All language subtitles for 08-PreProductionForCinematicLighting.mp4

That kind of sets up

the broad strokes.

Now we're actually going to talk a
little bit about,

a little bit more about what is
probably by far the most important,

most time consuming and difficult
aspect of this whole thing.

And I'm going to touch on it a little
bit

here, just to give you

the overall structure of what this
stuff is going to look like.

And then as we get into these shoots,
I'm going to take you through what

these elements look like

in those shoots

more specifically.

So

a lot of what you're going to see in
these videos is going to look fun, and

I hope

easy to follow and easy to understand.

But when any creative, whether you be a
photographer or filmmaker,

we get a lot with photographers.

But

when you're hired to create something
that goes with your look, or your thing

it's not really like, your look is not
created on the day.

Your look is created by everything that
goes in before it, the location,

the clothing, the subjects,

the expressions, like all of this.

Like,

we gravitate toward

either

a subject that fulfills

a style that we're looking for or needs
to fulfill the story.

And I like to make it very project
specific.

in the case, of the airfield, what
you're going to see later on, it was

all about casting, casting these two
gentlemen that look like the source

material from the photo.

I want them to look like a very
specific part of the world in a very

specific time period.

And so went out of the way to try to
find that

I like to be involved in all parts of
the process, because I am incredibly

detail oriented.

Everyone here going to test to that,
I'm very detail oriented.

And

what I do isn't just

the picture day,

it's all the stuff that comes in before.

And so

the list of what happens in the pre
production process is pretty long.

And it's can be pretty involved, but
it's really, really important.

And know that the more complicated this
chute is, the more moving pieces you

have, the more of a nightmare it is to
kind of steer it to where you want to

be.

And if you've never done a big
production before, you're not going to

want to start with the big production.

You're going to want to work yourself
up to the level of

probably what you're going to see first.

We're going to take a look at two
different shoots.

And I don't want it to scare anybody
who's watching the first shoot is going

to be the more complicated shoot.

But I'm going to show you kind of two
extremes of what we're looking at.

In the first one it's going to be a lot
more traditional.

It's going to use a lot of lights.

We have to light a huge, cavernous
environment.

The other chute uses one light.

And so it's to show you that you can
achieve

this cinematic look

with a wide variety of tools,

but

it's all about what happens.

Beforehand that's really creating what
you're seeking.

So

let's take a look at what happens
during preproduction.

And this is not a definitive.

This is not a definitive list, but I
try to average it out the best way

possible.

It's not necessarily like,

this is the order you do it.

These are just the things that I address

over the pre production process.

Kind of what that looks like.

So for example,

when I talk about, like this, not
necessarily being the order, sometimes

the model, or maybe it's a celebrity

where the commission may start,

sometimes it's the location, sometimes
it's the concept.

So sometimes you have to say, hey,
we're shooting philla, famous person,

and you have to develop the concept
around it.

Or we're shooting this person at this
place.

And you have to develop the concept

with this whole process.

I had several different concepts

lined up that I wanted to do, and then
it was a matter of finding the

locations that fit these concepts here.

So the concept was where it began for
these

projects.

But know that it doesn't have to be
where it starts.

So

cinematographers are often inspired by
the production design

and when you're in complete control.

But when you're in compute can be hard
and nowhere to start.

So if you have an environment that
you're coming in and cinematographer

has to light, they come, and they go,
well, the environment looks like this.

I can be inspired by this to decide
what the light looks like.

Here it's a little bit harder, because
you're

the end all, be all of this process,
and there's just too many options to

even know where to begin.

And so I always

doing this.

I'm regular, this cinematographer, the
director, the stylist, the set builder.

I regularly like to get in and help
build sets.

I help style sets.

I did a lot of theater work when I was
a kid.

So it's just kind of like something I
enjoy to do, and just kind of dig in

there and start getting around.

But we have to wear a lot of hats.

When we do this kind of work.

When you're working on the actual
production, you have many, many people

doing this, and you have

the zillion different people trying to
help facilitate these ideas.

So we have to make a few, a few
concessions for practicality when I'm

doing this, but I regularly not to
scare you, and you're going to see a

big level of production.

On the first shoot, I do this with

myself and one or two assistants for
the really big production stuff.

If I'm building a set, i'll be honest,
I don't want to do it myself.

But when it comes to I'm going into an
environment, maybe you only need to

bring one light or a couple of lights.

