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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

Hello David! I feel some directors have tendency to make odd decisions (mise en scene...) that turn the footage not as desired, does it happen to you often? how much can you correct a director if you feel the decisions are just not right?
 
David.


Here is a possibly silly ignorant question from the SI2K heretic. When a director's vision is munted by the producer, it has been tradition for a demand to be made that the attribution of credit be to a certain "Alan Smithee".

What happens if the DoP's vision is so corrupted by the interference of others in the post work as to likely harm his reputation? Do you also get to demand a fictitious name like "Alan Smithee". If so, what is it??

A silly offtopic question I know but I am curious.
 
Hey David,
I have a feature coming up where we will be filming up to 12 people in one scene around a dinner table, but also in many other locations. We are low budget so set's etc are not possible. We have practical locations. My plan is to use soft wrapping sources and try to stick to 3 shots and coverage. Any advice for filming large casts and in clouding lighting scenes like these with a bunch of people. The scenes are mostly daylight scenes both Int. and Ext. Mostly want to hear about Int. Any example shots you might have. Thank you.
 
Robert Hart said:
When a director's vision is munted by the producer, it has been tradition for a demand to be made that the attribution of credit be to a certain "Alan Smithee".

What happens if the DoP's vision is so corrupted by the interference of others in the post work as to likely harm his reputation? Do you also get to demand a fictitious name like "Alan Smithee". If so, what is it??

A silly offtopic question I know but I am curious.
Click to expand...

There's no common pseudonym for DP's who don't want a credit, but there have been a few (rare) examples of movies where there is no DP credit -- or perhaps the 2nd Unit DP or additional photography DP gets the credit -- because the main DP doesn't want it.
 
SeanBrown said:
Hey David,
I have a feature coming up where we will be filming up to 12 people in one scene around a dinner table, but also in many other locations. We are low budget so set's etc are not possible. We have practical locations. My plan is to use soft wrapping sources and try to stick to 3 shots and coverage. Any advice for filming large casts and in clouding lighting scenes like these with a bunch of people. The scenes are mostly daylight scenes both Int. and Ext. Mostly want to hear about Int. Any example shots you might have. Thank you.
Click to expand...

I think the key would be to use as much practical and available light combined with soft off-camera sources so that you establish a look where people are lit naturally from visible sources, or at least look like they are. This would help get away with moments where people are not in the best light or are underlit.

I did an 11-person dinner table movie called "When Do We Eat?" (a Passover comedy) and we basically shot 2-cameras on everything using zooms to get new shots quickly.
 
Thanks David, We will try. It's at night and a small room with only a real candle chandler that I think I will remove from the scene. I will only be on One camera for this scene but will try to get as much as I can covered quick.
 
Hey David,
I check out the trailer for that comedy! Looks like a funny movie. Do you recall the lens for the wide master at the head of the table? Wider then a 24?
Thank you!
 
Hi David
What do you think about the future of maxi-brutes or Dinos (PAR64). Now is it useful in night or bouncing or copy of the sunlight?
 
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Hi David,

I recently shot a scene with programmers working on their computer games design. It was low light and instead of just wanting the monitors to light their faces I used a very cheap video projector hooked up to a laptop. We projected a graphic that was the same colour as was on their monitors and the effect worked very nicely. It was hard to control however and wished I could have dimmed the projection somewhat. I tried scrim over the projector lens but that ruined the effect completely.

Do you ever use projection for colour effects like with stained glass windows or monitors and if so do you have any tips?
 
You might try ND gel next time if scrims didn't work...

I've only used digital projectors for scenes so far where you see a projector beam in a movie theater. It would be nice next time to see if I could get a second projector synced with the first to project the same footage back onto the face of the viewer, perhaps softened through a diffusion frame.
 
Thanks David. Ah yes ND might work. I'll give it a try. I might also invent something.... Yep the world needs a light painting device!
 
David Mullen ASC said:
I don't understand the question. How do you "reach a better conclusion" using a light???
Click to expand...

I mean they are famous for using the PAR64 lamps , beside them , is any cinematographers or feature films that is used the PAR 64 lamps very well in bouncing or copy of the sunlight.
 
iphone outdoors

iphone outdoors

hi david,

I have an upcoming shoot that needs to see pretty clearly into the screen of an iPhone, but outdoors. Since we're outdoors and dealing with reflections, do you think I should lean towards filling the reflection in the glass with a floppy and then filling in the phone with a bounce? Or do you have other thoughts on dealing with this outside with a relatively minimal setup?

thanks,
- dan
 
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