Here are three ways you can simplify your foray into the cinematic arts.

#1. Ditch the cinema cameras and use your DSLR.

Using the DSLR you’ve already familiarized yourself with will give you many advantages on set. It will be more intuitive for you to adapt your shots. It will be easier – and less costly – to equip yourself with a suitable range of lenses. You will be able to film in places where a cinema camera would stick out like a sore thumb. The list goes on.

#2. Light with a single light source.

Like everything else, this will take some practice to master, but trust me, it’s a lot easier to practice with one light source than it is to practice with three (or five or ten or a hundred). Also, it’s cheaper, you’re more mobile and there’s less that can go wrong.

#3. Color Grade like a boss. Yourself. In Final Cut Pro.

Many things will set your film apart from the multitude of independent projects out there. Good sound, yes. Good story, yes. Good actors, yes. These things will all set you off down the right path, but don’t think that the professional look you’re going for is out of your reach. Add “good color grading” to the list of things that will make your film a winner. Color grading always stood out to me as something you would only bother with if you had the budget and the time to employ a professional. It sounded daunting. But it’s actually a whole lot simpler than you might think. As long as you keep it simple, stupid. Color grade right in the software you’re familiar with editing in. Don’t use tech add-ons or install gigabytes of filters you’re not gonna learn how to use. Just make it look good.

Now that you know to keep all of the above stupid simple, why not pour your creativity into the story itself?

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.

The images of his work – part of an on-going project titled Looming – instantly took me to alien places of mystery and wonder. And they made me want to experiment with set design; take things a little further than I normally would have.

He favors materials he can carry easily, like spheres, smoke bombs, LEDs, and lasers. “I think stuff like technical or budget limitations forced you to think about materials,” he says. “You have to innovate with the best of what you have.”

So there you have it. Limitations can be beautiful, if you think outside the box. Already waaaaay ahead of myself, I started googling and found an 18″ clear acrylic sphere for $45, an assortment of smoke bombs for $35 and LED lights ranging from $3 to $30. I can’t wait to start creating.

All images by David Ogle and Andrew Brooks:

h/t Wired

If you have questions about lighting, equipment, safety on set or any of the other 317.000 things a good cinematographer needs to consider, chances are Shane Hurlbut knows the answer. His credits include Terminator: Salvation, Act of Valor, Need For Speed, Fathers & Daughters, We Are Marshall and many more, but in this context our focus will be on his passion for sharing what he’s learned in his years on the job. His website, hurlbutvisuals.com, is a treasure trove of articles, How-To’s, product tests, and glimpses from behind the scenes of major Hollywood productions. If you want to dive even further, you’ll find Shane’s Inner Circle, which is a member’s only section of his website that offers premium content for a modest fee.

We highly recommend you spend some time getting to know Shane Hurlbut, whether you are an aspiring cinematographer or simply curious about how the pros work.

A few of our favorite posts are linked below. Get to it.

The Power of Shaping Hard Light

Turning Your GoPro Into A Cinematic Movie Making Machine

The Importance of Being Mobile

Photo credit: Shane Hurlbut

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.

I recently stumbled upon DP Shane Hurlbut’s website, HurlbutVisuals.com, which has turned out to be a great source of know-how from working film professionals, including of course Shane himself. For those of you that don’t know, Shane Hurlbut is an accomplished cinematographer with credits like Need For Speed, Act of Valor, Terminator Salvation, We Are Marshall and Swing Vote to his name. One particular article of his that I’d like to highlight today is his breakdown of how to light day exterior shots.

Before getting into the nitty-gritty, here’s a word of wisdom from Shane.

[Sometimes] you compromise the light to gain the big picture … You do not worry that the light is not exactly how you envisioned it. Making a film is about compromises. Period. If you don’t approach a movie this way, you are being a little naive. It is all about making those compromises and turning them into a positive, every time!

With that in mind, let’s get to it.

1. Use tools for finding the best time to shoot

Shane highlights a few different tools he has used to determine the best times to shoot. Helios is the Rolls Royce of the bunch. Sun Seeker is the runner-up. These are both apps for your smartphone that will tell you where the sun will be at specific times of the day in specific locations, how the shadows will fall and more. Lesson to be learned here? Don’t just wing it. Do your homework before grabbing your camera and your crew. If you anticipate certain lighting needs for a scene or if your director has a particular vision of how the scene should look, make sure you have the elements on your side.

