Bandit Lites Brings Classic Rock Energy to Sunday Night Football Show Opening

	"The lighting has to create scale, support the edit, flatter the artist, work with the camera moves, and still leave room for graphics, football footage and the overall NBC Sports language," says Whitehouse.

Bandit Lites partnered with lighting designer Nick Whitehouse and director of photography Chuck Ozeas on NBC's Sunday Night Football show open featuring Carrie Underwood for her 14th consecutive season.

The show open takes viewers on the journey of a song- from intimate beginnings in a lounge and recording studio to a small club and, ultimately, a massive stadium performance. The stadium sequence draws heavily from the visual language of classic rock, with Whitehouse and Ozeas looking to legendary concert productions for inspiration.

"Once we reached the stadium, we wanted to lean fully into the rock side of it," Whitehouse says. "We were inspired by those huge classic Rock PAR-can rigs from bands like Queen, AC/DC/ and Iron Maiden, but updated through modern fixtures, color, control, and programming."

Turning that concept into a nationally televised production required more than simply building a large rig. Every lighting choice needed to serve the camera, the edit and the performance, often within seconds. "In a broadcast open, every second has a job," Whitehouse says. "The lighting has to create scale, support the edit, flatter the artist, work with the camera moves, and still leave room for graphics, football footage and the overall NBC Sports language."

The production also faced a particularly tight window at the stadium, leaving limited time to load in, pre-light, and prepare for filming. Bandit approached the one-off production with the same preparation and efficiency it brings to a touring show.

"That is where Bandit really excelled," Whitehouse says. "They approached this one-off massive rig with the same discipline they would bring to a touring show: prep it properly, make it efficient, make it repeatable, and make sure it could roll in and go up cleanly."

That efficiency extended to the smaller club sequence, where space was limited but the creative still called for significant rock-and-roll energy. "[The Martin MAC Ones] gave us the punch, movement and scale we needed without overwhelming the space," Whitehouse says. "They really rocked that little club."

In the finished stadium sequence, Whitehouse's programming drove hundreds of lights in sync with the music, while Ozeas' cinematography captured the interaction between the lighting, haze, and anamorphic lenses. "What we're most proud of is that the stadium never stops feeling electric," Ozeas says. "Every shot has energy in it, and a lot of that comes from Nick's programming interacting with the anamorphic glass, because those beams hitting the lens bloom into flares that make the whole frame feel alive."

Bandit Lites client representative Mark Scherer says, "Working with Nick and Chuck on the Sunday Night Football show open was an incredible experience. Their vision and attention to detail made the production come together at an exceptional level."

One of Ozeas' favorite moments is a dramatic drone shot that sweeps low over the crowd before revealing the full lighting rig. "That is the shot where the scale finally lands, and it only works because the design was built to be seen that way," he says. For Whitehouse, the finished piece successfully captures the classic rock influence while giving it a modern broadcast treatment.

"The idea was to keep that big, iconic, classic rock silhouette, with strong beams, bold hits and real scale, but make it feel fresh and designed for today's cameras," Whitehouse says. We're really proud of the Bandit team and how efficient they made the programming and lighting process!"