Shot on Dragon: "Chef’s Table" - Netflix Original Series

[Adam Bricker]

Netflix original six-part series. Created by David Gelb (Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Premieres in 4K on Netflix on April 26th.

Shot on RED EPIC DRAGON w/ Cooke S4s and Angenieux Optimos by DP Will Basanta (Dan Barber / Blue Hill Restaurant inNew York; Massimo Bottura / Francescana in Modena, Italy, and Francis Mallmann in Argentina) and Myself (Niki Nakayama / n/naka in Los Angeles; Ben Shewry / Atticia in Melbourne, Australia; and Magnus Nilsson / Faviken in Jarpen, Sweden).

 

[Nick Morrison]

Looks great! Did you guys use skintone or lowlight olpf?!

 

[Adam Bricker]

Thanks Nick! Skintone Highlight OLPF.

 

[Kemalettin Sert]

timelapse done with Dragon also?

 

[Joachim Hoge]

Looks great. Just got the email about it from Netflix today. I loved Jiro, I love food, can't wait to watch this

 

[Scott Crawley]

I'll drink to that. I'll be watching too.
Congrats.

 

[darren scott]

This looks amazing. Great work.

 

[Adrian Weinbrecht]

Adam this is absolutely gorgeous to look at and listen to. I can almost taste the food and smell the environments. FANTASTIC.

 

[Samir Patel]

Looks great and it looks like I need to renew my netflix membership

 

[PatrickFaith]

That shot at 1 minute, where it looks like a forest, then goes into a square plate ... I just love that.

 

[Vedran Rapo]

Great trailer!

 

[Adam Bricker]

timelapse done with Dragon also?

Yes, shot on DRAGON

 

[Corey_O]

Just watched first episode on Massimo. Great story filled with lots of emotion and history. Beautiful images……one after another.

Congratulations

 

[Chad Lancaster]

Love the series! Beautiful imagery, great stories, and inspiring. Is it showing in 4k on Netflix?

 

[Ces Peynetti]

Just finished watching this. Not only is each story inspirational in its own way, but the photography is truly majestic, and delicate throughout. I'd love to find some BTS info.

 

[David Carstens]

Love JIRO, now even more excited to see this to see your work Bricker!

 

[Phil Holland]

Patiently waited a few days to give this a proper sit down watching. Gotta say, this creative team killed it. Especially that first episode. Watched the first two thus far. Really great work.

 

[Adam Bricker]

Just finished watching this. Not only is each story inspirational in its own way, but the photography is truly majestic, and delicate throughout. I'd love to find some BTS info.

Thanks Ces! Feel free to post any BTS questions, happy to answer.

Best,
Adam

 

[Ces Peynetti]

Thanks Adam! I've been telling all my friends about this, and they come back with the same review: "Beautiful"

Gosh, I could ask so many little things heheh. I was curious about how much time you spent with each chef?

Also, how much light did you guys end up using particularly when they are working in the kitchen, many times it seems almost like it's just available light, but there is this nice softness to it. I love the lighting for the interviews too, it feels so natural but there is an attention to detail to the backdrops and backlights that I really enjoyed.

 

[Adam Bricker]

Thanks Adam! I've been telling all my friends about this, and they come back with the same review: "Beautiful"

Gosh, I could ask so many little things heheh. I was curious about how much time you spent with each chef?

Also, how much light did you guys end up using particularly when they are working in the kitchen, many times it seems almost like it's just available light, but there is this nice softness to it. I love the lighting for the interviews too, it feels so natural but there is an attention to detail to the backdrops and backlights that I really enjoyed.

We filmed each episode in about two weeks, so about 10 days of shooting. Super tight for a 45-60 minute documentary feature.

The interviews were pretty extensively lit. We aimed to pick locations and angles that allowed us to motivate our key, fill, and / or backlight with natural sources. So, maybe a window source in the deep right of frame justifies the menaced-arm 56K hair-light. I think those choices ground it in reality and make a lit interview feel very natural.

In the kitchen, we generally used available light. Some of the kitchens have excellent, state-of-the-art lighting. Others not so much, but that gives them character. We'd occasionally rig some Kino globes to the ceiling w/ zip-tie to supplement exposure when we transitioned into 96fps high-speed shooting. Most of our work in color correction (all episodes colored by Shane Reed @ Apache Santa Monica) involved balancing mixed sources in the kitchen and making sure the food always looked amazing under those practical sources.