Filmmaker Interview: Ernesto Lomeli Captures Cinematic Laughs with the Sony VENICE 2

A veteran cinematographer who honed his creative process on documentaries, commercials, and narrative projects, Lomeli is no stranger to finding unique perspectives. For the LOL Live Comedy Specials produced by Kevin Hart's Hartbeat Media, the cinematographer found himself transforming a Vegas nightclub into a moody comedy stage.

"We took over a club called Zouk Nightclub, and we turned it into a comedy stage for three nights," Lomeli said. "We designed color palettes for each performer and coordinated with their wardrobe. We did custom graphics for everyone. Everybody had a big intro with big lighting design."

“We wanted the show to have a classy high-end feel. It was meant to feel like a big show. This was very important to director Marcus Russell Price who was very supportive about making the show as cinematic as possible. We wanted it to stand out.”

Embracing the grandiose environment of the club space, Lomeli and director Marcus Russell Price leaned on the Sony ecosystem to make the show as cinematic as possible. They paired the Sony VENICE cameras with Angénieux Optimo 12X zooms and a locked-off Sony VENICE 2 in 8.6K with the Angénieux Optimo 19.5-.94mm, giving them the reach they needed from the other side of the space where they had set up their video village.

The goal was to film it more like a like a concert and less like a comedy show," Lomeli said. "I had a 30ft run of dolly track where I had an operator on a 290mm getting right over the audience, just getting classic cinematic moments where you get that parallax of the size of the stage going behind them."

"We ended up filming in a cropped 4K Super35 format on the VENICE. That was beneficial because it let us use a lot of classic zoom lenses," Lomeli added. "We were able to use the big Angénieux Optimo 12X 24-290mm and were able to go really WIDE backstage and get big perspectives and then pop in on a 290mm for mediums and tights."

To accentuate this cinematic approach, Lomeli wanted to bring the audience's perspective into his compositions. For that, the cinematographer utilized two Sony FR7 PTZ cameras equipped with Sony FE PZ 28-135mm zooms, which was a camera system he had never used before.

"We ended up having seven cameras…and two of those [were the] Sony FR7 remote control cameras, and that's how we covered it," Lomeli said. "The coverage is excellent, the final edits are dynamic, and they move, and they feel great."

"Everything matched really well, and those FR7s were great because they gave us a nice intimate audience perspective," Lomeli added. "When someone is on a big stage, looking down at [the audience], it's cool because everybody is looking up at [the comedian]."

"So, it was awesome to be able to cut from [the stage] to [the audience] POV."

Having the FR7s not only reduced the camera footprint but allowed the cameras to exist in the audience without being intrusive, giving Lomeli and his team the ability to get full-frame coverage of the performers from the audience's perspective. The comedians needed an audience to react to, so removing seats wasn't an option.

"We didn't have to delete any seats from the audience, and we didn't have to take up so much space," Lomeli said. "We just made a little hole [in the audience] and were able to put the FR7s on a small lightweight tripod or on boxes."

"We covered them in black and still had enough space at the end of a row to get these nice little three-quarter shots and some nice tight shots."

Even with the Sony FR7s right in the audience, the operators were in video village and had full camera control, while a single assistant controlled the autofocus with an iPad.

"Everybody had a focus puller but [the FR7 operators]," Lomeli said. "It was just one person on stage in the background. They were able to have the iPad with the controller unit and just face track the performers, and they would just be sharp the whole time."

"We wanted to treat it more as if it were in the film world. We wanted to make it cinematic," Lomeli said. "I think we were able to strike that balance and [the FR7s] integrated really well, they didn't feel like live event cameras. They still had that cinematic look to them."

Filmmaker Interview: How the Sony Cinema Line Helped Overcome Unique Live Production Challenges

The combination of the VENICE, VENICE 2, and the Sony FR7 gave Lomeli and his team everything they needed to capture those split-second moments, well-timed jokes, and audience reactions. However, filming in a club space posed its own challenges.

"We had huge screens everywhere. It was one of those big Vegas clubs, and we just converted it into a live venue with seats," Lomeli said. "It's not just some little theater with a curtain in the back."

Lomeli wanted to maintain a contrasty and cinematic visual language, which forced him to deal with various LED lighting fixtures and varied skin tones. With the VENICE and Sony FR7, the cinematographer weaved together the light from a motorized spotlight for the performer, high-key lighting, and the neon club lighting.

"We had a wide range of skin tones. Shooting darker skin tones against a darker background with bright highlights in the back," Lomeli said. "We lit everybody from one side. We had a key side, and even the spotlight wasn't in the center. There was always a contrast-type light. That was the cinematic approach that we decided to take."

"One of the main things that we're able to do is not have to over light because we would put the cameras at 2500 ISO and not shoot wide open on these zooms," Lomeli added. "We could close down to an F/4, and we could carry an entire face on a 200mm."

"We tried to get the most out of every sensor, on every camera, as much as you can, and the most out of the glass."

Filmmaker Interview: How the Sony Cinema Line Captured the True Color of LOL Live

Having the Sony Cinema Line for his creative toolkit gave Lomeli and his team the creative opportunities to take risks and overcome challenges. As these challenges faded, risks turned into artistic choices that elevated LOL Live into more than a simple comedy showcase.

"[Choosing Sony] was a combination of a couple of things," Lomeli explained. "One, we wanted to shoot RAW just to have the range for skin tones. And two, the color science allowed me to get accurate color representation with the built-in LED screens in the background and the accent lighting."

"We were trying to coordinate very specific colors, and we had so many different ones. We wanted something that could look accurate with live event lighting."

It was this color reproduction that made the biggest difference for Lomeli. Having the ability to blend so many different sources across a handful of different camera systems and have them be accurate gave every comedian the chance to shine. 

"It sounds like a small thing, but it isn't. It really makes a big difference because you're putting logos and things in the background and you're coordinating the same color across multiple different types of lighting and diodes and screens. You want them to still blend together," Lomeli said. "I tend to think that Sony cameras just feel a little bit more accurate in a mixed lighting situation. They tend to stay more accurate. The colors just look correct."

Catch the LOL Live Comedy Specials streaming on Hulu now to see Lomeli's work in action. To learn more about the Sony FR7 and the other cameras in the Sony Cinema Line, visit our camera comparison chart.