Mrs. Peppercorns Magical Reading Room

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

I'm halfway through a 4 day night shoot on this short film and thought you might like to see some frame grabs. Shooting on RED (build 21) in 4.5K Widescreen mode. I'm using Zeiss Super Speeds with a 1/2 Black Frost, Whiskey 1 and Smoque 1 (I seem to use that filter a lot!). I'm rating the camera at 320 asa and shooting at the native 5000K. I've got a 4K Tungsten balloon as a soft toplight sitting above the exterior street which is giving me a T1.4 1/2 and I'm shooting at T1.3 for our exteriors. For the interiors looking out on the street Im using a combination of 4ft single kinotubes (daylight) wrapped in 1/2 CTO and F4 diffusion and 500 watt chinaballs wrapped again in F4 Diffusion. Im able to drop the Balloon in height to bring the exterior ambience up a stop and inside we're shooting at T2. For close up coverage I'm usually on the 50mm or 85mm with a chinaball sitting just above, or to one side of, camera as a soft front key. Skin tones in the close ups are overexposed by a half stop, sometimes a stop. We're smoking our interior sets and and adding Fog to the exteriors for a bit of atmosphere.

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

And Some more Frame Grabs

[Satsuki Murashige]

Looking good Stephen. Never heard of a Whiskey filter, is it somewhere between Coral and Tobacco? How much stop do they lose?

 

So your lighting is in the 3200K-4500K range, then the warm filter on top? Pretty ballsy (not that I would expect otherwise from you)! Are you happy with what you're getting?

[David Mullen ASC]

You are a master at lighting, Stephen. Lovely work.

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

You are a master at lighting, Stephen. Lovely work.

 

 

Thank you for the lovely compliment David. Not quite sure I'm a master just yet but maybe one day:-)

 

Satsuki the Whiskey filter is quite light, like a light tobacco maybe - I found it in a filter sale:) I didn't allow any exposure compensation for it, I rarely do with colour filters. My lighting is all 3200K but some of the streetlights have a red spike to them so they're a bit warmer. Im really happy with the results so far thank you - the RED seems to recreate the warm colors in quite a nice way.

 

We finished the third of our night shoots last night/this morning after a long and bitterly cold night. Unfortunately our balloon blew a bulb as it was being setup on call, and the shattered bulb punctured a hole in the balloon and tripped out the electronics and sensors in the ballast. After spending quite some time trying to repair and/or bypass the problem we eventually had to loose the balloon and use the remains of my small package to try and replicate what i was doing with the balloon. By being careful with our staging i was able to use 2 x 5K fresnels bounced into 2 x 8ft x 8ft Ultrabounces as a soft top/frontal light. With the Ultrabounces at a height and a 45 degree downangle I was able to simulate the balloon light reasonably well giving me a stop of T2 at 320asa. By adding a book light made from a corrected 1.2K hmi cinepar and 2 x 8x4 polys we could add some depth to some of the backgrounds or shop interiors. I continued to use 500w chinaballs wrapped in F4 diffusion for our close up coverage and again I kept the skintones about a stop overexposed in the coverage. For cast and location availability reasons we'll be reconvening next month for a 2 day shoot on a soundstage and a very old library.

[John Holland]

Stephen , Ossie Morris would be proud !!! Great images . john

[Richard Vialet]

I've been following this on your blog and I think it really looks great!

 

I think the slightly overexposed faces on the CU's look great with the filtration!

 

Do you find that the Smoque filter softens skin a lot as well or does it mostly just lower contrast?

 

Did you use a special eye light in that POV CU of the lady (i guess that's Mrs. Peppercorn?)?

Edited February 8, 2010 by Richard Vialet

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

I've been following this on your blog and I think it really looks great!

 

Do you find that the Smoque filter softens skin a lot as well or does it mostly just lower contrast?

 

Did you use a special eye light in that POV CU of the lady (i guess that's Mrs. Peppercorn?)?

 

Hi Richard,

Thanks for following. I suppose the smoque softens faces slightly, Ive never really considered it in that way. I use it more to add some texture to the images and because i love the way it blooms highlights. No special eyelights just a lovely chinaball!

 

S

[XiaoSu Han]

Looks great!

 

That last MCU of the girl, is that lit with the two 5Ks bounced? Very beautiful quality light.

