AJW: How did you approach this piece as far as the visual style?
LJ: Before the shoot began, John Asher said that he wanted a "clean style" of light, which was basically clean/white light. This was a deviation from what I normally do since I tend to favor dark darks and vibrant color, and mixing color temperatures. I grew up risking the exposure on cross-processed film, and getting that high contrast look.
AJW: What types of tools were available, and what did you choose to use?
LJ: Not completely knowing the locations was difficult, so I prepared a shotgun approach. I knew using the Red Rock meant a little bit of light loss, so I planned on 1 and 2K's and an HMI. Our grip package was relatively small too because we were going to not want too much gear to slow us down. Aside from the dolly, and the two sticks of track and a 4' extension, everything was smalller and standard.
The only new thing on this job was a 1x1 Lite Panel. Just like all the ads say this thing was amazing—it would literally save the shot. Even off camera, using something as wide as a 35mm lens, it could still keep the eyes from “racooning.” Because you have to remember any dark spot becomes a real dark spot [in digital], and when you fire 1k's all over the place your are going to get shadows somewhere. The 1x1 took the place of that 650 on Diffusion on a stand that you float all over the place as an eye light or fill light. And it had the option of being battery powered. So if I needed it to go into a car, or in an elevator, no sweat. I also highly recommend Pole Cats—I wish I ordered more of them. These adjustable speed rails come in sizes of 3'-5', 5'-8', and 8'-12'(not sure of that last one). Basically [they are] adjustable wall spreaders and speed rail kit. It’s like a high powered shower curtain rod, allowing me to hang a lamp in a moving elevator and still be out of the shot(since this elevator had mirrors all over the place). It also allowed Kirk Bartolata (my gaffer) to hang some lights in some precarious places reasonably fast. We also had a car rig, the same one that I've used before on a drift racing video series. So I was confident on what that rig could do
Camera-wise we had two HVX's available both with matching RedRock M2's with microX converters.
AJW: How did the microX and M2 perform?
LJ: There are always complaints of light stop loss and vignetting, which is expected when you use any lens converter and still lenses. However I have to admit that Micro X hardly took any of my light...if any.
I had used the RedRock before on a project that I shot called, 818. It ended up being nominated 8 times including Best Cinematography, so the thing works well. Although on that project we didn't have the microX so we had to flip monitors upside down, and even that cheap trick of flipping the onboard monitor away from you so you can see a "flipped" image. But having a seasoned director from film and television at the helm, I knew that having "upside" down images was probably not going to bolster the confidence of a director in the format/process. Having the micro X allowed us to have monitors run from both cameras that were not mounted upside down. In addition with Digital Capture just a few steps away, the image was not upside down and we were able to import and view dailies quickly and efficiently without flipping the computer or adding the step to flipping the image in Final Cut.
AJW: Did your lighting scheme change at all when using the M2 and MicroX?
LJ: Not at all, light is light, the intensity changed but, the way you shoot, typically doesn't. You'll find a way to get what you normally shoot. You'll just end up flexing on the lights. If you think about it, most times, you scrim down a light, [whereas] in these cases we had either a naked lamp and some correction gel or nothing at all.
