Working on a Rolex Commercial Shoot

I spent over a week working on a series of product shots for Rolex to be used in commercials. I was hired as an Assistant Camera and also helped with lighting as a grip. This was one of the most intensely methodical shoots I have ever worked on.

We were capturing extreme close-ups of Rolex watch faces using macro lenses, and because of this dust was a major issue. The entire room was blacked out using trash bags. This helped with both controlling light and limiting airborne particles. Large air purifiers were running nonstop, and we had to wear shoe covers and gloves before entering the space. Even with all of those precautions, dust and oils still ended up on the watches. We spent a huge amount of time cleaning them between shots, and even then, I was told a lot of cleanup still had to happen in post production.

We used a few robotic tools to add movement to the shots. The watch was placed on a motorized spinning platform, and the camera was mounted on a motion-controlled slider. The slider could move side to side or up and down. When the movement of the watch and the camera aligned just right, we got beautiful results. It often took many many takes to time it all perfectly so that the camera revealed a specific feature of the watch at just the right moment.

Lighting was another challenge. We were in a small room with lots of equipment, look at the BTS below to see the chaos. The main difficulty is the glass and metal on the watches were so reflective, any part of the room that was not blacked out could show up in the shot. So, we had to place the lights very carefully. The lights not only lit the watch but also created reflective highlights that enhanced its appearance. We shaped those highlights using pieces of black poster board to block parts of the light. Sometimes we taped them directly to the light fixtures, and other times we had to hold and move them by hand while the camera was rolling. Which added another level of complexity as I had to wave these pieces at the right moment as the watch spun around.

Every element had to work together. If anything was off, we had to reset and do it again. More than once, we got everything perfect, only to find a speck of dust had landed on the watch face.

Even with how meticulous it was, I really enjoyed the experience. I love working on product shots and commercial work, and getting to do it for a luxury brand like Rolex made it especially rewarding.