On Act of Valor, we shot on 4 continents, 12 states and 5 different countries.  Our method was to land in a foreign country, get our boots on the ground, start to scout our locations for about a week, and then shoot for a week.  Both our scouting and shooting packages were aboard the plane in our overhead bin space. I took a small compliment of Panavision Primos, Canon L Series and Zeiss ZE primes. While we were scouting in Cambodia and heading to Kampot, I looked out the window and saw a river that led to these amazing mountains that resembled Fiords. We jumped out just as a long skinny boat was heading up river. We whipped out the Panavision 35mm Primo and slapped in on the Tripod and tilted up with the boat to reveal the mountains where our terrorist would be running his training camp. Go it. Let’s continue scouting.

These spontaneous moments are jewels and capitalizing on them is paramount. On the day when we were scheduled to shoot this, the water level had dropped and it was overcast.

The Scouting Locations Package

Soup to Nuts

My package for scouting locations.

2-1440 Black rolling Pelican Case

1-Canon 5D

1-Canon 7D

1-35-70mm Leica R Zoom

1-21-35mm Leica R Zoom

1-80-200mm Leica R Zoom

1-77mm WW ND Filter Set .3-2.1

1-Zacuto Z-Finder

6-Batts

4-Hoodman 16BG 600x CF Cards

2-Canon Battery Charger

2-Multi International plug

1-FireWire CF Card Reader

2-500GB bus powered G Drive

1-Mono Pod

1-Intervolmeter

1-Compass

1-Inclinometer

1-Lee Color Gel Swatch

1-Rosco Color Gel Swatch

1-Light Meter

1-Color Temp Meter

Scouting Apps

Helios	Artemis	pCAM
CameraOrder	Gel Swatch Library	Photosynth

What is in your scouting package?  What moments have you been able to grab while location scouting?

Tegra 4Bank from Kino Flo

The new Tegra 4Bank from Kino Flo takes the features of the 4ft 4Bank and adds the onboard controls you would find on the Diva-Lite 401. This includes onboard dimming, onboard switching, and remote hand-held dimming. It produces as much light as a 1,000 Watt tungsten softlight, using only one tenth the amount of power. High output, flicker-free, and dead quiet. It also has built-in barndoors with new hinges, honeycomb louver and center mount system that is lightweight and useful for handheld shots, and rigging in tight locations. I love Kino Flo lights because they’re small, easy to rig and hide, and the onboard controls are perfect for dialing in your light.

Full specifications and product information can be found here on KinoFlo.com.

PRIME LED from Lowel

LED lighting has been around for a while, but recently has greatly improved for film production use. The Lowel Prime LED is a testament to that. With a 70+ foot candles at nine feet, 50 degree beam angle and a high Color Rendering Index of 91+ it solves the issues of the past with LED lighting. It has both tungsten and daylight balanced bulbs and is ideal for run and gun shooting without a large lighting crew and generators to support it. These lights are where it is at in LED technology.  Never loved the feel of LED in HD before using the Lowel PRIME.  They always seemed magenta and not organic. Very excited about this product.

Full specifications and information can be found here on Lowel.com.

Croma from Litepanels

The Croma is a small camera-mounted LED lighting fixture that provides a softlight with variable color temperature output. It has a 9 watt draw and produced light comparable to a 40-90 watt fixture. It can be powered off of 6 AA batteries or can be used with a 2-pin to D-tap power cable and powered off of Anton Bauer batteries for extended periods of time. These work great as handheld lights or stashing them in tight spaces where other lights can’t fit. These work great for a little extra kick or fill.

Full specifications and information can be found here on Litepanels.com.

The HV mission: Is to create a collaborative think tank to inspire and educate filmmakers globally with practical storytelling techniques to improve their speed, expand their creativity and make them more marketable in the entertainment industry.

The pilgrimage to a small town in the Utah mountains has been going on for years. With creativity and wonderful storytelling, the Sundance Film Festival has grown to be the place to see new talent, to acquire films, meet and greet industry insiders and just enjoy the love of filmmaking.  I have been going every other year for about 12 years and it is a source of creative inspiration for me. Connecting with artists that choose the path of original stories, experimentation and just plain independent thinking and not CGI and flash bang is where my head space is.

Snowy Park City, Utah. Image Courtesy of chichi212.com

The parties are epic; the wine and drinks flow and the networking I find is a wonderful time to catch up with many of my directors, colleagues, producers and close friends that make the journey from all over the world.

Maurice Marable

Maurice Marable

This man is a creative force.  The brains behind the incredibly visual Six Feet Under, Entourage, Carnival and Boardwalk Empire promos.  Maurice and I have worked together for 14 years now  shooting promos and commercials and I have to say he is an inspiration to me and a wonderful collaborator.  You can always spot him in the crowd with his signature hat.

Greg Haggart

Producer extraordinaire.  Greg and I met on “Act of Valor.”  He was the line producer on the film and from there, we have done about 25 commercials together.  He has been my producer when I direct as well. This man knows how to produce DSLR’s.  He can get money from a stone.  A labor of love for both of us was Po Chan’s film “The Last 3 Minutes”. Greg used his incredible skills to bring Po’s story to life on a very limited budget.  I plan on seeing a couple of films with him by my side, along with many glasses of wine.

Jacob Rosenberg

Me with Jacob Rosenberg, Sundance 2012

Post production genius, talented filmmaker. He helms at Bandito Brothers, along with Scotty Waugh and Mouse McCoy, the directors of Act of Valor. Jacob and I have been collaborating for about 3 years now on many projects and he is one of the reasons AOV looks so good.  His post work flow on this movie will become the benchmark for all DCP prints in the future. Trail blazer, post innovator.

