diagram: ‘is this it?’ – lighting for spaces, not faces

One of my favorite ways is to grab coffee with a DP and chat about the set experience we had together.

I’ll often find out one of three things for the next time we work together:

1. What I thought was my biggest blunder of the day didn’t even register on their radar.

2. Oh boy did I do something I thought was small that actually heated them up.

3. Positive feedback is always appreciated so I can keep working on my strengths!

Beyond learning things about myself that my brain replays when I can’t sleep, another benefit of these talks is the chance to review screen grabs and cover what worked, what didn’t, and identify how to be more efficient the next time.

For this particular shot, we both knew on set that we wanted more of an increase in the levels on our female talents face. The infinibar PB12 was the quick and dirty solution, but it didn’t quite have the push we were looking for.

Our solution for next time?

Let’s slow down on set! I had the equipment to set something else up, and we definitely would have had the 5 minutes to finagle the scene considering we ended early. So we’ll both just remember to breathe, remind ourselves we put in a lot of prep to finally be on set for this, and ask for the extra moments to get it right next time. In order to reduce the setup for these adjustments, I can have a light or two on standby if it seems like the next scene will call for it.

dir: AJ Campli
ad: Deanna Schaekel
dp: Justin Balog
ac: Santiago
gaffer: Tyler Trepod
key grip: Teej Morgan