RZA & The Black Keys

I recently completed a wild and fun shoot for the song "Baddest Man Alive" by RZA & The Black Keys with director Chris Marrs Piliero. The song is going to be featured in RZA's upcoming feature film 'The Man With The Iron Fists', a kung-fu, western with a release date of Nov 2nd

Chris' treatment was a refreshing blend of comedy and action and I knew that I would need to keep the lighting atmospheric, moody, and serious. The video takes place in a hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurant where RZA and The Black Keys duke it out over the last fortune cookie.



I drew upon my experiences traveling throughout Asia and painted the scene with a chaotic mix of fluorescent  tungsten, and LED with strong and saturate colors. The location had many crimson and dark earth tones and I decided to compliment the space with vivid red gold, and amber. For color separation, I used cool white fluorescents in the kitchen with plus green and color mixed with dimmed tungsten units.

This was an incredibly challenging shoot because we only had Dan, Patrick, and RZA for 4 hours and had to knock out nearly 30 setups with them. To facilitate for this narrow shooting window I employed 2 cameras w/ Kowa Anamorphic Primes and Zoom lens, and spent the first 3 hours of the day rigging from the ceiling using menace arms, medium base-baby pin adapters, and speedrail w/ wall spreaders. We needed to move fast and furious once the guys came to set and this method allowed us to burn through our setups. This of course came at a slight compromise for lighting but I'm very happy with what we were able to do within our modest budget and time-frame.

The second challenge was to facilitate for high speed on a very tight budget. Chris wanted to shoot the majority of the action material at 96fps so I lit the scene at a T8 and put ND in front of the lens for the 24fps sync material, pulling when needed for when Chris wanted to do high speed. I opted to shoot redcode 8:1 to allow me to stay at 5K Anamorphic when we needed to do higher frame rates.

You can watch the video right here! Enjoy!

'DANCING IN MY HEAD'

I recently had the pleasure of shooting the music video for Eric Turner vs Avicii's 'Dancing in My Head' with director, Chris Marrs Piliero. Conceptually this was a very dark & twisted yet comical narrative piece that explored the intoxicating effect of 'the one that got away'.

The piece opens with a night club scene where The Guy meets The Girl and sees the girl of his dreams but can't find the courage to say anything to her. I wanted to keep the lighting subdued, sexy, and fun. My gaffer Matt Ardine did a fantastic job in executing our plan of integrating the lighting into the set, using LED lite ribbon, Par 20's, LED color blast 12's, and party red kino tubes for the architectural lighting. This was not actually an existing club! This was the handy work of our production designer Alex Delgado, who transformed a spacious living room into our club location, saving us a company move! This was my first experience using Lite Ribbon and it was incredibly versatile and useful; small, lightweight, and easy to put just about anywhere. 

We used a 1x1 LED light panel bounced into a 2x2 pizza box for our key light at the bar and used a 26 degree leko with a dappled light gobo as a special backlight for The Girl to give her a bit of mystery and really "pop" from the rest of the scene. 

We shot the video on the Red Epic and I was very impressed at how the camera was able to hold detail in the shadows in this scene. The camera was rated at 1280 and we shot the scene at a T2. 

After The Guy misses on his window of opportunity, he is tormented by the memory of this girl as he tries to go about his everyday life. Our schedule was super tight and although I wanted to shoot all the driving material later in the day, we were forced to shoot all the driving during mid-day with lighting that was not optimal. For his driving coverage we picked streets where the lighting was best - opting for backlight, keeping the background buildings dark. We didn't have the budget for a process trailer so we kept things simple using rags of unbleached muslin, taping large strips just out of frame so we could bounce a little light back into his face. 

For our day exteriors we had such an ambitious shot list that the only "lighting" we really did was with a 4x4 bounce (soft side), negative fill, and a 4x4 frame of opal when we got tight for closeups and the sun was just a bit too harsh. 

