Enjoy our first installment of exclusive behind the scenes interviews with key members of The Storyteller production. Learn more about how the film was made and see footage of the making of!

This video features the brilliant Dan Clarke, Cinematographer for The Storyteller.

Instead of shaping, coating and polishing glass to perfection, science will (some time in the future) be turning to titanium dioxide for optimal light and color reflection. And it comes in a tiny package. As in nano-tiny. Which means that, while it sometimes feels good to hold a heavy lens, it will be possible to package powerful lenses in ultra-compact camera bodies. Not hard to imagine what this might do for phone and action cameras, but I’m sure it will also make high-end equipment a lot more agile and versatile.

Hopefully that means that – at some point – even those of us working with zero $ budgets will get access to lenses providing million-$ picture quality.

Check it out, science geeks.

Drool…

And while certain aspects of camera movement, dialogue, lighting, etc. can be hashed out on set, sometimes just minutes before the cameras are rolling, you don’t want to take any chances when it comes to pulling off those visual FX that are really gonna sell your story. It’ll be too time-consuming and if a certain effect is not playing on camera the way you anticipated, you might not get the shot you need – let alone the shot you want.

In the case of The Storyteller there’s a magical realism that imbues the story with a certain mood, sometimes even moving the characters forward, informing choices and plot. In certain scenes, this magical realism is manifested by fairies. But how do you successfully pull off showing fairies on camera, when you’re working on a limited budget and don’t have access to the bells and whistles of high-end CGI? Or perhaps more importantly, when you don’t want to use high-end CGI, but rather have your actors interact with practical effects on set? Well, you think, then you experiment and then you plan accordingly.

When faced with the challenge of creating organic, realistic and practical fairies for The Storyteller, the team (producers, director, writers, actors) came together for a visual FX test – and 20 Questions Film tagged along for some behind-the-scenes video:

Let’s break it down. The filmmakers wanted to create a small, moving light source, ethereal and whimsical, effectively coming off as a fairy, fluttering around – and interacting with – the actress. They wanted to add visual detail in post-production, but to have the light from the fairy play off of the actress’ face realisticially and organically. They also wanted to be able to capture the spontaneous reactions and movement by the actress, as she responds to the fairy (and in some scenes several fairies) flying around her. This is how they went about it:

#1. The Tools

Pulsating single-LED lights were to act as the fairies. Removing the outer plastic shell of the lights, leaving only the tiny LED diode and the battery, decreased the footprint enough for the camera to only pick up the light and not the hardware. String was used to hang the lights from a C-stand – and later to be controlled by the producers, moving the lights around the actress and camera. When it comes time to shoot, the string will be replaced by clear fishing line, which won’t show up on camera or will be easily edited out in post. Plastic wrap (the ordinary kitchen variety) was used to experiement with grouping together several LED diodes into a single light source, while also slightly changing the way the light breaks on camera, changing its properties like hue and brightness.

#2. Positioning

Hanging the light from a C-stand allowed them to have a controlled height of the light when moving the LED around, making it easier to frame on camera and to reset between takes.

#3. Interaction With Light

One of the most important reasons for the FX test was to see how the light would bounce off of the actress’ face while moving around. This gave the DP a chance to experiement with exposure and focus in order to achieve the effect needed.

#4. Movement

Testing the movement of the lights proved beneficial, not just because it gave the DP a chance to see how the light would bounce off of the actress’ face, but it also gave the filmmakers a chance to see how the light behaved differently when moved on the C-stand vs by hand.

#5. Several Light Sources

Some scenes call for just one fairy on camera, while some scenes call for several fairies moving around at once. The practical test showed the filmmakers how close to – or how far away from – the camera they could have the lights and still have the lights look like organic, moving creatures.

#6. Lens Whacking

Experimenting with lens whacking as a way of creating dream-like visuals with light leaks and tilt shift focus also gave the filmmakers an idea of how to move the fairy lights around in a realistic, organic way.

#7. Distance

A common theme in the FX test was experimenting with distance. Distance between lights and actress. Distance between actress and camera. Distance between lights and camera. All while keeping in mind that the end result should feel magical, but real and natural.

The take-away from a day of experimentation? Some things work and some things don’t. Some things will require additional planning and experimentation. Regardless, a day or two spent in pre-production will no doubt save the crew precious, stressful hours on set, which may again be the difference between getting the shot they need or not. It’s worth it.

We’re following the production of the feature film, The Storyteller, from idea all the way through to distribution. Learn from the process with real-world examples right here.

If you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe to Every Frame A Painting on YouTube – and check out our list of other channels to follow.

Some of these belong in museums. Not because they’re antiquated, but because even outside their intended cinematic context, they are simply beautiful. Below are my ten favorites from the list. Visit BlazePress for all 70.

Se7en (1995 – cinematography by Darius Khondji)

Apocalypse Now (1979 – cinematography by Vittorio Storaro)

Big Fish (2003 – cinematography by Philippe Rousselot)

Thief (1981 – cinematography by Donald Thorin)

The Shawshank Redemption (1994 – cinematography by Roger Deakins)

The Matrix (1999 – cinematography by Bill Pope)

The Deer Hunter (1978 – cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond)

Skyfall (2012 – cinematography by Roger Deakins)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968 – cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth)

Life of Pi (2012 – cinematography by Claudio Miranda)

h/t BlazePress

It’s a subtle art and it’s something even the most skillful DPs can – and should – continue to explore throughout their careers. Here Sean McDaniel talks about what it means to him to ‘choose the right lighting’ and how you, as a DP, need to be aware of the effect your lighting choices has on the viewers experience.

