I was asked by Canon to shoot interviews with several Directors of Photography for Canon's Explorers of Light program. I was a little nervous lighting these Hollywood DPs for obvious reasons. I was very pleased with look that I got for each interview and fell a little bit more in love with the 5D. The interviews are very informative and motivating. I thought it would be nice to share it with you folks.


Specs on the shoot
Shot with the Canon 5D Mark II
50mm f/1.2 L
ISO 640 1/60 @ F5.6/F4 split
Picture style: neutral
About 7k of lights were used

a little background
Canon’s Explorers of Light – The Barn (http://bluebarnpictures.com/blog/?p=2632)

Canon Digital Learning Center (http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=HomePageAct)

Cheers

Castillo
Blue Barn Pictures
index (http://www.bluebarnpictures.com)

Just watched the first one with Alex Buono...

I can't imagine how nervous you must have been but you totally rocked it!

Was that yourself or did you have an audio man with you?

I'm going to watch the rest but I'm in between renders trying to get some editing done.

Thanks a million for sharing David.

Hi Justin,

Thanks. I had a sound man with a Fostex FR2 audio recorder and wireless lavs.

<<50mm f/1.2 L
ISO 640 1/60 @ F5.6/F4 split
>>

So did you go F5.6 for DOF and could you have gotten the same shot with the 24-105 f4L at 5.6 in your opinion? I'm assuming you were shooting at 30fps....

Hey Harry

I went for the F5.6/4 split for a little focal breathing room. I like to give my subjects room to shift or move and not lose critical focus.

Funny you mentioned the 24mm to 105mm F4 L, I had that lens in my kit on set its a great lens. I like the look of the 50mm 1.2L it's sharpness and the way the it treats highlights . I have always preferred primes over zooms. Just a matter of taste.

Pretty much everything I shoot, that is destined for the web I shoot with 30fps. I fine 30fps yields the best to compression

Russell Carpenter was great. The way he articulated how he works with light was particularly interesting and relevant to the "Explorers of Light" title. Thinking about capturing and manipulating light as the fundamental work of the DOP is something that can definitely help me to expand my own creative horizons. As Russell and others in this series have said, these DSLRs can open up new possibilities in working with light and that is surely one of their great strengths.

The other interesting point, from what I have seen so far in this series, is the ways that the contributors talk about still photography and how it can perform and important role in developing your vision for the moving image.

One of the great things about the 5D II from my perspective is the ability to scout a location and shoot a photographic story-board at the same time. I like to take those photos, crop them to the 16:9 ratio, print them out and write notes around them. I find this form of story boarding really useful when it comes to the day of actually shooting the work. The other plus here is that your shooting your story board photos with the same gear that you use to shoot the actual footage, so you can really nail a look in those images.

But the contributors here articulate various other relationships between the still and moving images which are very interesting. Well worth watching.

I just have a quick question.

the close ups... did you just zoom in in the image or did you actually stoped and reframe while the interview was happening?

I've done a couple of interviews and this was always a dilema...it wont feel right to interrupt the speaker..nor to have him repeat everything for second time...so...i had used a zoom lense and just went for it.

How did you do this?


thanks and well done.

These were very enjoyable. I watched them all yesterday. I am assuming these were 2-camera or 3 camera shoots based on what I could see.

I am somewhat surprised that you shot them at ISO 640. Not that I think it's a bad idea. I am just amazed at how clean they looked. And I am sure that allowed you to keep the lighting at a very comfortable level for the talent.

Some of the lighting looked a bit "hot" on certain interviews. Was that intentional?

Great stuff, just watched Shane Hurlbut's piece and thought it looked great. A little mic popping here and there, but apart from that, great work.

looking forward to watching the rest later

Just watched the first one with Alex Buono... I can't imagine how nervous you must have been but you totally rocked it!

Yea, if I had to shoot those guys and the subject was, as in this case, cinematography, I would wiz myself. Really good job though, my favorite was Crescenzo Notarile -- what a perfect spot for the 5d: Canon Digital Learning Center - Crescenzo Notarile, ASC (http://tinyurl.com/2g9um83)

-- peer

To answer your questions, only one 5D was used. Because of the depth of the info the camera is acquiring, I can pan and scan up to 35%. 35% is about the limit if the video is to go to TV. I would not recommend this for theatrical screening, though.

I discovered this ability to pan and scan of the 5D on another shoot where the location was too small for a two-camera set up. Since the final destination of the video was for the web I panned and scanned to 50% with a little sharpen mask. You can see the video at this link:

Cherries in Winter on Vimeo

Regarding the "hot" look on certain interviews, this look was intentional. Being able to have a dynamic range again closer to film has allowed me to retain information in the highlights, giving as an end result clean defined hot edges.

Having watched an interview with Zidane, I noticed the hot side lighting and how it cut his features, making him look slimmer by highlighting them. I began to play with this lighting with people with rounder faces to define their appearance. The videos are no longer available on the Adidas site, but there is a still from that series of interviews:

Zidane Webcast Interview from adidas | AVID Soccer News (http://avidsoccer.com/blog/index.php/2009/05/20/zidane-webcast-interview/)

Here is a still test shot using the same technique with a female model. I used a 5D Mark II with 24-105mm F4 L:

Test 9367 – The Barn (http://bluebarnpictures.com/blog/?p=2668)

Another example would be the following video interview, with the same type of lighting on an African American. I used a 7D with a 50mm f1.4 L

THE WINDOW – The Barn (http://bluebarnpictures.com/blog/?p=2371)

David,
Great job with the whole series and thanks for sharing these details about your process in producing a specific look for the interviews.