Film Pipeline Overview, pt. 2B: On-set Production
In part 2A of the film pipeline overview, I discussed the final aspects of production before going on-set. Once you’re on set, however, the character of production changes. It becomes much more intense, as there’s always a ticking clock. It really is like a second act in that there’s an ongoing race against the clock, herculean efforts to overcome obstacles, and rising and falling tension as on-set problems flare-up and are resolved.
It may seem like everything is happening all at once, and that on-set production is total chaos rather than a pipeline. But this is only true if you let it get out of hand. When you’re inexperienced, your production simply will get out of hand at times and you’ll just need to get it back on track. To help you do so, it helps to understand what things basically ought to look like if they’re going right, so here’s an overview of on-set production as a process. What is especially helpful about this is that while the actual on-set activity may sometimes seem overwhelming and frenzied, when looked at as a process the structure of on-set production is relatively simple. Knowing this pipeline can help you focus and bring things back under control when something goes wrong.
On-set production process
Crew Call; Location, Grip and Lighting Work
The day starts with a crew call. On many sets, the Director and Producer may not even be on set at this point — particularly if there is a location move involved. The First A.D., Line Producers, Location Manager, Key Grip, and Gaffer are responsible for getting the location moved and equipment ready. Other services, such as portable toilets if needed and craft services, are also expected to arrive early. The camera crew (often without the D.P.) arrive to start prepping and testing the camera. When the D.P. is scheduled to arrive, the camera crew, grips, and gaffers are expected to be ready to start putting lights and cameras onto the proper grip gear and into position for the first shot of the day. If sets need to be constructed, the Set Foreman heads this up, and the arrival of the Art Director is the cue for set dressing to begin. All the mechanical aspects of prepping the set are expected to more or less be done before the cast arrives.
The Director (and Producer) may choose to oversee any and all of this, of course. It depends on the level of trust you have with your crew. Very experienced Directors with experienced crews, particularly ones they’ve worked with before, trust everyone to work from the boards, previs, set blueprints, art packets, and so on that the Director has already approved in preproduction — and the Director makes occasional walkthroughs during initial setup to make sure all is well, or decide on last minute changes when inspiration strikes. Otherwise, the Director focuses on working with the actors (and, if necessary, the writer — see below).
Script and Storyboard Revisions
On-set script and storyboard revisions happen for one of two reasons: the Director has a flash of inspiration, or disaster has struck. In the former case, it is dependent upon the Director’s personality (and the extent of the change) whether to bother with script and board changes or to just give verbal adjustments to the cast and crew. In the case of disaster — whether it’s a scene or sequence that just isn’t working, a cast member has quit (or, God forbid, become too sick to work or passed away), or the production has fallen so far behind schedule that major portions of the script need to start getting cut — it is best for all involved to get the changes down. It will help mitigate the chaos of the disaster, and the comfort of seeing the changes committed to paper will enable you to more easily get back on track.
Cast Call and Cast-Director Check-in
By the time the cast is scheduled to arrive, the set is expected to be ready for them. The First A.D. and Production Assistants will check the arrival of the cast, make sure they get call sheets, answer questions, bring them water and snacks, and generally get them settled-in before the Director arrives to go over the day’s shooting. Not all sets bother to (or can afford to) give the cast and Director time before the shooting starts, but if you can make it happen, it’s a great idea. It allows the cast to ask questions and give suggestions to the Director in a more intimate environment. Some actors don’t feel comfortable either seeming to need help, or giving suggestions to (or being critical of) the Director, in front everyone. Time spent alone can enable a freer exchange of ideas, and help diffuse potential issues before they become a big deal.
Wardrobe, Hair and Make-Up
Once a cast member is on-set and informed of the day’s work, they will get their hair and make-up done, and wardrobe fitted. This may happen before or after the Director check-in, and if the preparations are especially complicated (which may be the case for special effects make-up or elaborate period costumes), the cast call may be at exactly the same time as the crew call (unless, of course, a location move has happened and the wardrobe, hair and make-up trailers or rooms are being prepped), and the actors may be in wardrobe, hair and make-up the whole time the technical set-up is happening.
