Cobra Kai Lighting & Video​

During the COVID-19 lockdown, we, like many others, expanded our offerings to new and different services. Our installation team was busy creating fly-packs for news reporters in the field, while our events team focused on virtual events. Fortunately, we would still get the occasional call to help with TV and film production. Our extensive rental inventory of audiovisual products makes us a great option to hire for many major feature films and TV shows. One such show that came to us for a solution was Netflix’s, Cobra Kai. Having been fans of the show since their first season was released, we jumped at the chance to support them. 

The initial renderings showed mockups of the All Valley Karate Tournament. They needed a large LED leader board for the contest and a flexible lighting system to create the atmosphere and build suspense for several different angles of fighting scenes for the tournament. They also had a big surprise that revealed an impromptu concert by a major artist. 

Although they hired us for our ability to put on a show, the extensive multi-take fluid nature of filming meant that our team had to be adaptable and able to quickly program scenes and manipulate graphics as the director would find new shots. Lighting placed at several angles surrounded the competition for complete coverage and quick decision-making. 

The Solution

Our lighting designer needed the flexibility to create several different looks from one fixture. That’s why we chose the MAC Axiom™ Hybrid. It can indeed be whatever type of fixture you need at any moment. Its range of 2-44° allows it to go from a beam to spot, to wash, and at 16,000 lumens, we knew it would have all the punch we needed. It also has a diffused wash function that worked perfectly for a wide coverage of the competition matt. Our console of choice was a High End Systems, Hog 4. A road-tested workhorse of our industry. 

The led wall showed custom graphics that we would edit, manipulate, and display in various ways. The LED product had to pop and be camera-friendly. We chose a P3 product for this application. The manufacturer, DVS LED Systems, had a great option, the Optic 3l . Their support has been terrific, by the way. Our playback device was a custom media server designed and built by our video engineer, Darrell Hazelrig. Our screen never went dark using the Adobe Creative Suite, Mad Mapper, and various other software.