 Steven Poster

With Steven Poster at Sundance

Head of the Local 600 union. Amazingly talented cinematographer, still photographer, visionary leader and a good friend. This man donates tons of his time to lead a union that he believes in. He unites and inspires thousands. Thank you for all that you do for us and our families. Your hard work never goes unnoticed. We met on 1/19 to show him our new MCS (Master Cinema Series) gear platform for the Canon C300 before he headed up to Park City. Steven and I have had long discussions about the power of the DSLR platform in feature films along with Canon’s wonderful color space and sensor technology. Great conversations, amazing stories, just an incredible filmmaker.

Make a difference, believe in yourself and bring your story to life.  These are the things that I always seem to take away from the Sundance Film Festival.  It fuels me and gives me the ability to never get comfortable and always ready to veer.

To get on the same page, let’s quickly go over some terminology that clarifies what is what in this realm.

COLOR CORRECTION is the process where every clip is manually tweaked to get a good exposure and balance of light. Each clip is adjusted to match color temperature to a predefined choice for each scene. This tedious and mechanical process is essential and in its own way, an art form. The use of SCOPES (Waveform, Vectroscope, Parade) is critical to this step and luckily most NLE’s and Grading software have them built-in. Without them you are literally flying blind and solely trusting your eyes, which have to adjust to room light ambience, fatigue, funky monitors and other factors constantly. Trust the SCOPES and let them guide you into accurate and creative decision making.

COLOR GRADING is the creative process where decisions are made to further enhance or establish a new visual tone to the project through software including: introducing new color themes, re-lighting within a frame, films stock emulations, color gradients and a slew of other choices. Being that this is purely creative, there is no wrong or right…only what the DP, director and colorist feel is appropriate for the story. It can be subtle and invisible or over-the-top and uber-stylized. Therein lies the challenge…The challenge of choices. The tools available are so numerous, powerful and often free (Davinci Resolve Lite!) that you have no excuse not to explore these options further before you embark on the Grading journey.

LIFT-GAMMA-GAIN / SHADOWS-MIDTONES-HILIGHTS / BLACKS-MIDS-WHITES
These are the 3 interchangeable assignments used to describe what portion of the image you will be working with. Every program uses one of the 3 naming conventions above, but in essence they are all the same. Even when working with LEVELS or CURVES, you rely on numericals but still have 3 sliders (at least) to make your adjustments. With these 3 controls, you can mold images almost at will.

There are so many different elements to Color Correction that trying to fit it all into one blog would be futile. I would like to focus on several specific tips that will allow the indie filmmaker to be as effective as possible in creating imagery that will help serve the story. I would like to thank Michael Evanet, the director of “HWY”, for allowing me to share his footage for this blog. I just finished editing and Color Correcting his film.

TIP #1 – SHOOT WITH A FLAT OR LOG PROFILE
Shane has learned over his extensive research and testing of every profile available that choosing a flat profile will allow you to capture as much information as possible into the camera. When I shoot on the 5Dmkii, I like to use Technicolor Cinestyle or Canon Neutral with minimal sharpness and contrast. I’m also about to test the Similaar Flaat profiles that just became available in 4 different flavors. The camera companies often have stock profiles that look contrasty and rich in camera but when analyzed on a monitor, you will have crushed blacks and blown-out highlights. That is information that is gone forever and you cannot get it back. We, as filmmakers with the tools in our hands, cannot accept stock anything! Just as auto anything on the camera is a recipe for disaster, stock profiles are for rank amateurs. Tweak away!

Click the image to view high resolution.

TIP #2 – TRUST THE WAVEFORM, VECTROSCOPE and PARADE SCOPES
In PREMIERE, go to the WINDOW tab and choose WORKSPACE and COLOR CORRECTION. Push the little RGB BUTTON on the bottom right of any window. This will reveal the SCOPES and more.  Waveform=Luminance. Vectroscope=Chrominance. Parade=Red,Green,Blue values. I can’t stress enough how critical and essential it is to use these tools. Once you embrace the SCOPES, you will be confident to plow through footage and have instant visual feedback to confirm you are making the right decisions. I won’t broach the calibrated monitor issue that is always lurking ($$$) and will just say that understanding and trusting the SCOPES will get you 95% of the way home. Grab a Matrox Mini and use that to calibrate any LCD TV if you’re in a pinch. This includes finishing projects for broadcast or passing QC for distribution.  I’ve on-lined 4 indie features on Final Cut Pro using only SCOPES that all passed QC the first time around.  I was sweating bullets…but survived! Adobe makes it even easier for me now.

Click the image to view high resolution.

TIP #3 – ORDER OF OPERATIONS
To maintain image quality and to preserve as much info as possible, it’s important to do things in the proper order.  Just as you wouldn’t ice a cake before you bake it, when you apply an effect is critical.  I have always achieved great results using Stu Maschwitz’s advice. Doing Color Correction on your footage in this order will help you maintain extremely high quality in the interaction of all the effects you use.  Not all steps are needed for every shot but in case you have to use them all, here they are:

1. Remove artifacts and de-noise.
2. Balance your shots by adjusting BLACKS/MIDS/WHITES, SATURATION and WHITE BALANCE.
3. Relight within a shot using power windows or masks.
4. Add gradients, diffusion and other lens filters.
5. Add vignettes
6. Grade your images
7. Simulate a film stock of your choice
8. Resize and sharpen

Click the image to view high resolution.

TIP #4 – THE FAST COLOR CORRECTER EFFECT in PREMIERE is 32 BIT, EASY AND EFFECTIVE
This video effect is a great starting point to tackle any shot. This one effect will allow you in REAL-TIME to address levels, saturation, tinting of the image, white balance and more. The shot below shows how I added contrast by raising the input black slider and lowering the white input slider. I used the color wheel and dragged towards orange to counteract the blue in the original image. You can also use the White Balance dropper to achieve an accurate starting point…but I preferred in this case to Tint the whole image towards orange and approximate a 1950’s film look.  I boosted saturation by a healthy 40% to make the image pop. Finally, a 2.35 matte was added to approximate the old Cinemascope aspect ratio.

