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On-Set Production Reflection

In-Session

Role: Director of Photography

In working as the Director of Photography on In-Session, I aimed to create an authentic, naturalistic look that underscored the tension of the therapy session. The scene situates itself in a small, clinical therapy office, referencing images of real therapy offices and films with similar settings such as Good Will Hunting and The Sopranos. The opening description states that the room is “bleak in decorations, the plants are verging on death, [and] the lighting emits a sickly yellow tone.”  We decided to do away with the sickly yellow tone because the room had white walls that bounced light undesirably, but Lena (the director) preferred the stark “clinical” look over a more stylized darkness. my visual concept was deliberately low-key and clinical. I later thought that deeper shadows might have been more striking, but I agreed to keep the wall bounce and fill to maintain consistency. Sometimes aesthetic preferences (I personally love high-contrast lighting) must yield to the project’s vision and practicalities.

We tackled perspective in terms of power dynamics. Early in the scene, Bridget is more confident and confrontational, while Callum is on the defensive but always confident of his abilities. My initial shots of Bridget were tighter and at eye-level or a slightly low angle, giving her a sense of dominance. As the scene progressed and Callum gained the upper hand, I gradually reversed that scheme. This mirrors the draft notes keeping Bridget “close up at the beginning and then moving further away… the tactic is reversed for Callum”. These choices helped express the shifting power dynamic visually. During the feedback, it was pointed out that the perspective (from whom we are seeing the film) is at times confusing in a few shots. Another, more specific criticism, involved the shot of the NHS patient list being somewhat jarring geographically (this can also be a consideration from an editor’s point of view). Both pieces of feedback imply that in the future, I need to consider perspectives more deeply, both the characters' in the world and the viewer's, and how they are affected by each shot.

My most positive takeaway from In-Session was gaining better intuitions on how to light spaces. It’s a difficult thing to learn purely from text-based theory; it’s almost like learning an instrument where getting it right lies in the small details, and you can only master the small details by playing the instrument. Gaining a sense of what I like and, perhaps more importantly, don’t like has also been important. The process of planning out a scene that exists only in my head and on a piece of paper, shooting the scene and then comparing the product to how I imagined it helped develop a sense of what does and does not work. Conrad Hall (Road to Perdition) said “Cinematography is infinite in its possibilities… much more so than music or language” and so the development of that sense of subjective right and wrong aesthetically has been invaluable.

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Link: https://youtu.be/PAeX0LT0CYA

I've never been to therapy. The idea of yapping about myself for an hour every week and having to pay for the privilege elicits the same reaction in me as Mark Twain had towards writers who put exclamation marks at the end of their punchlines. It's an egoic outburst that I should probably be more comfortable with.

The scene we shot is itself a display of egos. Bridget and Callum are vying for domination in this confined space; it's about THEM. Lena (director) and I decided to let the actors do the heavy lifting for engagement with subtle input from the camera to emphasise their dynamic. Classic stuff like high/low angles and proximity to the subject imply changes in power dynamics. We tried to keep Bridget close up at the beginning and then move further away from her later in the scene. The tactic was reversed for Callum, applying distance to start with and then getting closer at the end.

Overall, I am satisfied with the final product. Some things I would have liked to improve would be using the practical to create a more striking image. I should have pushed for a darker room instead of a room with white walls on which light bounces off. I understand Lena wanted something more clinical, and I think I delivered on that, but I suppose it is just my own taste that I prefer more obvious and striking lighting.

Another thing I've learnt about myself after DoP'ing a few projects now is that I'm not a huge fan of static images delivered by tripods. This might be me being sub-consciously influenced by modern films, but I think to keep up with trends, static tripod shots should be the exception, not the rule. This all depends on the project, obviously, but I have been taking a mental note of the edge of frame for films that I like and are popular, both modern and old. There is almost always a slight shake/float to the image, even with simple OTS shots where the actors don't move around that much. The roaming camera allows for much more fluid blocking of the actors. The camera can then dynamically move where it needs to, capturing more angles that are more interesting and allowing for more flexibility in the editing room. This is, once again, a personal preference, and one should always know where to break from their preferences. Fincher famously almost exclusively uses static shots with very slight movements, and the roaming camera is the exception. Then again, The Killer wasn't his best work. I'm joking, of course, kinda.

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Credit: Jamie Collingbourne

For the storyboard and lighting plans, we employed a new technique called Gaussian Splatting, in which multiple photos and videos of the environment are taken, and a piece of software recreates the environment. This allows us to move through the space away from the location and easily plan where lights, shots and props can be placed.

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This curve was introduced to me by a former teacher at the London MET who now works at Dungeon Frog studios. His passion for teaching was infectious, and I felt obligated to research more into what he was trying to explain to me.

Basically (not really), the black body curve (or Planckian Locus) underpins white balance and colour temperature calibration. It describes how an idealised object, the black body, emits light depending on its temperature. This is important because if a light's colour lies off the Planckian locus, depending on the white balance set on the camera, it will introduce a tint to the image.

