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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

I think you'd need an external recorder to get 2.8K as Arriraw, otherwise 2K and HD internally?

I've shot hundreds of hours on that camera, if you're finishing to 2K or HD then it's a great camera, but as an investment, I'm the wrong person to ask. Lately I've been shooting 3.2K on Alexa Minis for projects but I don't own any cameras.
 
Hello David.

I have myself in a bit of a conundrum. Our local tall ship, the STS Leeuwin, is due for deep maintenance beginning at end of June. One of my scripts depicts the character ship in a state of partial dismantlement by straits pirates who have captured the ship and interned the crew. Such a deep level of maintenance which involves completely derigging the vessel and replacing the masts is unlikely to occur again for another 20 years, so it is an opportunity to be grabbed to shoot what cinema-quality imaging I can.

I'd like to talk somebody in Perth WA to shoot some footage on a Red 5K or 6K quality camera but as a hedge, I have a 4K BM URSA which I can use.

Due to works during the day and possible restrictions on access for industrial safety reasons, it is likely I may have to shoot at night. There is harbourside industrial and security lighting but added lighting on the deck would be needed.

My shotlist would comprise :-

A wide image of the vessel complete. The unwanted background would have to be taken out and the location background added. My imagining is that this would be an easier task if this was shot at night.

An indistinguishable bunch of teens boarding the vessel over the side after escaping their captors and finding their ship in a mess. Some dialogue from one of the actors who can be identifiable as is an adult in this role, has stopped growing and likely can be cast in the later production should it happen.

My lighting resources are :-

12K HMI fresnel and generator.
1.2K HMI fresnel.
3 x 650watt fresnels.

How would you light this with these resources?


This clip after you skip to 0:29 shows the ship at its normal mooring where the initial stripdown will occur. Afterwards it will be moved across the harbour to the big cranes where the masts will be lifted out and the new ones fitted. I will have a window of approximately one week in which to shoot before the deck is cleared.
 
If you have a 12K HMI, I think using it as your base lighting for the ship would be a good idea, whether or not it is meant to be an industrial source or the moon. The question is whether you can get it up high in the air on a condor or the building next to the boat and then try and shoot in a backlit or sidelit angle to it.

If not a big backlight, another option is to bounce it into a 20x20 -- you could even get the 20x20 white bounce into the air on a condor and hit it from the ground with the 12K HMI. Then use the other lights for close-up lighting, fill, etc.
 
David.


Thank you for your advice. The reflector may be the option. I don't have a tower or the cabling to go high with the lamp itself.


Regards from western Australia.
 
David. Im shooting a feature at the beginning of fall and a lot of the movie takes place inside of a moving car. We are gonna be shooting all of it on a process trailer, but its my first time working with a legit trailer. Any tips and tricks to maximize coverage and not see lights outside of the car? Or anything I should be on the lookout for to avoid? its a single cam shoot but may have a second.
 
First of all, do you need lights outside the car? If this is for daytime driving, you can get away with minimal lighting, or a well-placed bounce card. If you need lights, then it's a matter of putting them where you can out of view of the camera. I usually use HMI's but there are some bright LED options today.
 
Hi David,

I have a shoot coming up and I would like to get nice close ups of LCD screens; where you can see the image breaking up into pixels. Nothing too extreme but close enough so you get that awesome LCD texture that can't be faked.
I've found that anything over 85mm (even that with some lenses) gives nasty moire on in focus areas. I've literally experimented with all major cine lenses. I haven't tried macro lenses though.
Have you ever had to do this and how have you managed to avoid Moire? (Filming on Alexa mini)
 
Maybe try framing a bit looser and rotating the camera 45 degrees so that the grid of the sensor is not lined up with the grid of the screen, and then re-level the shot in post? (Actually it would probably be easier to just rotate the monitor 45 degrees, not the camera...)

It would help to shoot oversampled on a higher resolution camera.