I can do that myself.

So know that there is a range, and it's
all got to start somewhere.

But

it starts with this.

The commissioner, the declaration of
the work.

So it's,

hey,

let's hire you,

or it's it's, hey, I'm going to do this
project.

Then it becomes developing the concept.

Then you put your mood boards together.

Then you do location scouting and set
building.

You build your crew, hair makeup,
wardrobe models, miscellaneous, crew

assistants, production people, whatever
it is.

And then

lastly, you figure out what the
lighting is.

This is the list.

I'm going to touch on this just a
little bit more.

I'm going to go through the list

a little bit more

in depth.

So this is where it begins.

The commissioner, the declaration of
the work.

Hey, we'd like to hire you to do
whatever let's say, it's an album

cover, or we'd like you to do a
portrait for this magazine.

Or you're saying, hey, I have this
really cool idea for a photograph.

I want to do it.

I'm a big believer.

And sometimes you've just got to do
stuff because you want to do it.

And if you have to invest money into
your own images,

I don't see a problem with that,
because they can become promotional

pieces for you.

Now I'm not saying that, you know, if
you're starting out and you've been

doing this for a few months, I want to
try something big.

I'm going to go spend 2000 dollars to
go run out, fill in the blank location.

You don't do that.

you can regularly get people to do
favors for you later on down the road.

you would be surprised,

i'll talk about this a little bit later.

What you can get for locations

when you just put in a little bit of
elbow grease.

So this is the, you've got the job.

Sometimes you'll pitch the idea, say,
hey, I would like to do this particular

concept, or this particular concept.

What have you got?

Great.

No, we like it.

Let's hire you for that job.

Sometimes it says, hey, you've got the
job.

What can you come up with?

So this is where it begins.

So the concept gets developed.

Start pitching out a few ideas.

So I think for the two that you are
about to see, I think I pitched,

I might be completely lying to you.

I think I pitched

45,

separate fully, mostly flushed out ideas

for two.

So that's also not uncommon.

Come through mood images, location
scout, or whatever you can do online

there's work.

That goes into this step.

So you develop the concept.

What does that concept look like?

There's obviously a zillion ways.

There's other classes that i'll talk
about how you can develop a concept and

create that.

this is step two, Flushing that idea
out.

All right.

I got the concept.

Now, what let's start getting some
images together.

Pinterest is my go to for this.

I make a pintrist board.

I share it with my collaborators,
because whenever I bring a new team

member on, I can say, here's the
Pinterest board that we've got, take a

look at the inspiration images.

And it's all in one place, and it's
already done for me.

That way, I'm not like

a collection of images that I'm
emailing to twenty different people.

It's very nice, very easy.

And I put everything together,

just make sure everyone's all on the
same page.

Visually, they can all be on the same
page with what the image is meant to.

Colors are supposed to look like,
wardrobe needs to look like hair and

make up like all of these different
things I put in one place,

makes it nice and easy.

Then

around this time, I'm also doing the
location scout.

And so if you are not in a place, you
can have people go location scout, or

you can find places online, or

maybe

it's local, and you can go check it out.

You would be surprised at the access

that you can get

if you are really nice

and

you, you just do the legwork.

So sometimes it's a timing issue.

And to be like, hey,

I really like your space, but

I don't have a whole lot of budget, you
know, I'd really, we got a show.

Well, in two months we're not going to
have the show.

So you can use the space.

And so sometimes you have to wait it
out for cheap.

Or sometimes you've got to pay a little
bit of a premium.

Or

it's not so much about

you doing it for your personal work.

But maybe a client says, hey, I'd like
to hire you for filling the blank.

I got this great idea for a location
I'd like to use, and you can pass that

budget onto them.

So,

you know,

you can use client work to shoot really
cool stuff and stuff that you might not

necessarily always have access to.

I'm a big believer in when the budget
goes up.

I like to amp up what the image can
look like beyond what I would normally

do or be able to fund on my own.

And these places exist

everywhere.

No matter where you are, there are cool
locations.

I showed you the hallway.

That was a hallway,

like an airplane graveyard in

Tucson.

Cool location to shoot.

You can create amazing cinematic stuff
there.

Really cheap to shoot there.

I mean, really cheap.

Sometimes it's a little bit more
expensive.

There was another one we looked at, you
know, here, locally that was

a train museum.

And that would have been really cool.