Click the image to view high resolution.

TIP #5  -  ADJUST YOUR LIFT/SHADOWS/BLACKS FIRST
By adjusting your BLACKS first, you get a baseline started to balance your image. I like working from the bottom up and getting my BLACKS just kissing 0 IRE on the WAVEFORM. I then push the WHITES up to expand my image and get some contrast into it. Finally, I tweak the MIDS as needed. You will notice that moving the BLACKS or WHITES up or down will affect the entire WAVEFORM so there is a give and take dance as you work back and forth. MIDS do not affect the BLACKS or WHITES too much and that is why you should work with them last. Lastly, if you raise MIDS, you will lose overall saturation to the image, so compensate by bumping up the SATURATION to keep the colors popping.

Click the image to view high resolution.

TIP #6 - MIDS ARE WHERE FACES LIVE
MIDS are where the skin tones live and you can really make a face pop by raising the MIDS after you have a good balanced image. Sometimes it feels easy to raise the EXPOSURE in Premiere or After Effects to brighten a face or scene…but that raises all the levels evenly and will ultimately not be as effective as separately adjusting the 3 zones. A good IRE for a properly exposed face is 60-70 IRE on the WAVEFORM.  If you raise the MIDS too much, you will introduce the beast of digital noise, so use judicially!

Click the image to view high resolution.

TIP #7 - Look for the FLESH LINE on the VECTROSCOPE to see how far off your skin tone is. On the 3-Way Color Corrector effect, or on a plug-in like Colorista, you can change the specific zone of color where the flesh tones live. By adjusting the color of the MIDS wheel you can introduce the proper hues into a face that need tweaking. Move the wheel in the direction of the color you need more of in your face. Watch the section of skin tone move until it lines up with FLESH LINE. An interesting note is that the FLESH LINE is accurate for all races and skin tones. We all share the same skin pigment that registers as numeric FLESH color. Proper WHITE BALANCING earlier will make this a minor but still important adjustment.  If you are going for a natural look, no one likes a pink, red or green face. SATURATION should be dialed in at this point to give a natural look to the flesh tone. Here’s a subtle example of adjusting for skin…and an overt example for comparison.  Neither is right or wrong….it’s all up to what feels right for that moment.

Click the image to view high resolution.

Click the image to view high resolution.

I hope that I was able to pass on some helpful knowledge and that you learned at least one thing you didn’t know before you read this. There are infinite ways to approach Color Correction and the best thing is…no one way is the best. You don’t need every plug-in known to man, a 4k projector and a $20,000 control surface to color correct. You only need time, the simplest effects and a sense of wonder and excitement. Feel free to push the footage around and see how it responds. What may look like a mistake on one shot could be the secret sauce you need for a completely different shot. Experiment and enjoy!

VASHI NEDOMANSKY

To inquire about my editing and post services or if you have any questions, please contact me at:

vashi@me.com
310.526.1400
www.vashiedit.com

We had a great 2011 and 2012 is already delivering exciting projects. “Act of Valor” directed by Scott Waugh and Mike McCoy will be in over 3,000 theaters on February 24^th The majority of this film (75%) was shot on the Canon 5D. In mid January, I will be shooting a Keith Urban music video and collaborating again with Scotty, of Bandito Brothers on the Canon C300.   The song, ‘For You” will be the title track for AOV.  Then, I am going to Sundance to speak about the making of Act of Valor.  From there, I travel directly to New Mexico to lens “We Regret to Inform You,” a psychological thriller, directed by Rupert Wainwright that will also be shot on the C300. I’m looking forward to spinning Panavision glass and taking this new camera technology to its creative breaking point. Stay tuned for blogs about some of the exciting things that are happening in 2012. Now let’s take a look at our top 10 most popular blog posts of 2011.

1. Lighting Basics Series I: Where to Place Your KEY LIGHT

2. Lighting Basics: Going With What is Available 

I take a look into my Home Depot/Practical lighting kit with examples from when I used them and where can find them.

3. Little Things Make the Big Difference – Editing in Adobe Premiere Cs 5.5

Vashi Nedomansky discusses his editing techniques and the small things in Adobe Cs5.5 that can optimize your editing workflow and speed.

4.Editing Shane by Vashi Nedomansky

Vashi Nedomansky shares his experiences editing for me and some tips and rules to know before breaking them when editing.

5. Dark Energy: Lightning in a Bottle for the HD Revolution

An in depth look at how Dark Energy from Cinnafilm reduces compression noise and artifacts in “The last 3 Minutes”

6.The Need for Speed: The Little Things That Increase Set Up Count

Camera Etiquette, workflow, and tools that increase your speed and setup count on set.

7.Zeiss: A Cinematic Journey on Act of Valor  

A look at how we used Zeiss glass when shooting “Act of Valor”.

8. HDSLR Educational Series for Cinema A Joint Venture with B&H 

A video showcasing the Shane Hurlbut, ASC HDSLR educational series on B&H.

9.Shane Hurlbut, ASC Master Cinema Series

Introducing the Shane Hurlbut, ASC Master Cinema Series camera system from Letus.

10.Tiffen and HV Collaborate to Make Extraordinary Images with Water White Glass

I worked with Tiffen to develop a set of ND filters tailored to shooting on the HDSLR platform.

]]> http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/13/top-10-hurlblog-posts-of-2011/feed/ 11 http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/13/top-10-hurlblog-posts-of-2011/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/HurlbutVisuals/~3/m2zbOWXB8y8/ http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2012/01/05/14-power-iphone-apps-for-filmmakers/#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:35:15 +0000 Shane http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/?p=5518 The past 3 years have been a very exciting time to be a filmmaker with the many changes in digital technology. I think back to a time before “Act of Valor” and if I was asked to shoot a movie on a still camera, I would have thought the director had gone mad. The speed that you now have to function at has increased dramatically. Budgets are getting tighter and time is more valuable. Multi-tasking is one of the only ways to survive.

