Heightened reality on stage, LED’s and a cheat that almost worked in a single take…             First and foremost, hats off to my good friend and colleague Lowell Peterson, ASC for inviting me to shoot several episodes of his show.  He did a magnificent job over five seasons and I was very happy to … Continue reading “LIGHTING DIAGRAM #69 – JANE THE VIRGIN”

            Camerimage – the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography – is taking place right now in Toruń, Poland.  As the world’s premier celebration of who we are and what we do, it’s also the first and most prestigious event of its kind.             The idea originated in 1992 with Festival Director – … Continue reading “CAMERIMAGE”

            Timothy Olyphant’s U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens mixes it up with Michael Rappaport and his roster of fellow baddies…             This short clip of a much longer scene illustrates how easy it can be to turn relatively static – and easily boring – shots into something interesting.             The lighting of this set couldn’t be … Continue reading “LIGHTING DIAGRAM #68 – JUSTIFIED”

            The ASC’s Motion Imaging Technology Council – MITC (pronounced my-tech) and formerly known as the ASC Technology Committee – is made up of some of the best creative and technical minds in the business.  It’s amazing how far it has come since its inception back in 2003.  A large part of the success is … Continue reading “MITC”

            After hours in villain Boyd Crowder’s (Walton Goggins) hillbilly bar\criminal lair…  He slugs back some booze with his henchmen while awaiting an important phone call.             Low-key, mysterious, moody…and with a neat shot from a corner of the pool table that helps bring the scene to a satisfying close.  In general, I like it.  … Continue reading “LIGHTING DIAGRAM #67 – JUSTIFIED”

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to lighting but a number of things are common to every situation.  Though I could list an infinite number of subsets to each of the following points, they provide a good place to start deconstructing your approach.  How you address them depends on your level of technical facility and the … Continue reading “STUDENT QUICK TIP #4”

            Process shots, rear projection, blue screen, green screen, virtual\augmented reality, LED walls…             The history of cinematography is a chronicle of change; the ways with which to introduce a specific background or item within a shot are hardly exempt from that.  With the current technology advancing at an insane pace, it’s easy to consider … Continue reading “LIGHTING DIAGRAM #66 – POOR MAN’S PROCESS\GREENSCREEN”

The Parallax View is an amazing, somewhat forgotten relic from the last sustained period of interest and originality in American film.  Shot by Gordon Willis, ASC and directed by his long time collaborator Alan Pakula, it was one of the first movies to memorialize the Watergate-era paranoia that at the time was still very new.  … Continue reading “THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974)”

A common challenge for cinematographers is how to make a daytime scene that’s shot on a set look like a real location.  There are any number of ways to approach this knotty little problem; most of them involve giving appreciably more exposure to the windows and whatever might lie beyond them – a backing, a … Continue reading “LIGHTING DIAGRAM #65 – JANE THE VIRGIN”

Watch the light! If you’re interested in becoming a filmmaker – especially a cinematographer – you’d be wise to ingrain the following statement as part of your daily habits: Wherever you might find yourself, under every condition…sensitize yourself to what you see. Forget about the tools and technology of the trade and concentrate on the … Continue reading “STUDENT QUICK TIP #3”