Deniz Coker

It comes down to marketing and understanding your demographic really. It is a business after all, one in which you sell your product to the people. I agree that Michael Bay does a great job at pleasing his audiences. Those people may not like True Grit. They may enjoy pro wrestling instead. It's all taste. I will say, I enjoy movies like Transformers because in all honesty, sometimes I want a movie I could sit down and space out to and enjoy without having to really look too deep. Flashy explosions, witty quips here and there, it does provide me with that fun "hollywood experience" that's fun to watch. But having said that, I identify more with the Coens and their style. I remember waiting in line to see True Grit, and a group of teens were behind me cracking all kinds of cowboy jokes saying to each other, "we're going to see that cowboy movie!" and I remembered being their age and going to movies with groups of people who only wanted to see the "popular" movies. I guess being on the upper age scale of the michael bay demographic, I could enjoy both. My heart may be with movies I deem artistic and beautiful, the Coens work was the first to really speak to me where I watched it then sat there and thought, "wow, that's what a movie should be like!" (excluding the classics of course!). It's all taste. I have snobbier friends who thumb their noses at movies like Transformers because they aren't as "intellectually stimulating" as the movies they go to see but I find irony in them only going to see obscure cinema as a way of inflating their social status amongst their circles rather than out of artistic appreciation because name dropping with obscure movies makes you an intellectual for sure! But who am I to judge? I think there's a certain charm to fun movies. Heck it makes movies like True Grit stand out even more from a storytelling/artistic standpoint alone!

How interesting, I was just sitting here thinking of NYU and came across this. It's really sad indeed and it reminds me of a lot of things I saw. I went to NYU myself. What I saw was a lot of people doing "big budget" movies because mommy and daddy paid for them. They didn't bother to learn anything other than they should rent a RED. I think the biggest thing I've ever learned is the difference between hacks and pros is that the pros do it safely. I got on this subject because I saw a "no budget" shoot include a car chase scene driven by 18 year old actors. Okay, no insurance, you're getting untrained 18 year olds to race cars on open public roads where pedestrians and civilians are exposed. I'm sorry but somethings boil down to common sense. I'm not sure about anyone else there but I've always kinda sorta known that big power cables and big metal objects that get raised into the sky aren't the best combination. If you could bring a crew of 20 and all their "best gear" (which is a pet peeve of mine, since I could never EVER check anything worthy out. Now I know where they were...) yet not know a thing about permits or insurance. Perhaps it's because I'm not in the best mood that I'm ripping away at them, I try not to as I wasn't there and don't know who did what. But things like this really hit me because of all the things I've seen and continue to see and it's always really bothered me. I'd always complain about how the people around me in those classes took stupid risks yet it just made me look like a whiner. Heck, I don't mean to sit here and generalize, but as I said, it's something that bothered me then and it upsets me to see this now. I guess as mentioned earlier above, it's students being students. With the industry as competitive as it is, they're willing to do crazy things to get in.

Just watched it for a second time on Netflix and I plan to pick up the dvd (I thought the streaming version seemed odd quality wise, not the picture but the audio just sounded very compressed, I can assume from streaming on my not so great home network). But very inspiring work! I tried to read what I could on here before watching it again so I could pause and pay closer attention to the little details. I must say it's amazing to be able to hear you views on the film and keep those in mind while watching. It's the best way to learn! Great job Mr. Mullen! P.s. the second time around I watched it with some friends who are non-film people and from a causal audience perspective they all loved it!

A man in brown is on his way with the beer ;)

Why not? Figured I'd see if anyone wanted to stop by a bar or something. I'd love to meet some more people in the area.

Hey Ben, I'm another young DP on here, welcome! I'm based out of Queens myself, I'm always up for a new project. I seem to keep winding up in reality or promotional work but my heart's really with film. I have some stuff up (what I've been allowed!), www.dcokertv.com.

Wonderful site! I have some ordering to do, thank you!