Actual Shooting
Before the cameras roll, five main things happen:
Lights (1), Camera (2), and Grip gear (3) are set-up. For the first shot, things are supposed to be pretty close when the cast arrives, but the D.P. still needs to visually inspect the shot with the actual cast in-place, take light readings, and make any necessary adjustments to the lighting and camera rigs before shooting. When a new shot is started, things may change radically. This is when the cast and many other members of the crew get a break (or, in the case of the cast or a crew lead who needs Directorial input, perhaps go talk with the Director) as the camera crew, gaffers and grips work fast and furious to get the next shot ready.
Sound gear is set-up (4). This basically consists of the boom operator getting into proper position, and the recordist doing level checks. To make this work as it should, the boom operator has been in rehearsals with the cast, is present for all on-set warm-ups, and gets informed of any updates to dialog and timing. If that’s happening, an experienced boom operator can get set-up without having to ask for run-throughs before the actual shooting.
All the parts of this set-up that requires interaction with the cast are expected to happen very quickly, so the cast spends minimal time worrying about technical issues and maximal time acting.
Shot Direction is given (5). Once the set-up is finished, the Director gives the final directions to the cast and crew. If it’s not the first take, then refinement directions are given — or the call is made that a good take has been achieved and it’s time to move on to the next shot.
Once all the set-up is done, and Direction given, the First A.D. calls “action”. Then the cameras roll, almost always for a very short period of time, and then the Director calls “cut”. That’s it. You just shot a take. This process happens again and again until the shooting day is done. In between takes, it’s just the Director giving direction and occasional technical tweaks (and/or touch-up on wardrobe, hair and make-up). In between shots, it’s just somewhat longer versions of the same thing. Sure, throughout the day there are meal and restroom breaks, longer set-ups during which some people get to take a break, and so on — but a shooting day is basically this over and over again: technical set-up / adjustment, cast and crew direction given, and roll cameras.
Once you’ve done that for as many days as scheduled for shooting the entire film — have a wrap party, because now you’re ready to go into post production.
Film Pipeline Overview, pt. 2A: Production, phase one
As mentioned in part 1, production really begins with a production greenlight (it does where I grew up, anyway). For bigger films, this is upon getting a go-ahead from the financial backers (a greenlight from a studio exec, delivery of a materials that convince indie backers to go ahead and sign checks, or whatever other form it takes), and for no-budget films this is when you decide: “hey, I like what we’ve gotten out of prepro, let’s make this thing now.”
Production — before going on-set
Production before going on-set includes the tail end of pretty much everything in preproduction. Indeed, the distinction between late preproduction and early production is debated. If you mark a production greenlight as the start of production (as some studios do), then it’s early production. But if you mark the first shooting day as the start of production (as others do), then it’s late preproduction. Either way, the tasks you must perform are the same.
Casting, Wardrobe, Make-Up Tests, Rehearsals, Camera Tests with Talent
Sign those final contracts with all your remaining actors as quickly as you can, because your schedule depends on it (and depending how large a percentage your casting cost estimate is relative to the rest of your budget, you may not be able to budget for crew and materials until you do this). The final casting is also needed so you can start rehearsing (and doing those last script tweaks before hitting the set), fitting costumes (and working with the production designer to refine any costumes that aren’t working now that the real talent is selected), doing make-up tests, using real talent in camera tests to start finalizing lighting and film stock choices (some talent, particularly big names, won’t allow this — and/or you can’t afford it), getting to know people so you can develop a working rapport with them, and (and this is serious with regards to primary cast and crew) finding out about dietary restrictions before starting the process of hiring a caterer. Rehearse as much as you can (unless you or your lead are the kind of folks who absolutely hate rehearsing — in which case, I hope you’re both excellent under pressure).
