Filming the John Lewis Podcast 'Gift List'
Filming podcasts has become a new addition to my work as a Director of Photography and it was a privilege to be asked to be the DOP on this podcast series for John Lewis. The series is presented by Angela Scanlon, in conversation with celebrity guests, the first episode is with broadcasting legend Louis Theroux. The series is produced by Chaos Media working with the creative team at Saatchi & Saatchi agency.
My job as DOP is to bring the creative vision to life, working with Director Sam Morter, we created the look of the podcast. The set was designed by the team at S&S and my role was to light the set to create a warm homely feel. I used a combination of Nanlite 2 x 1 panels, Aputure 300dii and Aputure 80c lights to light the set. We used 4 cameras to offer up the coverage. 3 x Sony FX9's and a Sony FX3 as a wide shot. We used Canon Cine primes on all cameras, 85mm at T1.4 for Angela and guest singles, then a 50mm at T2 for the wide shot. The forth camera was more of a roaming camera so a 70 - 200mm zoom was used on this camera.
We had to film in 16:9 for the main film and in 9:16 for the social media content. The primary film was going to be shown on the John Lewis website and YouTube, this was shot in 16:9 but a 9:16 version was also required for the social media content. This is always a tricky compromise but by centring the main action we were able to frame for both versions.
Here are some behind the scenes photos of the set and camera, lighting set up.
If you're looking for a DOP to film your podcast then please get in touch.
