Chayse Irvin ASC, CSC

Just saw the film and its incredible. I loved the in camera frame rate changes. Very inspiring film. Still a little speechless.

http://www.chayseirvin.com/video/stageing.mov

I was going over some of the clips i've saved on this computer and I came across this scene from The Thin Red Line and I find the scene so inspirational. The staging is amazing, and John Toll exposes it perfectly. I love the anamorphic lens choice and the stop he shots it at. The DOF seems to hold the character and the interior surroundings while the exterior BG just falls out. The camera work is impeccable. At first I found this scene staged very objectively as if the viewer were the camera standing in the room tracking the characters. But after watching it again, I see it as a subjectively shot scene as James Caviezel character, Pvt. Witt, travels room to room the camera follows him tracking and experiencing the same moments he sees them in as he experiences the setting; the slow floating camera work really reflects that characters state and calmness and we see it through out the film. When the camera is on Sean Penn, Sgt. Welsh, the camera is static from Pvt. Witt's POV or constantly moving into the closest point of Welsh's eye line. The coverage of one of the characters is really different then the others and I find is so dynamic and interesting yet seen from the POV of Pvt. Witt. What do you guys think?

I've always used DVD Capture: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/16324

I have a quote from a company here that had a ArriLaser. For a IN it was $438.89 per min for a total 39,500.00 for the film.

Thanks for the response Chase. I'm doing a similar sequence in a few weeks, but in a smaller town without 6X6 ultra bounces. They seem to have every other overhead available (from silver lame to 1/2 soft frost). Is there anything close to an ultra bounce that would help me achieve the incredibly natural lighting you got in your fire scene?

B&W Griff would work too. But you could also bounce off Muslin. But you would lose probably 30% of your bouncing light because it would throw right through muslin.

And is there a reason why you didn't backlight any of the talent? I actually like the look better, because I was racking my brain to come up with motivated backlight to pop them out from the BG, but all I could up with is the highly overused moonlight CTB on an HMI or the like. Thanks for the responses, the reel was seriously great.

I didn't do any backlighting the whole film. It was one of the rules I gave myself when conjuring the look and it was something that I could easily keep continuity with. The only time I did back lighting was day exterior scenes where we would stage the scene to be backlit by the sun. However for that scene I really wanted all the characters surrounded by darkness and the only light coming from the fire because of the context of the scene. One of the characters dies and the scene opens with his friends tossing his snowboard in the fire. I wanted the burning snowboard to be the light source for the whole scene. I agree, the hard backlight is overused in some sense, but also appropriate and practical for a lot of shoots.

Thanks Andrew. Lots of hard work this time around. I hope it pays off.

35mm print project is more closely related to 2k. I didn't realize that. What would anamorphic projection be?

Chayse,

 

Wow, man, some good looking stuff there. There's something about the style you have that I find really inspiring - each piece had its own distinct flavor and it all was beautiful. You are a great example of the next generation of cinematographers that continue to take film and video to new places. Really nice work.

 

Andrew

Thanks a bunch Andrew.

That's definitely a really cool effect from the film-crumpling; though I dunno if I'd ever have the. . . gusto. . to try it!

Heh, it was risky, but it worked out. I not as confident in my risk taking as i used to be. But when I shot that years ago I had much bigger cahonese. There was a time where I felt anything I did would look good.

hey chasey,

 

after the girl on the playground scene, there is this guy "rapping" into the camera. it´t not bad at all but it´s not so breathtaking as most of your other shots. the breakdance scene are great!

 

so, the original tune doesn´t have the beat? damn :) it fits pretty well to your reel!

 

greets,

timo

Oh ya. I agree its not the best shot in the reel. I wanted to let Music Video directors know I've done performance stuff so I through it in there. After my next project it will probably get replaced.

Really impressed, everything flows perfectly in my eyes. I also think the song is perfect for this, so good choice on that, haha.

 

And this is completely off topic, but do you have a link or the like that could instruct me on how to stream HD video with quicktime like that? I've been looking around but can't find anything. Thanks!