If you aren't seeing the edges of the monitor and can rotate it 45 degrees, maybe you can create the artwork being displayed so that it is already rotated to look level to the camera, save yourself the post fix.
 
If you need a macro to get tight enough, then use a macro but moire isn't caused by the focal length but by the shot size of the pattern creating the moire, so if getting tighter reduces the problem then you may need a macro, but what would help more is to use something like a 6K or 8K sensor so that there is less of a 1:1 scale between the pattern in the monitor and the pattern in the sensor.
 
I used to shot Red Dragon and strangely had a more pronounced Moire issue than on the Alexa... I totally hear what you're saying about the battling pixel grids.
I actually just watched Deep Water Horizon over the weekend. That was mostly shot on Alexa XT and has a ton of great LCD monitor close ups. Wondering how they did it... Do they use a low resolution monitor for those shots to beat the Moire?
Such a seemingly simple problem but so tough to figure out!

Thanks again for your time and help on this!
 
Sort of the opposite, you'd want a very high res monitor but I'm sure they were limited to whatever made sense for the set -- today so many shots of monitors are post comps anyway.

But in your case you want to see the pixel grid, you just don't want it moire. Have you tried the idea of shooting with a 45 degree tilt?
 
Mr. Mullen what kind of lens could I use to mimic this look?

I know this is digital but..
https://youtu.be/EuzY9pGnAlQ?t=44s
I also attached an image from the movie Armageddon
MrgvVyd.jpg


Not as extreme as the Kong example but something I'd like to achieve... Do I need a 400mm or longer lens? Will F stop play a huge role in this or could I even pull off the look at f11?
 
David Mullen ASC said:
Assuming you have a halfway-decent location, one thing to remember is that simple is often best, and simple lighting often looks the best. Most lighting mistakes come from over-lighting, which also tends to take more time. So there are a lot of advantages to thinking up a simple solution to lighting the scene -- it will end up looking better and it will end up being faster to set-up.
Click to expand...

Hi David,
Going through some old posts of yours.
Can you elaborate on some scenarios where over-lighting might occur and how to avoid this?
Many thanks...
 
I think that is a frame from "Armageddon", which was shot in 35mm (film) anamorphic. Yes, I'd guess 300mm or longer would be needed. You'd want to shoot at a deep stop if you even want the hope of following focus on a person coming right at you into a knees-up size like this. The background will fall-off in focus even at a deep stop with a lens that long.
 
Jamie A said:
Hi David,
Going through some old posts of yours.
Can you elaborate on some scenarios where over-lighting might occur and how to avoid this?
Many thanks...
Click to expand...

Overlighting occurs when you feel that wherever a person goes in a room, they need a key light or need to be in key exposure. It also happens when you go too far with backlights and edge lights in spaces where they seem hard to justify.
 
Hi David,
What is your favourite "normal" focal length spherical zoom lens. Let's say something in the 20-100mm range.
I often find myself using the Angenieux 28-76mm zoom but would like to hear what you often use (Both PV & PL lenses)
 
Hi David,
We're looking at shooting a short film with the Hawk C-Series anamorphic set. We're struggling a bit to sort out which Red Body / Sensor combo would be our best bet. Looking to finish in 4k 2.40:1
We're shooting anamorphic for the aesthetic and not resolution. However, like I mentioned, it is critical that we can finish in 4k.

Aside from the more obvious WEAPON 8K VV ANA camera, what would you recommend? I'm aware that the Non-VV chips are going to cause some cropping on the sides.

Between the Epic-W 8K S35 and the Epic Dragon 6K, would there be a massive difference in terms of resolution? Any other benefits between the cameras? Do either of these cameras allow for any re-framing in post if placed on a 2.40:1 timeline?

Sorry for the multitude of questions. This is our first adventure with anamorphic and we're trying to wrap our heads around it as quickly as possible. Thank you!
-A
 
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