GRAD SHOW: CREWING FOR TJ

I sure have been busy these last two terms, and when TJ asked me to gaffer for his grad film I had to say yes. We had many meetings as a crew to discuss the upcoming shoot and looked through all the pre production. It was super thorough, and so instantly I knew what TJ wanted me to do. Myself and TJ had meetings to talk lighting, gels, colour, equipment and pre lights so I was all up to speed with everything that was needed of me. We arranged a pre light and I felt that helped a lot and reassured us both that we could do it. We had four shoot days which seemed like a lot, but they were super crammed on the day, yet still a lot of fun. I feel it went well the whole shoot, despite the fact that lots of the equipment was faulty or broken, but we managed to resolve it all. I feel that I did my job well as a gaffer and gave TJ what he wanted, he seemed pleased with the lighting outcome so that was reassuring. I tried my best to keep the lighting as similar as possible when I had to change the lights around. There were a few difficulties as the space on the third and fourth day was super cramped, so some of the lighting doesn't match up as nicely as I wanted. But it isn't unfix able in post production colour grading. 

After the shoot was over, TJ asked me if I would like to edit and I said yes of course because it was a great opportunity and felt like I was up to the task. However I got a week into it and had to go to hospital with heart problems relating to stress and felt that maybe I had taken on too much in one term. So after discussion TJ handed the edit over to Nina and Rufaro. I am dissapointed in myself that I couldn't see the edit the whole way through but if I had continued then I know I would have made myself more ill. Overall I enjoyed working on this shoot so much and love helping others and getting stuck in doing what I love, and I can't wait to see the final piece. Below are only a few images I took, there will be some more BTS coming as Preston took those pictures. 

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.

STUDIO SHOOT: RESEARCH

Gregory Crewdson: Basement (2014)

After roles were arranged and everyone was into their groups, we were presented with five different images which we could choose to base our piece off, we were only allowed to use five words in the whole piece. So our group had a meeting, to discuss the five images and what we could draw from them. We all agreed on the Crewdson image Basement. We discussed the set, characters, lighting and potential sound. We then went onto discuss character motives, were they related? what were they watching? are they at home? what time of day is it? and slowly pieced together a rough idea of what we wanted. We wanted to base the film around the five stages of grief, and the stages be directly related to the girl on the sofa, when acceptance played on the screen she would be gone. 

So with the rough outline of the story, I sat and talked with the director and the D.O.P about possible lighting set ups, and influences or inspiration they wanted me to look at. And any inspiration I had myself that I could bring to the table. The D.O.P suggested I look into renaissance paintings with the harsh shadows, and the triangle of light on their cheek, they wanted me to look into any colour gelled work I could find, even better if it was the colour red, and any films I felt had a good "homely" feel to the lighting.

So I began looking into the renaissance paintings, I wanted to see what I was being asked to aim for in close ups, and potentially get some reference pictures for me to practice. 

Rembrandt 

Caravaggio

After looking at images of renaissance work, with artists such as Rembrandt and Caravaggio I began to see what the crew wanted from me. I already had an idea in my head but this confirmed so we are all on the same page. In order to create these harsh shadows and light pools on their faces in close ups, I may have to acquire a snoot. The D.O.P informed me on what a snoot is, a cone like structure that directs light more than barn doors can. I feel this can help me in creating the lighting the camera team want for the shots. Also, I discussed potentially having some cine lights to work with, as if we are having close ups with the harsh lighting, then I may need to be able to move the lights wherever. The rigged lights will be used to create the atmosphere and "homely" feel but the stand alone cine lights I feel we need to create these intensely lit close ups. 

I then decided to call upon all the films I have watched and my film collection to see if there were any I thought would be good research in terms of lighting. I thought about more indie films as a genre for low light lighting as they are often in home environments and lower budget than the big blockbusters. I thought Scott Pilgrim Vs the World would be a good reference, even though the story isn't anything like the one we want to pursue, it has a lot of low lighting and is often set indoors.

Pictured here are some still images from the film, as you can see the scene is still quite well lit, however it does have an authentic home feel to the lighting, keeping it dim, but still ensuring the characters are able to be seen. I feel that with the lighting for this film, they used overhead lighting on a low dim setting and then attached spun to the front of the light to soften the brightness on the set. 

I then looked into a few more indie films, one of my favourites and that visually I feel the lighting matches what the crew want me to produce is The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Again, similar to Scott Pilgrim, there is a lot of low lighting, where the characters are well lit but often the background is dark to draw attention to the characters. I feel I will take that on board when going forward with this shoot.

I also found that Juno was a good lighting reference, there is often a lot of use of internal lighting, meaning lamps, real light bulbs etc, this already dresses the set into a more homely feel and makes the lighting warm and natural for a home set up, as supposed to big white studio lights that wash everything out. 

I hope you enjoy. Thank you. 

STUDIO SHOT ROLE: GAFFER

With studio shoot in the early stages of production, we were allowed to select our first and section choice on roles in a google doc. Previously in first year, I attended a two day lighting workshop run by Anne that was really inspiring, and made me realise how much of an effect lighting can have on, mood, tone, time of day, and period in history. So with the chance to pick roles I decided I would give it a go, get some experience to see if it was what I wanted to do. Luckily I got my first choice! So with my role confirmed I decided to do some research into my role, so I can know what is expected of me during the process.

I first decided to search what the role of the gaffer does, this was the result:

"A Gaffer in the motion picture industry and on a television crew is the head electrician, responsible for the execution (and sometimes the design) of the lighting plan for a production. The key grip is the head grip, in charge of the labour and non-electrical equipment used to support and modify the lighting"

This to me made my role clear and easy to understand, I would be in charge of the lighting plan, working closely with the D.O.P to discuss what they would want for each shot. I am excited for it. However, this wasn't enough research, I wanted to know more. So I searched for famous Gaffers, I came across a Gaffer called John Higgins, who was Gaffer for Children of Men, Skyfall and over 50 other films. There was an article where we was interviewed about his role, and he talks about working closely with D.O.P and the importance of being innovative when it comes to hurdles around lighting. He talks about trying to light Waterloo Station, and as they weren't allowed any trailing cables, they had to get shopping trolleys and fill them with special wireless lights that they could push into place! Also the word Gaffer used in the film industry has been around since the 1930's. I feel the role of a Gaffer might have to be imaginative in ways to get around boom shadows, or no trailing cables, and I feel I am up to the challenge.

I hope you enjoy. Thank you.