Crew Casting
You’re about to go shoot a movie. On-set work is the post people intensive part of the filmmaking process, and now you’ve got to go out and hire the entire rest of the crew (actually, the production staff and department leads you hired in preproduction do). For a large budget film, you may be about to hire and schedule several hundred people. Everyone from the most senior craftsmen and technicians to the lowliest P.A. need to be signed-on now so that legal and payroll can get them on the books, and production (First A.D. and Line Producers) can get them onto the schedule, and production accounting can start itemizing this part of the budget. In reality, big productions do the entire budget and pre-assign salaries and schedules, and then people either agree to take the jobs or not. No-budget shooters on the other hand need to be more flexible with timing and compensation because you’ve got as much of the latter as you can squeeze out of people and very little of the former, and crew casting will drive the budget and schedule rather directly.
Lock Locations, Build Sets, Get Props
You need to finalize your locations both for the budget and schedule (getting the final budget and schedule right is the driver for much of late prepro / early production), and so that your art department can start translating the Production Designer’s vision into reality by building and buying sets and props based on the images and measurements gathered during location scouting. You may not be able to build full sets for some locations (be it extensions and dressing for what is properly called a location, or a what is properly called a set to be used on a soundstage) at this point, because they’re too large and/or site specific to be built in a workshop, but everything else is fair game. You want all the props and as many of the set pieces as possible to be done before you go on-set / on-location.
Finally, you need to just stop getting ready at some point.
There is a saying in the business: no project is ever finished, it merely gets released. (And many variations thereupon.) Script revisions, storyboards, production design, previz and camera test tweaks need to end some time, and probably some time before you spend more on them than you should have is a good time to do that (especially if you’re observing diminishing returns in terms of making the storytelling — visual and textual — better). You really need to stop changing these things as soon as possible so that all the rest of this stuff can get locked down — especially the schedule and budget.
Movies usually go over budget and off schedule because of ongoing changes. Indecision, second guessing, infighting amongst power players, and so on can be the cause of these changes, but if they’re not curtailed it can mean financial (and artistic) disaster. Some studios, like Pixar, have spent years (and huge amounts of money) figuring out how to carefully balance the need for ongoing and sometimes very late changes to make the film better with knowing what not to change, and fitting those changes into a carefully crafted whole. Pixar has a well developed system for doing this, and a large, talented staff who have learned over many years how to pull it off. This approach provides great results for a few studios, and is an unmitigated disaster for others. And even for the experts, it is neither easy nor cheap.
I’m not talking about on-set inspiration taking a scene or a sequence in a new direction. I’m talking about big structural changes. You need to go on-set prepared so you can deal with flashes of inspiration, actually necessary changes, and a million disasters of varying sizes by having a well-laid foundation you’re building on. If you go on-set with everything still in flux (or so recently having been finalized that you haven’t had time to internalize your own vision and decisions), you’ll get confused knowing what piece goes where, and things can easily spiral out of control. If you find yourself continually making major changes throughout late prepro / early production, maybe your film isn’t really ready for production. And if your film isn’t actually ready for production, why is it in production in the first place? If more executives (and producers, directors, etc.) asked themselves this question seriously (paying it lip service is easy), there would be more quality films coming in on-time and on-budget.
Hitchhiker: Creative Gaffing and Gripping For The No-Budget Set
The lighting and grip crews are departments that too often don’t really get the respect they deserve. Lighting is headed by the Gaffer, a funny sounding word, made funnier by its use amongst the Hobbits in Lord of the Rings. That both the Key Grip and Gaffer’s assistants are called the Best Boy doesn’t make life any easier. More importantly, however, the practice of lighting and rigging the set is seen as mechanical, and any creativity involved is assumed to have come from the Cinematographer / Director of Photography.
But not all Cinematographers lord over their Gaffer. Many rely on the Gaffer’s experience to help them achieve the look they’re going for, giving general directions rather than micromanaging the placement of every light. The best Cinematographers develop the same kind of trust relationship with their Gaffer that the best Directors do with their Cinematographers. By learning each others’ styles and how to work together, a Cinematographer and Gaffer can develop a shorthand for quickly creating the right look for every shot.