2. Shape the natural light

There are many ways to shape, redirect and/or filter the natural light at your location. According to Shane, know that back light is your friend:

I would always try to look for a back light orientation for your scene. This enables you to shoot for a good amount of time without the light changing. As the light gains its height in the sky, I just slightly rotate my actors to match that rotation, always keeping them back lit. The reason for this is that frontal sunlight can be very harsh at times. It can make it very difficult for the actors to keep their eyes open without squinting. That never looks good unless you are Clint Eastwood and it works like a million bucks. You can bring a bounce in to fill or use as a key light, which is passive. This means using the sunlight, the same source that is back lighting the actor, not adding another light into the bounce. I love all types of bounces no matter what output I need from it.

With the back light working to your advantage, perfect the lighting with negative fill:

Just using a bounce can work great, but there are some times when you want more mood in your scene. That is when you use what is called Negative Fill. During the day, light is all around us. It is coming from the sky, from the horizon, from the ground, you name it. I use large solids, which are black in color, for wider shots and then 4 x 4 solids for close ups that I can work in as a ballet dance with the bounce. Usually I work the bounce. I have a grip doing the negative fill as the actors move if I am not operating.

When shooting a wide shot, I try to shoot them at the most perfect time. Let Mother Nature do the lighting and the contrast control for you. For the medium shots, I bring in 12 x 20 clay coats to reflect a key light source and a 12 x 20 and a 12 x 12 solid for negative fill.

This negative fill can sometimes be a frustrating process because of the daylight coming in from all over. Shaping this light to your liking can feel a little too stylized if you hit it with too much contrast, so beware. If you are in an alley or around tall buildings, then you can get away with steeper contrast. But if you are out in the open, I find that creating a contrast of about 2 to 2.5 stops down on the negative fill is good and plays nicely with almost any scene.

Working in the ability to block a scene where your actors land in a side light scenario is always very pleasing as well. This is done by orienting your actors in a way that they are lit with one side of their face keyed by the sun. Getting this just right is what I learned from Herb Ritts, that perfect angle of light which shapes the face in a way that is beautiful. If you are shooting this kind of light in the morning, then I would shoot the close ups first, while the sun is still in their eyes, before it goes skull eyes. I am sure that you have seen this before. It is when you shoot outside when the sun is too high and the actors look like skeletons because they have these deep shadows in their eyes when the light is too toppy.

3. Substitute natural light with Daylight Balanced Lights

If your scene calls for a more dramatic lighting that Mother Nature can provide, you do have the option of helping Her quite a bit. Enter daylight balanced lights. Shane uses his work on The Rat Pack as an example:

On the The Rat Pack, I lit almost every shot during the day with HMIs. These are daylight balanced lights that match daytime Kelvin color temp, which is around 5500 Kelvin. I would either bounce 18Ks off 12 x 20 Ultra Bounces or drive 18Ks through light grid or full grid diffusion frames. Then I would add a searing back light with a mirror board off the sun, or an 18K spotted in. Sometimes a 7K Xenon was needed. This was the look and feel of this movie. Rob Cohen, the director, wanted the character’s life to be a stage. So every time you saw them, they had the perfect key light, back light and fill level. Most of my other films have been more naturalistic. I don’t choose. I go with the director’s vision and the best way to tell the story.

About Shane Hurlbut:

Shane Hurlbut, A.S.C., is a world-renowned cinematographer who shoots multimillion dollar blockbuster films. Shane brings a level of unparalleled passion and excitement to everything he does. He is an innovative cinematic pioneer that deploys new techniques on every project to challenge him and enhance the quality of his work. He seamlessly blends different camera emulsions to enhance storytelling. One of his recent films, Act of Valor, was shot primarily using the Canon 5D Mark II camera and is the first HDSLR full-length feature released by a major studio.

Chroma keying is a technique used to composite (layer) two images or video streams together based on color hues. Commonly referred to as green screen. Now, before you get excited about that fact that you can set up and implement the use of green screens on your own, adding a whole new dimension to your low-budget short film sci-fi vision, please hear our words of caution: Improper use of green screen will positively ruin your film. Use it sparingly – or get a professional involved – if this is a project you want to go places. But hey, if you’re just playing around, do just that. Play around. Have fun.

