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Hello Mr. Deakins.
I am a film student and I will soon be shooting a short film with a 70s disco club dance scene. It is meant to reminisce Saturday Night Fever and Boogie Nights.
Most of the references I have seen are lit with overhead colored lights (par cans etc) rigged to the ceiling, but I am not 100% confident I will be able to get flattering enough light on the actors’ faces this way. I am leaning towards rigging an 8×8 LT grid booklight off to the side of the dancefloor and accent with the par cans, but am worried that will then take away the drama of the hard light.
I would greatly appreciate any input, Sir.
In reply to: 10 year passages visual approach
I think you can use Blender to solve this scene if your character’s face is completely hidden in this part. Of course, this may not be very realistic, just like the bad CG in old science fiction movies from the last century However, the cost is indeed very low…haha
In reply to: Low Contrast Look For Cinema & Photography
And also, what about digital sensors, how do they handle contrast compared to film?
I found this from Alfonso Cuarón in Team Deakins podcast which I find interesting:
“But yeah, it was pretty much like that. And the concern is interesting because our concern, I remember in the 90s with the films, with Little Princess, with Expectations, and even Y tú Mama, our big concern was the negative. And we had always complaints about the negative.
We were unhappy about the blacks, unhappy about the gray, unhappy about the poor dynamic range. And I’m saying that because now I know that there’s all these trends of thrashing digital because in the nostalgia of the negative that, by the way, I love negative. I think, you know, I think that suddenly we arrive to a place that is closer to what we were seeking for.
And it’s when more people are complaining now, not about the negative, but about the digital format. So I find that kind of, I find that very interesting.”
From Team Deakins: ALFONSO CUARÓN – Writer / Director, Jul 24, 2024
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/team-deakins/id1510638084?i=1000663186141
This material may be protected by copyright.
Pedro Torres León
w: torresleon.com
ig: @torresleonpedroWarm greetings from Mexico City,
I would like to learn and discuss a look that I’m very intrigued about and which also seems difficult to achieve.
I am a cinematographer, and know that by posting this it’s a look that goes beyond simply grading or editing in the computer. Optics and lighting being an essential factor, which would also love to discuss here.
However, when it comes to Resolve or Lightroom for example, how does one get closer to the low contrast look? Like flavors, there are different kinds of low contrast look, right off the bat I think of the low contrast look of Disclaimer (Cuarón, 2024) or Still Walking (Koreeda, 2008). I’m quite curious also about Fuji film stock, I believe I once read Harris Savides talk about Fuji film stock having less contrast.
How would one go about it during grading or retouching? Beyond contrast slider.
I look forward to an insightful discussion and deeper understanding of low contrast as well as other interpretations of low contrast. Thank you and cheers
Pedro Torres León
w: torresleon.com
ig: @torresleonpedroHello Roger,
I was watching Revolutionary Road and noticed a scene with a shot through a window. In the reflection of her eye, I can see something lighting her, and I was curious—did you use a cherry picker or something similar to avoid reflections of the C-stands in the window, or is it the real sun?
First off, Roger and James, thanks for creating and maintaining your wonderful podcast. Often in your discussions with filmmakers the topic of minimal lighting comes up. Perhaps in the 70s and 80s, Roger, you crossed paths with the late Johnny Coquillon, a much loved Brit-Canadian lensman whose breakthrough shoot was Straw Dogs. Johnny went on to film Peckinpah’s Pat Garret and Billy the Kid, Cross of Iron and The Osterman Weekend.
Dustin Hoffman could spin quite a yarn about how Johnny effectively pulled Straw Dogs out of the fire. Early in the shoot, as I’m sure you know, Peckinpah demanded a replacement DoP because he was unhappy with the over-lit interiors of the cottage. The production was on the verge of collapsing. Finally Dan Melnick asked Sam for a solution, to which Peckinpah shouted, complete with trademark expletives, “I’ll tell you who can shoot this picture, the guy who shot The Crimson Cult and Witchfinder General!” Small budget horror movies. Melnick got onto Johnny’s agent, Freddy Vale, who told Johnny to fly in right away from Los Angeles to London—where Dustin Hoffman and Sam met him at Heathrow arrivals. Johnny was, he always said, “gobsmacked and terrified” meeting those two. But production got underway immediately, thanks to the new DoP’s genius for pulling images out of barely-lit interiors. Sadly we lost Johnny in 1987, a real loss, especially for the London and Toronto film communities.
In reply to: 10 year passages visual approach
In reply to: 10 year passages visual approach
Calendar paper flying is very old trick. It’s not visual treatment!. I am sorry Roger I didn’t explain the scene. The scene about five 12 years group of school boys who become addicted to alcohol. There is a one scene a protagonist 12-years-old boy opens the abandoned house door at one night and goes in. The next morning, the door opens after sun rise and He comes out as a twenty-four-year-old boy. Actually he is living in that abandoned house. Because parents kicked out him.
How to apply stop motion technique for this scene.
I would choose a window treatment, curtains or blinds, that let me silhouette a figure against them. Also, if a curtain, and it can be bunched up, I have even more control over what is seen. That is the same technique as I used for a night scene in ‘Empire of Light’. Otherwise, for you, its just a TV, which is fine but will not inform an audience as to the time of day.
In reply to: Car windshield refection
That is always a tricky balance. Of course, many, of not most, of the car shots you see in films or TV shows today are a product of digital composites.
Topic: Car windshield refection
Hi everyone,
When shooting into the windshield from the front of the car in the daytime, the driver’s face is often blocked by the strong reflection outside(even when a polar is used). The simple solution might be to block the reflection with a flag and light it again, but this will limit the frame size and make the lighting look a little artificial.
I see lots of shots in other films with wider frame size(with everything above the top of the car) and even with reflections on the window while the face of the driver is clearly seen.
I wonder what is the best way to deal with this kind of shot, especially when the reflection is required to be seen in the script.
I kind of realize it’s about balancing the light ratio of interior and exterior, but I want to know what the most natural way to light it is.
Many thanks!
In reply to: False Color and LUT Workflow
A stop is a stop regardless of the color space you view it through, as long as you are always referring to a stop of light in the real world, and not measured through a display that has its own gamma curve.
The camera cannot possibly know what processing or contrast adjustments will be made after the fact, but if you meter a 4:1 contrast ratio in real life (using a meter), the EL system will show that exact contrast ratio.
The whole point of EL system is to free you from the various log encodings and different values that camera manufacturers use for false color
Topic: Difficult conversations
Before making a name for yourself, have you; and if so: how did you deal with uninspiring situations on set were I’ts all about getting the shot no matter what it looks like. I mean the feeling of being a tripod for the director? How have you established a healthy creative communication between the two of you?
Topic: First meeting with Director
How do you know when its the wrong project for you in your first meeting with a director?
What are you looking for in that meeting? When do you know it’s a match?
Thank you 🙂
I am a senior in high school who is currently writing a paper on how lighting is one of the main components of cinematography. I have been researching more on your collaboration with Sam Mendes on ‘1917.’ Specifically one scene that piques my interest is the flare and burning church scene. In my paper, I am writing about two areas of lighting, natural and artificial. For artificial, HMI, LED, tungsten, and fluorescent lights have been mainly mentioned. I watched a video where you briefly mention the incorporation of dino lights for the burning church. Were there more scenes where any sort of artificial light was used? What is the process of choosing what kind of source of light to use?
Thanks!
CBE, ASC, BSC