Sean McDaniel has been working as a cinematographer for over a decade on narrative, documentary and experimental films. He furthered his studies as a cinematographer while acquiring his MFA in Film Production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and his work has screened in numerous film festivals around the world including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Palm Springs Film Festival, LA Shorts Film Festival, HollyShorts, and the Vancouver International Film Festival, among others. He was a USC selection for the 2014 A.S.C. Heritage Award, which looks great on paper, sure, but more importantly speaks to his passion for telling powerful stories through his work behind the camera in support of his collaboration with talented directors.

You can watch Sean McDaniel’s reel here.

Sean McDaniel explains how the more moving wheels you have in play on set, the easier it is to waste time – which in the end can be the difference between the take you’ll settle with and the take you really wanted. So come prepared. It’s worth it.

More videos in the series of interviews with Sean McDaniel will be posted shortly, so keep checking back – or even better, simply sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Sean McDaniel has been working as a cinematographer for over a decade on narrative, documentary and experimental films. He furthered his studies as a cinematographer while acquiring his MFA in Film Production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and his work has screened in numerous film festivals around the world including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Palm Springs Film Festival, LA Shorts Film Festival, HollyShorts, and the Vancouver International Film Festival, among others. He was a USC selection for the 2014 A.S.C. Heritage Award, which looks great on paper, sure, but more importantly speaks to his passion for telling powerful stories through his work behind the camera in support of his collaboration with talented directors.

Now, we didn’t ask Jeremy to do this because we think he has nothing better to do with his time, but because we believe that the care and considerations that go into every single shot of a beautiful, visually coherent film shouldn’t be taken for granted. There’s a reason why your favorite film looks the way it does – it’s because creative minds and keen eyes made it so.

Here’s what he had to say about this shot – chosen by Jeremy himself:

The image comes from the feature-length period western, The Only Good Indian, which was written by Thomas L. Carmody, directed by Kevin Willmott, and had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. I worked as cinematographer on the film alongside my longtime friend and collaborator Matt Jacobson.

To get a feel for the look of the film as a whole, you can find an image montage of shots from the movie here.

The film follows a Native American boy who is stolen from his parents and placed into a boarding school to assimilate into early 1900s America. He escapes and is tracked down by a Cherokee bounty hunter, played by Wes Studi. After an unfortunate encounter with a group of outlaw cowboys, the bounty hunter becomes wanted for murder and a war-scarred Sheriff, played by J. Kenneth Campbell, goes on the hunt for both men.

The shot from the demo reel takes place when the Sheriff questions the other Native American children working outside the boarding school. He corners one boy, douses him with liquor, and then threatens to light a match if he doesn’t give him the information he wants.

This very shot is the moment when he holds up the match to threaten the boy.

Shooting the scene, we found ourselves in a working rock quarry in one hundred plus degree heat. In addition to the sun, the white rock was bouncing all of the heat back at us, and most of the crew walked away with sunburns under their chins as a result. Several people passed out from the heat, and one crew member was even taken to the hospital to receive an IV bag of fluids.

To start the scene, the Sheriff rode in on a horse, and we captured the wide shots from a thirty-foot jib.We swapped out the horse with a padded ladder for the actor to sit on for a more stable closeup, and then moved the jib forward, locking it off one foot from the ground. We shot on 35mm Kodak Vision 2 Film, and I knew that I had a lot of latitude in color timing, but for this particular shot, I wanted a proper exposure on both the sky and the actor’s face, which meant I would need a lot of light on the actor. Having previously talked with Ken about different lighting scenarios he’d encountered, I asked how comfortable he would be with me bringing in a 42” shiny board as the key light for this shot, and his response was, “Hell, son, I started in the day of arc lights. You can’t blind me.”

I took him at his word and placed the reflector three feet from his face and blasted the intensity of the sun right back into his eyes. As an added layer of difficulty, I wanted the wooden match to look like it was catching on fire as he held it up against the sun. Though partially blinded and wearing a full coat in the summer heat, Ken kept his gaze, let his hand shadow fall perfectly in and out of the camera lens and we ended up with exactly the shot we wanted.

What are my take aways from this setup? First, always be conscious of an actor’s comfort level and the limits with how much light they can work with. Actors who started with Arc Lights, which were like little suns on rolling stands, have a higher working threshold than actors that have only worked on sets with newer cameras that can shoot under low light.

And second? Go out and make a western! They’re fun!

Be sure to check out more of Jeremy Osbern’s work on his website.

Set stills by Franco Leng.

Yeah, not quite that simple, we know, but even if you add to the above a bunch of technical terms and talks of aesthetics, you may still not have the full picture (pun intended). Cinematographer Sean McDaniel has some insight that might surprise you. Interesting stuff for any filmmaker – not just the ones behind the camera.

We previously posted a video in which Sean tells us a bit about how he became a cinematographer. More videos in the series will be posted shortly, so keep checking back – or even better, simply sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Sean McDaniel has been working as a cinematographer for over a decade on narrative, documentary and experimental films. He furthered his studies as a cinematographer while acquiring his MFA in Film Production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and his work has screened in numerous film festivals around the world including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Palm Springs Film Festival, LA Shorts Film Festival, HollyShorts, and the Vancouver International Film Festival, among others. He was a USC selection for the 2014 A.S.C. Heritage Award, which looks great on paper, sure, but more importantly speaks to his passion for telling powerful stories through his work behind the camera in support of his collaboration with talented directors.

You can watch Sean McDaniel’s reel here.