Chapter 4 - Lights, Camera, GEAR!

I’ve realized I’ve been yammering on about not starting with anything (or anybody, really), and I really need to get to the technical side of things… after all, I trolled around here long enough to do quite a bit of research, so I feel I should give back, y’know?

4.1 - The Look

Noir obviously had a very stylized look to it. Well before I got any names/faces attached, I realized that if I wanted to get noticed in the sea of indie features, I had to grab attention at first glance. I had begun talking with a writer/producer out in LA that wanted to read my screenplay, and I showed him a little viral piece I wanted to do called “The Oliver Sessions,” which were somewhat modeled after “The River Tam Sessions” for Serenity (which I love).

After a loving kick in the pants, he told me that nothing about the black and white imagery grabbed him. Nothing popped. Nothing sizzled. So, I pushed things and got closer to where I needed to be. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself now. Before we shot a frame on tOS, I did quite a bit of research…

4.2 - Lights, Camera (check), Audio

4.2.1 - Audio
Let’s go in the opposite order. First of all, I have to give major props to Ty Ford for his book, recommendations, and insightful posts here and anywhere else that worthy audio dialog happens online (so I found). Looking at the budget, I decided that while the Shoeps might be a dreamboat, I could afford the MKH-8050. I also purchased the MKH-416 as my trusty shotgun, and a Sound Devices mixer (the one with the 3 inputs, I’m forgetting the name at the moment). Add on a heavy duty Rycote Zepplin, a K-Tek collapsable boom pole, and I was in business.

We did quite a few weekends of equipment tests with audio (and our sound man was originally pretty green but very zealous to learn the art… and he’s doing a wonderful job right now, btw), and we got all the rookie mistakes out of the way fairly early (so we believe).

4.2.2 - Lights
Our DP had experience with lights. If you’ll remember Chapter 1… I could have definitely used more practice. Since I had already written in a lot of locations where a character was standing next to a large source of light at night (no coincidence), I figured I would do what I could within my budget, and then add on as needed (or rent accordingly).

Surprisingly, we’ve gotten along swimmingly with a Lowel DV Creator 1 package, my DP’s 4 Lowel totas, and some various clamp lights and C-stands. Granted, we borrowed a 5k for our weekend with Tim Russ, but the 750s have been champs thus far, and since we tend to shoot on the close side, we’ve been pretty set.

4.2.3 - Camera
Already had the HVX. Already shot a few things on it, and felt really comfortable with its workflow. I liked the look it gave, but not necessarily for the level of professionalism I wanted to show. To be fair, I originally decided that the trouble of getting a 35mm adapter outweighed the benefit on my first feature… but the more and more footage I looked at, I decided that if I wanted to be taken more seriously, a 35mm adapter was in my future.

So, I invested in glass… (KEH.com was my friend…) Nikon manual primes to be exact… -f2.0 28mm
-f1.2 50mm
-f1.4 85mm
-f1.8 105mm

On a trip to NYC I picked up a Sigma 15mm 2.8 fisheye for photography, and it made its way into a quick peephole shot, but I have used it elsewhere. Also picked up the Brevis with the XL ground glass. A few more equipment tests and we were ready to begin rolling. Granted, there were quite a few more expensive purchases that came along with the Brevis (rails system, Panasonic monitor, Redrock FF).

Picked up a nice Sachtler fluid head tripod with some Miller SOLO DV sticks to support it all. Love the motion, hate setting the thing up… which makes me very thankful for my team of grips, 1st AC, and DP who do the heavy lifting for me. At this point, if anyone has any specific questions they’d like to ask, please feel free to throw them my way. I’m sure I’m forgetting plenty and I want this to be as complete as I can make it (because I’m sure I’ll look back at this and chuckle from time to time).

-R