I would have loved to have shoot at a
place like that for

some cinematic images, and may do
engagement shoots there all the time.

So, you know, these places

allow access to photographers.

You just have to look, and you have to
ask.

And it's generally a lot easier.

It's not easy, but it's easier than you
think it is.

It just requires you getting on the
phone with people and having those conversations.

Now, obviously, a lot of the stuff that
we're doing is not running gun, like

you've got to ask.

So

one of the days we,

for one of one of the shoots, we were
shooting on an active runway, which was

an incredibly cool thing to do, but,
you know, not something that you can't

do without a tremendous amount of
permission.

So, you know,

there's a lot of options out there.

You just have to look into it.

You've got to talk to people.

Now, we put the crew together.

What does that look like?

Hair makeup, wardrobe,

props, models, crew.

This is everyone.

That's not you.

And this can be a small team.

It can be a large team.

So with

the pictures in the hallway you saw, I
had myself

I had one assistant,

and I had the subject.

That was it.

The entire thing was put on with those
three people.

I had the assistant to help me set up
and move lights.

I brought the trench coat.

I had him bring a couple of wardrobe
pieces.

I mean, that was it.

That was really all there was to it.

We shot it relatively, simply in a
hallway.

And I shot all of those images, plus a
bunch of outside images you're going to

see later, and in like, three or four
hours in an afternoon.

So

you can get away with a little.

But when you're using really big, big
productions, it's not necessarily the

worst idea in the world to have as many
hands on deck as you can.

I generally like to have two or three
assistants when I'm using many, many

lights, only because it just save
yourself a lot of time down the road.

And some people would just want to be
there because it's fun and cool, and

you get to make pretty pictures.

That's the assistant, you know.

And this stuff gets heavy, like,
sometimes it's big, big, bulky stuff.

if you're shooting outside and you're
setting up big lights, you may just

want someone holding the stand so it
doesn't fall over.

And break something, or hurt someone or
destroy something expensive that's

always kind of a big, a big fear that I
have when I'm asking, like, you just

don't move.

Your job is to stand on this and hold
it and not move.

Ok?

So that's my assistance.

Hairstylists, make up artists.

Again, you can find these all over the
place.

Wardrobe is a little bit trickier

with stylus, but I regularly do a lot
of wardrobe for myself.

There's a lot of great opportunities
online that you can even pull from

here.

In Seattle there's

a costume shop that I use quite a bit

that does old timey costumes.

There's Oregon Shakespeare festival,
which is in

Oregon.

And they do a lot of theater rentals
than they ship all over the us.

So I use them as well.

There's a place in New York that I use
that I have to go pull from manually,

which is a little bit trickier, a
little bit more time consuming.

But these places exist everywhere local
theater departments.

I regularly will pull stuff from

Amazon, or

you would be surprised where you can
find costumes and pieces from.

But also remember that

with wardrobe,

the more pieces you have from one place

the more

inauthentic it looks.

So the idea to make things look really

good is to mix and match, where you get
different things from

just a little side.

Pro tip,

props as well.

I always like to fill out the Scenes
with props.

And so I spend a lot of time making
sure the props are correct.

So for example,

in one of the shoots, there's a book
prop.

And I found the same book, that's in
the source material, and I had it

chipped in, and it's an old old book,
and we ripped it up to make it look, to

make it look real.

So

always try to think about what those
can be.

But you'd be surprised

how effectively like going on eBay is
to find old things.

Like, I love eBay.

If when I have to find something really
obscure, I can generally find it on

eBay.

And as long as you've got enough of a
lead out time for your project, it's

great.

Like I've found tons and tons of props
on eBay.

People pulling it out of their
grandmother's attic,

all kinds of cool stuff.

So keep that in mind.

With the models.

It depends on what I'm trying to
achieve by trying to do a fashion

shoot.

And I'm trying to make something that
looks like an actor.

What am I trying to work with?

And I'm always trying to cast for the
project, not necessarily just because

I, like, someone

it's all about what is appropriate

to the final product.

All right, so that's the crew,
everyone, that's not you.

And you know, by the time it's all said
and done, you send out call sheets and

get everyone on the same page, and
everyone seeing the mood board, and

here's where you're going.

And you have to be the job of the
producer.

it's a lot of just

work as you move through the process.

Now, the last part of this,

you will see, is what this class is
about

lighting.

This is the last thing,

and this is the last part of the
production process that I think about.

