Smash

[Freya Black]

This is going to be another one of those things that only Freya can see, I have that feeling already...

but check out the NBC peacock and then check out the pattern in that lens flare on the middle left hand picture!

 

Also check out the shape of the alcoves in the picture to the right and on the bottom left, check out the curtains!

Okay I'm going too far now and I need to stay away from the cheese it's true, but that lens flare does have a resemblance

and what an interesting pattern it has too!

 

I shouldn't be putting this idea out there. It may fall into dodgy hands! ;)

 

love

 

Freya

[Phil Rhodes]

I haven't heard any blaring use of auto-tune on the show

Why is it that some people just can't hear autotune?

[Roberto Hernandez]

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Why is it that some people just can't hear autotune?

LOL I think I can spot it just fine, I know what it sounds like having grown up with many examples of it in modern music and tv shows like Glee. 'Smash' the Anti-'Glee'?

[Phil Rhodes]

 

From the very first sung note it is fairly clear.

 

P

[Tom Jensen]

I really enjoyed the show. I thought the talent was top notch, the music was great, I love New York. David's work was excellent. The show dragged for me in the beginning but it picked up at the end. I hope it comes back. I wasn't sure what to think of Ivy. She wasn't pure villain so it was hard to see what direction her character was going to take. She was sympathetic a great deal of the time. She was talented, hard working, personable. She just wanted to succeed and be loved. Derrick jerked her around. So, I felt bad for her. She had bad streaks but was still likable. I do want to see the show come back.

[Roberto Hernandez]

 

From the very first sung note it is fairly clear.

 

P

I'm not going to sit here and say they don't use auto-tune on this show. It is a big production and they are going for a very polished look. But even in the trailer the voices do not sound unnatural. That still sounded like Katharine McPhee not some singing robot. To me, what is fairly obvious is that all vocals on the show are pre-recorded. Auto-tune is a trendy word right now, it is the new 'photoshop' or 'lip-sinc'. If auto-tune is used on the show, it is used appropriately for a more polished sound, not to create talent where there is none. I will just say that throughout the whole season I never found it distracting. That's not to say I can't hear auto-tune when it is used. I could not sit through a season of this:

[Freya Black]

I'm not going to sit here and say they don't use auto-tune on this show. It is a big production and they are going for a very polished look. But even in the trailer the voices do not sound unnatural. That still sounded like Katharine McPhee not some singing robot. To me, what is fairly obvious is that all vocals on

 

It does sound really unnatural I would say. I think part of what is going on is that you are so used to autotune having grown up with at as an everyday thing that you can't discern it. It just sounds normal like everything else.

 

the show are pre-recorded. Auto-tune is a trendy word right now, it is the new 'photoshop' or 'lip-sinc'.

 

No they really do mean autotune techniques specifically.

 

If auto-tune is used on the show, it is used appropriately for a more polished sound, not to create talent where there is none. I will just say that throughout the whole season I never found it

 

I think that's exactly the point they are making. If you have a talented singer, why can't we just hear her sing rather than trying to fix a performance that doesn't need fixing. Not knowing when to leave well alone.

 

distracting. That's not to say I can't hear auto-tune when it is used. I could not sit through a season of this:

Wow that is unlistenable. It's so compressed it's a wonder they would bother with autotune as theres barely any notes left anyway! I think that would quickly become very tiring even if you liked the music.

 

Got to say that when I first watched the trailer my first thoughts were not OMG dreadful autotune but OMG she isn't seriously going to sing "over the f..."

 

I tend to just switch off to all the music as it all sounds just ghastly to my ears!

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

I do want to see the show come back.

 

Great news Tom! It got renewed for another season!

Theres going to be a new showrunner and a lot of changes tho but the story continues and hopefully we will get to see more great cinematography from David too! :)

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

I certainly don't aim to be washed-out, the blacks are always set to "0" (black) when we color-correct as long as I am not crushing anything. It's just that some set-ups have less contrast in them than others, and a few shots get lifted naturally -- sometimes due to smoke or long-lenses, or a light is flaring the lens, etc.

 

Okay this is the 3rd time I've tried to reply to this, and stuff keeps happening, so I'm now going to be superstitious and avoid the subject a bit, which is good because I'm not that comfortable talking about it and because I struggle to put into words what it is that I'm talking about anyway.

