Illuminating In The Arena: Serena Williams with DP Ayana Baraka

In the Arena: Serena Williams is the second season of the ESPN+
documentary series. Through a series of intimate interviews with
Williams and others, the show offers an in-depth look at the
legendary tennis player's life and career. Cinematographer Ayana
Baraka was the director of photography for the entire 8-episode
series. She met with the production company, Religion of Sports,
with her images and pitch prepared. “We had the same ideas about
lighting. I was familiar with (Season 1 of the series) Man in the
Arena: Tom Brady and so I know that we wanted to honor season one,
but at the same time Serena is a a different person, a different
athlete.” A few weeks later, Ayana was called to meet with Serena
for lunch. It was very nerve wracking, but she felt confident in
the meeting. Once she was hired, Ayana researched and tested all
the equipment she wanted to use. She selected the ARRI ALEXA LF
with Cooke Anamorphic lenses. Illuminating Serena properly for the
sit-down interviews was extremely important to her. She created
custom LUTs for Serena's skin to bring out her pinkish undertones.
The falloff of the light from the backdrop also had to be just
right. Ayana used rags (different thicknesses of fabric diffusion
to modify light) and bounced the light for a 180-degree lighting
setup. To set each episode apart, Ayana changed up the lighting
slightly. Growing up in New Jersey, Ayana initially went into the
health care industry. While in college, she took a film class and
made a short documentary about a person struggling with their
mental health. Ayana pursued her career in health care, but didn't
feel like she was changing lives the way she wanted to. She started
getting film jobs in New York and became an ARRI prep tech, which
enabled her to learn the technical aspects of camera work and test
into the IATSE Local 600, the International Cinematographer's
Guild. Ayana felt she wanted to learn more about film and
storytelling, so she went to graduate school at USC. As a woman of
color, she felt that director Ryan Coogler, who was a recent
graduate of the program, had opened up a world of opportunity. “We
have the success of Ryan Coogler, and I know it was different for
people who came before me, people of color or black folks. My
class, it was so diverse. And I think it was because he let that
charge and he showed we have stories to tell, and people will watch
our stories.” Ayana also shot the documentary Uncharted, about
singer Alicia Keys' She Is the Music songwriting camp. It premiered
at the Tribeca Film Festival last year and is currently on the film
festival circuit. In the Arena: Serena Williams is available on
ESPN+ and Hulu. Find Ayana Baraka: http://www.ayanabaraka.com/
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