Ted Lasso cinematographers David Rom and Vanessa Whyte

The show Ted Lasso has truly become a feel-good TV phenomenon for
Apple TV+. With tons of new subscribers after its premiere in 2020,
it saved the brand-new streaming service and was Apple TV+'s top
comedy in 50 countries. Ted Lasso seemed to tap into what many
people needed during the pandemic. It's a positive and uplifting
show about Ted, a fish out of water determined to spread joy and
inspire confidence while coaching the AFC Richmond football
(soccer) team in England. Cinematographer David Rom has been
shooting Ted Lasso since the pilot. He and co-creator/star Jason
Sudeikis worked out the look of the show together with the
production designers. They wanted to find a look that was clean,
bright and saturated, but not look like a network comedy. It was a
challenge to make so many offices and locker rooms look interesting
because they had to be lit from above. David and director Tom
Marshall used the sports films Moneyball and I, Tonya as references
for the pilot episode. David chose to shoot with the ARRI Alexa LF
with Tokina lenses to get the big, colorful look. The show
frequently uses a single camera, handheld approach even though they
often need several cameras to cover the action. Many of the scenes
are rewritten, changed or improvised in the moment, so both David
and fellow cinematographer Vanessa Whyte have to be ready to think
on their feet. DOP Vanessa Whyte joined Ted Lasso in season 2. As
the seasons of the show have progressed and the characters deepen,
the look of Ted Lasso has also progressed, with room for
experimentation in a few episodes. For example, in the episode
“Beard After Hours,” Vanessa got to have fun with more psychedelic
and dreamlike camera work as Coach Beard parties his way around
London after a team loss. Vanessa also found that each season has a
lot of episodes that refer back and tie in to previous episodes.
With help from the show's DIT, she would reference these previous
scenes, in order to match up the shots and storylines neatly. She
finds that the fans of Ted Lasso notice and appreciate when they're
able to recognize a callback. Ted Lasso IS about football, and for
all of the football sequences, the show has a special second unit
for shooting the games. David and Vanessa use a large crew to shoot
on the field, with many extra cameras. The crew is not allowed to
shoot on any actual football pitches, and all of the stadiums where
the games are played are recreated with computer graphics, and a
CGI crowd. Most of the practices and games are actually shot on the
Hayes and Yeading Football Club pitch. A few small greenscreens are
strategically placed on the field and behind the goals, and the CGI
team does their magic to turn it into a stadium. For both David and
Vanessa, shooting in the UK can be a nightmare with the
unpredictable British weather. Vanessa says that it's definitely
part of the training for any European cinematographer. The weather
regularly shifts from clouds to sun to clouds and rain. They always
need to build in more time to shoot, and have plenty of lights as
backup with color grading in post to correct for drastic light and
shadow changes. After season 1, the crew built a set instead of
using a real location for Rebecca's office, since it was so
difficult to control the lighting in the south-facing windows. Ted
Lasso is streaming on AppleTV+. Find David Rom:
http://www.davidrom.com/ Instagram: @davidrom_dop Find Vanessa
Whyte: https://www.vanessawhyte.com/ Instagram: @noodlle Sponsored
by Hot Rod Cameras: www.hotrodcameras.com Sponsored by Greentree
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