Grips tend to get even less respect than Gaffers, even though they are essential to pulling off complex shots. Dolly grips, TechnoCrane operators, and the like are critical for Directors and Cinematographers that want the most sophisticated camera moves they can get. The rigging that Grips do ensures the safety of the cast and crew who are all standing beneath potentially tons of lights and light modifiers. Rigging problems can be quite vexing, and require some very creative solutions. A smart, talented Key Grip is just as critical to a shoot as any other lead role.
For no-budget shooting, lighting and rigging can become very creative. Even on a big set that creative problem solving can be the difference between hitting the look or not, but because no-budget shooters are always running low on time and money, there may be no second chances or backup plans.
On Hitchhiker, we had to shoot long dialog sequences inside a car. The actor was rightfully worried about trying to act while actually driving, particularly with a camera rig hanging off the car. Since we had nowhere near the budget for a truck or trailer rig, even a jury-rigged one, we decided to shoot indoors and do rear projection.
Erick built the rear projection screen using PVC pipe and translucent plastic from Home Depot. One interesting thing that we didn’t even think about until I noticed a problem on-set was whether or not the translucent material was color neutral. It wasn’t, and I wound up having to adjust the color of all of our footage in Final Cut Pro in order to compensate for the fact that the plastic caused a color shift towards green.
Because the original plan was to shoot more footage in a moving car than we ultimately did, a substantial part of the budget had been used to purchase a car rig that wound up not getting used much in its expensive configuration). But its suction cups became the basis for a cheap setup that Erick rigged to allow the camera to move with the car (which was jittered by someone pushing on the bumper — subtely, to make it seem as if it was hitting minor road bumps).
Car Rig and Rear Projection Screen with Emma, Dani, Austin, Danielle
You can see above that the car rig involves a long straight bracket (actually, two of them) bolted to the suction cups and stuck to the car. The camera is then mounted to the bracket with a metal L-brace, and reinforced by being strapped to the bracket by the handle (one strap holds the long, heavy homebrew 35mm lens adapter Emma built, so it doesn’t torque off). The image below has the straps outlined in red so you can see the basic idea (assume one of the straps runs down and is hiding the bracket, which is the case in that bad photo):
Me and Erick hamming it up for the camera, next to the Car Rig and the Rim Light Rig (and Danielle, Brandon and Austin)
To keep the camera from jittering/swinging side-to-side or front-to-back, a simple counterweight and stabilization system can be added to the rig: a tripod.
The bracket also helps prevent this — if you only had straps and no L-bracket in your rig, you’d need the tripod even more. But even with the bracket, because of some of the parts not fitting together perfectly, the whole rig was a bit loose. So the tripod also generally served to help generally maintain the camera angle even though the bracket was also doing part of that job.
Loosening the vertical lock to allow the camera to travel vertically is the trick, and the tripod does the rest in terms of helping maintain camera position, preventing swing and saving your camera if your rig fails (ours didn’t).
Car Rig with Dani, Danielle, and Austin
You may be wondering: “What is that mess at the opposite end of the rig bracket?” Part of it is a jacket taped to the bracket with masking tape so nobody injured themselves on the bracket. In building the bracket, we forgot to include any kid of safety cap. Oops. Another part of what you’re seeing is a clever and obviously no-budget lighting solution. Here is a close-up:
Rim Light Rig on Danielle
Dani, the DP, wanted a rim light on Danielle to give her head some separation from the background. Fair enough, but we didn’t have the most appropriate fresnels. We had no 150s at all, and a 300 was just too bright (we had used up all our C-stands and modifiers elsewhere). However, we did have these little Ikea accent lights that had been purchased to create a dashboard lighting effects.
They weren’t all being used, because a dimmed, diffused Kino Diva was quite adequate to get most of the particular look that was desired in the conditions at hand. Had it been a higher contrast lighting setup lighting Austin and Danielle’s faces with nothing but small, dim, focused lights could have been quite useful, but as it was, only two of the several little lights we’d purchased were being used — one taped to the windshield on Danielle’s right side, and one taped to a piece of PVC pipe beneath her to fill a shadow on her neck).