JD I don't think that's unreasonable at all! I just dealt with some of that myself. I had luckily secured transportation and out of pockets but the crew couldn't and they spent tons on tolls and gas until they decided it was worth more to walk. I think that if you're paying or even if you're not paying, you should at least make sure no one has any out of pocket costs. I think too many people don't realize no budget doesn't mean people should waste their own money on your project. I've always been taught that you can sometimes get things off of kindness but in the very least make it worth their time. Feed them and cover the expenses. If someone's already kind enough to bring their gear and drive themselves and work for free you owe it to them. Heck when I was first starting I saved everything I could to rent cameras or borrow one from people I knew. Rental houses won't give me everything for a feature for free. I think some people fall derrière backwards into a crew that is providing them with gear that would cost thousands in itself to rent for a day for free. It is what it is. I do believe in taking a project if you believe in it, I've been lucky to come across people who have been honestly trying to do their best and it's gotten me more experience and footage in the long run. Wow, I just went on a rant! Sorry to make you all read that!

I've personally always gelled to eye. As long as you take into consideration other color temperatures and your medium and how it'll react, I think it's okay to sweeten some lights by eye as long as you look at the larger picture. I shot an interior scene with people at a table with a hanging lamp with an incandescent in it. I had light pouring in during a "sunset" take and gelled with a little cto. Don't remember if it was 1/4 or 1/8 but enough to warm that light a little, so it also comes down to the feel you want. If those windows above the apartment are frosted, you can try painting them and introducing new colors and tones into the shot. If the hall is white, you might find all that light washing it out, it would help to perhaps dim some of the lights if this happens and keep a few flags or duve ready. The set looks wonderful, wishing you the best of luck!

So just to be sure you're going for daylight? Is there a way to move the "window" to her right? Ideally I'd add a lamp next to her and dim it down and hide a little flo in her lap and turn the laptop's screen off. For side shots I'd bounce some light off a reflector to augment the laptop's glow and that flo would be out of the way. The 2.5k might be overkill. You can try positioning a 4x4 bounce to her right and bounce a 1k or two off there and again throw a little light in her lap to get a little glow in her face.

You might look into triple wicked candles. You can get a little more mileage out of them. I'd also look at some incandescents on a flicker generator. Dim them a little to warm them

One solution I could think of is avoiding areas with light pollution and too much ambient light. If you're the only light on the road then it'll help. I hate saying this but you could even look into getting a normal exposure and enhancing the beams in post. It's a lockdown shot so it shouldn't be too hard. I say that because I'd try and avoid rigging anything unless you have the proper support. On the high end, you can do well with two tweenies, if you can rig them to the bumper, it should be out of your shot and you should be able to match the beams better. One last solution, since it's a lockdown you can concoct a custom spot filter if you have too much ambient light.

I agree that it brings it's own set of rules and challenges. I like to use a B&W reference monitor while lighting sometimes. I like to strip an image to light and dark values as I find that helps me with certain scenes.

I had this sentiment for a while. I took me a bit to come to terms with it but I might finally bite the DSLR bullet in a few days as a supplemental cam to my real one. I guess I mostly never took them seriously not because of the cameras but the people I saw using them. It's become very trendy to carry a "cool" looking big DSLR camera. I see too many people who would be better served by a point and shoot, carrying DSLRs around and perhaps it's a hobby, but I have known people who did it for the form factor. Having said that, I've also realized that the technology is getting smaller and I should realize that such a tiny camera can produce beautiful looking video. I'm very used to the weight and form of a traditional camera and it is a huge adjustment. A film school student can now buy one of these and shoot some pretty decent video on it. It is interesting when a 2,000.00 camera has 10,000.00 worth gear on it but to me it comes down to control and if that mattebox and filters help you get the shot you need, then that's all that matters. I personally hope to keep large purchases like a mattebox/follow focus/rod system as interchangeable amongst my cameras as possible so I in the very least get some mileage out of the investment. I had a B cam which was a 7D and the shooter had a completely rigged up system and my crew thought it was amazing but again, it can be. I think as long as you understand the limitations it can produce wonders. I plan on keeping it as a specialty/insert cam. There's a lot to be said about scouting and even some location work where you can have such a compact kit. But still deep down inside I guess I smile a little when I see someone with a tiny little DSLR and massive cages and such attached. As long as it works!

What a beautiful location! What town is it located in? I remember hearing in The Assassination of Jesse James, Roger Deakins had lanterns like yours and rigged some incandescents in them and dimmed them down for warmth. If you could get a glow going outside the window, maybe break up the light with branches and such. I could picture really uneven lighting flowing in. Please be sure to show us anything you come up with!