AJW: Were there any particularly difficult scenes to shoot/light? How did you accomplish them?
LJ: I had the benefit of a flexible director. John would often block out the shot, and then say, "Okay, you got it." And then we'd rig. Kirk (our gaffer) and I have shot [together] before, and he brings a ton of experience with him. He was so valuable on the job. I gave him an idea that he might have had already and bam it was done. And then it was tweaked once cameras got in. I still used my light meter to point lights and get initial readings during blockings prior to bringing in lamps or stands. I only had five guys (including myself) to get these things lit up. (Incidentally, that seems to be my M.O.—a small quick Guerilla Cell that goes in, builds something, and leaves quickly. Once we got cameras positioned, we began making tweaks, brooming out extra stands/lights or repositioning them in one way or another.
AJW: What were the disadvantages with the equipment used on the shoot? The lighting, microX, lenses, etc.
LJ: Right off the obvious disadvantage was the light loss. However if you know that going into it, it doesn't really bother you that much. You just plan on bigger lighting instruments, and more drastic sources. It’s along the same lines of shooting a different color temp in film. Shooting HD with the Red Rock is the same thing, only you have a calibrated monitor to tell you: "Its going to be okay." Because in person, you have 1200 HMI bouncing hard into a white surface 7 feet from the talent and it "feels" as if you are overexposing by about 6 stops, when in reality you look into the monitor and you see how "natural" the lighting is. After doing some calculations, I set my light meters to about 100 ASA, shooting HD on low gain, with the RedRock. So when we arrived at a location, I could get some initial readings and develop a battle plan quickly.
AJW: Were there any moments during the shoot that you felt really made the show? Any particular camera moves, etc?
LJ: I got to hand it to John here, his vision was so well conceived that it made the project that much more enjoyable. He created a series of shots that he saw edited already in his brain, and the moves were beautiful. There was a restaurant sequence where I shot a group shot and singles/doubles at a table. Thankfully, there were some Source 4's(Leko's) in my equipment package at the behest of John. I ended up using them at the restaurant, cross-keying talent by bouncing off a white tablecloth. The soft look on the girls faces was unbelievable. I thought to myself: "Holy crap I'm shooting this, my name is attached to this?" Even the spill from the Source 4 was able to provide either kick or edge lighting depending on the way they moved. But this was just one of many moments that I thought were so profound and perfect and lived up to the highly critical expectations of myself.
AJW: What was your favorite part of the making of Infamous?
LJ: Every film crew has some levels of camaraderie and some levels of animosity. On this shoot I can honestly say there were tons of good vibes and little to no anger on this project. I think it strongly came from the growing sentiment that there was some chemistry here. When you watch behind the scenes features on DVD's or hear crew stories of different shows in production, you hear stuff like: "We could all tell that there was something magical about this project."
The idea that there was so much good chemistry, it rubbed off on performances, it rubbed off on producers, on lighting and grip, that there was so much unity that when it was all done, you could look back and use that experience as a benchmark for all things good in a production. Well that was one of my favorite parts. To see so many qualified people who could easily be working for thousands a day, working for peanuts because they believed in a project. That also lends heavily to the flexibility in the director being able to use what was available rather than demanding the world. But my favorite part was watching this magic I spoke of develop through the lens, to hold my laughter and not shake the camera because I was trying to contain myself, but as I would watch it, I would see what an amazing project this was, and how I was humbled that the writers, the producers, and a high caliber guy like John would give me the reins to create this look for them and trust me to get it done in a timely matter, when I had never worked a day in my life with any of them prior to this.
AJW: What was your least favorite part?
LJ: The trivial nature of the hardships pale in comparison to the overall joy of shooting this project. But if I had to pick a least favorite part, that would be the guilt associated with not being able to pay my guys, Kirk-Gaffer, Carl-Best, Richard 1st AC, Jordan - B 1st AC, Benj- B Camera Op and Josh- B Camera Op, what they deserved. We shot an episode a day. 6-8 pages a day. 6 episodes in 6 days. Who does that? And by our final day I could tell that my guys were worn out. As the guy that brought them in, who has history with them, I feel a certain responsibility to pay them well because I value their work and loyalty. However on this job most us were working for hardly anything, and we all showed up on time, which is a testament of how we felt about being there, regardless of the pay.
With my deep thanks to Leo Jaramillo for his interview and his excellent work, let me move along with this article to our overall shooting schedule and what we accomplished in this.
