Key & Peele - Behind the Scenes with DP Charles Papert
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Justin Kuhn
Veteran
Great post as usual Charles!
After watching a string of K&P sketches it occurred to me that the High Five sketch might be a good one to ask about?
After watching a string of K&P sketches it occurred to me that the High Five sketch might be a good one to ask about?
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
Unfortunately that's not online, but I'll talk a little about it. It's all one continuous Steadicam shot from beginning to end. We shot in the parking garage of the stages we were using for a week. We had about 200 degrees that were free and clear without seeing the production trucks, carts etc. It took a while to work out the route for the guys to walk and then the camera move that would complement it, the idea being that the path back to the car should be confusing to the viewer just as it is to the characters. Lighting-wise, much of what I did was turning on or off various existing fluorescents (which we re-globed with 3200 tubes) and we hung a few extra fixtures to fill in dark spots. The area at the elevators at the end required some extra care because the characters come to a stop there for an extended period. It took quite a few takes for everything to fall into place and my operator Rich Davis slept well that night, I'm sure! Happy to answer any specific questions.
emretufekci
Well-known member
After reading this I had to watch it again and re-map the route they took. Very nicely designed. Question: Are you using kino's to replace florescent lights or another (3200K balanced) brand that will fit existing fixtures?
emretufekci
Well-known member
Very soon now:
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
The new sketches are trickling out...the 5th season will premiere in about a month.
This was the kind of sketch that I considered a "breezer"...not much to manage visually, freeing up mental energy to focus on whatever was coming next. We shot this on a very small stage, the cameras were backed up against one wall and the bleachers were up against the other. What you see in the wider shots is pretty much wall-to-wall in terms of our set and extras.
In a perfect world I would have hung six space lights to best recreate the multiple-source-from-above feel of a basketball arena but to keep things simple I used three large chimeras on high combo stands alternating with two or three blondes to give a mix of soft and hard light. Two chimeras hung from a convenient catwalk at the back wall served as backlights for the principals. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to shoot this sketch in 60i which I would have preferred, since that is a more traditional look for live sports.
This was the kind of sketch that I considered a "breezer"...not much to manage visually, freeing up mental energy to focus on whatever was coming next. We shot this on a very small stage, the cameras were backed up against one wall and the bleachers were up against the other. What you see in the wider shots is pretty much wall-to-wall in terms of our set and extras.
In a perfect world I would have hung six space lights to best recreate the multiple-source-from-above feel of a basketball arena but to keep things simple I used three large chimeras on high combo stands alternating with two or three blondes to give a mix of soft and hard light. Two chimeras hung from a convenient catwalk at the back wall served as backlights for the principals. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to shoot this sketch in 60i which I would have preferred, since that is a more traditional look for live sports.
emretufekci
Well-known member
so thats where my sword went............
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
Thanks for posting Emre!
That was quite a challenging day. It was a situation where if we could have broken the work up over multiple days I could have used the natural light more to my advantage rather than "make do". I believe that we shot the angle looking out towards the stadium first, then moved to the chase under the stands, then back to the fight scene for the cross angles.
We shot this at a college stadium, with a 20x20 blue screen beyond the foreground stands (so only the extras seen just above the tunnel are real). We had intended to go green screen but once the extras were brought out we realized they had been equipped with green signs and pennants so we switched to blue, which we thankfully had on the truck! The opening shot was done with on a seat mounted on the arm of the dolly so the operator could work handheld but ride above the heads of the players to see more depth. We shot the rest of this opening scene handheld with two crossed cameras to see both sides of the fight at once.
I hung two M40's on a goalpost outside the opening to the field that played as backlights for the opening shot and sidelight thereafter, duplicating incoming daylight. The fill was one or two M18's bounced off bleached muslin on the floor to suggest sunlight hitting the ground and returning back. Keeping the players from walking in front of the fill was a tricky deal, and I would constantly be bringing up the level of the fill for the blockier shots only to have the extras move out of the way on a given take, which resulting in too much fill! It's subtle though, thankfully there is a lot of things to distract the eye.
We then moved to the bowels of the stadium for the huntdown section. I would have loved to have had more time to shoot this because I would have used large solids for negative fill to shape the ambient daylight and create some mystery. In some instances I lit one side hotter so that it would at least have some contrast. We were also fighting the sun starting to peek into the upper areas of the stadium and by the last few shots we had a lot of solids hung to try to keep it off faces and nearby walls. My key grip Bodie did an amazing job as always, hurling ropes over rafters and stringing up 20x20's 50 feet up.
That was quite a challenging day. It was a situation where if we could have broken the work up over multiple days I could have used the natural light more to my advantage rather than "make do". I believe that we shot the angle looking out towards the stadium first, then moved to the chase under the stands, then back to the fight scene for the cross angles.
We shot this at a college stadium, with a 20x20 blue screen beyond the foreground stands (so only the extras seen just above the tunnel are real). We had intended to go green screen but once the extras were brought out we realized they had been equipped with green signs and pennants so we switched to blue, which we thankfully had on the truck! The opening shot was done with on a seat mounted on the arm of the dolly so the operator could work handheld but ride above the heads of the players to see more depth. We shot the rest of this opening scene handheld with two crossed cameras to see both sides of the fight at once.