 

What a location, is that in London? Fake or real snow? :)

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

That last MCU of the girl, is that lit with the two 5Ks bounced? Very beautiful quality light.

 

What a location, is that in London? Fake or real snow? :)

 

That last shot of the Girl is lit with a 1.2K HMI Cinepar bounced into 2 x 8ft x 4ft polyboards, arranged as a booklight (the poly is joined on one end to form a V shape) to the right of camera. The Cinepar is corrected to Tungsten with full CTO and wrapped with blackwrap to prevent spill. The background is augmented with a 500 watt chinaball and the actress is kit with another 500w chinaball, wrapped in F4 diffusion, sitting above and slightly to the right of the camera lens. Very simple lighting thats easy to turn around for coverage. The snow is all fake paper snow and the location is outside Manchester in Northern England!

[XiaoSu Han]

Nice one on the booklight. I've used a variation of that on our last film, bouncing a lamp into a 8x4 poly and then attaching a full diff frame in v-shape to it. Quite similar I guess.

 

It would've been interesting to see it without the second Chinaball on her face. Did it take her one stop over set-stop?

 

Good stuff, let us know if we can see it moving somewhere! :)

 

One more question though, how did you get the eyelight onto the mature lady that looks into the camera?

Edited February 9, 2010 by XiaoSu Han

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

It would've been interesting to see it without the second Chinaball on her face. Did it take her one stop over set-stop?

One more question though, how did you get the eyelight onto the mature lady that looks into the camera?

 

Yes the extra chinaball brought her a stop over key. The eyelight in that other grab was from a chinaball just above camera.

[Ram Shani]

great work

very beautiful and elegant lighting

seems very cinematic in term of story telling

 

I have 2 Q:

1- what is F4 diffusion? never heard of it:(

2- can you please upload pic of the book light you using

 

thanks

[Ram Shani]

p.s

it looks like you used jean pierre jeunet work

like The City of Lost Children and delicatessen

[Freya Black]

Thank you for the lovely compliment David. Not quite sure I'm a master just yet but maybe one day:-)

 

Satsuki the Whiskey filter is quite light, like a light tobacco maybe - I found it in a filter sale:) I didn't allow any exposure compensation for it, I rarely do with colour filters. My lighting is all 3200K but some of the streetlights have a red spike to them so they're a bit warmer. Im really happy with the results so far thank you - the RED seems to recreate the warm colors in quite a nice way.

 

Is that the filter sale I was at? I'm loving the whiskey filter! Fabulous! I still regret not buying some choclate filters at the sale but now I wish I'd found a whisky filter! Looks like there is some overlap in our filter tastes as I've been trying to pick up a cheap smoque filter for a long time now! I assume that didn't come from the sale as it's a tiffen filter?

 

I'm such a filter fiend! ;)

 

The locations are looking great too! Have you guys been heavily redressing the locations or are they somewhat like that normally?

These are real locations right, not like a set in Manchester!?

 

love

 

Freya

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

I have 2 Q:

1- what is F4 diffusion? never heard of it:(

2- can you please upload pic of the book light you using

 

thanks

 

Hi Ram, F4 is just a type of heavy diffusion common here in the UK. I didnt take any photo's of the book light setup sorry i was under too much time pressure at that point in the shoot!:-)

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Is that the filter sale I was at? I assume that didn't come from the sale as it's a tiffen filter?

 

Have you guys been heavily redressing the locations or are they somewhat like that normally?

These are real locations right, not like a set in Manchester!?

 

Hi Freya,

 

Th very same filter sale:-) The Smoque is indeed a tiffen filter, one ive grown very fond of for HD shoots. That was a real location but very heavily redressed by the Art Department - they did a great job dont you think?

S

[Freya Black]

Hi Freya,

 

Th very same filter sale:-) The Smoque is indeed a tiffen filter, one ive grown very fond of for HD shoots. That was a real location but very heavily redressed by the Art Department - they did a great job dont you think?

S

 

Thought so! Did you pick it up cheap somewhere? I've fought over a couple of screw on smoque filters on ebay in the past! Why for HD shoots? Do you find it's not right for SD or film for some reason?

 

I've been impressed by the previous stuff you have posted here but I LOVE this. I'm VERY into magical and otherworldly be it Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, Jeunet and Caro, Jean Cocteau or Kenneth Anger. I'm liking Mrs Peppercorn too, does she get cheap rent by any chance?

