came up with a laminated card so if they were visual it would make sense. If they were audial, they would listen to us, he continued. To test their system they sent a kit to production manager, Nicki Marshall and walked her through it.
To prep the interviewees Sheldon connected with each individually prior to gear arrival. To scout, he had them send photos or video of their living space so he could plan the best location and lighting setup. We looked for controllable light and depth in the room. They couldn't be against the sun and we needed good depth of field-no flat-looking announcer shots. We also walked them through Internet speed checks to determine if we needed to pre-prep Teradek Node modems to assure reliable cellular connectivity, or if we could get set for Wi-Fi.
Fortunately Sheldon is an exceptional communicator. He says a key point was tomanage expectations. Even the stars had to get in the right headspace for the level of work they would have when the 6 Pelican cases arrived on their doorstep. That's when Graham and the AC, Melissa would pop on Zoom and run them through setting up the camera packages.
Sheldon was relieved at the enthusiasm, Sometimes family members in their pod would help-a daughter, sister, uncle, assistant. For the most part no one had production experience. Everyone from an 80-year-old to a 15-year-old was able to do it. Set up took from 30 minutes to an hour and half.
Sheldo
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
04/12/2025
SBS launches Future Frames initiative to support emerging First Nations video ed...
04/12/2025
Coronal mass ejections caused by eruptions on the surface of the sun can have fa...
04/12/2025
Gracenote Content Connect enables media ecosystem to precisely align ad campaigns and programming based on rich content signals
NEW YORK - December 4, 2025 - N...
Graham Sheldon DPs Remote Cinematography for New Docu-series 
