American Cinematographer - April 2021 - 48

CASUAL COMEDY

School] pilot and he said, " Oh, this guy? Yeah, let's use him. " ' "
In assembling the crew, Hart requested that Simmons hire his frequent lighting designer, Jeff Ravitz. " Kevin has loyalty to his crew, which
I totally respect, " Simmons says, " and I also had my own gaffer, Brad
Draper. It was really cool because having the two gaffers on set made a
lot of difference. Jeff has a wonderful relationship with Kevin and with
the producers; he was very easy to get along with, a pleasure to work
with, and he came to the table with lots of ideas and worked well with
Brad, whom I've worked with for close to 20 years. That combination,
everyone working together, really helped in designing an environment
that was both moody and comfortable, and at the same time lived on the
fringes of being a performance space. " His other key collaborators included production designer Justin Collie and Simmons' key grip - also
of 20 years - Otis Burkes.
Simmons captured the performance with six Sony Venice cameras.
For the show's opener, which sees Hart talking with his wife and children inside their actual home, Simmons shot with only one camera, a
C-stand, a flag, a 4'x4' bounce and a LitePanels Astra. Hart and his wife
did not want a lot of equipment or people in their bedroom, and Covid19 considerations were also in effect. " To use that camera with the extreme latitude and clean images at 2,500 ISO was amazing. It's been a

long time since I fell in love with a piece of equipment, but that camera
was something to write home about. It's an amazing bit of technology. "
The first major challenge the collaborators faced was photographing
multiple performances, with live audiences at each show, while following strict social-distancing protocols. " Kevin wanted to be able to press
the very edges of social distancing because he has an intimate relationship with his audiences, and that's how he's always done it, " Simmons
explains. But, as Hart mentions at the top of the show, he and his wife
contracted Covid-19 in early 2020, and his wife was pregnant during
production, so safety was paramount for everyone involved. Rehearsals
took place on the roof of the 1 Hotel in West Hollywood. All of the audience seating was in place while Hart performed.
" You're locked into a certain kind of real estate when you're doing
a live performance, " he continues. " You establish the environment, and
you also have other cameras to avoid, so you can't go everyplace. You
want to tell the story from the camera positions you have. Our approach
was further motivated by everything that Kevin can do physically - not
to mention that Covid is in charge of so much of what we do. "
As an example, Simmons cites one of the biggest hurdles the filmmakers faced: All of the audience members had to wear a mask. " When
you watch a comedy special at home, part of the ambience is that you

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American Cinematographer - April 2021

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