And that's because even if I do a pre
scout on a location, it's not

necessarily going to be

what I want it to be on the day.

If it's inside, absolutely, if it's
outside, anything can change.

When I was coming out to Seattle

saddle's own for very cloudy weather,

great.

The image I want to make has cloudy
weather.

And then one day we're filming outside.

It's really sunny, but I turned it into
cloudy weather.

So

you know, these are things that you
have to consider, where is the sun

going to be over the course of the day?

How do you plan out what that's going
to look like?

And i'll show you some tips and tricks
for for figuring that out.

When I get to the scene that's when the
lighting occurs, and I have, I always

have a general idea of what I expect
the lighting to look like going into it.

I do, I don't figure it out when I'm
there

for the most part.

And that's where the pre scout days

really are helpful.

But things are always changing.

I always make decisions on the fly once
I get the frame in place,

so you're always evolving it.

But I always plan it ahead.

And I'm always planning extra

when I'm planning ahead.

So I will always bring a lot more gear
than I end up using for the fear of

saying, I wish I had that.

And so, yes, it requires a lot more
effort.

Yes, it requires bringing stuff.

That's heavy and cumbersome

and

difficult to lug around.

But that's what assistance are for

young, strapping, assistant.

But

yeah, always, I always like to prepare
a little bit more, just in case,

because you never know what issue you
might run into that you really wish you

had a particular piece of gear or
particular thing, and

it's better safe than sorry.

I'm a big believer in over preparing and

making sure you are

getting safety shots and safety
lighting and safety gear back upstair,

back your back ups, just in case
something happens

and

runs you into problems that you didn't
anticipate.

Because there's always going to be
problems that you don't anticipate, and

you have to prepare for them.

Questions, yeah, be thinking about your
questions here in the studio.

I got some great questions from online.

Thanks so much for asking these
blackwater images asks.

Besides looking at the histogram, as
there another way that you meter for

your light?

Yes, that's a very, very good question.

I look at the histogram, I look at the
in camera shot if I'm shooting tethered.

And although I was really bad about
this on these two particular shoots,

when I am in studio a lot, I use my
light meter all the time.

I use as iconic 357.

I use a light meter all the time.

It helps me gauge control.

It helps me see what the light is
doing.

So I think a light meter is a really
valuable way to learn light.

But I was really

bad about not using it

for this particular, these particular
shoots.

So you don't,

you don't need it, but it's really
helpful.

And so I really I'm a big fan of using
a light meter,

that actual strob light meter, not the
one on the phone.

Richard asks Chris, can you talk a
little bit about light colors and light

color balance?

Sure.

Short.

So I mentioned a little bit ago how
important white balance was and how it

renders out color.

So this is one of the first things that
I tend to probably gravitate a little

bit more toward warmer colors.

But every once in a while i'll throw in
something that's a little bit cool just

to play around.

I like intentional use of color.

So I believe that if there's color in
the frame, it should help the overall

image, not just kind of be catty wompus
and haphazard.

Same with black and white.

If the image is black and white, it
should be because the image is better,

is a black and white, not just because
the color was bad.

So I'm always thinking about color as a
consideration

for production as much as wardrobe.

And so when I'm picking wardrobe, or
I'm picking lighting, things tend to go

together, or be complete polar
opposites.

I use lots of analogous colors,

which are three to four colors side by
side on the color, we'll share the same

color undertone.

So think of like a red,

red, orange and orange, almost like an
expanded monochromatic.

Or i'll use complementary colors to
help sell contrast.

So contrast can exist

through tone

brightness in darkness, or it can exist
through color.

So red and green, blue and orange,
purple and yellow, colors that

complement each other really
beautifully.

And so those are definitely the things
that I think about in the images,

in terms of, in terms of color and
production.

these things exist.

These are other classes where they
actually break down, like the emotional

response to color and all these other
things.

And it's tremendously fascinating.

There are people who work on

movie studios are called colorists,

and their entire job is to just

color grade movies.

And you know, the traditional, probably
Hollywood look is the blue and orange,

which they use blue and the shadows and
orange and the highlights, because the

blue makes the skin tone

complement, and they pop off a little
bit.

So you see that quite a bit.

And that kind of mirrors itself into
production as well so you'll even see

blue tones, blue shirts, blue sky
against the orange, the orange face,

sort of orange, but skin tone face.

And so it creates that color complement
and contrast, and it makes things pop

out really nicely