Shot on Helium: The Migrant Kitchen Season 3 (PBS/KCET)

[Austin Straub]

Hey everyone!

Spent a good part of 2018 DPing three episodes of The Migrant Kitchen, a docu-series that tells the story of immigrant chefs all over California who are sharing their cultural stories through the food they make. It's an honor to be part of a project like this, and I hope you'll check it out!

Here are some of my favorite stills from this year. Shot on Helium, lit with Digital Sputnik.

 

[Jagg Pette]

That looks amazing where can we see it.

 

[Tim Sutherland]

Amazing stills Austin! Thanks for sharing. What lenses did you use with the Helium?

 

[Austin Straub]

That looks amazing where can we see it.

Thanks so much! You can watch the whole series for free on KCET's website here: https://www.kcet.org/shows/the-migrant-kitchen/episodes/mister-jius-chinatown

Amazing stills Austin! Thanks for sharing. What lenses did you use with the Helium?

Thanks Tim! With this being public broadcast, budget for good glass basically didn't exist ha! Most of the show is shot on the Sigma 24-35. Definitely not my first choice for a plethora of reasons, but overall happy with what we were able to capture given the constraints!

 

[John Brennick]

Amazing frames Austin! Showcases what great framing and smart lighting, even with minimal gear can get. The production value on those shots are spot on. Great work man!

 

[Austin Straub]

Amazing frames Austin! Showcases what great framing and smart lighting, even with minimal gear can get. The production value on those shots are spot on. Great work man!

thanks John! means a ton!

I'm continually amazed by the Helium's ability to make the most of just about any lighting situation we walked in to, and the advancements in LED tech (especially the DS1s we had on this show) made lighting the scenes we had the space/time to a breeze. we definitely didn't have a ton to work with ha, but the tools we did have were unbelievably flexible.

 

[John Brennick]

thanks John! means a ton!

I'm continually amazed by the Helium's ability to make the most of just about any lighting situation we walked in to, and the advancements in LED tech (especially the DS1s we had on this show) made lighting the scenes we had the space/time to a breeze. we definitely didn't have a ton to work with ha, but the tools we did have were unbelievably flexible.

Ya absolutely. I read more and more how common of a setup you have for a lot of shoots, but they don't always hit the mark or make me "feel" the way these images did and that's entirely on the DP/Director. Really inspiring work. Kudos my friend!

 

[Scot Yount]

Austin, this stuff looks fantastic. We should send all those threads where people are complaining about Helium to this one. Great job man...

 

[Scot Yount]

Also, curious if you pulled your own focus, and what lenses you might have chosen if you had the budget on this project....

 

[Austin Straub]

Austin, this stuff looks fantastic. We should send all those threads where people are complaining about Helium to this one. Great job man...

Also, curious if you pulled your own focus, and what lenses you might have chosen if you had the budget on this project....

Thanks so much for the kind words. So the cinematography on this series is split between myself (3 episodes) and another DP (Ben Hunter – 3 episodes). We AC/G&E for each other when it’s not our turn to shoot, but that’s mostly just managing card copies, battery charges, and getting lights set for the next area we’ll be moving to – so yeah, pulling our own focus!

We do run a wireless feed for the directors of each episode and jump on comms for a lot of shooting while the restaurants are active. These kitchens are incredibly small and busy, let alone a sound recordist, DP, and director trying to jam in there. It works out great as they’re able to verify we’re capturing the moments needed for the story, give us live feedback, and also stay out of our subject’s hair a bit during their more busy moments.

Outside of the interviews, the pace of this show simply wouldn’t allow for primes. I did quite a bit of research into zoom options before ultimately landing on the Sigma. In a completely impractical world I’d love to have Panavision’s Primo zooms – that’s the best glass I’ve ever put my eyes through. In a slightly more realistic world I’d have loved the Fujinon 19-90 or the Arri Alura 15.5-45. The challenge of a food show is how quickly we’d be jumping from a medium of the chef in action down to a close up on a dish in progress. Close Focus was a big factor in choice, and the macro mode of the 19-90 was especially enticing. Either way, asking for basically 3-4 months’ rental on this show was just a moonshot, and purchasing / reselling just wasn’t an option this go-around sadly.

Recently though I was lucky enough to find an Arri/Zeiss LWZ-1 15.5-45 for sale. It was originally released alongside the Master Primes as a steadicam option to save on rebalancing, etc. It’s a bit of a unicorn, still can’t find much info about it as it was replaced by a Zeiss-only version with swappable mounts just a few years after. It’s currently being maintenanced and refurbished, and I’m really excited to put it to the test on some doc projects in the future, and make it available to smaller projects I’m on that I’m absolutely passionate about having the best optics possible.

 

[Scot Yount]

Austin, thanks so much for posting all this info about this project. When I was looking at some of the clips and wondering about glass for this kind of work, I immediately thought of the Fuji 19-90, partly because I am lucky enough to own one, but also because I think it excels in this kind of documentary work, which is why I own one I guess. haha. You are right about the macro function which gets overlooked I think. A super versatile lens, and parfocal is a super bonus. I just wish it was a bit faster. Thanks for sharing this...I will try to look at all the episodes!