I took a piece of scrap PVC pipe, and taped it to the “safety jacket” on the bracket, creating a perpendicular support. Then Erick and I used masking tape to attach 3 of the little Ikea lights to the pipe. Two are seen in the image above, and here is the third (outlined in red so you can see it — and with an arrow indicating where the light is actually pointing):
Me and the Rim Light Rig
We positioned the lights in 3 ways: by their position on the crossbar, by controlling the length of their cables (how low they hung), and by angling them into precise position at Dani’s request. That was done quite simply: we ran masking tape along the cable and taped pieces of it together until it twised the cable into the necessary position. Note the twisted tape on the middle light:
Me, Erick, the Rear Projection Screen and the Rim Light Rig
(We’re repositioning the crossbar in that photo. It wasn’t held up by someone out of frame in the actual shoot. That was considered, but even something very light starts to cause discomfort or even pain if you have to hold it up for a long time.)
The entire procedure took about 30 – 45 minutes, starting with the request for a rim light, deciding the Arri 300 would not work, telephoning someone that I know who has Arri 150s (but wasn’t home), my spotting the scrap piece of PVC, presenting the idea, and then Erick and I rigging the entire crazy solution. It was possible because we were both luck enough to have some equipment in the kit that could possibly be made to work (the little lights) and we were willing to “think outside the box” to come up with a nonstandard solution.
I think it worked so well that I’m going to buy some of those little Ikea lights, PVC piping, and clamps (using tape was annoying) to permanently keep in my own kit. Versatile gear, even if it’s not “proper” film gear, is a no-budget shooter’s best friend.
Hitchhiker observations, part 2: Location Lighting and Post Fixes
Locations: Easy to obtain, Complicated to use
Shooting on location, especially for a no-budget production, can be challenging. Locations are easier and cheaper to get up and running than a soundstage. After all, they’re already set dressed. But with that convenience comes a litany of complications. Being unable to control the sound environment is a major issue, and one for a future post. There’s also the fact that when shooting in a location your production is utterly at the mercy of the owners of the location (even if you have a signed contract, if they kick you out, you’re going to lose time and perhaps have to re-shoot in a new location). For no-budget shoots there’s the added complication that often the location belongs to a friend whose friendship you’d like to maintain. You must then handle the location with the utmost care, and those kind of locations often have personal items in them which have inflated value in the eyes of the owner. Bad combination. Also, remember that “weird stuff sometimes happens” on-set: On a different shoot than Hitchhiker, someone wearing stiletto heels damaged an expensive hardwood floor. Repairs were quite expensive.
All those issues are things you need to keep in mind when working with locations, but his post is mainly about a case study in location lighting.
Lighting Locations: Watch out for that tree (or fence, or deck railing, or car, or…)
Locations are great because they’re already built and, sometimes, dressed. They can also be frustrating because they’re already built and, sometimes, dressed. When trying to light your location, you may find that there are trees, fences, parts of the building, furniture, and so on that you can’t move (or can’t easily move without risking the ire of the person who is letting you use the location). Your only remaining recourse is to light around these objects.
Sometimes, you can move part of the object (such as tying-back the branches of a tree). Other times you can quickly flag (or barndoor) your light in such a way that the shadow cast by the flag falls inoffensively relative to the frame, hiding a shadow from a location object that was distracting. Usually, however, you need to just keep moving, focusing (if you have fresnels), flagging, bouncing, and dimming until you find the right combination of light position, brightness, and modification that works for you (and the Cinematographer, if that’s not you).
Even so, you still need to run through the shot at least once and pay attention to where the shadows fall (the Cinematographer does, but if you’re the Director or Gaffer, you have to pay attention and be ready to confer with the Cinematographer and/or call-out anything you see that might be an issue). Only by going through the blocking once or twice can you really be sure that the lighting is doing what you want throughout the whole shot.