The guy ultimately can't get this girl out of his head so he decides to take drastic measures and perform a little self-surgery, literally removing his brain. To light the garage I kept things very simple. The scene takes place during the day but I wanted to keep things very dark and moody, so I had to delicately balance the amount of suggested daylight with the practical light that I wanted to key the scene with. To create this effect we blacked out all of the windows except for 1 small 1x1 window near the top of the stairs, where we placed a Par 64 gelled with 1/2 CTB to create a shaft of daylight. We used recessed light ribbon to toplight the tool bench and used a 60w photoflood in the practical work lamp which we bounced into a 2x2 pizza box to key The Guy. I always wanted a hint of suggested daylight in frame, so when we turned around for The Guy's coverage, we used an apple box to prop the garage door slightly open to let a little ambient spill kiss the background. 

This is an incredibly graphic and disturbing scene and to add to the comedy, we decided to keep the camera movement romantic and intimate, creating a disturbingly, ironic tone. 

Toward the end of the video, The Guy removes his brain and chucks it into a river. Finally free from the burden of his own mind, he resumes daily life and goes grocery shopping only to be confronted by his Brain in isle 4. When we did our tech scout, the grocery store location had a chaotic mix of different bulbs already installed; cool whites, warm whites, and off-brand daylight balanced tubes … the whole gamut. Instead of  going trough the tedious and time-consuming process of swapping all the tubes to make them all uniform, we used naked image 80's to key the scene using the same ratio of cool whites and warm whites and 56K bulbs. 

This video was fairly VFX heavy and we had to shoot three passes for each setup when both The Guy and The Brain were in frame together; one with Jesse, the brain, and the puppeteers, one with just the brain and the puppeteers, and one clean plate. The puppeteers did an incredible job and I was so pleased we were able to do almost all the effect work practically. 

That's about it! Hope you enjoy the video! 

ON LOCATION IN GEORGIA

I just got back from a beautiful collaboration of sound and image in the countryside of Georgia, shooting Quiet Hounds' 'Beacon Sun' with director Scott Lansing. We had a vigorous three-day shooting schedule, fighting through torrential downpours, blistering heat, sleep depravation, and fire ants and it was totally worth it ...

Capturing a storm cell with Eric Toledo (Lead Singer) 

'Beacon Sun' tells the story of the struggle of those who died at the Andersonville prison camp during the American Civil War.

Strapped with a very tight budget we decided to shoot with the Red Epic for its size, portability, and ability to shoot 48fps without windowing the field of view. I opted to use an older set of primes (Zeiss Standard Speeds) for their brilliant flaring and vignetting properties (especially the 16mm and 20mm), their subtle optical aberrations, and their speed. The song paints an incredibly poignant and melancholy atmosphere that I knew I'd need to echo visually by using fast lenses in the twilight hours of the early morning and late evenings.

Because of our tight-schedule and many company moves, I opted to employ a very small crew and this was the first shoot I've ever done where we didn't plug in a single light fixture. We scouted our locations extensively, enjoying the luxury of scouting the locations multiple times throughout the day to ensure that we'd be able to capture the location's natural beauty. The only "lighting" we did was through overheads, negative fill, and bounce.

On location at Marietta Civil War cemetery 

The weather was incredibly unpredictable and cumbersome on this shoot and we certainly got a taste of what the soldiers went through nearly 150 years ago ... In a one-hour-period it would go from blazing heat, to thundering lighting storm, to overcast with full humidity. We fought through the elements through soggy socks, dehydration, and mud-splattered garb and used the weather to our advantage. The weather really is a character in itself and I made sure to capture it in the highest quality possible, using ND se & he horz grad filters where appropriate, and using the Epic's HDRx function. I was told early on that the colorist for this project is top-notch and I wanted to give him the greatest amount of flexibility in post. I shot nearly half of the project in HDRx mode (+3 stops), allowing me to overexpose the image like I would with film. This extended latitude got me much closer to the dynamic range I'm used to with the Alexa and F65.