I found a helpful introductory video that explains how to get started with green screen. At about 7 minutes in it turns into a sales pitch, so go ahead and spend those last three minutes doing something else:

We aren’t doing it for anyone in particular. We are funding it ourselves. We don’t have any guarantees that it will be bought or distributed on television or cable. Fortunately, other than the equipment, our costs are mainly travel.

I’m doing it because it’s a lot of fun and I get to work with my sister, Kristina Wagner. Here is a picture of us from last week in Los Angeles, relaxing after 4 days of shooting.

Kristina is an actress turned historian. She was a feature player on the daytime television show “General Hospital” for over 20 years. She went back to school and got her degree in history. This film project developed out of her senior thesis.

There are so many layers to this story, it has been a fascinating process hearing the different perspectives about internment from both victims and those who were involved with carrying it out. I think it’s shaping up to be a very compelling, very heartfelt, 90 minute feature.

So – with that said, I wanted to talk about the mechanics of interview lighting.

Here are the restrictions we are dealing with…

The set up has to be very quick. Within 15 minutes from the time we arrive, we want to be shooting. When I worked for CNN back in the 80s, we had 2 or 3 guys setting up interviews. Our set up time for an interview like this was typically 30 minutes.

With this project, I had to do the set up on my own – a one man band – finding the shot, setting it up, lighting it, setting up sound – and doing it without much equipment. Most of these interviews are in the homes of the interviewee – and we wanted to keep our footprint very small.

I’ve used two different cameras. A Canon 5D Mark III and a Sony PMW EX-1. I’ve owned the EX-1 for 4 or 5 years. It gives beautiful images, but has a small sensor. The 5D is an amazing camera and the low light capabilities are better than the EX-1.

Since we are doing available light in most situations, I decided to do most of the project with my new 5D Mark III.

This first interview (above) is the only one I did with the EX-1. We shot it in a mansion where the internees where held in South Chicago. The gain was set at 0dB, the aperture is wide open 1.9f and we were shooting 1080p at 24 fps. The native ISO on the EX-1 is about 500, based on my measurements.

This footage has not been color graded yet. I wanted to show you the lighting the way it was captured. I did shrink the size of the shot so it would fit on the page.

So let’s talk about the light sources.

The room has windows on two parallel walls. You can see them bordering the left side of the frame from behind Eberhard. The room is 30 feet across. He is sitting about 12 feet from the back wall and about 20 feet from the windows in front of him.

Kristina is sitting to the right of the camera doing the interview in an attempt to keep his eye line very much on axis with the lens. I believe that the closer you can get to being on axis with an interview like this, the more personal the shot will feel. As you go off axis, you create separation between the subject and audience.

He is lit from the front with a 24′ china ball with a standard 100 watt light bulb ($6 for the fixture).

For the interview, I placed the china ball a couple of feet above his head on a C-stand to the right and about equal distance between the camera and the subject. It is very close to the axis of the shot. There is also a fold out white reflector on a stand about 2 feet left of the subject, providing some fill. A 100 watt bulb doesn’t put out much light compared to the window light – but it softened the shot beautifully.

I also like the eye light that we are getting naturally from the china ball and the fact that I was able to angle the shot in a way that kept his glasses from reflecting the bank of diffused windows in front of him.

I opened the back curtains enough to give a nice sheen on the fireplace to the right. I also kept the actual window out of the picture since it would have blown out if I left it in frame. The light from the window is giving his jacket the back rim light.

One thing you may notice is the bluish tone to the shot because a lot of it was daylight. The bulb in the china ball was a “Reveal 100 Daylight” bulb that I got at the grocery. They are not balanced at 5200 kelvin even though they are called daylight bulbs – they seem to be closer to 3900k if you don’t use a dimmer.

It took me longer to write about how I did it than it took to light it.

Let’s look at a few interviews that I shot with the 5D Mark III.

Yae is sitting in her living room. There is a bank of windows along the wall to the left. I was able to get the background to go out of focus a bit more because of the larger sensor on the 5D, the wide open aperture and the 105mm lens.