Sometimes, though, in the heat of shooting the Director and/or Actors will re-block the shot midstream, and it’s not always feasible to stop to relight (either due to schedule pressure, or because the Director doesn’t want to break the Actors’ rhythm). If that happens, the Camera Operator must tell the Cinematographer if they see something unusual through the viewfinder as they shoot, and the Gaffer must also keep an eye on what the new blocking is doing in terms of lighting. You might need to tweak the lighting as the Director gives the actors instructions for their next take based on what you just saw during the last.
Do these adjustments quickly and unobtrusively. During the take, don’t move around to assess the lighting, to avoid provoking any avoidable situations. Rather, you need a Camera Operator, Gaffer, Cinematographer, and Director who all know to work together to observe the lighting from their own vantage points and trust each other to bring any problems to the attention of the Cinematographer. The Cinematographer is then responsible for either deciding to sneak in a fix during the reset for the next take, or asking the Director to hold for an adjustment (the Gaffer and Camera Operator should never bypass the Cinematographer and go right to the Director, that can cause on-set confusion and destroy the trust relationship within the Camera and Electrical/Light department).
Even if you work together well, and have good communications and keen eyes, mistakes will sometimes still be made. Sometimes someone will assume that everyone else sees what they’re seeing and isn’t calling it out because it doesn’t bother them. Don’t assume. Always politely point out (to the appropriate person in the chain of on-set command) any issues you notice. Or, someone will see something that they think is just fine, which someone else doesn’t like at all once they see it in dailies.
On Hitchhiker, we ran into a situation with a shot where (a) if anyone noticed it from their on-set vantage point (I didn’t as I was viewing from the exact opposite angle), nobody said anything and (b) the Director likes the outcome, but the Cinematographer is less happy with it.
This is a frame from that shot:
Original Image
The vaguely knife-shaped shadow on the bottom screen-left side of the Actress’ face was not intentional (it’s probably a piece of equipment that got moved after the key light was placed, or an architectural detail that got overlooked because it wasn’t on the Actress’ face during blocking). Also, the blocking was altered enough that the lighting intended to reduce nose shadow isn’t having much effect. Since we don’t have a lot of coverage, some take of that shot is likely to get used.
It’s ultimately my fault, because I lit this sequence. So let’s see what I can do to fix it.
There are three basic paths you can take when faced with this kind of situation:
Embrace it
One extremely cost effective and morale boosting way to handle this kind of situation is to say to yourself (and your crew): I meant to do that. There’s not really any particular reason why that result has to be considered bad. The shot reads, so it’s then a matter of opinion whether or not the image is bad because something in it is unintentional.
Striving to keep shadows off faces, while it often flatters Actors, isn’t necessarily even the best shot design. Contrast gives visual interest. And there’s more to contrast than “hatchet lighting” (though that can be very effective). Check out the nose shadows (and the two slashing shadows the Actor’s arm is casting) on this shot:
Is it a bad shot (i.e. one that fails to be visually interesting and convey the Director’s intentions for the scene)? No, it works perfectly for the film it’s from. Sometimes, high contrast hard light is exactly what’s called for.
Reshoot
Before you choose to reshoot, which is relatively expensive even with a no-budget crew (in the no-budget case it may cost you more in goodwill than in money, depending on the attitude you take to your crew when you ask for the reshoot), ask yourself: Do I really hate it that much?
Reshooting is expensive. On a professional project, it costs a lot of money. On a no-budget project, it may not cost much more cash, but too much reshooting burns enthusiasm and goodwill. Avoid doing it unless it’s crucial. There was a crucial reshoot on Hitchhiker due to equipment failure causing a day’s shooting to be totally unusable, the above image is not totaly unusable, and sensibly we did not reshoot because of it.
Fix it in Post
Fixing it in post is also an option. You should never let something slide on-set because you assume you can fix it in post, but once you get into post, there is the opportunity to fix almost anything if you can afford to.