 

I think your work on Smash is great! Fantastic in fact! I love all the use of colour and the variation in shots, it's amazing. I also don't think it's that washed out, as you suggest. It's just theres an awful lot of stuff out there right now that is low contrast video, often with very milky blacks, that to me looks awful. That's why I am surprised at the moment when I see something low contrast that I kind of like. Hence my comment about actually liking this stuff. Clearly other people completely love the whole low contrast look and feel that anything low contrast, no matter how awful is actually great! Who am I even to argue with that. I know what I like and it just happens to be different to what other people are into at the moment, and that's okay!

 

To be honest it's not even just that such video's are low contrast but beyond that I struggle to put it into words.

 

Oh and as you suggest, I think it's a different thing, when a video has parts that have various contrast levels for different scenes and feelings, and video's that are just the same low contrast look all the way through.

 

Hope that gives a vague idea of what I mean.

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

The look of the non-fantasy sequences is basically supposed to be naturalistic but somewhat muted in colors but the blacks are normal. There was only one scene in the entire season where I deliberately lifted the blacks in post, which was that flashback on the Brooklyn Bridge were Julia and Michael first kiss, I wanted a slightly ethereal feeling of lightness.

 

Now sometimes the lighting can get a bit flat but that's because that is what is natural for the room, like the fluorescent-lit rehearsal rooms -- it just doesn't make sense to hold dance rehearsals in a shadowy room. In fact, in real life, those rooms would be even brighter and flatter. And I light most interiors with soft light because it looks natural and is flattering to the actors.

 

There also seems to be a big thing at the moment to talk about things in terms or reality and real life. Peter Jackson has been talking about this with the Hobbit rather bizzarely and I've seen a lot of other examples too. I find it really, really strange. Since when was cinematography about looking like real life?! Is film noir really like real life for example. It's obviously influenced by real life but those people working in that genre were clearly trying to create a heightened atmosphere that wasn't really to do with real life at all, just using the cues that you might have from real life. I think reaching for things to be more like real life is a bit of an odd goal, unless you are making documentaries and are trying to pass them off as being in some way more like the truth. Personally I prefer fantasty dramas. I feel they are more honest.

 

Anyway that's all a bit of an aside because as you point out, there is a really good reason why you would want to do this, in this case because you want to be sure there is a clear separation and contrast between the bits that are supposed to be fantasy, and the bits that are supposed to be real. I think I might have been tempted to try and shoot the fantasy bits on film and leave the reality bits on video but maybe that would be too much and come across as tacky. Dunno.

 

Anyway it's probably good for me to talk about this stuff and get it out of my system a bit. It's ironic that I'm doing it here when I actually really like what you have done. Maybe that makes it feel safer to talk about. Dunno.

 

Kinda crap if we feel we can't talk about stuff like this too tho because at the end of the day, it's all a matter of taste. People seem to really go for the low contrast look at the moment and they seem to think it looks great. I don't but I can't argue with it really. It's a bit like when I once said that I thought Benjamin Button looked awful and that it really took me out of the film all the time (that and some of the acting too) and someone said what the hell did I know and that it had won an award for cinematography, and they are right quite frankly, what do I know, at the end of the day I just know what I like and what I don't and it wouldn't be a good thing if that was the same as what everyone else liked although I can see how in some cases that might be useful!

 

I'm keen to carry on talking about what I like and don't like and I'm happy to hear the same from others because I think that's really helpful in thinking about things, such as your reasons for doing things and what you like and why you like it. The last few years tho it seems like it's difficult to have a real discussion about things like that.

 

love

 

Freya

[Phil Connolly]

I'm sure the cast can sing. But the musical numbers still have very noticable auto-tune - plus heavy compression etc... Its a shame because in the context of the story, the performers are rehersing so a more natural sound would be appropriate.

 

I don't understand why it needs to be so produced and 'perfect' as it kills lots of the texture of the music. Plently of Beatles recordings, have slight out of key elements in the vocals and the harmonies - its what makes it sound real and gives it personality. I imagine the raw vocal recording prior to autotune on Smash sounded pretty good, it probably wasn't neccesary to crank it up so much. I think a more natural live sound, would be more in keeping with the tone of the show.

 

Normally I wouldn't nit pick, but the show is really great in every area so its a shame it drops the ball on the music production. I don't worry about the autotune on Glee, because the show is much less interesting.

