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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

From what I read, the Black Level calibration is something that would only need to be done once, and only when upgrading from Build 11 to Build 12 firmware. Jim has stated that all new cameras will ship with Build 12 or higher and the Black Level calibration will already have been accomplished by RED.
 
David this may sound a bit strange, but do you watch tv and if so, what shows do you think are well done?
 
I don't watch much TV, but since I hooked up my HD monitor to a digital tuner and have been getting the network HD broadcasts, I've been watching some of those. The CSI shows look stunning in HD, though sometimes the look is a bit over-the-stop, comic-bookey. I also like the way "Heroes" looks and "Journeyman".
 
David, a bit of a random sidebar question concerning indoor practicals. Do you as DP choose the lamps (for living rooms, offices, etc) or is that art dept? Reason I ask is that recently my wife went on a lamp binge and now my living room has four lamps (plus two ceiling lights) and each and every one of the lamps has a different effect, some let out a lot more light, some only project light downwards, some are transparent, some are not, etc. So while obviously being an art decision, the type of lamp could also have big cinematography impacts in the mood you are trying for.
 
It's one of those areas that cross departments. Since practicals seen on camera really fall under the art department's control, rightly so, it's important that they work with the cinematographer to make sure they provide the right type of light at the photographic levels needed. So it's a collaboration.

I will often sit down and have a meeting with the production designer about my needs regarding practical lamps. I also ask that on the shooting day, they provide some alternative choices.

The trouble sometimes is when you start shooting day scenes in the set with the practicals off, so by the time you decide to turn them on, their design and placement have been established, so it sucks if it turns out the light doesn't put out the type of light you want.

It's also important that the art department show the practicals to the electric department in advance because I've lost time on set having to rewire a broken practical, or discovered that the practical takes a special bulb that we don't carry. A typical problem is when you place and wire dozens of table lamps in a restaurant, only to discover that a third of them don't work.
 
Hi!

What do you think of this very basic lighting package for shooting dramatic, narrative shorts, etc. It's for interiors (small to medium sized rooms, of course); exteriors I will use reflectors, etc. or rent. I think this package gives me a wide range of light qualities, hard/soft, warm/cool, controllable (less flagging), etc.

Or, to put it another way, what could you accomplish with this?

3 (4?) dedo 150
1 dedo 650
2 kino 4 bank
(assortment of china balls)

I will be buying this. I know some people advise renting, but I'm in this for the long haul and I will want to shoot often for personal and professional use and will eventually get to the point that I'll be saying, "I could have bought it". That's why I also went these "brands" as I feel they will last for years, not obsolete, professional, etc. etc.

The lighting budget is about 8-10k (including grip, etc.). I know I could buy more lights if I went with other brands, but I've only rented these lights and love them; I'm not as confident in other brands, but if anyone has experience to equivalents, I'd like to hear from you.

Thanks!
 
It's a good start, you have you little lights, your bigger light, your soft flos that can be swapped to daylight, your soft Chinese Lanterns.

I might suggest adding one or two powerful, punchy lights, the brightest things you can plug into a household circuit. I find those tend to be the 1200w HMI PAR, or 1K PAR 64's with spot or narrow spot globes. Or get a 2K tungsten open-face.

Even though it is the most expensive item I listed, a 1200w HMI PAR would greatly expand your lighting possibilities. Otherwise, I suggest at least getting a 1K tungsten PAR 64 with a narrow spot globe.
 
Thanks David! Your previous post about the qualities of light that is needed in a package helped me a lot.

I've never used an hmi par. From your previous par discussion on this thread, pars in general are on my list of eventual lights to get (they really seem to be useful for exterior night shots). As far as "hmi" par, the difference is that it's daylight balanced (which is easier to change color temp then tungsten)?

I'm really interested in your comment that it would "greatly expand your lighting possibilities." How so? I think I understand it has greater throw, etc. but in terms of quality of light, how does it contribute/add to the image quality? I'm trying to picture a lighting situation in which I'm using those lights and then by using the hmi par, I get a quality to the scene that I could not have achieved with something else. How is it used and why is it better then the other suggestions? If I get your second choice suggestion, the 1k tungsten par, what am I sacrificing?

Obviously, I'm a newbie compared to a lot of people here, so please excuse my fumbling.

Thanks again!
 