In this example, there’s not much we can do to make the two offending shadows go away. So, I decided to try to adjust things to make it seem more intentional (it already reads as possibly intentional, so there’s also the option of doing nothing mentioned previously — and given that Hitchhiker is a thriller and the shadow looks like a knife, that was my first suggestion).
I did a single-frame proof of concept so the Director and Cinematographer on Hitchhiker could have some ideas about what we could do with the shot if they decided something needed to be done. Under most circumstances, attempting to do the entire paint/roto fix on a shot shouldn’t occur until after it has been edited into the film. You only want to spend time and money on fixing frames you’re actually going to use.
Since the lower cheek/chin shadow is the more glaring, I started with that.
Option #1
1. Darkening the fill calls less attention to it.
Option #2
2. I tried adding a corresponding shadow slash at the top of the forehead. I didn’t like the direction that was going, but if I had, I’d have fixed the angle to match the angle of the bottom shadow.
Option #3
3. I tried making the darkening of the fill more subtle. It’s not a big difference from the original plate, but reducing that contrast makes it call a bit less attention to itself.
Option #4
4. I decided to try hiding the nose shadow in a hard shadow on the face. I realized I probably took it too far, but decided the general idea of darkening the whole left side of the face had promise.
Option #5
5. Trying to connect the nose and chin shadows but leave the eyes totally readable seemed an interesting idea. I have mixed feelings about the result. Mixed feelings is exactly what we’re trying to avoid. Next.
Option #6
6. A more subtle darkening of the screen-left side of the face, combined with the subtle darkening of the chin highlights, led to pretty good results.
Option #7
7. Taking it a little darker also looked pretty good. But it was starting to go too far again.
Which option is correct?
Whatever fits within your budget (embrace, reshoot, fix it in post), and looks best to you, is the right choice. As for the selection of paintfix options, while there are some above that I personally dislike (and others that aren’t shown which also have their merits and detriments), there is no one overall right choice. These sorts of decisions are a matter of preference on the part of the Director and Cinematographer / DP.
Since you probably want to know my personal choice: I’d go down the path of #6/#7 (#3 would also work, as would #0 — the original image). Some fine tuning would occur, of course. I’d likely make the neck and ear shadows and laugh-line highlight a little closer to #7 while leaving the rest more like #6, and spend some time tweaking the shadow shapes and falloff gradients.
There were options 8 – 12, but I realized I was noodling way too much, and creating too many options. Two of the biggest problems you can run into in post are creating too many options, and overworking the image. The former can lead to indecision in the face of a number of subtle variations that all seem “could be the one,” whereas the latter can lead you to abandon an otherwise promising path simply because you’ve failed to exercise restraint where it was called for.
When making this kind of decision, also keep in mind what the shot is about. Does the original mistake detract or distract from the intention of the shot? Is the cost of fixing the mistake worth your while, given the length, context and purpose of the shot when cut into the film? A number of great moments in cinema have started off as accidents, so before you make everything “perfect” in post ask yourself: Does this mistake look worse than what I originally intended, or better?
Lighting Locations: You’ve got the power
There are several issues with lighting a location (and by a location I mean “somewhere we found in the world” vs. “a professionally maintained filming venue”).
A big one, and the one that this post is about, is the availability of electrical power. Not only do you need to worry about where the outlets are, you also need to know how many circuits you have and what the voltage and amperage is.
For low/no-budget shooters in the United States, you’re almost always dealing with 15ampere 120volts alternating current (15A 120vac) household circuits. Occasionally, you’ll run into 20A 120vac, and less frequently you’ll run into 220vac power (usually 220 is found in homes for powering clothes dryers), and only in industrial sites are you likely to run into 440vac and other exotic power types. Unless something has gone horribly wrong (and is not up to code), an outlet that looks like what you’re familiar with in your house should be 15A or 20A 120vac. (If you don’t know how to figure out what kind of power you’ve got on your hands, and how to hook up to it, consult a professional. Electricity is dangerous.)