 

I understand many people often don't notice Autotune - but then people often will happily watch a film in the wrong aspect ratio etc...

[Freya Black]

 

The shot of Debra Messing on the street was done with a 1'x1'x1" acrylic plastic block on the left edge of frame in front of the camera, at an angle. This distorted the passing headlamps in the background. I also had a #1/8 Classic Black Soft filter on the camera.

 

Really, really LOVE this shot. I guess it's partly the headlights but the flare from the block looks almost anamorphic.

Do you run tests before the shoot to find the right bit of plastic or anything?

 

Also just seen these shots on a decent monitor (I'm out and about and my laptops kinda junk sadly). They look even better!

Wow!

 

love

 

Freya

[David Mullen ASC]

The plastic blocks were director Paul McGuigan's idea (he does this trick on "Sherlock") and he had them ordered; I looked at "Sherlock" to see how they were employed, whether they were mounted to the cameras or left separate/independent of the camera, etc. In general, what works best is to use longer lenses, put the camera on the slider or dolly independent of the glass blocks so you can float a little and bring ghost reflections and flares in and out of the shot, and use them in locations with glass where it is motivated (the last part is less critical but it would be harder to justify the effect outside in the forest let's say.) Often I turn the glass block so that I am looking at the 1" thick edge at an angle to create a second reflection along the thin edge -- I may want to get one edge bevelled at a 45 degree to the flat side.

[David Mullen ASC]

To me, washed-out and low-contrast are not the same thing -- washed-out means that there are no blacks in the frame, that they are lifted. You can wash-out a high-contrast shot.

 

As for low-contrast lighting, that's both a taste thing and a story thing. I actually don't use much fill light on the show -- often it's a Rifa 44 with three layers of bobbinet on it to knock it down, plus it is dimmed on a dimmer -- it's mainly an eye light. But the Alexa has a fairly wide dynamic range image and I don't want to artificially crush that to make the scenes more high-contrast.

 

We are shooting in New York and I want to see New York, so I want a certain openness to the image that is naturalistic. Plus that counterpoints with the fantasy scenes better; the point isn't to make the whole show look like a 1940's MGM musical like "The Bandwagon". I'm not a realist in general either but in this case it is a stylistic choice. Also I didn't shoot the pilot and I am still following the lead set by Shelly Johnson in this regard, to make it feel natural.

 

Now sometimes the lighting is a bit flatter or more frontal than I want because when forced to choose between moody realism or flattering the actresses on the show, I have to pick the later. Most people watch the show to see them, not see my cinematography. But I try to keep things on a believable level rather than light every close-up like some 1940's movie or fashion magazine cover. But in a small space where certain actors need to be lit by an 8'x8' soft light behind the camera, let's say, it's going to be hard to make the room moody.

 

For every person who claims that low-contrast lighting is trendy, there is someone who complains that high-contrast color grades are trendy.

 

I will say that I graded the show in a D.I. theater with a DLP projector which had very rich blacks, but later when I viewed the episodes on a Plasma display I found that the shadows were flatter even when the black level was the same, so there is something about the gamma curve in some flatscreen TV's that are different.

[Freya Black]

To me, washed-out and low-contrast are not the same thing -- washed-out means that there are no blacks in the frame, that they are lifted. You can wash-out a high-contrast shot.

 

As for low-contrast lighting, that's both a taste thing and a story thing. I actually don't use much fill light on the show -- often it's a Rifa 44 with three layers of bobbinet on it to knock it down, plus it is dimmed on a dimmer -- it's mainly an eye light. But the Alexa has a fairly wide dynamic range image and I don't want to artificially crush that to make the scenes more high-contrast.

 

We are shooting in New York and I want to see New York, so I want a certain openness to the image that is naturalistic. Plus that counterpoints with the fantasy scenes better; the point isn't to make the whole show look like a 1940's MGM musical like "The Bandwagon". I'm not a realist in general either but in this case it is a stylistic choice. Also I didn't shoot the pilot and I am still following the lead set by Shelly Johnson in this regard, to make it feel natural.

 

Now sometimes the lighting is a bit flatter or more frontal than I want because when forced to choose between moody realism or flattering the actresses on the show, I have to pick the later. Most people watch the show to see them, not see my cinematography. But I try to keep things on a believable level rather than light every close-up like some 1940's movie or fashion magazine cover. But in a small space where certain actors need to be lit by an 8'x8' soft light behind the camera, let's say, it's going to be hard to make the room moody.

