Manure

[Hal Smith]

How in the world is your SS managing to keep all this straight? Trying to hold 14 hours of chaos together has got to be killing everyone on the set.

[David Mullen ASC]

"SS"?

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Hi David, I'm really loving the look of this movie. Great reports as usual. I love what you're doing with all the "sun" sources in shot. How many setups are you managing per day? Do you have much of a rigging crew working ahead of you?

[John Sprung]

David --

 

I found that hot swap box. It turns out that the inductors are nowhere near big enough for a Red. Maybe could swap in a pair out of some fried triac dimmers. (Damn, I tossed one a couple weeks ago....) But at Cinegear there are commercial V-lock hot swaps readily available, too.

 

"SS" I guess is script supervisor.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Jon Rosenbloom]

How big is the grip dept? (Including riggers)

[David Mullen ASC]

Besides the Key Grip and Gaffer, I think they have four to five guys under them, plus a rigging Grip and rigging Gaffer for the advance sets (but they don't have a lot of help, so we try to give them a lot of time.)

 

I don't know the set-up count but we spend more time setting up these scenes than actually shooting, so I'd guess it's around 20 set-ups a day. But it just depends because sometimes we run a lot of B-camera angles, like with the cattle of large group scenes, so the set-up count is higher on those days.

[Hal Smith]

"SS"?

Sorry, Script Supervisor (Thanks John).

[Joe Taylor]

The first batch of RED ONES had a big problem with overloading the sensor causing the highlights to go black. Don't know if that has been fixed. Several of the stills that David Mullen posted are a mixture of Nikon shots and actual frames form the RED. Several shots of the very bright "suns" are indicated as being taken with a digital Nikon, but I did not see anything about the RED.

 

Have you had any problem with the RED cranking out "black hole suns?"

[David Mullen ASC]

Most of the time, I don't see any dot when I point a light right into the lens, but occasionally if the light is super bright, I get a faint purple dot in the center. It's easy to burn it out to white in post though so I'm not worried. But I just looked at the TIFF's for those shots I just posted that have the fake sun in the frame and I zoomed way into them, but couldn't find any dot.

[Jamie Metzger]

David; I really like the lighting and compositions that I see. I love the image of one of the polish brothers on the couch selling the bible to a women. The lighting is great!

 

Everything looks perfect.

[John Holland]

I have had a look at REduser where David also posts [iam not a member] on there they seem to think much more than on here that the wonderful images that Mr Mullen is posting is down to the wonders of REd one . In the past David has put loads of pics of productions he has been involved with all looking great . So what i am saying is no matter what the capture medium is be it S8 through to 65mm and every digital camera you can think of it up to the Lighting cameraman [DoP] who can light like David and great production design . like the guy on "Manure" .

[F Bulgarelli]

I'm about to do a feature on the Red as well as "B" camera/steadicam and 2nd Unit DP, so I'll be interested to hear how things go. The shooting conditions will be very different on my feature though. We're shooting in the Bahamas and doing a lot of water work. I'll be interested to see how the cameras handle the heat, humidity, sand, and water. We don't have the luxury of a backup body, so I really hope the cameras hold up well! If not, I guess I'll spend a lot of downtime drinking Mai Tai's on the beach while we wait for another camera to be shipped to us.

 

 

I recently used the RED on a music video, it was 95 degrees outside and the camera started shutting down, the camera got super hot, I hear that some assistants are covering the camera with white gaffers tape to keep it form absorving all that heat. We went to 3k mode and seem to be doing better but then we lost some field of view.

What I was going to say is that you should try to convince production to have a backup body, I feel it is absolutely necessary.

[Brad Grimmett]

What I was going to say is that you should try to convince production to have a backup body, I feel it is absolutely necessary.

Good tip, and I agree. But we won't be getting a backup unfortunately. We will have two bodies, but the plan is to shoot two cameras pretty much all the time, so no backup. At least if one body goes down we'll still have one.

[John Sprung]

I hear that some assistants are covering the camera with white gaffers tape to keep it form absorving all that heat. ...

What I was going to say is that you should try to convince production to have a backup body, I feel it is absolutely necessary.

Not a good idea on the white tape. The problem isn't the camera absorbing heat from outside, it's getting rid of the heat it generates internally. The tape would act as insulation, and make matters worse. (Plus, of course, it puts gunk all over the body.) The black surface is better, because it radiates heat better. What you want is to create a cooler environment around the camera with plenty of air movement for it to dissipate heat into. So, set a nice big flag to keep the camera and crew in the shade. Run a fan between takes if you can. It's the same reason that houses have ventilated attics.