I hung two M40's on a goalpost outside the opening to the field that played as backlights for the opening shot and sidelight thereafter, duplicating incoming daylight. The fill was one or two M18's bounced off bleached muslin on the floor to suggest sunlight hitting the ground and returning back. Keeping the players from walking in front of the fill was a tricky deal, and I would constantly be bringing up the level of the fill for the blockier shots only to have the extras move out of the way on a given take, which resulting in too much fill! It's subtle though, thankfully there is a lot of things to distract the eye.
We then moved to the bowels of the stadium for the huntdown section. I would have loved to have had more time to shoot this because I would have used large solids for negative fill to shape the ambient daylight and create some mystery. In some instances I lit one side hotter so that it would at least have some contrast. We were also fighting the sun starting to peek into the upper areas of the stadium and by the last few shots we had a lot of solids hung to try to keep it off faces and nearby walls. My key grip Bodie did an amazing job as always, hurling ropes over rafters and stringing up 20x20's 50 feet up.
emretufekci
Well-known member
web exclusive:
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
Emre, you are my source for finding out when Key and Peele clips are being released!
I didn't have too much to do on this one...we cross-shot the gals (one camera on each) and I think I filled with a 12x12 ultrabounce. I had to battle sun on the background house when shooting the guys, so did as much filling as I could (ultrabounce for fill, plus hung another one on the side of the house to the left side of frame with an M90 pushing into it) just to bring up their level, and we installed the hedges in the background to avoid seeing hot driveway.
Simple sketch but fun for TLC fans as well as K&P fans, since it calls back one of our most popular sketches, "I said Bi.i.i.i.tch" which was the very first thing we shot on the pilot!
I didn't have too much to do on this one...we cross-shot the gals (one camera on each) and I think I filled with a 12x12 ultrabounce. I had to battle sun on the background house when shooting the guys, so did as much filling as I could (ultrabounce for fill, plus hung another one on the side of the house to the left side of frame with an M90 pushing into it) just to bring up their level, and we installed the hedges in the background to avoid seeing hot driveway.
Simple sketch but fun for TLC fans as well as K&P fans, since it calls back one of our most popular sketches, "I said Bi.i.i.i.tch" which was the very first thing we shot on the pilot!
emretufekci
Well-known member
emretufekci
Well-known member
Town hall time people:
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
Emre, after the new season premieres next week you are going to have your hands full linking all the released sketches! Actually the first episode will have one of my favorite sketches of the season, so make sure to tune in (I'm sure it will go online soon thereafter). It's one of our more cinematic ones, in marked contrast to the three or four released already as linked above that are timely in terms of content, but scant in terms of visual appeal by design (as far as the town hall one above goes...I got nuthin'!)
emretufekci
Well-known member
Looking forward to the new season!!!
in the interim can you talk about your lens choices. I am guessing you choose your kit per season but do you ever make special selections? Do you have a prefered stop to achieve a consistent look for the show and/or to accommodate the AC(s) in tough shots?
in the interim can you talk about your lens choices. I am guessing you choose your kit per season but do you ever make special selections? Do you have a prefered stop to achieve a consistent look for the show and/or to accommodate the AC(s) in tough shots?
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
Hi Emre, good questions.
My lens package on Key & Peele consists of:
Alura studio 18-80 T2.6
Alura studio 45-250 T2.6
Alura lightweight 15.5-45 T 2.8
Alura lightweight 30-80 T2.8
Zeiss CW 70-200 T2.9
Master Prime 25, 35, 50, 75
Ultra Prime 100, 135
We rarely added more lenses to the package. On the odd occasion we'd use a doubler. When we went handheld or Steadicam, we were able to cover most situations with the zooms and if we needed to double up long focal lengths we'd go primes on one of the cameras. The main reason for the primes was for the odd sketch that called for shallower depth of field than the zooms could deliver, especially if we were looking to emulate the anamorphic look (where we would crop to 2:39, shoot between 1.3 and 1.8 and sometimes use blue streak filters). To save money I switched over to Ultraprimes for the longer focal lengths because I would be less likely to need to shoot under T2 as that was a plenty shallow look. The Aluras and the Master/Ultras are all Arri branded and while they are made by different manufacturers, they color match nicely. For all the different looks on Key & Peele, I found it best to work with a lens set that delivered a clean, neutral look and then add whatever filtration was required on a sketch-by-sketch basis, rather than have to maintain our breakneck pace while battling the mechanical drawbacks of vintage lenses.
