Miss Saigon BTS

How much variety can I get with one lighting setup? That’s a challenge I create for myself frequently, but especially when, as is so often the case with Broadway show shoots, time is scarce. The number one goal becomes providing as much quality and varied content as we can in a small window of time. 

For the tour launch of “Miss Saigon” I was hired to not only shoot production photos but to create some portraits of the cast in character. Being that we were shooting during tech rehearsal, where actors are needed on stage frequently to run portions of the show, we had to work around the schedule and do the best we could. So I created a setup that allowed for two wildly different looks with only a single camera move. 

How the set looked to the naked eye vs. how it looked to the camera.

For our first shot I decided to go more in the direction of a classic “Saigon” look, pulling inspiration from the colors on the show artwork and leaning into the idea of a sunset radiating behind the actors. We used an 8x8 Scrim Jim about three feet behind our subject, and shot a single orange gelled light through the center. To the side we had a bare strobe at a very low power to add a tiny bit more separation from the background. For front light we used one Westcott parabolic umbrella and one Paul C. Buff Octabox both high and feathered away slightly away from our subject, aimed down into a large reflector. We added one more large reflector, upright and facing our subject to bounce back some of the warm light spilling from the Scrim Jim. Altogether this created a very enticing four-light catch light that wrapped all around the eye. 

Emily Bautista stars as “Kim”

We were stationed in the lobby of the Providence Performing Arts Center (huge thanks to the staff for helping us control the #MoreHaze without setting off fire alarms), so rather than setup a full second set I just…had the actors turn around.  Suddenly that orange sunset became the glow of the neon lights of Dreamland, the strip club that serves as a meeting point for our lead characters. What was a moment ago our flattering front light now became an overhead rim light. 

Anthony Festa stars as “Chris”

Each actor spent about 10 minutes total with us throughout the two days, so the game became hurry up and wait.  I find this type of shooting tough sometimes because I want to be as fresh and alert as possible for each shoot, so keeping my energy up becomes a balance of bouncing around enough to stay fresh but not tiring myself out waiting.  

Fortunately I had the amazing Jenny Bates and Evan Zimmerman keeping me company.

J. Daughtry stars as “John”

Christine Bunuan stars as “Gigi”