Fade in:
Long story short, the end.
Wait, hold on, let's start over.
So I'm gaffing for a a low budget indie short. This is my first experience shooting with a 5D, and I have been amazed at the low light and shallow DoF capabilities. We spend months planning the shoot down to each detail. The first shot rolls around, we set up. The weather is cloudy, but the scene calls for a sunny day and cheerful mood. I start to bring out the Arri 650 for some rimlight action. "No." says the DP. "it will look fake." "Oh", I said, unsure of what else to say "ok." I finally go grab a reflector and add some fill in the MS and CUs. The actors are well exposed, but there's no rimlight and it looks, well, overcast (maybe color correction can help?).
[Several shots later]
The director wants a POV. So the DP picks up the camera and tries out the shoulder braced setup. "It doesn't feel right." He proceeds to take off the brace and hold the camera with his hands. Ok, well, it's POV. The next shot, he does the same, the director just sort says "ok yeah sure" which apparently meant use hand held shots for everything from this moment on. Since then, the DP has hand held literally 90% of the shots on our slow paced love/drama. I don't know, I guess I must be a hack if I don't see the logic in using hand held footage, even while walking with a 1.4f lens on a CMOS sensor without a field monitor or focus markers of any kind.
Then the fun really starts. INT. Bedroom. We are shooting against a window. I go to close the blinds.
"Naw, we don't need to." said the DP.
"The window is too bright." I said.
"Getting highlight is ok." He said.
"The window is completely blown out." I said.
"It's fine, the window shows the outside so everyone knows its supposed to be blown out, ya know?" He said.
I said nothing.
I go set up a light and add more key in an attempt to reduce overall contrast. "Naw," he says "now it looks lit."
We go to do a shot where an actor opens a big cardboard box and sets a chest of old playthings inside the box. The director wants to put the camera inside the box so the camera looks straight up as the chest is lowered into the box. I bring a portable light to put in the box pointing up to light the chest and actor's face as he leans over the box. "No no, we can't do that, it's not motivated, people will wonder why there is light inside the box." Fair point I suppose, as I wonder how then we are supposed to see more than a silhouette on the actor. He puts the camera in the box and takes a test shot. Too dark. I bring a reflector over and bounce some light from the side of the actor. "Naw man, light would only come from the ceiling lights." We exchange ideas with director and come to an impasse; we decide to come back to the shot later. (by the way, any suggestions of how to light this would be appreciated).
Yet another shot. It is dark, I go to grab light, "Naw man, I got this." He bumps the ISO to 2500.
Now, what confuses me the most is that the DP seems to know all the filmmaking terms and has at least has an extensive knowledge of the technology. I have not seen the dailies on a big screen therefore I can't for certain judge how the shots will look; thus I have perpetually been treating all of the DPs lighting decisions by default as creative choices. I've kept a positive attitude on set even when met with disagreements, worked hard, and had as much fun as a snowball fight on the deck of the titanic. I don't know, am I missing something, or have other people gone through similar situations when working under DPs/Directors?
At first I was worried about what would happen if the DP found out what I wrote, but then I realized that the lighting section is probably the safest place to post this story.
Fade out.
Long story short, the end.
Wait, hold on, let's start over.
So I'm gaffing for a a low budget indie short. This is my first experience shooting with a 5D, and I have been amazed at the low light and shallow DoF capabilities. We spend months planning the shoot down to each detail. The first shot rolls around, we set up. The weather is cloudy, but the scene calls for a sunny day and cheerful mood. I start to bring out the Arri 650 for some rimlight action. "No." says the DP. "it will look fake." "Oh", I said, unsure of what else to say "ok." I finally go grab a reflector and add some fill in the MS and CUs. The actors are well exposed, but there's no rimlight and it looks, well, overcast (maybe color correction can help?).
[Several shots later]
The director wants a POV. So the DP picks up the camera and tries out the shoulder braced setup. "It doesn't feel right." He proceeds to take off the brace and hold the camera with his hands. Ok, well, it's POV. The next shot, he does the same, the director just sort says "ok yeah sure" which apparently meant use hand held shots for everything from this moment on. Since then, the DP has hand held literally 90% of the shots on our slow paced love/drama. I don't know, I guess I must be a hack if I don't see the logic in using hand held footage, even while walking with a 1.4f lens on a CMOS sensor without a field monitor or focus markers of any kind.
Then the fun really starts. INT. Bedroom. We are shooting against a window. I go to close the blinds.
"Naw, we don't need to." said the DP.
"The window is too bright." I said.
"Getting highlight is ok." He said.
"The window is completely blown out." I said.
"It's fine, the window shows the outside so everyone knows its supposed to be blown out, ya know?" He said.
I said nothing.
I go set up a light and add more key in an attempt to reduce overall contrast. "Naw," he says "now it looks lit."
We go to do a shot where an actor opens a big cardboard box and sets a chest of old playthings inside the box. The director wants to put the camera inside the box so the camera looks straight up as the chest is lowered into the box. I bring a portable light to put in the box pointing up to light the chest and actor's face as he leans over the box. "No no, we can't do that, it's not motivated, people will wonder why there is light inside the box." Fair point I suppose, as I wonder how then we are supposed to see more than a silhouette on the actor. He puts the camera in the box and takes a test shot. Too dark. I bring a reflector over and bounce some light from the side of the actor. "Naw man, light would only come from the ceiling lights." We exchange ideas with director and come to an impasse; we decide to come back to the shot later. (by the way, any suggestions of how to light this would be appreciated).
Yet another shot. It is dark, I go to grab light, "Naw man, I got this." He bumps the ISO to 2500.
Now, what confuses me the most is that the DP seems to know all the filmmaking terms and has at least has an extensive knowledge of the technology. I have not seen the dailies on a big screen therefore I can't for certain judge how the shots will look; thus I have perpetually been treating all of the DPs lighting decisions by default as creative choices. I've kept a positive attitude on set even when met with disagreements, worked hard, and had as much fun as a snowball fight on the deck of the titanic. I don't know, am I missing something, or have other people gone through similar situations when working under DPs/Directors?
At first I was worried about what would happen if the DP found out what I wrote, but then I realized that the lighting section is probably the safest place to post this story.
Fade out.
!!