Challenge

Cinematographer Santiago Trugeda was surprised when director Adrijan Assoufi reached out about a job. The rare move was doubly exciting because Trugeda was familiar with the director and had wanted to work with him for some time.

The job was a social media spot for the Toronto Raptors and MLSE LaunchPad, a Toronto-based youth sports education center. In the commercial, Toronto Raptors Guard Ja’Kobe Walter would be grilled by kid reporters in a press conference setting. Trugeda says, “[Assoufi] referenced that Michael Jordan Netflix documentary, with all the archival footage on 16mm. Instantly, I was very excited about pushing that vintage press conference look.”

The job would have to deal with the extreme time limitations of a professional athlete, and the prebuilt location had no overhead rigging, meaning the crew would need to light from the ground and flip the production for coverage. A photographer would also be on hand, shooting for the campaign, so lighting would need to be bright enough for stills.

Trugeda knew shooting vertical-only would make up some time, but the real question mark was the “reporters.” Trugeda says, “None of [the kids] are actors. They vary in ages from 7 to 14, and, you know, they're loose cannons. These young kids are all on set for the first time, meeting their idol.”

Solution

The first setup of the day was to grab the kids’ reactions before Walter arrived. Here, the range of young talent came in handy. “There was this one kid, I think he was about seven years old,” Trugeda says. “He was trying to prove himself to everyone else in the room, to all the other kids. He wanted to be the funny guy. He didn't want to say his lines. But once the older kids acted, he was like, ‘Okay, being in this is cool, you know, like saying your lines is the cool thing.’”

To get around the lack of rigging, Trugeda and his team used an Electro Storm XT26 with a Light Dome 150 into an 8x8 book light, with a gelled Light Storm 1200d as a side key. To fill in the wrap, Trugeda says, “I would have loved to have a soft box from above to bring in that ambience. Luckily enough, the ceiling was fairly low for a studio, and it was all white. I shot [a Light Storm 600c Pro II] into the key area so that it filled in a little bit more on the key side. And then on the other side of the camera, we just ran two 12x12 solids to keep that contrast.” The look was finished with amaran F22cs for edge lighting.

While the lighting took an hour to flip between shooting the kids and Walter, it replicated the look of a press conference with bright overhead lighting, and at enough intensity for still photography.

When Ja’Kobe Walter arrived, time was short, but the guard was ready. Trugeda says, “[Walter] was phenomenal. He’s a media-trained athlete, so he could go through the lines, give us a couple of variations, and then it was time for the kids to come in to be in the stills with him.”

Results

The spot debuted on MLSE LaunchPad, Toronto Raptors, and Ja’Kobe Walter’s socials in July 2025, with an enthusiastic response from fans. “The client was very surprised, and they were extremely happy with how the piece did,” Trugeda says.

Despite unknowns and potential loose cannons, the production went smoothly. “We didn't go into overtime,” Trugeda says. “Everything went exactly as planned, and we walked out of there at the scheduled time with about a solid 45 minutes for my crew to wrap out.”

Several of the lighting solutions have become part of Trugeda’s go-to kit. “Now, I make sure I always have two to three muslin floppies lying around in the truck and like two [600 Watt fixtures] with spotlights because they can add so much in that natural bounce.”

For Trugeda, the best part was how the team pulled off the look Assoufi wanted. “We were lucky to get this colorist at Studio Feather here in Toronto, Kevin Woo. He just did a phenomenal job taking it to the next level, really separating the warmth from the blues and the reds, just adding a little bit of that filmic green. That just tied it all together, with just the right amount of grain to give it that vintage press conference look. The styling played a huge part in this. Wardrobe and production design did an absolutely beautiful job.”