A 1200w HMI PAR would be useful for lighting day interiors, that's all. You could light a large-ish room just by bouncing it off of a ceiling or you can shine it through a small window for a sunlight effect. Or you can light a night exterior for moonlight (at least a house yard's worth of area). It's a lot more daylight light than a Kinoflo can create.

HMI means that it is daylight-balanced. It is an AC discharge light so you have to shoot at HMI safe frame rate / shutter speeds or else get a flicker-free ballast for it (fluorescents have the same issues -- Kinoflos, for example, have high-frequency flicker-free ballasts, but an ordinary fluorescent work light might not.)

PAR means that it has a sealed-beam globe with a built-in reflector, like a car headlamp. You narrow or widen the beam by using drop-in lenses in front of the light (or as in the case of a PAR64, you swap to globes with a different lens built into the front.)
 
Ah, got it. Considering the price difference, I'll opt for the 1k par and also get daylight balanced pars as well.

Thanks!
 
David, do you know of any DPs that use colored bounce cards/fabrics to light with? If so, I'd like to watch some of their scenes/movies in which they did this to see the effect.
 
People have bounced off of wooden furniture or fabrics in the past.

There are people who use gold lame bounces outdoors for a warm look to the shadows, or a gold-silver checkerboard pattern.

I'm not such a fan of warm shadows (tend to look reddish) -- I think the fill outdoors in daytime technically is either cool, from skylight, or warm but from the ground bounce (in which case, I'd use white or unbleached muslin but not gold because the sun is already warmer than the shade). For cool fill, you can use "daylight blue" bounces.

"Mission to Mars" used brass or bronze-foiled reflectors to create the reddish fill in the shadows on Mars. David Watkin used hammered brass sheets to reflect light off of for campfire scenes in "Out of Africa".
 
Hi Guys,

I know they have been mentioned before, but in terms of a small lighting package, I wanted to mention source 4 pars again. They really are the most bang for the buck, you can plug them into a wall, and they are great for sloppy sunlight hits in the BG.

Plus you can always throw a wide lens in them and shoot them thru a frame, or bounce, whatever.

Cheers,

Nick
 
Hi David,

In this information age, it's difficult to find the time to get through all that information. I know you do a lot of reading, what periodicals/magazines do you subscribe/read that you feel is worth the time? Any other sources of information that you feel is good? Websites, etc?

Thanks again.
 
I read:
American Cinematographer
ICG Magazine
Cinefex
Kodak In Camera
Fuji Exposure
Showreel (U.K.)
DV
Videographer
Hidef
SMPTE Journal (now & then)
British Cinematographer (U.K.)
Image Technology (U.K.)

And what magazine is laying around at the time...
 
Hi David,

Back to the Par thing. You don't see the Source 4's out here in Australia too much (except in the theatre), but they're always being mentioned in American Cinematographer. I remember you talked about using them in Big Love, particularly in the bedroom as a bounce source (a trick you learnt off the original DP for the show).

Was that the Ellipsoidal version you were talking about or the Par?

Also when you'd bounce them off the bed were you using that light to raise the ambient level in the room or to illuminate the actor as fill or kick? Did you then still include the bed in the shot or was that OS because it was too hot? Lastly why was the Source 4 the tool of choice for that particular task?

Regards
Matt
 
I used the Source-4 ellipsoidal, similar to a Leko. I bounced the Source-4 off of off-camera surfaces, white cards, a white bedsheet thumb-tacked to the wall, the ceiling, etc. Or I hit some area of the frame on-camera with a hard pattern to suggest a patch of sunlight.

The advantages to the Source-4 are that the light pattern can be cut with the iris leaves to match the exact shape of a bounce card without using flags, and unless you point the camera directly at one, there is very little edge spill that needs flagging off of the camera lens.
 
David Mullen ASC said:
The advantages to the Source-4 are that the light pattern can be cut with the iris leaves to match the exact shape of a bounce card without using flags, and unless you point the camera directly at one, there is very little edge spill that needs flagging off of the camera lens.
Click to expand...

Any ellipsoid should have focal plane shutters ("iris leaves") but I will agree the Source 4 optics give nice sharp cuts. I do hear a lot of grumbling from Australian theatrical LX designers about the gobo/pattern plane sharpness - preferring the Made In NZ Selecon Pacific, but I never really cared too much about that. Besides, the Source 4 weighs less.

You can even drop in an iris unit if you're bouncing off a small round reflector!
 
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