Shooting exclusively day/ext, I maintained a shooting stop of T4 through the midday, opening up to a T2+ in the early morning and late evening. The only filtration I used were Polarizers and ND.

Instagram of early morning setup with the Quiet Hounds

Here is a link to the video:

You can check out the Quiet Hounds' other work on their website: http://www.quiethounds.com/

A DAY WITH THE SONY F65

     This week I had the pleasure of testing the Sony F65 workflow at Sony Studios through their free (yes, free) workshop at the brand new DMPC (Digital Motion Picture Center). I shot an int/night scene using a Sony F65 with a Fujinon 18-85 T2 zoom and Leica S Primes. 

     This camera is an absolute game changer and Sony has set a new standard for digital cinema. This is the first and only true 4K camera on the market and we were able to see the entire process from initial capture to projection thanks to Sony's DMPC 4K workflow system and Fuji's new onset color grading system, the CC Box. 

     I rarely like talking about cameras and am much more lighting oriented, but this camera is certainly worth talking about because it's the first digital camera I've come across that is capable of doing things that film negative cannot. 

     TEST Int/Night: I wanted to push this sensor's toe to the maximum so I lit a scene almost entirely using practical sources: (4) wall sconces, (4) table lamps w/ 60w bulbs, and (1) 2x2' neon sign of a Geisha. The only non-practical light I used was several BJs out the windows with 1/2CTB to illuminate the curtains for a subdued moonlight. We shot the scene at a 2.8/4 split at 800IE ... Yeah, a 2.8/4, the camera is THAT sensitive! My focus puller was very pleased! We shot a wide of a woman walking from one side of the room to the other, ending on her final mark, sitting on top of a desk in front of the neon sign. As she walks through the room she stays 2 under until she reaches the neon sign where she is over 1 stop. We did another take at 60fps and intentionally underexposed 1 full stop. Literally, all of the detail is there. We could see detail that I couldn't see with my naked eye; the fireplace and the corners of the room that were reading 4 and 5 under on my spot meter, still had information. This camera handles low-light situations better than any camera i've seen and has a very pleasing fall-off to true black similar to 35mm ... Between this camera and lighting fixtures shifting toward energy-efficient LED & plasma, you're certainly going to make your producers happy with lower lighting costs. 

     Resolution: The resolution of this camera is unparalleled and once the anamorphic desqeeze firmware update is released (August), this will be my first choice for shooting anamorphic. Sampling from an 8K sensor, the F65 has a 2880 green pixel count (the green pixels carry resolution) where the Red Epic has 2048 and the Alexa has 1440. We projected in 4K and the detail you can see with this camera is unbelievable. A popular argument of late in response to high-res sensors is the need to throw old glass on the camera or diffusion filters in front of the lens because the resolution is too great but Curtis Clark ASC screened his short film 'Eldorado' with naked Leica Primes (which are incredibly sharp) and the results were astounding. His leading lady looked absolutely stunning ... proving that through good makeup and attentive lighting, you don't need to soften the image for women. On the contrary, she was even more striking than if they had thrown pro-mists or used Cookes because her features were powder soft juxtaposed to the incredible detail of her hair and the textures of her dress. She really popped! Day/exts were filmed outside Las Vegas at a T8 and the scope & detail was akin to IMAX. The F65 has a base sensitivity of 800IE and we pushed the camera up to 1600IE and there was little to no noise when projected 4K. The noise is very similar to film grain and dances in an organic and random nature that is quite pleasing. 

     Frame Rates: I'm going to hate on RED a little bit here because the windowing at higher frame rates drives me bonkers. One of my favorite features of the F65 is that there is no windowing when you want to do higher frame rates (currently does 60fps, 120fps coming soon). When you do want to do framerates higher than 60fps however, you have to switch from a mechanical shutter (another HUGE benefit of the camera, which I'll get to in a bit) to an electronic shutter.detecable, even with quick panning

     Shutter: The mechanical shutter is a brilliant antidote for the plague of "jello and moire effects" and "aliasing" that has been infamously associated with CMOS sensors. The F65 uses a CMOS sensor just like DSLRs but because of the mechanical shutter you no longer have the problems associated with image scanning. We shot close-ups of fabrics and there was absolutely no aliasing or moire effects; just clean, crystal-clear detail. We also tested the mechanical vs the electronic shutter and there was almost no difference between the to as long as you don't whip pan. 