 

Backup bodies are essential. Until Red gets a long enough track record to know for sure, I'd be inclined to go heavy on the backup, like going out with five bodies on a two camera shoot. It's a matter of proportion, how much does down time cost, what is the probability of going down, how much are the extra bodies to act as insurance against it.

 

BTW, David, did the hot swap arrive and work OK?

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

So, set a nice big flag to keep the camera and crew in the shade.

 

Was on a Red shoot recently, and grip was kind enough to set up a floppy expecially for camera. The times I forgot to tell them we were moving, I did notice the camera got quite warm, so there definitely is an advantage to keeping it out of the sun at all times.

[Bill Klayer]

David,

 

Your blog is without a doubt the most useful information I've seen about using the Red. Bless you for the time you take to share your experiences. I'm slooowly gearing up for a Red shoot and have just begun to do my homework.

Have you had any color shift issues with ND filters?

 

BK

[John Holland]

I shouldnt reply in David Mullens place but as this whole picture is being shot on sound stages i wouldnt think that ND filters have been used !

[John Sprung]

Have you had any color shift issues with ND filters?

The ND color problem comes from infrared light, which we can't see. So, we don't know how much of it there is in any given shot, and it does unpredictable things to the image. Formatt and Tiffen (and maybe others) make "hot mirror" ND's that eliminate the infrared problem. What happens is that the silicon is sensitive to both visible and IR, and conventional neutral density filters are only neutral on the visible part, they let way too much IR through. Thus, when you hang a heavy ND, IR becomes a more significant part of the image. The "hot mirror" brick walls the IR out.

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[John Holland]

So Mr Sprung what is this IF problem with this camera ? and do think that David has had "hot mirror" problems on this shoot in a studio? What ever "hot mirror" means ?????.!!!!!!

[David Mullen ASC]

We've been waiting to purchase an ND.9 and ND1.2 IR combo filter -- I don't think the IR is needed if the daylight levels only require an ND.3 or ND.6 at 320 ASA. We've been outside rarely, like to shoot the giant bluescreen wall, so we've been in the shade for most of that. I only used a Pola to get rid of some windshield reflections.

 

We did do one bluescreen shot in sunlight where I used an ND.9 but didn't see any IR problems. But before I start the second movie, which as a lot of exterior work, I'd like to get that IR filter. Plus I still need to shoot some daytime plates of farm landscapes for efx work on "Manure".

[John Sprung]

So Mr Sprung what is this IF problem with this camera ? and do think that David has had "hot mirror" problems on this shoot in a studio? What ever "hot mirror" means ?????.!!!!!!

It's not that big a deal. It only shows up significantly when you hang a whole lot of ND, like 1.5 or more. You can't see it with your eyes in the real world, but it'll show up on the monitors on set, so it won't be a surprise the next day.

 

"Hot mirror" is the solution, not the problem. It reflects the IR away, kinda like a dichroic. Infrared is heat, thus the name. I guess the other makers probably include it with their OLPF's. Just get the right ND's, and there's no problem.

 

You could also look at it as an opportunity. One man's technical problem is another guy's creative choice. Hang a couple conventional 2.4 ND's, and badda boom, you got your infrared digital camera. The other guys can't do that.... ;-)

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[John Hoffler]

shots look amazing, David!

 

oh, and happy birthday!

[Ram Shani]

happy birthday :D

 

wish you all the best

[David Mullen ASC]

Week Five

 

Now we are on a Sunday thru Thursday schedule. Next week we only have three days left, plus any pick-up work to do later (I may be shooting some farm landscapes & car drive-bys for efx work later.)

 

Sunday and Monday were our last days shooting at Melody Ranch in Newhall. Clark Hunter, our production designer, built this great diner on Stage B, including a parking lot in front. My biggest problem was, when shooting scenes inside the diner, getting the background to look bright enough, since the diner is lined with windows. The diner was a lot easier to shoot for the night scenes, since it was well-dressed with hanging practical fixtures, augmented with a muslin ceiling that was lit from above with coop lights, adding a nice soft base light to everything.

