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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"

Glad you enjoyed it Blair, see if we can get Louis on here...I can only recall from my experience.

Paul...that was a ARRI 10mm Ultra prime if I am not mistaken? I gathered if Louis wants something to feel uncomfortable in a particular scene, and if it added something then they would play the 10mm. I rarely got the sense they HAD to use that lens for any other reason then what it served in a given scene. Thats why Louis is so keen on primes in general, I remember him saying that although primes might slow things down a litte, there is more intention...you have an objective when you grab that particular barrel. Rarely ever did we use a zoom unless it was a live performance.

For sure it made Alex Martin's life easier (1st AC). Paul chime in here.
 
C.H.Haskell said:
When ever the RED locked up, 90% of the time a good ol fashion re boot solved the problem. Regardless of any issues the RED gave us, if you were to ask Louis CK today what he wanted to shoot his second season on...what do you think the answer is Paul? ;) Now if I asked you the same?
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Again, well reported, Clay. I'm not here to bash the Red. I will simply state for the record that I spent far too much time for my delicate constitution waiting for the camera to say it was ready to go to work. I simply haven't faced that kind of frustration with a camera system in a long time. I attribute this to the fact that we were working with a newish, bug-ish, highly sophisticated computer-based platform (I still can't wait for my computer gadgetry to boot up, which is why I keep my Mac on 24/7). Now compound the frustration with a literal boatload of cast and crew trying to grab a shot on the Staten Island Ferry as we pass the rapidly receding image of the Statue of Liberty. Remember, Clay? Time takes on a whole new dimension in the presence of a production. I remember Louie looking like he wanted to throw me overboard. I know the anchor that would've been with me at the bottom.

And yes, Louie would want the Red there for Season Two. My answer? I'm supposed to say Epic, right Clay?
 
Sergei said:
I came one day to do steadicam for one of the live shows.
It was the most I ever laughed while operating steadicam.

Sergei Franklin
DP/Steadicam
sergeifranklin.com
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You kicked ass, Sergei, and hung in big time. I'd bottle the sweat from your bandana. It probably has healing powers.
 
C.H.Haskell said:
Glad you enjoyed it Blair, see if we can get Louis on here...I can only recall from my experience.

Paul...that was a ARRI 10mm Ultra prime if I am not mistaken? I gathered if Louis wants something to feel uncomfortable in a particular scene, and if it added something then they would play the 10mm. I rarely got the sense they HAD to use that lens for any other reason then what it served in a given scene. Thats why Louis is so keen on primes in general, I remember him saying that although primes might slow things down a litte, there is more intention...you have an objective when you grab that particular barrel. Rarely ever did we use a zoom unless it was a live performance.

For sure it made Alex Martin's life easier (1st AC). Paul chime in here.
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Are we talking the scene with the receptionist, or with the agent? Not sure why I asked, as I wouldn't be certain in either case. Clay has a good guess, though. The widest lens we carried was the 10mm Ultra. I guess I'd call it our "gimmick" lens, but it might've been the choice in the reception area because of the real estate involved. It was the odd lens for a couple reasons, one being that it was the only non-Master of our bunch, which varied from week to week with availability. Recall that we were in and out of production a few times, and lenses apparently don't grow on trees, at least not on New York foliage.

Oops, you're asking about the actual agent's office (Louie is camera left). Regardless of the scene, your options, if you were us, would've been :10mm, 16mm (alternatively 18mm on some days), 25mm, 35mm (alternatively 32mm), 50mm, 75mm, 100mm. For a short time we carried the 150mm but used it so rarely we ditched it for money reasons. I'm sure Louie would've loved to keep the entire compliment, and I wouldn't blame him. I'd would've also loved to give Mark a Lens PA, with a dedicated cargo van.
 
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the first season has been great so far and i'm sure it will get renewed for a second. i would like to see more celebrity appearances! if you havent watched yet... check out watch louie
 
JuddRummus said:
the first season has been great so far and i'm sure it will get renewed for a second. i would like to see more celebrity appearances! if you havent watched yet... check out watch louie
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Agreed. Welcome Judd.
 
Watched the latest episode just a moment ago. It was the best one yet, I thought. This show keeps getting better and better.

BTW, there was an out-of-focus shot at 17:22 when Louis' brother says "So let me get this straight" in the restaurant. I don't envy focus pullers :)
 
Petri Teittinen said:
Watched the latest episode just a moment ago. It was the best one yet, I thought. This show keeps getting better and better.

BTW, there was an out-of-focus shot at 17:22 when Louis' brother says "So let me get this straight" in the restaurant. I don't envy focus pullers :)
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As I've said, Louie loves shallow depth of field. He's always encouraging us to lay on the ND if we're not wide open. Alex is a top notch AC, and having been an AC myself for many years I know what he's up against. Not only does he battle the aperture and sensor size, but we are usually working with no rehearsal.