In terms of preferred stop, for interiors I would usually end up around 2.8 2/3 or a 4 as a balance between keeping the look cinematic (director generally preferred shallow focus) and giving the AC's a reasonable time of it. If possible I would light to a hotter stop and then ND down the A camera while keeping the B camera (on longer lenses) more stop to work with. I don't like losing performances to blown focus so in most instances I will favor whatever stop allows the AC to nail it by the second take, rather than get precious about a little extra bokeh. There were a few times when the director wanted something extra-shallow and I would speak up on the AC's behalf to make it clear that it would take a good amount of tries for us to get the shot sharp. Overall that process is so much faster than it used to be in the film days, when it was typical to see the AC pull his tape measure and put down a lot of marks. My guys still pull the tape occasionally but mostly they use the Hilty for longer distances and often just get it done without any marks. It has been interesting to see old-school AC's adopt the working-off-the-monitor with a wireless handset protocol, they have gotten it down to a science (I know the specific monitor choices of each of my AC's and have them spec'd on the camera packages for each job)! The original argument against pulling off the monitor is that it can only be reactive and thus always behind the action, but it has turned out to be just as effective if not more so than the old methods if not more so. As usual, it's all up to the skill of the individual.
Getting back to preferred stops: I don't have a hard and fast rule about day exteriors. Sometimes I will maintain a deeper stop like a 5.6 or above, other times I'll keep it shallow, it depends on the scene and desired look. If there's a lot of blowout like dappled sun in the background, I prefer to take the edge of it by letting it fall out of focus.
My lens package on Key & Peele consists of:
Alura studio 18-80 T2.6
Alura studio 45-250 T2.6
Alura lightweight 15.5-45 T 2.8
Alura lightweight 30-80 T2.8
Zeiss CW 70-200 T2.9
Master Prime 25, 35, 50, 75
Ultra Prime 100, 135
We rarely added more lenses to the package. On the odd occasion we'd use a doubler. When we went handheld or Steadicam, we were able to cover most situations with the zooms and if we needed to double up long focal lengths we'd go primes on one of the cameras. The main reason for the primes was for the odd sketch that called for shallower depth of field than the zooms could deliver, especially if we were looking to emulate the anamorphic look (where we would crop to 2:39, shoot between 1.3 and 1.8 and sometimes use blue streak filters). To save money I switched over to Ultraprimes for the longer focal lengths because I would be less likely to need to shoot under T2 as that was a plenty shallow look. The Aluras and the Master/Ultras are all Arri branded and while they are made by different manufacturers, they color match nicely. For all the different looks on Key & Peele, I found it best to work with a lens set that delivered a clean, neutral look and then add whatever filtration was required on a sketch-by-sketch basis, rather than have to maintain our breakneck pace while battling the mechanical drawbacks of vintage lenses.
In terms of preferred stop, for interiors I would usually end up around 2.8 2/3 or a 4 as a balance between keeping the look cinematic (director generally preferred shallow focus) and giving the AC's a reasonable time of it. If possible I would light to a hotter stop and then ND down the A camera while keeping the B camera (on longer lenses) more stop to work with. I don't like losing performances to blown focus so in most instances I will favor whatever stop allows the AC to nail it by the second take, rather than get precious about a little extra bokeh. There were a few times when the director wanted something extra-shallow and I would speak up on the AC's behalf to make it clear that it would take a good amount of tries for us to get the shot sharp. Overall that process is so much faster than it used to be in the film days, when it was typical to see the AC pull his tape measure and put down a lot of marks. My guys still pull the tape occasionally but mostly they use the Hilty for longer distances and often just get it done without any marks. It has been interesting to see old-school AC's adopt the working-off-the-monitor with a wireless handset protocol, they have gotten it down to a science (I know the specific monitor choices of each of my AC's and have them spec'd on the camera packages for each job)! The original argument against pulling off the monitor is that it can only be reactive and thus always behind the action, but it has turned out to be just as effective if not more so than the old methods if not more so. As usual, it's all up to the skill of the individual.
Getting back to preferred stops: I don't have a hard and fast rule about day exteriors. Sometimes I will maintain a deeper stop like a 5.6 or above, other times I'll keep it shallow, it depends on the scene and desired look. If there's a lot of blowout like dappled sun in the background, I prefer to take the edge of it by letting it fall out of focus.
emretufekci
Well-known member
Today is the day. Prepare for the new season!!!
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
"Telemarketer" was pretty simple on paper so the director and I wanted to add some visual interest to keep it from becoming too repetitious and bland. Both the kitchen and telemarketer locations were shot on pre-existing sets on a stage which I lit from scratch. For the kitchen I hung two GEM balls and a Dedo downlight for the overhead lighting look, and a 4x2 Kino on the floor in front of camera to give a little eye light. I went with a somewhat harsh/naturalistic look so it would feel less like a set and to shake things up a little bit. A gentle backlight with full CTB on the window sheers, and a couple of dimmed down bulbs on candlesticks outside the window. In the telemarketer set, I kept it dark to make it a little more ominous, with a Dedo downlight onto the tabletop and backlight/toplight elsewhere.
I think my favorite part visually about this is the dangling phone cord. It's such a throwback idea and the way it stretches across the 2:39 frame makes me laugh, it just seems to add to the poor guy's frustratiion.
I think my favorite part visually about this is the dangling phone cord. It's such a throwback idea and the way it stretches across the 2:39 frame makes me laugh, it just seems to add to the poor guy's frustratiion.
emretufekci
Well-known member
They really should not discuss future terrier plots on a plane. ABBA!!!!!!