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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Louis C.K.'s new show "Louie"

Speaking of UK appreciation, anyone else find Louie's humor seem to pick up where the late, great Bill Hicks' left off? That is, the authentically honest anger that wanted to be heard, had a message, and was unabashedly primal while subtly coming from behind it all, a deep, pervasive background of great Love. Louie's resurrected and redeemed Bill's spirit in a lot of ways, I feel.
Welcome to the mix Alex!
 
You mean you JUST spotted yourself, Clay? Hell, if I'd known you don't pay any attention I would've pointed it out to you after the pilot aired. I supposed you missed the guy giving us the finger too.
 
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Paul Koestner said:
You mean you JUST spotted yourself, Clay? Hell, if I'd known you don't pay any attention I would've pointed it out to you after the pilot aired. I supposed you missed the guy giving us the finger too.
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Haha, yes. I dont know how I missed that. No I did not miss the guy giving us the finger! Welcome back Paul, are you ready for season 2?
 
Hi all, thanks for being here & offering your knowledge. Not sure if you've answered these already, but I was wondering about your workflow for post:

1. What kind of files/format/codec is Louie doing the off-line edit with on his laptop?

2. What are the major specs of his laptop?

3. How quickly is he able to cut an average episode? which episode took the longest for him to finish cutting?

Thanks for looking into this
 
Wow, just came across this thread. I'm a huge fan of Louis CK and all the work that's going into these shows. A lot of people have thrown around due thank you's and you're awesome's, but I felt compelled, after reading everything I just did, to say thank you--you're awesome. I'm watching the first episode of Season 2 tomorrow (stoked), and I hope all of you will be as open with Season 2 as you have been with Season 1. There's a lot of filmmaking wisdom in here, far beyond the technical. Thanks again.
 
Hey Clay, are you back on this show? that opening scene of Season 2 where he's brushing his daughters teeth was fantastic. Perfect how it's all in close up and one shot. Really great direction there.
 
I would love to hear some stories about Season 2, if possible. Did the Epic end up being used? New lenses? I've been imbibing all the Louie I can, but after discovering this thread, it seems like I'm only getting part of my fix. I need more camera nerd talk! It's my lifeblood...
 
Paul Koestner said:
...One concession to Louie's vision was his desire to use prime lenses, and then only the best glass (he continues to shoots stills using a Leica M3, I believe it is). Now this could spawn a whole other discussion: we were using Master Primes.
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Paul - Did I read somewhere that you all used a set of Super Baltars for one episode? - John
 
Hey Folks! DP Paul Koestner and Louie rocked out season II and I look forward to a season III!!!! I left louie to focus on my DP career, as much as I enjoyed working with Paul...we still stay in touch and he recently contacted me about this thread so I thought I will fire it back up.

So look out for Paul and his work and if your a Louie CK fan then keen an eye on this thread. We appreciate any help and info here as it is a great support to Paul and the show. I am sure he will be happy to answer questions as well. I will get the ACs back into the conversation...Clint, you around bud?

Paul, welcome back! Lets get a pint soon, lots of catching up to do mate.
 
Hey you guys,

Man, it's been so long I hardly know how to do this. And Clay, you're on. I owe you a keg-load of pints. I really miss you. Things got pretty "sober" last season with you off doing your thing. So I'll catch up with you on the Red phone. But to these guys here... (Clay, correct me where I err)

After my last post Oliver asked about Louie's editing. He does most of it on a damn Mac laptop. Don't know the specs. Clay? You were supplying him with, what, Quicktime proxies? And he gets at the stuff fast. I might be waiting for him on a lit set while he's editing in the corner something we shot yesterday. It's a pain. I don't know when he sleeps.

Ravi asked about lenses. Prior to the commencement of Season 2 Louie indicated an interest in experimenting with some different glass. As some of you may recall, Season 1 was all about the "best" primes available. I use quotation marks so as not to open that can of worms. It was decided that the Master Primes would be those lenses.

But then auteurs are entitled to change their minds, aren't they? So we did a bunch of lens tests, and the upshot is that while we continued to shoot some episodes (I use the term loosely, since what we get are what I'd call sketch scripts of various lengths) with the Masters, some with Cooke primes when availability was an issue, and because Louie liked their look, one of our guys sourced some B&L Super Baltars that were for sale. The company bought them, and they were used from time to time when Louie got the nostalgic urge. Notable uses of them: "Joan" and "Moving". Maybe not all of Moving. You geeks out there see if you can tell the difference. If you think you see them somewhere else, ask me and I'll try to remember. Me, I could care less. I tell you what, though, I did not like losing two stops, particularly the way we work. The AC seemed to be fine with it, though.