Since Watts = Volts x Amps
One of these 15A 120vac circuits can take 1800w (real watts, see below) of lighting (though you should really come in under that since you probably don’t really know the quality of the wiring at the location). So, if you have some Arri Fresnels for example, you could put a 1k and two 300s on one circuit, or you could really push it to the limits and put three 600s on it.
How many Amps you’ll use is Watts/Volts. So for 120vac, here are the values for common lights:
| 150w | 200w | 300w | 400w | 500w | 600w | 1kw (1000w) | 1.2kw (1200w) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.25A | 1.66A | 2.5A | 3.33A | 4.16A | 5A | 8.33A | 10A |
To keep your equipment especially safe, try not to go over 13A on a 15A household circuit, whenever possible. (Or 18A on a 20A household circuit.)
Whenever you’re dealing with real wattage ratings, these calculations are always true. However, some lights (particularly non-professional flourescent replacement bulbs for tungsten household fixtures) print a wattage rating on the packaging and/or bulb that is a tungsten equivalent wattge. This is because most people are unfamiliar with footcandles, lux or lumens @ X meters as measures of brightness, so they want a bulb “as bright as XXX watts.” You should make sure you either have the real wattage, or locate an amperage draw rating, for any light that’s not a professional tungsten light, HMI. (NOTES: HMIs: take up to 150% of their power draw to fire up the ballasts, so up to 1200w HMI is all you should put on one household circuit. As for Kino-Flo flourescents, they are rated at fewer amps than their model numbering might lead you to believe. The Diva 400, for example, is rated at 2A in their literature. This is because the model 400 is actually 4 55watt flourescent bulbs, for 220watts (1.83A). The Diva 400 is also cited as having the illumination equivalent of a 1kw tungsten lamp, so the 400 numbering seems to be based on just the max # of bulbs and not wattage or tungsten equivalent wattage.)
Also remember that your camera, sound equipment, work lights, etc. also draw power. You need to figure them into your load calculations if you’re putting them on the same circuits as any of your lights (which, by the way, is not recommended).
Sometimes your location has no power, or lousy power. Then you need a generator. If you’re bringing a generator, even a home / industrial / farm one you rented from a hardware store, remember to find out how many amps the circuit in the generator is (and how to set the generator to 120vac if it’s not always set to that by design). Many generators have the amperage information printed on the housing near the outlets, and either an obvious 120v/220v switch or a label saying the generator is 120v or 220v always. But if yours doesn’t have such helpful information and controls in an obvious location, consult the operator’s manual before hooking your expensive lights up to it.
Running long cables can lead to problems stemming from voltage drops. A more comprehensive understanding of that issue is perhaps for a future post, but the rules of thumb are: always use the heaviest (lowest gauge number) and highest quality wire you can afford, and try to avoid runs longer than 100 feet. If you need to get a generator really far away for sound purposes, make a trip over to a grip house and inquire about quieter generators and/or power cabling that’s rated for very long runs. However, test out a few cheap options first. I’ve recently discovered that a small, late model Honda generator placed at about 50 – 100 feet from the set is pretty quiet to begin with, and can be made quieter by hiding it somewhere clever (outside — definitely not in a building or vehicle).
Also, do not assume that when you find two outlets at your location it means two circuits (even outlets that seem far apart may be on one circuit). You need to actually test this. The easiest way to do so is to own a few circuit testers (they’re about $12), put them in the outlets to see which are live (a good idea to begin with), then get permission from the person in charge of the location (not your location manager, the person who let you shoot in that location to begin with) to switch off the circuit breakers one-by-one and have someone on the crew mark down which ones go out at the same time.
Lastly, remember to tape down your power cables with gaffers’ tape, and weigh down C-stands and light stands with sandbags. Keep your set as clean, safe, and well organized as possible.
Knowing enough about power management on-set to keep your cast, crew, and equipment safe is absolutely essential, even for a low/no-budget production. If you have any sense, you’ll refuse to work on any set where it isn’t the case that the person in charge of gaffing (lighting) knows this stuff.
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