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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 :)

Ask David Mullen ANYTHING

Hi David,

Did you ever add grain to your digitally-shot images?
Any insights?

Thank you.
 
When you say real plane interior, so you mean a real plane sitting on a tarmac or in a hanger, or an airplane mock-up on a soundstage? Trouble with a real airplane is that it is high in the air even when parked on the tarmac, so you need scissor lifts and cranes just to get to a working height. On the other hand, if the plane is parked outdoors, most of the lighting can be natural for a day scene.

If on a stage, the hard thing is that the windows are so small and constricting. For the windows that are off-camera, you can just put diffusion gel on the outside and blow them out, unless you also need hard sunlight to come through, so you may need to back off and use large panels of diffusion away from the window.

The trick is that the soft light would come from above and below the window, especially for shots looking at the windows. This may mean tricks like a ground row of cyc strips through diffusion frames below the window and another row hung above the windows.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
When you say real plane interior, so you mean a real plane sitting on a tarmac or in a hanger, or an airplane mock-up on a soundstage? Trouble with a real airplane is that it is high in the air even when parked on the tarmac, so you need scissor lifts and cranes just to get to a working height. On the other hand, if the plane is parked outdoors, most of the lighting can be natural for a day scene.

If on a stage, the hard thing is that the windows are so small and constricting. For the windows that are off-camera, you can just put diffusion gel on the outside and blow them out, unless you also need hard sunlight to come through, so you may need to back off and use large panels of diffusion away from the window.

The trick is that the soft light would come from above and below the window, especially for shots looking at the windows. This may mean tricks like a ground row of cyc strips through diffusion frames below the window and another row hung above the windows.
Click to expand...

Thanks alot David, the plane will probably be in a hanger though after your explanation the height constraint just became so obvious. I will ask if we can shoot it while the plane is parked outside. However, am not so sure there will still be enough light coming through the window even when outside. I perfectly understand cyc strips for shots looking at the windows, just worried about the wide estabs. Thanks.
 
Hi, does anyone know the Set Technician's Lighting Handbook chart A3, which lists the foot candle output of a variety of different lights? I'm trying to understand how to use the chart, since often there are a group of different fixtures in a shaded row, and the chart seems to suggest that all those lamps have the same output. is that the correct way to read chart A3?
 
Hello David,

If you could pick an ASA or ISO to shoot a film or digital cinema movie at, what ISO would you ideally choose?
 
For those that aren't keeping tabs on David's recent activities. David has been shooting "Extant" on CBS. It premiered yesterday. It airs Wednesday evenings.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3155320/
 
Crosshairs:

Just wanted to get your opinion about crosshairs on ground glass. Since we rarely frame a person in the centre of the shot, do you ever use crosshairs? Do you instead use the rule of thirds? Thank you.
 
Congrats to David on the new show Extant -- the pilot looked phenomenally good. The variety of styles in the show was amazing: the exteriors, the spaceship interior, the people's home, the office, the CEO's office... very pretty stuff. I also think Halle Berry looked absolutely beautiful, and I think the lighting was a large part of that. The cinematography was absolutely the best part fo the show to me -- a must-watch for the summer.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Not sure I understand the question, it would depend on the needs of the shot. And the intended look.
Click to expand...

Hello David,

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

If you had to pick one constant ASA or ISO to shoot an entire film or digital cinema movie at, what ISO would you ideally choose?
For instance I would never want to shoot a movie at the constant ISO of 6400 because of ambient light contamination in my shots,
and because I wouldn't want to ND the camera all the time.
 
BTW, David: you shooting Alexa on the show? It's got a really good look, and I'm struck by how soft and beautiful Halle Barry's face looks. She has excellent skin. I can imagine this is an extremely complicated show, with all the VFX and computer readouts and all that stuff. Amazing work.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
I guess 800 ISO is a good base, you can ND it for exterior scenes and it is fast enough for most interiors.

But I'd be happier with a camera that could be rated from 400 ISO to 1600 ISO without much difference in quality at the two ends.
Click to expand...

Thanks David.
 
Marc Wielage said:
BTW, David: you shooting Alexa on the show? It's got a really good look, and I'm struck by how soft and beautiful Halle Barry's face looks. She has excellent skin. I can imagine this is an extremely complicated show, with all the VFX and computer readouts and all that stuff. Amazing work.
Click to expand...

Yes... thanks... yes... yes... thanks!
 
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