Manure

[krisrajan]

David, just like everybody on this board just blown away by the creativity and the openness of your comments.

I have a question on "The Astronaut Farmer". The scene where they bury the grandfather there is a beautuful shot of the people on the graveyard. Is that backdrop a real open ground or a backgroud image on a sound stage like you have in the opening scene of Manure. Just curious.

thanks,

-Krish

[BPrzypek]

Hey David,

I stumbled upon this thread recently and its good to see you are still up to big things.
Its been quite a road since INFESTED.
I have been shooting with the RED regularly since Offhollywood got their first 2 cameras, #6 and #7.
Check out some of my work at: www.red-shooter.com
or:
www.przypek.com
the compression and grading are a bit all over the place as I'm still a newbie
in those areas.
Any comments would be appreciated.

All the best,

BP

[nirav shah]

Yes, the cycs are all front-lit canvas paintings, they are not translights.

In the main Stage C, where the landscapes and farms are, I have Kino blanket lights, some HMI balloons along two sides, and some 12-lights (tungsten) and 18K HMI's hung from ropes near the top. I also hit the backing with HMI's (18K's, 6K's, whatever is left) from stands on the off-camera sides, flagged off of the ground.

In the smaller Stage B, where we built hotels, diners, etc. we have Lumapanels hung, plus some Goya HMI lights as cyc lights. I took two Goyas though and at some point, added one for each corner of Stage C, plus a 4K HMI in between, to light the far stretch of wall that I constantly was pointing at. So when I moved to Stage B, I often had to take down those Goyas and move them, re-rig them.

hi David,
thank you for this thread. Its a TEXTBOOK!
i'm curious about the dimensions of your main stage and about the height of your lighting grid.
Many Thanks

[David Mullen ASC]

I have a question on "The Astronaut Farmer". The scene where they bury the grandfather there is a beautuful shot of the people on the graveyard. Is that backdrop a real open ground or a backgroud image on a sound stage like you have in the opening scene of Manure. Just curious.

You mean this scene?


That's God working in my favor that day, outside. But it is an example of minimal but clever art direction (a few headstones placed on top of a hill at sunset for a silhouette effect, giving the impression of a whole cemetary.)

[krisrajan]

You mean this scene?


That's God working in my favor that day, outside. But it is an example of minimal but clever art direction (a few headstones placed on top of a hill at sunset for a silhouette effect, giving the impression of a whole cemetary.)

thanks David, yes that is the one. its absolutely breathtaking!

I have a kinda silly question. How do you decide that a scene for example like the one above should be staged real and not on a sound stage. In other words when you do the pre-production do you get to the detail of each and every single shot and where its going to be staged or do you sometime feel your way through depending on the location.

My appologies if some of these are really silly amature questions.

thanks,

-Krish

[Jaime Vallés]

David, this thread is both inspirational and educational. Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences. The stills look beautiful, and I can't wait to see the finished film.

I second Mark's statement, that one of his goals in life is to work with you someday.

[David Mullen ASC]

Normally a day exterior scene would be shot outdoors, so it's rare to fake that inside because it is so difficult to be convincing. On "Big Love", we did the backyard scenes under a soundstage, day and night, because it allowed the actors to move freely from house to house by way of the backyard, a scenario that did not exist in any real locations that could be found. And while one could have shot these houses on an exterior studio backlot (as "Desperate Housewives" does) and gotten real sunlight, the downside is the lack of flexibility in shooting schedules, which is tough for television work.

But beyond that, the real question should be "what works better for the project?" when trying to decide whether to build a set or not. Both creatively and logistically, financially.

Generally daytime wooded scenes are a lot easier to fake on a soundstage than a scene that takes place in open space with a lot of sky, because it is so hard to fake a single sunlight source over a large area. With a wooded set, or a jungle set, multiple spotlights punching through the tree canopy can simulate the real sun more easily, plus you have less sky to fake.

[Yannick Hagman]

David, did you ever had the oppurtunity to work with Chimera Birdcage lights? If yes, what are your thoughts about them?

Link: http://www.chimeralighting.com/dspPr...?productid=296

[Troy Smith]

Hi David, Amazing stuff, I have a question if you don't mind,
where do you get your filmouts done?

Regards Stricko

[Noah Kadner]

David-

Now that Manure is pretty close to done, will we see a new thread on your second RED project with the Polish Brothers?

Noah