Along with all this disruptive technology, the App Store has grown. Who ever wanted to write an app now has a captive audience in the film community. I wanted to go through the ones that make my life easier as a cinematographer. My “ life line” apps.

Tracking the sun is such an important tool for a cinematographer. Planning your days to try and shoot in the right place at the right time for light is paramount. Having the ability to calculate this anywhere in the world on any day of the week, even years in advance, is incredible. I have 2 Apps that I use:

Sun Scout:

Helios:

Pcam: Figuring out depth of field and field of view are important tools. Say you have a massive top down wide shot of a Toyota Tundra ripping into a rodeo ring. The widest lens we have in our arsenal that won’t bend the crap out of the image was a 14.5mm Panavision Prime.

I was able to quickly calculate on the Pcam App to fulfill the director’s vision. I needed to get a 120’ Condor and sling Mike Svitak in that baby to get the Rodeo Ring as well as some of the seats.  The ring was 160’ across so at 110’ on a 14.5mm lens, my 16:9 field of view would be 180’ wide and 101’ high.  That seemed perfect.  This would grab some seats on the left and right side.

The program calculates depth of field, hyper focal, which is so essential for those set the focus and forget it shots, like car rigs, crash cams, etc.  The hyper focal is the distance that you set your lens at which will take in the largest range of focus.  Seeing the car come at you in focus and being able to hold its impact in focus is important. On Kin, I set a Canon 5D on a snow covered road where we wanted the car to slide over the top of it as it goes into a skid after it had just impacted a deer.  We tested the shot with a bottle of water and our stunt man slide right over that baby.  Smash cut to putting down our 5D in the middle of the road and “Action.”

I find that when you say action, there is a slight adrenaline rush that happens in every stunt man.  So the car comes speeding at the camera, our hyper-focal on the 24mm lens is holding perfectly, oh no, that doesn’t seem like he is lining up with the camera correctly.

SMASH

The 5D is impacted head on by the Town Car’s tire and blasted ass over tea kettle 50 yards down the icy road into a snow bank.  The camera was still on and recording.  Here is the shot:

PCam does so many other things:

Match Lens: is an App that I use quite a lot.  The purpose of this app is to compare what I know as my benchmark, 35mm Motion picture lens field of view.  So when I slap a 14mm on my 5D, I like to know what the equivalent would be if it was on a 35mm camera.  That calculation is done so quickly and you can select your aspect ratio as well.  A 14mm on the full frame 5D is a 9.4mm on a 35mm camera with a 16:9 aspect ratio.

DSLR Slate: this baby has saved me on a few shoots.  Grabbing that cool little shot when you are out on your own and you want to keep editorial in the loop.  You can load all the camera info into the slate.  Color temp, shutter speed, ISO, you name it and it is on there.

Artemis: Carrying around a scouting camera package is not always possible, so for those shots that you want to line up with the director and choose lenses, enter Artemis.  This App gives you frame lines on your iphone depending on your lens size and aspect ratio.  Here is an example of using this tool to the max.  On AAA, we were shooting at Fontana raceway with 3 Nascar star drivers.  We went up in the stands to see what lens would be required to duplicate the Fox Sports camera coverage.  Now slinging around 500-800mm lenses in a scout package is kind of ridiculous, but with Artemis, you have all of them at a touch of a button on your phone with whatever camera you choose to shoot with, it will emulate your field of view from your position with frame lines.

CameraOrder: While you are choosing lens sizes and camera, you can now turn to CameraOrder App where you can plug in job and production company info.  Then systematically put your camera order together with the most extensive list of camera and lenses I have ever seen.  Once your order is completed, you can now send it out to the rental house as well as the production company with a few touch screen taps.

iTorch4: is a portable sun gun.  I have used this to bounce and light the SEALs in dark rooms operating at 1600 ISO and go deep to a 1.2. I have successfully lit a scene with this.  Utilizing  flash function on the iphone 4, this gives you a powerful source to bounce, go direct or whatever you prefer.

Photosyth: Scouting panoramas are so helpful and there is a new App that does this.  You simply fill up all the grey areas on your iphone screen by panning around 360 as well as your overhead and your underfoot areas.  Once you fill in the grey areas, the App seamlessly fuses all the pictures you have taken together and you can scroll around in your virtual perfect global panoramic.  An example of how this is helpful is for remembering details such as if there were street lamps that could flood the area at night. You overhead above you, can you get a condor or a crane in there? The surface that you were walking on, was it uneven, smooth, could you dolly on it?  These save time and money.  All these notes you never have the time to write down or slam into your memory banks.  On my recent Azerbaijan Olympic spot, I drove around in a van for 6 days scouting 187 different locations. We stayed approximately 5 to 10 minutes at each stop. Just enough to take my panorama and then figure out how I was going to light it and when it would be best for sunlight.  “Moving on” director Rupert Wainwright would say and I knew I had just enough information to pull it off with the Elite Team.

iHandy Carpenter:  This App gives you essential filmmaking tools on measuring distances and inclinations for tilt on camera VFX shots, as well as spirit & bubble levels.

FlickerFree Calculator: is a wonderful app that I stumbled onto.  I always have had my charts in my lighter pouch.  They miraculous disappeared while in Baku, so I quickly downloaded this app and it will calculate any frame rate and match it with a shutter speed so that you don’t get boned with all the different hertz sources.

Weather Bug (Elite): Weather forecasting is never an exact science but being in the know as much as possible is important.  Looking ahead in your schedule and trying to plan around possible weather coming in is a powerful tool.  Need a weather update that pulls from a location that is not the rocky mountains?  This is what Weather Bug (Elite) does.  You can pin point the closest weather station to you and get hour by hour forecasts.  This saved me in Oklahoma on Case IH. We could dodge the tornados that were heading towards us and relocate to a safe place to shoot combines churning up wheat.