Jason, while Louie is fully capable of committing to shooting a scene in only one take, we did in fact cover that toothbrush scene a bunch of times with a couple of lenses. I think Louie made a nice decision to carry the scene in a lovely, intimate shot that probably featured the best performance. Let me tell you, that Ursula is a little fireplug.

Andy, I think some of your questions have been answered. The Epic was not used. It was a monetary issue, more than anything. We are operating on a shoestring, relatively speaking. At least that's what I'm told, and I'm happy to have the job.

Oliver, you'd like to see a little more slop, would you? Maybe Alex is getting a better handle on that follow focus. Or maybe he's channeling Louie, and knows which way he's going to go now.

John, yes, as you now know, Super Baltars. Let's see, maybe 12, 25, 35, 50, 65, 75? If they make them that size. If it's important, I know whom to call.

Which makes me now current, except for those pints with Clay.

Fair winds to all.
 
Hi all,

I picked up on Season 2 where Clay left off...needless to say, he was definitely missed, but it was always great to witness from afar the great projects he was working on while we were chugging along in some derelict LES apartment with a toilet in the kitchen.

What can I say that hasn't already been said? It's an interesting way to work, to say the least. Paul does a great job of giving Louis what he wants, when he wants it (no easy feat), and I can't see many other people having the kind of rapport and understanding Paul and Louis share creatively. With regards to the question of slop, I would say that Alex was very zen when it came to keeping things sharp @ T1.3, no real rehearsals, blocking that changes regularly, on a floating camera no less... It would be safe to say that no two takes are exactly alike.

Though we didn't have access to Epics for this season, we made great use of our MX cameras, as Louis still doesn't like there to be any lights near the set. I must confess that I didn't help matters at all by introducing Louis to the Super Baltars, which, unlike the MPs, do not perform very well WFO. By that same token, try telling the man in charge that he should let Paul bring in more light so we can shoot at a T4/5.6. Nevertheless, they did bring something to the table when it came to finding a different look for parts of the show...I only wish they didn't bring such a large amount of pain for Paul along with them. Sorry Paul!

The Cookes in question were the new 5i's, and I really do think that had they been available for the duration of our season, he may have taken them over the MP's...they truly are divine (though they make MPs look and feel a bit anorexic).

In addition to the MX sensor, we had the advantage this season of having a more consistent color science to work with, as there were virtually no changes in firmware/color science development from the time we started shooting til the time we wrapped. This was especially helpful as sometimes our brethren in the post chain are slow to adopt the latest and greatest changes that Red is putting out into the world, so in this respect we were able to achieve a great deal of consistency from start to finish.

Dailies were made overnight by the production's other glutton for pain, Will, our Assistant Editor. Some decisions were made to favor the schedule / budget / timing of edit to delivery (i.e. giving Louis as much time to finesse the edit before handing it over to FX), which meant a proper conform was not really an option. As such, we gave Louis ProRes transcodes using RedColor2/RedGamma2 with a decent white balance / tint adjustment to start from; the idea being that Louis could have something that wasn't completely flat to look at while editing (and possibly sharing with others), with a decent base from which to make rough color corrections, yet still giving our colorist, Ben Perez, something that wouldn't paint him into a corner, so to speak. I believe the year prior was CameraRGB/RedLog, final grading from ProRes. File naming remained the same should a conform from the original R3D media be required, say, when it comes time to master for BluRay/1080p/anything higher than 720p...(everything was transcoded to 720p in part because that was the resolution required for delivery, but also because post felt it would be more easily manageable for Louis, considering half the time he was editing off Lacie Rugged drives on a 13" MBP).

The greatest aspect to the job, in my mind, was watching his process on set. There were times when we would fritter away our mornings and then be rushed in the afternoons, but I never left at the end of the day feeling we hadn't shot something interesting, which I certainly can't say for a lot of other jobs. Furthermore, it was a great crew to share a handful of months with, and with any luck, season 3 will continue to build on and push beyond what was accomplished in the first two seasons, technically and creatively.

For fellow camera nerds:

MP's: 18, 25 (his favorite), 32, 50, 75, 100
UP: 10mm (right?)

SB's: 20, 25, 35, 50, 75, 100

can't remember the Cooke focal lengths, except that we didn't have an 18mm available, so were using an 18mm S4 (you could see the disappointment in Louis's face when you told him it was a T2, even when we were shooting outside in daylight).

Any other questions, shoot away...

Best,
Clint
 
Also, I don't blame Clint for the Super Baltars. He gave Louie what Louie wanted, and I'm all for that. Plus I need something to complain about or I'd have nothing to contribute.
 
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