I try to tell Alex that's part of the fun. A lot of times I tell him to put away the tape measure and save the effort. Talent isn't going to end up where they are now anyway. We generally focus by eye to our onboard monitor.

Now the thing is, Alex gets it ninety-nine percent of the time, and given enough takes, you can always edit a sharp scene. But that's not what editing is about, is it?

I get a kick out of how technicians view a scene as it's being shot. I'm not sure you ever get a take where everyone is happy. Sound heard something, camera saw something, production design didn't see something they wanted to see. What nobody except Louie saw was a nuanced look, a twinkle in the eye, and that's the shot that'll make the show, tack-sharp or no.

When I was a youngster in this industry I used to pay attention (and still do) to technical glitches while watching a movie or television show. I'd sit and wonder how in the world a shot made it into the final cut. I don't wonder anymore.
 
i wish i knew more about the industry, the show is definitely hilarious i cant wait to see what's next.

anyone who missed them can watch louie episodes online here btw
 
Paul Koestner said:
As I've said, Louie loves shallow depth of field. He's always encouraging us to lay on the ND if we're not wide open. Alex is a top notch AC, and having been an AC myself for many years I know what he's up against. Not only does he battle the aperture and sensor size, but we are usually working with no rehearsal.
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Wow, that's really impressive. Do you (or Alex) at least have a monitor with peaking? A lot of hand-held work, too. Do you have a rig that you like best?

Just finished the first episode. Must've laughed out loud 4 or 5 times. "Your body's a douche!" and the "Your father's dead" bits were brilliant. He was so mean to the heckler! But he had me after he explained everything to her.

I think the look is great. It's desaturated, but I like it. And I don't mind any out-of-focus bits (which are rare) -- it makes it feel ENG. The shallow DoF makes it feel very cinematic, which I'm not used to in a comedy. But it's cool.
 
Paul Koestner said:
Now the thing is, Alex gets it ninety-nine percent of the time, and given enough takes, you can always edit a sharp scene. But that's not what editing is about, is it?
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Well, no, but the reason I mentioned the shot was because it was so remarkably out-of-focus that it practically lunged out at me. None of the other shots of the same actor in that scene are out-of-focus. I don't think Louis chose it for mood, either. But like I said earlier, I don't envy focus pullers. It's a bloody difficult job and my hat's off to anyone capable of it.
 
Great show....I love the episode on the plane. Hilarious and looked awesome.
 
joshua csehak said:
Do you (or Alex) at least have a monitor with peaking? A lot of hand-held work, too. Do you have a rig that you like best?
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Joshua, this was an interesting debate with us. First, Louie was adamant about not having a large monitor on set. He was concerned about two things: slowing down production with time lost to video village construction, and losing control of his project. Of the two, the second was considerably more important. We all know what happens to a production with the presence of a video tap. Louie is particularly sensitive to that.

Me, I was new to the Red, and I wanted some assurance that we were exposing properly. I can't begin to relate how frustrating it was for me early on to wade through the wide range of beliefs on the topic. I was completely unused to reading histograms. A handheld meter in the video world has to me always been at best a questionable insurance policy, at worst an instrument of false security, and I was getting mixed messages about the rated speed of the camera. A man with two watches...

We settled for the Red's small, proprietary monitor, and at least during our production cycle the camera could only entertain one of those. We had a second small monitor that we could separate from the camera and move around a bit. Alex and I would trade off, depending on whose vision needs were most critical. When I could, I used the onboard EVF, but frequently we were Seven-Jibbing around. Later in the production we brought in a somewhat larger monitor that gave us a waveform, which I find preferable when assessing exposure. We made judicious use of it as Louie, again, was sensitive to monitor abuse.

I'll mention one other thing that comes to mind, as it relates to focus, framing and performance. More than once Alex and I caught ourselves wincing, inhaling audibly, or stealing a shared look that was noticed by Louie, and took him out of his scene. It became a difficult but necessary discipline to maintain silent, neutral expressions through our technical mistakes. I must continue to remind myself next season (yes, it appears there will be one) not to disrupt Louie's concentration by giving up my poker face, which has never been much to speak of in the first place.

Oh, and handheld. No, sorry. Sore topic. We were using the Mantis. The system is what it is. The Red is a beast, in my opinion, designed with little consideration for handheld. I suspect the models to come will be more portable, hence amenable to run-and-gun. I suppose I have to be more patient, but try telling the sun to stay put for a bit while we reconfig.
 
The only monitors being use to pull focus were the onboard RED monitors, some times we had a sony or marshall for Alex (AC)... We used peaking, magnify, and some other focus assit tools from time to time on an ET hand held rig. I am pushing EPIC going forward and it wont change our focus challenges, it will at least be lighter to run around NYC with.
 
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