Weather Radar: This app shows gorgeous animated graphics of weather moving your way.  Essential in tracking storms in New Mexico on Terminator: Salvation.  This was our go to tool in watching the storms roll in from the North.

I hope this gives you a glimpse into my App Arsenal.  What Apps have you found that help you as a filmmaker?  We would love to hear your feedback.

This was all shot on the Canon 5D Mark II with the Neutral picture style, and all of the footage is raw with no color correction.

The Lenses:

Canon L 35mm F/1.4, 50mm F/1.2, 85mm II F/1.2, 24-70mm F/2.8, 24-105mm F/4, and 70-200 IS II F/2.8

Leica R 35mm F/2, 50mm F/1.4, 90mm F/2, 21-35mm F/3.5, 35-70mm F/3.5, and 80-200mm F/4

Zeiss ZE 35mm F/2, 50mm F/1.4, and 85mm F/1.4

Zeiss CP2 35mm T/2.1, 50mm T/2.1, and 85mm T/2.1

Setup 1

Interior with a mix of Tungsten and Daylight
ISO 640
4200K White Balance
F/4

Setup 2

Daylight car scene
ISO 160
5600K White Balance
F4
Tiffen Water White ND.3
Tiffen Water White Circular Polarizer

Setup 3

Tungsten bulb
ISO 320
3200K White Balance

Setup 4

Tungsten lighting
ISO 160
4200 K White Balance
F4

Conclusions:

Canon

Overall the Canon glass produced great skin tones and colors. The reds seemed to be slightly more saturated then the other lenses with slight bleed between red and magenta on our color charts. Very sharp images as well from the primes and the zooms were a bit softer. The images were almost too sharp in some cases which caused small amounts of moire in hair especially. Also the Canon lenses tended to breath more than the others.

Micro Moire in her hair
Slightly softer image from the zoom

Leica

The Leica glass produced creamy looking images with wonderful contrast and colors. Though the lenses were contrasty we found that they had a great fall off and gradation between colors and luminance which held detail very well. Overall they were slightly warmer in color temperature and very prone to flaring. We did not use a Matte box for this test, which would have cut out a lot of the flaring. Also out of focus highlights have more of an octagon shape due to the lenses having fewer iris blades.

Flaring Example

Octagon shaped highlights

Zeiss

The Zeiss glass produced Sharp, snappy, and contrasty images. Slightly cooler in color temperature as well. The contrast was problematic with shots with strong highlights as it  seemed to lose some detail in the highlights. The ZE 35mm F/2 produced a str
ange halo blooming type flare which could be problematic depending on your shooting situation, personally I liked the aesthetic. The CP2s were less prone to flaring due to their build, and had very smooth out of focus highlights and bokeh.

Flaring of the Zeiss ZE 35mm F/2

Smooth out of focus hightlights on Zeiss CP2 35 T/2.1

Lenses are another tool at your disposal to shape your visual story telling. These are a few of our findings, and should provide a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. What are some of your experiences and preferences with lenses?

The Cinematography interns and I grabbed our Hardware Store Action Packer and set out on our minimal lighting mission.  “What do you want to key him with?” I asked.  Derek held up a cool white florescent trouble light. “I like it.” We will make General Taylor a little green.  We taped that to a C-stand and armed it out overhead to mimic a desk lamp.  I said, “we will need some fill.” We just happened to have another one of these which we rigged back slightly camera right.  What are we missing?  How about a little warm backlight? Danny ran in with a 6” diameter clamp light. We added Rosco full CTS (http://www.filmandvideolighting.com/roecofust4411.html) to add some color contrast. We were getting flared from that light.  We didn’t have any flags so Freddie grabbed a piece of plexiglass that still had the brown plastic on it.  This worked perfectly.

The General was handled and our shot composition was set.  Background comes next.  Always line your shot up first.  Agree on the size and then see what your actors are doing.  Then light them accordingly.  Once this is done, you can proceed to lighting the background.  The reason for this is that many times you end up lighting areas that never end up in the frame or the actors block them the whole time, which is double the work.

Background lighting is one of my favorite things to do.  It gives your shot scope and dimension.  I wanted to go for small sources and moving imagery on monitors to give the background some energy as well.  We started with our first background light which was another “trouble light.” “Don’t we have anything else in that kit of ours?”

Freddie said, “Yes, but I think it will hang well on the shelves.” He was right.  It needed some warmth to separate our General, so we added some Rosco full CTS gel to the light. You can see it next to his left ear. The Camo net was going to dark; it needed an edge light.

An edge light is something that rims, rakes, brings out dimension and texture in something that is dark.  We set a 6” diameter clamp light so that I could pan and tilt it to get the light in the perfect spot.  You see that over his left shoulder hitting the Camo net.

I needed a colorful source, like it was some control panel, so we put a green bulb in a 12” diameter clamp light, which fell on the far left side of frame.  After we added all these specials, we needed a cool grey tone to bring out the texture in the camo net as well as the feel of moon light. I did this with a 2 bank fluorescent shop fixture with one daylight balanced globe and one tungsten balanced globe.

The background was complete. Now, it was time to get our actor warmed up and shoot this baby.  The video is not color corrected and the moire is NOT removed in After Effects yet. I wanted you to see what it looked like coming out of the camera.  We shot this with a 5D MK II with a Zeiss 50mm CP2. The goal was to have more contrast and a slightly cooler image for this, and they delivered.  Here is an excerpt from the spot.