 

Last week, Clark and I were discussing how much we have learned about faking daytime landscapes inside a soundstage over the past five weeks. We decided to ask if we could reshoot the first scene of the movie, shot on Day One, of Billy Bob Thornton selling to a pumpkin farmer. It was part of a montage scene of different manure salesmen working different farms, but this was the longest scene and the first one, showing off the brown painted landscapes of the movie. Even though the last day at the Ranch was quite huge, we managed to add the reshoot of the scene; Clark improved upon his false perspective tricks, and I did a better job of creating the late afternoon look. The plants ended only about 20 feet beyond where the actors stood, and then the six foot wooden ramp leading to the backdrop began – Clark sprinkled peat moss from a bucket into tiny rows to create the illusion of distant crops. I added a light haze of smoke, something I didn’t do on Day One, plus I lit the sky backdrop brighter than before, though it took three 18K’s pointed into the brown sky backing to get it to overexpose.

 

As a frame of reference, here is the Nikon snapshot I made on the test day a few days before Day One, when I only had part of my lighting package:

 

 

Here is the RED frame of the master shot of the scene from Day One’s shoot:

 

 

Here is the RED frame of the reshot master on Day Twenty:

 

 

Just keep in mind that I diffused these shots in Photoshop, and they are reduced, compressed, etc.

 

On Tuesday we hit the road, shooting at the old Art Deco-style Bullocks Wilshire building (now a private law school) to play as an urban department store. The large interior was lit mainly with a single HMI lighting balloon. We then went down the block, past the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel (where I shot part of “D.E.B.S” a few years ago) to a small wooden bar to shoot a few scenes.

 

On Wednesday, we arrived at DC Stages in Downtown to shoot in some modified pre-existing sets (courtrooms, large hallways, offices, etc.) Since I used mostly HMI lighting at Melody Ranch, I decided to pre-rig these stages with my tungsten lights, discovering by now that the noise problem of shooting in 3200K balance on the RED was not as bad as some people have made it out to be. Plus I had too many sets that needed downward-pointing spots on architectural elements, and there really is no good HMI solution to that.

 

Thursday was my birthday and there was a nice big cake for me (and the crew) at lunchtime, which was nice. I also ran into the producers and advance prep people for HBO’s “Big Love”, now shooting their third season, a job offer I had to decline because of my commitment to the two Polish Brothers movies. They were at DC Stages scouting locations for an upcoming episode. I chatted briefly with Alan Caso, ASC, who is now shooting the series.

 

We shot some 16mm film footage for an educational film series, part of which plays on a wall in a later scene, plus is scattered throughout the movie. The plan is to rephotograph the image off of a screen, though we have the option of scanning the footage to digital as well. It was interesting to shoot film again, to look through an optical viewfinder to frame up a scene without having to turn on the camera. However, after the first scene was shot, the on-off trigger on the Arri-SR2 broke and we couldn’t turn on the camera. So much for the superior reliability of film equipment compared to the RED’s…

 

Turns out a small plastic piece inside the 25-year-old camera broke. By chance, our digital data wrangler, Eric, used to work as a camera tech and managed to repair it by pushing the internal microswitch to be permanently “on” so we could trigger the camera with a remote start-stop cable. But by the time it was fixed, we decided to shoot the rest of the 16mm scenes on Monday. Luckily we had already shot the one scene that we needed a 16mm print of to project during a scene on Monday. I guess one advantage of old film cameras is that the repairs tend to be low-tech and mechanical generally….

 

I used Kodak 7218 for the 16mm scenes, figuring the desaturated look of the movie, the digital color-correction planned, and the softening and fading from rephotographing the image off of a screen during projection sort of negated getting finicky about matching the look (grain-wise and color-wise) of older emulsions and formats, though I did point out to everyone that 16mm industrials made from the late 1930’s to early 1960’s, as ours were meant to represent, should reflect the changes in technology, with most of them being b&w, not color, except for the 1960’s era industrials. But since this movie is highly stylized, I don’t think it is important to get overly realistic about that aspect. Plus there was no time to shoot each 16mm sequence in different styles on different stocks. I lit the faux educational films in a classic hard light style, which was fun. I also am always amazed at how good actors look in that style.

 

We also shot a long scene in a lab / office set full of animals in cages, including a lion. That was interesting to say the least.

 

Well, three more days left!

[Andrew Brinkhaus]

Great updates David, and a belated Happy birthday. Looking forward to hearing about the final days.