 

The art department did a FANTASTIC job. It looks both old and new at the same time and also magical and hyperrealistic. The filters of course add to the magical effect. :) Great, this is really my kind of thing. I'm assuming this was not a big budget production so I'm kind of blown away!

 

I'm wondering if you have seen a film I saw recently. It's called The Illusionist and the cinematography is by a guy called Dick Pope. I think you might like it. It has some interesting scenes that are sort of subtle and in your face at the same time. They feature vignetting and a strange flickery effect. I think it is supposed to look like old movie film in colour but it sort of just looks kind of magical. Might be slightly too in your face in some ways but worth checking out.

 

The movie was fun too. I guessed the entire plot a short ways in but still really enjoyed it, worth watching just for the cinematography tho!

 

love

 

Freya

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Thought so! Did you pick it up cheap somewhere? I've fought over a couple of screw on smoque filters on ebay in the past! Why for HD shoots? Do you find it's not right for SD or film for some reason?

 

The art department did a FANTASTIC job. It looks both old and new at the same time and also magical and hyperrealistic. The filters of course add to the magical effect. :) Great, this is really my kind of thing. I'm assuming this was not a big budget production

 

got the smoque from London filters. Not cheap! I find It helps add a texture to the oversharp HD images, and adds a little softness. I haven't shot sd in years but I'm sure I'd use it on that too. I'd use it on film for a different effect.

Budget was tiny - 10k sterling cash everything else was favours.

[Ravi Kiran]

Gorgeous shots!

 

They say daylight is better to use with the RED, but since you're creating a warm look look anyways, I presume tungsten works fine?

[Guest stevie wara]

I've been following this on your blog...

 

Hi Stephen,

 

Wow, your images are beautiful. There has been mention of a blog. Do you have a link for that?

 

Who decided on the compositions, may I ask? Was it the director, or you, or maybe a collaboration? I very much like your framings, particularly how you have managed the closeups. I wonder if your samples are indicative of an overall philosophy.

 

Also, have you used the RED before this piece? Can you comment on your experience with this camera?

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Hi Stephen,

 

Wow, your images are beautiful. There has been mention of a blog. Do you have a link for that?

 

Who decided on the compositions, may I ask? Was it the director, or you, or maybe a collaboration? I very much like your framings, particularly how you have managed the closeups. I wonder if your samples are indicative of an overall philosophy.

 

Also, have you used the RED before this piece? Can you comment on your experience with this camera?

 

Composition was myself and the director, just like most movies. Composition choices arent something i spend too much time thinking about, I just frame to my tastes most of the time. The blog you're talking about is http://stephenmurphydop.blogspot.com. Like a lot of DP's my experience with RED has been mixed but you can read about that on the blog!

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

A short Teaser Trailer is on Vimeo for anyone who's interested in seeing those frame grabs come to life.

http://vimeo.com/9608227

[Freya Black]

A short Teaser Trailer is on Vimeo for anyone who's interested in seeing those frame grabs come to life.

http://vimeo.com/9608227

 

Thanks so much Stephen! I've been feeling a bit at a loss looking at your stills as I was wondering if it would look as good in motion.

 

I've just seen District 9 and Benjamin Button both of which were shot with digital cinema cameras, as I understand, and quite frankly I was shocked. District 9 has a kind of old Betacam style in high res feel to it. I think thats what they were going for and it kind of does fit parts of the film but other parts maybe not so much. Benjamin Button OTOH seems a little car crash in nature. The worst for me was the old timey footage at the beggining that is just horrible. Extreme film look filters and bad flickering pulsating, just awful and really detracting from the movie. It contrasts strongly with the illusionist where they do the same kind of thing more subtley. Oddly I thought that the lightning strike footage in BB was nowhere near as bad.

 

In any case I was suprised at how extremely videoy both movies looked, so I was wondering if your movie would look at all in that direction when in motion.

 

I just watched the trailer and it looks GREAT however. 00:30 looking especially good. I'm also loving 00:42 or thereabouts.

 

Looking forward to the whole thing.

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

A short Teaser Trailer is on Vimeo for anyone who's interested in seeing those frame grabs come to life.

http://vimeo.com/9608227

 

Dead jealous of the huge thick billowing smoke shot at the start. Very thick and chunky! How was that achieved?

 

love

 

Freya