McG selected a Mini Mart location that the SEAL team would raid in North Hollywood.  It was a total mom and pop style place, slightly unkempt, but cool.  The concept of the commercial was as follows.  A SEAL team raids a Mini Mart of all of it’s Mountain Dew game fuel to hopefully earn points from the bottle caps.  They hit this beautifully in the stack with their target acquired. One SEAL takes it upon himself to enjoy a Mountain Dew right then and there. We see him reach into the cooler, pull it out, see the bottle top and then slam it down.  When he brings the bottle down, we transition from Canon 5D to film. We quickly realize that the SEALs are really just 4 gamers out on a 2 am refuel.  It was all a gamer’s dream. 

During McG’s discussions with the Agency we all agreed it would be best for the footage to feel game-like. We went to an EFX house to pull this off.  They had done overlay tests on some existing footage and everyone really loved the look and feel.  When we told them we were going with the 5D, they had no issue with this.  The request was to keep the lighting flat and they would interject the contrast through their overlay process. I knew I also needed a large f-stop.  In MW3, everything is in focus, huge DOP.  I would have to light the Mini Mart to at least an 8-11 split.  This would require a huge amount of light added to the store interior.  I called on my Elite Team member, John Guerra, and his incredible team that did Act of Valor with me to pull this off.

HUD Display in MW3, endless Depth of Field

There were a total of 18 4’ 4 bank house fixtures in the ceiling.  I could not rig Kino’s in there because we were shooting with a 21mm Leica and I was seeing everything.  John would have to increase the level of each fixture by adding and hiding 4-bare T8 Kino tubes to every unit.  This would require a pre-light, which I knew production had not planned on.  These are the sticky situations you get in as a Director of Photography.  The concept seems so simple, but when you peel the top layer off, there is a pit about 120’ deep.  Most of this was driven by the concept as well as visual EFX’s wanting a flat look, a large Depth of Field and a very clean image.  So, we shot at 160 ISO to lower the noise and help the VFX’s layer.

For the night exterior work, I employed a 14K Balloon light that had 4-1200 HMI pars in it and 8K worth of tungsten. Mixing the color temps is a personal preference and you need to decide what works for you in the moment.  I flew the balloon overhead and flagged it off the front of the Mini Mart.  Then I took 2-18k’s with full and a half Rosco CTS to mimic the High Pressure Sodium parking lot lights and side lit the SEALs as they approached the Mini Mart.  I wanted to place these units fairly far away so that if I panned over and caught them, they would look like street lamps.  An 80’ Condor was required to elevate the lights to shoot over a car wash down the street.  Placing this light source was very important because McG had described exactly what he wanted to me. When the first person POV was moving in towards the Mini Mart, he wanted the SEAL’s POV to look up into the sky and catch another chopper that was flying overhead. When executed, I wanted to catch a flare, so that it felt real and in the environment. So, I crept over the 2 -18k’s in the Condor that was shooting over the Car Wash until I got a beautiful Leica flare in the right side of the frame.  I quickly balanced the outside to about a 5.6 and inside was about an 11.  I chose to use Technicolor’s CineStyle to pull this off.  The VFX’s house wanted the image flat to begin with, but the main reason was the hot fluorescents that were in the Mini Mart’s interior. When I went to my Leica picture Style, they were burning up, too hot.  So CineStyle gave me that extra overexposure latitude to make it work.

 Now that we were lit, it was time to rehearse with the SEALs to get the timing right.  This all had to happen in one shot, in 22 seconds.  We kept on creeping closer to the entrance of the Mini Mart to cut time, finally we got it in the right pocket for McG and the Agency.

The First Person Shooter perspective could only be done on a helmet cam, and the one I chose was Doggicam.  It puts the camera so close to the right eye, it feels like you are looking through their eyes.  We tried several rehearsals using the real guys and then McG turned to me and told me I had to take one for the team.  I would wear the 14.5 lb. helmet cam for 8 hours straight, never taking it off.  This is kind of dedication that we all have as filmmakers. We rocked this out about 25 times and then the words, “ moving on” were shouted.  Now, it was time for a hook up.  I did it all in one shot  until we got to the cooler door. On the wipe of the door with a little helmet cam noise injected, we seamlessly employed a hook up cut, so that it continues to feel like one shot.  I have to open the cooler, take the cap off, look at it to see the code inside and then slam the drink up high aiming down my throat.  Yeah right!!!!   I dumped so many of those bottles of Mountain Dew down my shirt, my arm, my back, you name it. That high caffeinated, sugary drink stuck to me like super glue.  We tried to minimize the impact by draping me in a blue plastic bag, and we had some success.  Once we did that, my Helmet Cam days were over and we slid in the Panavision Platinum camera to capture our Gamer coming out of his MW3 dream on 35mm motion picture film.  This gave us a beautifully lit store, which felt real and not generated like the MW3 overlays and the First Person had.

Yep, that’s me getting all jocked up for Mountain Dew Spillage

Looking back at the day into night shoot, I have to say that there was no other capture device that could have done this with as much grace and ease as the Canon 5D MK II.  It was the right storytelling tool.  Period.  Here is the spot:

Meet the Cinematography Intern DREAM TEAM

by Shane Hurlbut

The Cinematography Internship Program was an educational labor of love for Hurlbut Visuals for the 2010-2011 year. It has been our way of educating and inspiring young filmmakers. The goal was to create a variety of hands on immersive experiences: shooting, lighting, theory, and storytelling, Let’s meet The Dream Team!

Julien Lasseur

French, sophisticated, creative, incredible instincts, intense work ethic. We met Julien, our first intern, on “The Last 3 Minutes” where he was the most dedicated and passionate 20-year-old film student we had ever seen. Those valuable assets continue to this day. We rewarded him by making him a department head for our BTS division. He is now producing/directing/shooting all of our BTS videos, Blog Sponsor interviews and HV produced documentaries.