When I purchase the EX-1 a few years ago, everyone was saying that the “film look” could be achieved on video by shooting 24 frames per second. I never found this to be the case. The way to get the film look is by using the shorter depth of field that only a large sensor camera can give you – the Letus 35mm adapter works, but it’s a pain in the butt to use for run and gun work and impossible with a zoom lens.

We were even more limited in our space in this house than we were in the previous one so getting the background to go out of focus was more of a challenge. I shot it with a 105mm lens at 3200 ISO. The aperture was opened to 4.0f and the shutter at 1/50th.

The picture on the 5D Mark III is amazingly noiseless at 3200 ISO and I’ve been surprised and pleased by how well 6400 ISO looks as well. I think the low light capabilities make this camera perfect for the low budget filmmaker. When I started shooting back in the late 70s on 16mm film, we used Kodak 7247 negative stock that was rated at 100ASA (now called ISO). There is no way we would have been able to get an acceptable exposure at 100ASA with the lighting set up we used this time.

Low light cameras like this have made life much easier AND I think it is changing the style of lighting. I could talk about my opinions on this for quite a while, but I’ll stick with the issue at hand for now.

The glow from the left is coming through the shears of the living room windows (it was bright outside, but the window was in shade). I used the china ball again, but this time I put it closer to the subject – the bottom of the ball was about a foot higher than her head and it was about 3 feet away from her face slightly to the right off camera axis. There is no other lighting in the room. You can see some window reflection in her glasses, but as she
moves, it didn’t bother me.

We also moved around a few props that we found in her living room to give the background some interest and to express a bit of her personality and heritage.

Another note: I am using a 7′ monitor mounted to the camera hot shoe to help with focusing. It also allows me to angle the monitor so I can sit down during the interviews – which are lasting between 1-2 hours.

It’s a cheap Marshall monitor ($250) and has a lot more contrast than what you see in this screenshot. It also separates the colors differently – I was a little nervous when I first started using it because it made the different color temperatures in the shot pop out. In this shot, her face, on the left side went much bluer on the monitor.

I probably could focus fine with the screen on the camera or use a loupe attachment, but I am also using a camera stabilizer with a vest for other shots in the project and needed a monitor for that, so I bought one monitor for both functions.

While I’m at it, I also bought a Beachtek DXA-SLR XLR adapter ($450 from bandh.com) for my mics. It works wonderfully and we are getting some excellent sound.

Here is another shot.

This was a challenge to light since it was very close to dusk when we shot it.

Again, I was at 4.0, 1/50th, 3200 ISO and shooting 1080p, 24 fps. We get a different look because the china ball is now the main keylight. It is positioned above and to the left of frame and Kristi was sitting slightly off axis to the camera lens on the left to direct his eyeline.

I also made a mistake putting him in a high backed chair. When you do this with folks, they often end up leaning back and slouching which doesn’t make them look as good.

I love what the back window and the reflection of the yard outside did, bringing green and blue reflections to the glass on the furniture in the background. We moved the plant on the right to give a bit of shape to the window area and adjusted some of the stuff in the background. I also like the sheen off the dining room table. There is depth and personality to the shot. I turned on the light in the china cabinet and you can see the top shelf went a bit orange since the tungsten bulb in there was a very low color temperature. I wouldn’t do it that if I had it to do again.

I have a higher contrast ratio on this shot and I could have used a reflector on the right side of the shot filling in and softening his face. Overall, I’m satisfied with the shot and think it represents him and what he has to say very well.

Here are a couple more shots that are different environments, but are lit with the same tools.

All of these folks were very interesting to talk to and we got a lot of very usable footage.

A lot of interview lighting that I see these days is so harsh. One of the things we wanted for this film was a softer, friendlier look. All of these folks were children during WWII and were thrown in to a very difficult situation with their parents. We are looking for the heart of the story.

The memories they have and how those memories conflict with each other tells a fascinating story about human memory, family, hardship and how the human spirit overcomes horrible events. It also speaks to the concept of fear molding public policy – about a nation who sees itself as the “good guy” can abuse it’s power when it’s people are frightened.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming interviews and editing the piece together. I’ll keep you posted as we progress. The next shoot will be in Frankfort, Germany in October where we are interviewing German internees who were repatriated during and after the war.

And it’s not a coincidence that we are going to Germany during Oktoberfest. Hofbräuhaus and quart mugs of beer, here we come.