Thanks JK. The compression is H264 done through compressor right off the sequence. I've found that there is a colour shift, more prevalent aliasing, and compression artifacts when I compress off a Uncompressed 4:2:2 quicktime of the sequence. When I go right from the sequence none of those problems occur. I do a slight gamma correction during the compression because the compression itself boosts the gamma up just a tad, so I correct for that during the compression. Here are the specs that I've made from doing this over and over again over the last few years:

Name: 2.40 H264 Medium

Description: H.264

File Extension: mov

Estimated file size: 1.43 GB/hour of source

Time remapping:

source frames play at output rate

Audio Encoder

AAC, Stereo (L R), 48.000 kHz

Video Encoder

Format: QT

Width: 720

Height: 306

Pixel aspect ratio: Square

Crop to: Letterbox area of source

(L: 0, T: 86, R: 0, B: 86)

Padding: None

Frame rate: (100% of source)

Frame Controls: Automatically selected: Off

Codec Type: H.264

Multi-pass: On, frame reorder: On

Pixel depth: 24

Spatial quality: 75

Min. Spatial quality: 50

Temporal quality: 50

Min. temporal quality: 50

Average data rate: 3.413 (Mbps)

Maximum data rate: 3.413 (Mbps)

Fast Start: on

Gamma Correction

Gamma: 1.100

Very inspiring, makes me determined to work even harder now. Really very nice, one of my favorite shots was early, after a shot of the snowboarder, it is of the older man talking to a girl, the camera is looking over the wooden railing/fence. The framing of that shot was really pleasing to me, and the lighting reminded me to some degree of Michael Cain's house in Children of Men, a look I particularily enjoy.

 

Thanks for posting it, keep up the excellent work.

Thanks David. That shot was done off a jib into a tree house. I lit it with a bounce just off screen. I think we draped a 6x6 ultra bounce off the wall and then through a mini 9 light maxi with 1/2 CTS into it. On the ground of the 17ft tree house I put a 8x8 ultra bounce and that back through a 8x8 Muslin, that had a mini 9 in it too. It was 2 stops underexposed. You cant feel it in that part of the shot... but the character walks around the girl and looks over the edge of the tree house while talking about the end of the world. The source at the bottom was so soft all it did was create highlights under his eyes and since it was so underexposed it made for a really reddish flesh tone highlight; it was perfect for the mood of the scene. Thanks for the complement. Children of Men is one of my favorite films and Emmanuel Lubezki is my favorite cinematographer.

I uploaded a final version of the song and reel last night. I want to thank everyone who commented and critiqued the reel. Anyone know what I'm supposed to do next? hehe

Looks awesome David. I like the simplicity of it and stills look great. When do you think you'll have the reel up?

That was one of the most inspiring reels I have EVER seen Chayse. I would LOVE to et to work with you someday.

THANKS DORY! Thats the most inspiring complement i have ever received!

Chase,

Questions looking at the hydraulic car scene: what stock? and also did you do the scratches in camera or in post? I'm just curious because it's so saturated and grainy!

That was 7201. The scratches and burns were done in the camera changing bag. I reached in there, crumpled up some film and then pulled a bit out of the bag. I had no idea what it would look like, but the results were great. It only worked on the first 150ft or so of film. Perfect for the feeling of the video. The saturation mainly showed up in the red and yellow channels. Some of the footage has a huge red burn on the side for the image that dances around and any flesh tone that enters the burn would turn into a blown out yellow. Looked really good.

i really like your reel!

i am not so much into the hip-hop music video scenes but i like how you play with the light (and the sun to be more precise)! the snowboard scenes and so on... very well done!

 

a little question: what is the name of the song/band you chose for your reel? i like that one a lot :)

 

keep up the good work!

 

timo

Thanks Timo. Was there anything in particular you didn't like about the hip hop stuff?

The song is imogen heap "Hide and Seek". The beat was put on by a buddy of mine and same with the guitar at the end.

I'm a big Michael Mann fan, and in my mind his last film films (Heat, The Insider and especially Ali) not only are way superior to his digital films (Collateral and Miami Vice), but they look also so much better. 'Ali' has some of my favourite photography of all time.

Amen. I felt like he was cutting off his nose to spite his face by shooting digital. Both films I didn't think those films felt or looked that good at all. But that was the intent, which I think is brilliant. The question is, would it have been a better film if it was shot amazingly beautiful? or would it have been the same "ok" movie, but with better looking photography?

Just got back from the demo in vancouver and I think the stock looked fantastic. I think if the 19 does as well as I think it will, the 18 will get discontinued not to far in the future from now. The 19 is finer grain but it still has that film quality we all love. Its the stock i've been waiting for. Can't wait to shoot it.