Jose De Los Angeles

Our intern who traveled and decided to relocate from Orlando, Florida. (He wouldn’t take no for an answer though Anne Gaither, our Operations Manager,  really tried to warn him about the costs and minimal access to Shane due to schedule). He flew out on his own dime and put himself up to work with the Elite Team and me.  Two days after landing, Jose was assisting me on an “Act of Valor” pick up sequence.  That was passion, follow through and commitment.  Jose quickly became our tech guru in rentals.  After being an apprentice under Mike Svitak for 6 months, he was ready for Prime Time.  Jose has worked on many commercials with me as a second assistant:  AAA, Sports Authority, Toyota 6, Volkswagen, Navy just to name a few. Jose is now second assisting full-time.

Nick Kramer

Great energy, amazing composition, always a smile, filmmaker to the core. Nick first came to help with lighting our Halloween Haunted House and we instantly bonded over stark lighting and cable management. Throughout the year, Nick has operated on many BTS shoots, live concert events and worn multiple hats with media management, and producing. He worked on AAA, Toyota Tundra, and Sports Authority with me, to name a few. Nick is now a free-lance operator and producer.

Danny Garcia

The crazy skateboarder dude.  We received his resume and immediately invited him to be a part of our team due to his shooting experience and understanding of the DSLR platform. He has a huge smile, great attitude, is very smart, and has a never say die approach, that he gets from skateboarding.  He is a prep tech in rentals and gets his share of shooting: Jeep “Call of Duty” and Sports Authority. You can always recognized Danny as the roller blading skater with our Chipper rig on the Sport’s Authority BTS video.

Freddie Fernandez

He has the loyalty of Old Yeller.  No matter what happens Freddie is there to save the day.  He is quiet, observant and passionate about filmmaking.  Freddie has an incredible eye, which all of you experience on a weekly basis with his Blog pics. When Freddie was asked to lay 1000 feet of banded cable to power up the MCS launch event, he did it with a smile.  Freddie rocked out the Jeep “Call of Duty” spot and has worked on many of the Blog Sponsor interviews and the In True Fashion Charity Event.

Ben Goodman

Go getter, can do attitude, aspiring young filmmaker.
Ben came to us via my Alma Mater, Emerson College. Very experienced film student.  Ben was an integral part of building the stage at the MCS launch event for our Rocking Girl Band, laying cable and setting up many of the lights on the stage that he built.  We have loved having him, but he is back to Boston at the end of the year.

Mehul Upadhyay

Intelligent, focused, master electrician, check in testing specialist in rentals.
Mehul has been a shining star in our rental division.  Heading up all check ins and testing gear.  His work ethic during our move to La Cienega Blvd was endless. He was ready for any task and he delivered.  On the Mountain Dew game fuel commercial with McG at the helm,  Mehul was brought in for the tech scouts and the pre light to understand how to prep a commercial and then see the camera, grip and electric order come to life as the Mini Mart illuminated from within.

Derek Johnson

Genius Bar, tech yoda, filmmaker, cinematographer, aspiring director and now my assistant.  There seems to be nothing that Derek cannot do. He always comes with a smile of confidence and calm demeanor at every turn.  Nothing flusters this guy. He came to us because Apple wanted him full time and he wanted part time employment so that he could make his films.  We capitalized on Apple’s mistake. Derek recently ran one mile of cable and helped me light the Jeep “Call of Duty” commercial and ride experience, Mountain Dew “Game Fuel” and the MCS launch event.

The Sports Authority “Shoe” spot below is a perfect example of our Dream Team in action.  We have found success in educating and inspiring young filmmakers by embedding 2 or 3 Elite Team members in a shoot and then filling out the rest of the team with our cinematography interns.  We call this “In the Line of Fire” educating and it has been my practice since teaching technicians back in the 80’s when I was a Key Grip.

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My Experience as a Hurlbut Visuals Intern

by Derek Johnson

Being a cinematography trainee has increased my education exponentially, raised the bar for me as a filmmaker, and helped me build good instincts by making me think on my feet. The past 4 months have been an intense and fulfilling learning experience with hands-on training in all aspects of production and the rental division covering cinematography, composition, lighting, and organization. I definitely have much more to learn, but wanted to take a moment to look back on a few helpful things I have learned so far. I hope that it can provide some insight for other aspiring filmmakers, like myself.

I started off as a follower of the Hurlblog and read it regularly to educate myself. I was living in Phoenix, Arizona and would soon to complete my Bachelor’s of Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance from Arizona State University. My time there gave me a good foundation to hone my creativity and find my love for filmmaking and cinematography. I had been shooting a lot of short films and music videos and I knew where I wanted to be, but the road map wasn’t very clear yet. My mentor and professor Charles St.Clair encouraged me to set my sights for a good film internship in L.A and guided me through the process of preparing my resume, reel, and website. I planned and prepared for a semester and had everything ready to go. Then one night, I checked the blog, and I read that Hurlbut Visuals was looking for Cinematography trainees. I knew it was exactly what I was looking for, and I applied right away.

I heard back, but the first question I was asked was “Are you living in the Los Angeles area?”. I planned on moving, but was working an I.T. job in retail trying to transfer to an L.A store. So the first lesson learned was: to get an internship in L.A , you need to be living there when you apply (ideally). Luckily, I was visiting San Diego when I was contacted for an Interview. I made the drive up and went through the interview process. When we were finished, Hayden Houser, the Director of Hurlbut Visuals Rental Division, asked me how soon could I start? I was still trying to transfer my job, but did not want to pass up the opportunity to learn from Shane and the Elite team. So, I took as much time off of work as they would let me, and moved to L.A.. I started my internship at Hurlbut Visuals while trying to transfer to another store before my “vacation time” ran up.

It was definitely a big risk leaving my steady job and home to start an unpaid internship. But I knew it was what I wanted to do and I had to make it work. After several phone calls and interviews, I realized I was not going to be able to transfer to another store in time. As frustrating and scary as that was, it served as a pivotal moment for me. I decided that I was going to focus completely on film and try to support myself that way. I had some money saved and relied on the generosity of good friends letting me sleep on their floors and couches. I tried to get as many gigs as possible, paid or unpaid. I knew the more time I spent on set, the better my chances were. Every time a Camera Assistant or member of the Elite Team came through the office, I always offered to help on any shoots they had coming up.

