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Filed under: Cameras •Editing •Lighting •Post Production •Production •Visual Effects •

It’s not the budget, it’s where you put the camera!

Please note that the images that follow are completely ungraded, as I never used them in my cut.

This was one of the many other cool shots we did at the beach location. Once again she’s lit only by sunlight being filtered through a 6x6 light grid held a couple of feet from her face.

This shot was extraordinarily cool too, but the amazing part was when Jono turned the monitor upside down and said, “Hey Art, look at this…”

Wow. For some reason I think this is very cool—probably because it’s beautiful but there’s something about it that’s slightly off. I thought I would use this shot in my edit but I didn’t; partially because, for some strange reason, she didn’t look like she was the one singing the song, but also because I thought that using this without setting it up earlier in the edit would be a bit confusing.

If I’d been able to show Rachel laying on the bench earlier in the edit then I would have felt better using this shot, but since I didn’t… I felt I couldn’t. I needed to give the audience a clue as to where she was in order to give them an “aha!” moment, but without that establishing shot I felt the audience wouldn’t grasp what has happening.

I still think it’s marvelous, though.

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At one point I took the camera handheld and rolled on Rachel as she sang against a beautiful sunset. Sadly, it’s beautiful because of the many forest fires we’ve had around here lately, but still… why not take advantage of what’s there?

I moved around a bit, letting the sun peak out from around her face very once in a while. While neither of us used this shot in our edits I’m using it as the cover and menu page background for my new showreel DVD. I think it’s a very beautiful and subtle composition.

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Jono used a tighter version of this shot in his edit, to great effect. Lit only by a 4x4 Reflectix card in the kitchen to the left, filled with a bounce card on the right.

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Remember how I mentioned a roof shot? Well, here it is:

Both Jono and I were hoping this would turn out, but I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t. The sun set directly over the camera, and I knew that would make the shot a bit too flat. Without a lot of practical lighting in the background I knew this shot would probably die. I tried to enhance it a bit using Looks but it just wasn’t there. Still, it was fun to shoot.

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This was the last shot of the shoot, and I grabbed it quickly knowing I could lighten the center later. I didn’t mention it earlier but I was sick as a dog during this shoot, and by 11pm Sunday night I was ready to go home and collapse. I don’t think Jono used this shot in his edit; I tried it as an opening shot and then replaced it with his choice as his was much better. (That’s why he’s the director…!)

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Jono’s cut started out with a single flower petal falling to the floor, followed by a vase of flowers in slow motion. I didn’t use it for my cut as I didn’t think it was as visually dynamic as I needed it to be for my reel, but Jono uses it in his edit as it tells his story better.

Here’s the footage, shot at 60fps—shown first at 60p real-time and then slowed down to 33%:

That was the first take. We never got a better one. Jono said his kitchen floor never looked so good.

The shot is lit from behind with a 650w open-face light bounced into a 4x4 Reflectix, and filled with another 650w bounced into a white card next to camera.

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These are some close-ups we grabbed while doing our visual effects shot in Rachel’s house. I’m big on grabbing whatever coverage happens to be available to us without changing the lighting, so I talked Jono into grabbing these two inserts. We didn’t use them, but they took about three minutes to shoot and they’re there if we want them.

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That’s me behind the camera, Jono behind the monitor, and Laura the producer backing us both up. Other than being really sick during this shoot, I had a great time. I worked with a director who appreciates good work and encourages it, and as a result I was able to create some really nice images out of virtually nothing. And quickly, too! That was the best part: doing great work quickly and efficiently. Jono’s got some more spec projects in mind, and I plan to be there for every one of them. How can I turn down an offer to work with someone who encourages me to do my best work? I think it’s the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

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