 

For every person who claims that low-contrast lighting is trendy, there is someone who complains that high-contrast color grades are trendy.

 

I will say that I graded the show in a D.I. theater with a DLP projector which had very rich blacks, but later when I viewed the episodes on a Plasma display I found that the shadows were flatter even when the black level was the same, so there is something about the gamma curve in some flatscreen TV's that are different.

[Freya Black]

To me, washed-out and low-contrast are not the same thing -- washed-out means that there are no blacks in the frame, that they are lifted. You can wash-out a high-contrast shot.

 

 

Didn't mean to suggest they are. More that the two often seem to go hand in hand, along with something else I can't quite put into words. I also tend to find that it's often less to do with the lighting and filtration etc and more to do with the grading.

 

However I would have said that very milky grey like blacks were washed out so my definition of it seems looser than yours.

 

Not really seen so much in the way of high contrast grading lately, wouldn't dispute that there might be a trend for that too. I guess maybe that doesn't bother me as much for some reason.

 

My point was more that this is lower contrast and I like it whereas much of what I've seen that is lower contrast.... I recently sat through 3 tv commercials in a row that were all bleached out, low contrast scenes of two women in a kitchen. Annoyed me even more than the usual 2 women in a kitchen adverts do.

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

 

I will say that I graded the show in a D.I. theater with a DLP projector which had very rich blacks, but later when I viewed the episodes on a Plasma display I found that the shadows were flatter even when the black level was the same, so there is something about the gamma curve in some flatscreen TV's that are different.

 

Well my laptop is a whole other level of ghastly. The shots look even nicer on this screen now.

 

As I say much of what I'm talking about has nothing to do with your work on smash other than it's got something of a slight low contrast look to it.

 

I've no idea why some visual looks should bother me, but they do for some reason.

 

love

 

Freya

[Blake Z Larson]

I'm just curious David, do you operate the A camera on the show or do you use an operator? If you do, do you think you could explain the operator/cinematographer relationship and how that works on a set.

 

Thanks,

 

Blake

[David Mullen ASC]

I have operators on A and B cameras. Jeff Muhlstock was my A-camera / Steadicam operator and Derek Walker was my B-camera operator.

 

I find it difficult to be a DP and operate on a two-camera shoot for one thing -- I have no idea what the other camera is up to when I'm stuck operating one of them. And TV shooting is all about efficiency so you are planning your next set-ups and your next set or location while you are still working on the shot... by talking with your director, your AD, the Key Grip, the Gaffer, etc. (not while the cameras are rolling of course.)

 

I had worked with Jeff before on "Assassination of a High School President" and remembered him as a very hard-working operator, very talented and full of ideas. What I didn't know until I did "Smash" was how good he is at shooting music and dance; he has spent many years shooting live music events, like for the Met. That's an incredible asset for this show. Jeff can memorize the choreography of a whole dance number just by watching one rehearsal and then jump in on Steadicam and often cover the whole song in one amazing fluid take, knowing when to be close and when to pull back wide, etc.

 

Derek comes from working on "Rescue Me" and is great at following action and is also a great handheld operator (though we don't do a lot of handheld on the show.) He also has eagle eyes, the guy can spot a dixie cup rolling around in the background even if it were two blocks away.

 

Obviously we watch a blocking rehearsal and I give notes to both operators, breaking down what they will be covering, listening to their suggestions. I line up the shots with a lens on a finder for each camera. When it comes to the musical numbers, they have more freedom since we often cover the song from top to bottom from multiple angles, so I need them to find interesting shots now & then after they've captured the specific things I've called for.

 

The operators give me suggestions but I have to incorporate them into the lighting plan, which is not something they are necessarily considering. I may want to shoot the master at a certain position because once I light the set, that will be the best angle for the room and the mood, but it's not something they can see during the blocking rehearsal before the room has been lit.

 

I also don't use the B-camera automatically, I don't like to compromise the A-camera shot too much just to squeeze another camera in there. But sometimes you can fit B-camera in there or design the shot with both cameras in mind and make it work. But not always and I try to not force the B-camera in there just for the sake of using it or getting mediocre coverage.