Thanks Kevin. To the left of the screen was a 6x6 ultra bounce with 2 mini 9 light maxi's w/ 1/2 CTS and Chocolate on a flicker generator. As the shot starts on the fire I have a grip flopping the light coming from the bounce off the actors to hide the source and just had the fire lighting them, as the camera travels away from the fire he slowly removes the flop. For the rest of the coverage I used a 6x6 ultra bounce with the two mini9's and added a 6x6 bleach muslin frame in front; I moved it in to compensate for the stop loss.

Thanks Alex. The film isn't out yet. Last I heard it was trying to premier at next years Toronto film fest.

I've updated the reel so check it on the same links. All thats left is to finish up the remix to the song.

I've always found camera composition much less sophisticated then lighting/exposure. In fact I believe to a certain extent that any shot can be a an amazing shot if its lit/exposed amazingly. Obviously camera movement can manipulate the viewer to certain emotional points, but if its lit without emotion, the camera move would become an obvious attempt at manipulation and have no effect on the viewer. Some of my favorite films have simple compositions, the emotion is expressed through the lighting.

Thanks for the critiques guys. I've adjusted the reel quite a bit. Took one some of the smoking shots and replaced the moon shot for another. I'm also having the song remixed again, but it wont be finished till after monday.

I've been working on my 08 reel, filling it with the little stuff I shot this year. I'm hoping to perfect it in the new year and finally get off my ass and start this cinematography thing full time.

720p

480p

360p

Critique please!

Hey Steven! Long time. Love the reel buddy. Looks great!

I have some movies to watch! I haven't seen one of those films.

Do it. Its a good tool to help you learn. I learned on a little Canon GL1.

One of the most stunning movies I have seen in a long time. The scenes with the train in the begining, and the scene with the man by the door with the bike, and in the old church with the candle light...oh my goodness I could hardly breath. In particular the train robbery at the begining. It was just beautiful, start to finish. Or so I think.

 

As far as the actualy story goes, I thought it was wonderful. I was very impressed with Afflack, by far his strongest performance I've seen yet, even better then Gone Baby Gone (which was also well done by him). It was long and slow paced, but it never onced bothered me. It perfectly captured the era, the locations, and the feelings of trust and betrayal and how you come to terms with both.

 

Roger Deakins rocks. Plain and simple.

I totally agree. In fact i've seen the film 5 times now and I really think its one of the best films I've ever seen. I love directors that utilize the moments where nothing is said to create tension, some people think its drawn out but i'm always at the edge of my seat. My favorite scene in the movie, acting and lighting wise, is the scene where Jesse James travels to visit Ed Miller. The look of the scene make me feel so cold and uneasy, and its a great example of how a look of a scene and aid in a performance; the moment in the scene where jesse stands to gaze out is great and as soon as he looks back to Ed to tell him to go with him on a ride he turns his head and his face falls off into shadow; that menacing eye light is glowing at the side of his eye. Just perfect. Man, talking about it is making me want to see it again.

I felt the same way tom. I can appreciate cinematography that doesn't draw attention to itself, however I felt the content of this movie could have really used some amazingly lit scenes with some grimy compositions. As far as story goes I wasn't really attached or routing for Crowe's character nor did I care for the corrupt cops; I felt if they should have shown more of his relationship with the victims of the disease that Frank was mass producing. They hit the right note with the image of a baby crying next to a mother that is so high that she cant move to nurse or calm the baby, I would have liked to see more of that. I would have loved to see that contrast in the lighting, glorifying Frank for a majority of the movie, then switching it on the viewer by showing them what is really happening outside of his home.

So hott. My screen is on fire.

Looks really amazing Jayson!

I agree there is a lot of draw backs to a 35mm adapter and depending on the look your going for a lot of the time its not that useful. I use if often because I love using wider lenses and still having the ability to selectively focus on certain information in the frame. I think it?s a valuable story telling tool. A lot of the stories I?ve been shooting lately thrive when I can direct the viewers eye to a certain thing within the frame by focus, and I love the ability to direct the viewers eye in that way while still showing a lot of the setting. I am willing to sacrifice for that. Whenever I see a long lens in a film I get this feeling where I'm actually looking through a long lens instead of watching a movie, I think it is because in reality the human eye is a wide lens that selectively focuses on objects. I think that feeling translates on screen.

A painter friend of mine once told me that he only paints detail on his canvases where he wants the viewer to see, its a way to manipulate that viewer, then he showed me a painting of a man. I didn?t notice this at first but in the painting the man was being stomped on by a polar bear, but I couldn't see it, all I could see was the man because he was so detailed, in his clothing and body, everything around him seemed abstract, but with a closer look it told a story. I feel the same way about my cinematography.