Attention to detail is a must as a camera assistant and prep tech. Probably the first thing I learned at Hurlbut Visuals was the phrase “Make it Gucci” from HV Prep Tech Jose De Los Angeles. He would say this every time we needed to scrub cases, clean filters, or prepare a camera package. The mentality behind it: keep everything clean and organized to the highest standard by paying attention to every detail. How will the equipment shift around in a pelican case in shipping? Could anything be labeled for quicker access? Are all the necessary cables and pieces included? This also applies on set to keeping all the camera gear organized and knowing where every piece of equipment is. That way if anything is needed, it can be pulled without hesitation. These are just a few examples that come to mind. This is a great work ethic to have and I try to apply it to any work I do.

Scrubbing cases, a task prep techs become very familiar with.

The old saying that success is “preparation meeting opportunity” is cliché but very true. For example, a couple of weeks into my internship, I got to work under Shane on the Jeep COD (Call of Duty) XP ride experience http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/10/20/one-day-197-set-ups-12-shooters-9-navy-seals-to-bring-jeep-cod-call-of-duty-ride-experience-to-life/. It was my first shoot with Shane and I wanted to do my best. Fellow cinematography trainee Freddy Fernandez and I were soon running hundreds of feet of heavy Cam-Lok Banded cable along the ground, through windows and along rafters. We distributed power under Shane’s guidance and tried not to fry any lights or electrocute ourselves in the process. We were also rigging practical and fluorescent lighting in the terrorist base portion of the ride. By the end of day 2, after a lot of hard work, we had powered and helped light the whole event. Definitely a hands-on learning experience.

Flashbang effect during Shane’s rehearsal with the SEALs

A Somalian terrorist stands under the lights we rigged

More practical lighting

The big opportunity came when we filmed the ride experience. I was one of the 12 shooters and got to operate a camera. It was the magic hour;, the sun was setting, and the pressure was on to get the coverage we needed. I was in charge of getting a  drive over shot of the Jeeps going from 0-60 mph and was told to put the camera in the road. Unfortunately I was over thinking, and didn’t want to risk breaking my camera. So I placed it on the side of the Jeep’s path. After a few takes, I came back to show my footage to Shane, but one look at his face and I knew I screwed up bad. My shot was supposed to be the Jeeps driving OVER the camera dead center in the road. Panic set in and I felt terrible. The sun had almost set and we had one take left. I needed to fix this fast, so I grabbed a second camera and bolted back to my position. I placed the cameras in both directions back to back in the center of the road. Long story short, I got the coverage needed and it made it into the final cut of the edit. It was quite the internal struggle, but it was a relief to come out ok. A lesson I learned the hard way, but will never make that mistake again.

When an opportunity comes, if preparation is done well, it ensures success and prevents headaches. Preparation comes in a few different forms. Being mentally prepared for any challenges, knowing your equipment including the ins and outs of the camera systems, always keeping your tools at hand. (http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/09/09/the-need-for-speed-the-little-things-that-increase-set-up-count/) (this has saved me a few times) Keeping a spare set of clothes and rain gear handy (http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/10/14/the-importance-of-being-mobile/), and being able to switch roles are just a few examples. In summary, do whatever you can to be at your best when an opportunity comes. If you can switch roles, more opportunities will come your way.

The demands of filmmaking always has the potential to catch us off guard or manifest a situation where we wish we were more prepared. Trusting your instincts and stepping out of your comfort zone is essential for improvement. I have heard Shane call this “punting” when all else fails. Murphy’s Law applies on set a lot and you need to be able to improvise. I don’t think there is a formula forto this, but you improve with years of experience. The second half of this is being able to accept mistakes and learn from them. Being the new guy, P.A , intern, etc., it is natural to become defensive and avoid admitting mistakes. However, if you don’t accept your mistake and learn from it, you’re bound to do it again. I had an old co-worker refer to this as “failing forward.”

Also, don’t be afraid to ask questions. You get what you put into an internship and you’re there to LEARN. So, when appropriate: ask questions and absorb as much information as possible. This also applies to receiving instructions on set as well. I have found that if something is unclear, it’s best to just ask instead of assuming and doing something incorrectly. My experience on the Jeep shoot is a prime example of that.

Getting your foot in the door and making yourself stand out as an intern/ PA /trainee can be difficult, but the best method is to have a great attitude and work ethic. The person that stands out is the one who can work hard on long days and maintain a great attitude. The majority of production gigs you work are the immediate result of someone recommending you and no one wants to bring back someone lazy with a bad attitude. Enthusiasm and passion can go a long way and help make up for lack of experience when starting out.

Lastly, a piece of advice I hear a lot, ALWAYS have a camera on you. Like a writer always keeping a notepad on them, you don’t know when inspiration may come to you, or when an unexpected opportunity may arise. After wrapping up on the Jeep/Call of Duty set, I was able to attend the Call of Duty XP live event which had one of my favorite bands playing, The Dropkick Murphys. I had listened to them a ton growing up and had seen them perform probably half a dozen times. Luckily, I had my camera with me and was able to shoot stills of their performance, which was an awesome experience.

The Dropkick Murphys

The Dropkick Murphys

Those are some of the lessons I have learned so far, and I strive to learn more every day. I have survived the chaos and instability and have landed on my feet. My hard work has paid off and I am now putting my IT background to use working as Shane’s personal assistant. I feel very inspired learning from him and the Elite team and look forward to working on more productions in the future. I would love to hear your tales of hard work breaking into this industry or as a fellow intern.

What are some of your experiences? Good or bad. How did you break through? Or if you’re just starting out, what steps are you taking to make it?