As reported earlier, I’ve been scrubbing through forgotten hard drives, and it’s funny how I can’t remember why I thought any of what I’m finding was worthy of preservation. I keep coming across reams of tests I conducted before, during and sometimes after a variety of productions, and while they were certainly critical when I shot them, now they’re meaningless. Once again, context is all! Over time, the lessons have been absorbed and thankfully, I’ll never have to visit those uncertain shores again.
I’m sharing the series below because they illustrate some of the steps a cinematographer will go through in order to define a look.
The project was a 2022 David E. Kelley-written-and-produced ABC pilot titled, Avalon. Fittingly, it chronicled the adventures of the sole Sheriffs Office detective (Neve Campbell) assigned to the afore-named resort island located twenty-six miles off the coast of Los Angeles. I immediately fell in love with the script, and the show – as directed by the wonderful Kate Dennis – turned out beautifully! Unfortunately, as is sometimes the case for reasons beyond our control, someone further up the food chain decided the public wasn’t quite ready for such genius. ABC declined to pick up the series and the inspired efforts of a great cast and crew were left to die on the vine.
What you’ll see below are the first, second and third passes of some very casual, very raw material that I shot during prep on Catalina with a hand-held Red Komodo camera and Canon lenses (principal photography of Avalon was originated on the Panavision DXL-2 with Panaspeed primes). Handling DI-grading was the genius Supervising Colorist Gareth Cook at The Foundation in Burbank. I’m not exaggerating when I describe him – he’s a wonderful guy possessed of an artist’s eye. I couldn’t have achieved anything close to what I aspired to without his expertise.
So, have a look at our early explorations. I wanted an island-vacation-spot-relaxed-feel that retained something of an edge (admittedly, easy to describe but hard to affect visually). As is usually the case, getting to that goal was an evolutionary process.
The first pass shows what came out of the camera in one-light form. I immediately dismissed it. It’s too cool for what I was after.
The second iteration is closer to the ideal in its warmth and cyan-ish tendencies, but the contrast is too high. Look at the shadow areas and you’ll notice how harsh and blocky they are. I always prefer silky blacks as opposed to hard ones.
Pass number three is starting to get there, but it’s still not right. Contrast and shadow detail are spot-on, but the color saturation needed some attention. From this point forward, Gareth’s invaluable help got me precisely where I wanted to be before Day One of principal photography. We arrived at a beautiful LUT for on-set viewing and the dailies were superb!
Have a look at the tests below.
https://vimeo.com/1214454753?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
I love seeing your process Richard. I also love that you are showing it for all to benefit from. Too often the actual work is hidden away.