     Dynamic Range: This is by far the most impressive aspect of this camera. With 14 stops of latitude shooting S-log-2 with 6 stops in the curve at it's native 800IE  (7 stops at 1600IE), you're able to overexpose the scene as you would with film for a denser image. The camera's sensor is actually set at 39% as apposed to middle grey, allowing for 60% of the information to lay in the highlights. A wonderful feature on the camera is the #3 assigned button which allows you to do a high/low check to ensure that all the information in your highlights and shadows are there. Great confidence check! The latitude of this camera gives your colorist optimal room to play with contrast, power window, and the like. 

     Color Gamut: OK, this was also pretty nifty. The color space of the F65 has the widest color space of any digital camera and wider than any of the modern kodak or fuji stocks. This also is a HUGE plus if you plan on finishing in LUSTRE, Da Vinci, Scratch, or any other color software you might use. The color space is fully integrated into the Academy's newly proposed "ACES" (Academy Color Encoding Specifications) workflow which has 26 stops of latitude and a wider color space than the human eye can see. The idea behind this is that it will be a future proof system that will accommodate for any camera to come out in the future. Pretty brilliant!

     Viewfinder: Best viewfinder I've ever used on a digital camera. I suggested they consider releasing a model with an optical viewfinder but to be honest, I wouldn't be terribly bummed if they didn't because this is the first EVF I've looked through where I can really, and I mean reallllly check the focus while operating. The native aspect ratio marker is 1.90. There are a bunch of presets with the whole range from 1.33 to 2.39 but also has a "custom marker" and you can make any size you can think of. They took note from the complaints of the F35's lines being too thick and bright so they've made the lines thinner and there is a brightness adjustment as well. 

     Built in NDs: You have a range from N.9 to 1.8. Great for narrative and even better for documentary. There is a built in IR filter BUT if you do wish to add even more ND in front of the lens, you MUST use IR ND or else your image is going to suffer. 

     Output Formats: You can record 16bit linear RAW SQ (3:1 compression) which gobbles up around 2.0 GB@24fps. BUT, the latest feature is the brand new RAW LITE which eats around half as much space with only a 6:1 compression. We screened both in 4K and you can barely see any difference. This is fantastic for documentary especially considering you can record onto 1T SR cards (the cheapest form of recording memory) and transfer faster than the Alexa. You have the option of using the old S-log 1 but I would definitely go with the update S-log 2 because the 1 is around 1000% on the curve, where the 2 is around 1400%. 

     Salvage Mode: This was pretty nifty. If you accidentally kick the power out from the camera or if hair plugged in too many hair dryers there is a salvage option that will pop up when you reboot the camera. You can either salvage the footage in camera (takes anywhere from 3 minutes to an hour) or take the safer route of salvaging at your download station using Sony's free software (available online). 


     Weight & Ergonomics: Don't let the pictures deceive you. It looks beefy but it's actually quite compact at 11 lbs. You can detach the recorder from the back which will work up to 5m away making it perfectly suitable for steadicam. If you leave the recorder on, it nicely balances the camera for handheld and is very comfortable. 

     SDi outputs: Unfortuantely both of these signals are identical. There was a lot of talk of potentially changing this and allowing to separate the signals because sometimes you want the DIT to see something different than what video village is watching ... 

     The only Con: No timelapse? They're thinking of changing this but to be honest it's much better to shoot at 24fps and remove the frames you want later (gives you far more flexibility in post). It would still be a nice feature to have though ... 

Overall: This is the best digital camera on the market if you can afford it. 

Nicholas Wiesnet, July 12th 2012