Patrick O'Sullivan - Cinematographer
The Wandering DP Podcast: Episode #248 - Green Screen Dream
This week on the podcast we take on a green screen monster as we breakdown a recent TVC shot earlier this year.
In an ideal world we would've shot this in a nice studio with a beautiful grid that had all the green screen we needed pre-lit and ready to go.
In reality we are in Western Australia which meant no studio, almost no green screen, and not a single light left on the truck to get this job over the line.
Add a 100 degree shed and few noisey birds, planes, trains, and automobiles and that basically sums up the whole experience.
Enjoy!
Patreon Podcast: Door Talk
There are a few gotchas for cinematographers;
1. The ole' sit, stand combo we have been over many times.
2. The ole' let's shoot this whole ad at magic hour trick.
3. The ole' let's just use natural light routine.
These ideas hide out in the minds of every director just waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting DP.
This week on the Patreon Podcast we breakdown one of the oldest gotchas in the book. The Door Talk scene. Good luck making two people in a doorway look half way decent.
Hot, hot exteriors + subterranean light level inside = cinematography gold.
Don't get caught out in the old Door Talk scenario.
You can find this week's Patreon content by clicking the link below:
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Green Screen Dreams - The Spot
This job was all shot on a crane using the Ronin 2 as a remote head. The Ronin 2 + wheels combo is my favorite way to operate in between handheld gigs so it is always a pleasure getting a day on the wheels.
Camera Gear:
We shot this on the Alexa Mini LF with the ... Primes.
Can you guess which lens set we used? If you think you can leave a comment below with your answer.
For lighting we used every source on the truck. Arri M90s, M40s, Sky Panels, Astera Titan Tubes, Joker 800w, and more. It is rare you get a pre-light day in WA but with the size of this set it was an absolute must.
The Location - Schedule is Everything
In our pre-production process the team decided on a location and time of day that worked to create the most interesting vantage point for the scene.
We chose a slightly backlit scene with a little atmosphere thrown in for good measure. Having the background scene chosen before the shoot day meant we could rough in the comp on the on set monitors using Qtake to better adjust our lighting if necessary.
The Virtual World:
The Spot - Shot by Shot
Shot 1 - The Reveal & the Revelation
The Shot
The camera pushes past the foreground boulder to reveal our hero scaling the last bit of the mountain.
The Lighting
For the Main key we used the Arri M90 through a 12x20 of half grid. To wrap the light further we had an Arri M18 closer to camera on the same side to wrap the light around pushing through a 12x12.
Overhead we bounced another M40 into two 12x12 Ultra Bounces that were hanging just above the set.
The green screen was lit with 4 Arri Skypanels on a trust that spanned the entire green screen set up in the BG and then over the top for a backlight was another Arri M40 pushing through an 8x8 of 1/2 grid.
The Result
Story Board
16x9 Crop
BTS
Shot #2 - Closer Push
The Shot
Same as above but closer and from slightly higher.
The Lighting
Now that we started the push in closer to the subject we could bring in the Arri M18 and the accompanying 12x12 to help wrap the light around even further than before.
The Result
The Storyboard
Final Comp
Shot #3 - The CU
The Shot
This was just a static close up of the previous scenes.
The Lighting
Same as above but again because we were closer that allowed us to modify a few key pieces. We brought in a 4x4 of diffusion frame right to soften up the 9k light even more and added a smaller floppy frame left for contrast control.
We also added a poly for a bit of an edge light coming off of the Arri M90.
The Result
The Storyboard
Shot #4 - The Wide Wide
The Shot
The Master wide of the action between the hero and the spokesperson.
The Lighting
We rotated the set to the lighting to save on set up time and ran with the exact same settings as the previous mid shots.
The Result
Final Comp
The Storyboard
BTS
Shot #5 - The Switcheroo
The Shots
In this series of shots we have now switched the virtual angle of the scene and are shooting the reverses for the previous action.
We needed to run each scene twice, once for the stunt body double, and once for the spokesperson who would then have their head comped onto the body double.
The Lighting
We switched all of the main lighting to the opposite side it was in the morning and basically used the same set up.
It was all meant to match so apart from the side the light was coming from everything else stayed the relatively simlilar.
The Result
The Storyboard
Final Comp
Shot #6 - The Yoga Medium
The Shot
Variations on the previous set up with the talent in multiple different yoga postures.
The Lighting
Same as above but on the close up we added some poly or neg depending on the angle of the face.
The Result
Story Board
Final Comp
BTS
Shot #7 - Variations