For example, if the white balance is set to 5600K and the light source is 3200K, the resulting look will be very orange. If it is set to 3200K, however, we will get a more neutral look in accordance with the light's temperature.

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Shooting a film that requires a porthole effect from a fisheye lens. Some basic research:

Pelang 8mm f3.5: This is an old Belarus-manufactured lens specifically marketed as a circular fisheye, and as such is deliberately designed to provide a circular vignette on a full frame sensor (won't get the same effect on APS-C/S35). It's not too expensive and is reasonably popular, so we could probably sell it after the shoot if we want to recoup some of our money.

Laowa 4mm f2.8: Also specifically marketed as a circular fisheye, albeit this one is designed for APS-C/S35 sensors. It's cheap and relatively easier to get used for even cheaper. Big drawback is that it isn't available on a standard EF mount (only EF-M) and none of the available mounts are available are convertible to EF as they all have shorter flange distances.

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HMI, Xenon, Fluorescent, and LED Sources:

- In the 1960's, enclosed metal arc (HMI's) were popularised. They are daylight colour balanced without the need for filtration.

- Blade Runner popularises new player-xenons which are gas discharged. Xenon allows for great output with a very narrow beam.

Fresnels

- Lenses over the lights.

- Large glass lenses would gather heat in the centre and crack, fresnel lenses collapse the curved shape into a thinner profile.

## Tungsten

- Small ones generally come in two versions, baby and studio and 2k or 5k. They differ in size and bulb. A baby 5k would be about equivalent to a studio 2k.

- The baby 10K provides high-intensity output with a fairly compact, easily transportable unit with a 14-inch fresnel lens.

- The basic 10K, known as a tenner or studio 10K, has a 20-inch fresnel.

- The big daddy of the group is the Big Eye tenner, which has a 24-inch lens.

- The Big Eye has a special quality all on its own. The source is small but the large fresnel is a large radiator so it provides a soft light to subjects close to the camera.

Juniors

- 2k fresnel is very versatile. Can be powerful enough to be the main source of light on a set and has high speed film emulsion for low light HD cameras.

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Camera: 4800K

Key: 5600K

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Camera: 5600K

Key: 4200K

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Camera: 6500K

Key: 5600K

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Camera: 5600K

Key: 5600K

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Camera: 3200K

Key: 3200K

Practical: 2000K

Shaft: 4800K

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Had a lot of fun with this one. There was a lot of handheld operating, which meant my arms were dead by the end. I even developed my own special grip, which keeps the rig closer to my body and face, allowing for a steadier shot. Only I can do it because my right shoulder can comfortably dislocate itself just enough for my right arm to wrap around the front of it and grip the left bar. I am truly revolutionising the game with my unique biology. Untouchable, unique, a boon to the world of cinema.

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There is so much more to a man than merely the events that occur to him and because of him throughout his life. There's his imagination that colours the mundane nature of reality, his beliefs which shape his aspirations or vice versa and the propensity to morph in accordance to the environment. Nietzsche called it the "eternal recurrence" or the endless state of becoming something new that should give rise to one's meaning in life. Arguably this is more important to ones sense of worth. The film barely has a running thread and is always changing tone much akin to Mishima himself.

Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters covers very little of Yukio Mishima's actual life. In fact it only really accurately details one day of his life yet it remains one of, if not the best biography I've seen. Instead it chooses to focus on his literature in a series of intermingled stories which bare relation to the plots of his various pieces of literature. In doing this the film sidesteps almost all unnecessary exposition and hits right for the emotional core of Mishima. Although somewhat abstract, it is the very abstractness we relate to mainly because it shows individuality while also threading in universal human emotion. Individuality compressed by universality is the beautiful key to this film. Not to mention the gorgeous production and cinematography which makes it all the more powerful.

Art shadows everyone but an artist distinguishes the silhouette. This is what Paul Schrader has done for Yukio Mishima in the most incongruous and majestic way possible. Political ideologues shrouded his invigoration for life yet brought out a sense of nationalism and pride so strong that the story still echoes today. Thankfully this wasn't a history lesson and instead got right to the essence of Yukio Mishima and only then showing the culmination of all the millions of characteristics, contradictions, passions and dreams on that fateful day.

A masterpiece comes so rarely but a film that tackles a man's life in such a brilliant way like this deserves that epithet. I like to think Mishima reconciled his years of literary meditation with his final choice in the film. I hope he found his fabled 'Harmony of Pen and Sword'.

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Eggers sifts through the tones of history and literature surrounding that legendary vampyr, akin to The Northman's demiurgic vengeance, to gift us with a moody historical horror that F.W Murnau would tip his hat to as we have returned to the topic of fear. For a long time now vampires have either been a subject for humour (What we do in the Shadows) or manifestations of lust and sex (Twilight, Jennifer's Body, Only Lover's Left Alive). Vampires haven't been scary for a while but Eggers is not one to betray context in order to seem innovative. Nosferatu lives in the mist beneath the waning gibbous, lapping at exposed veins; we never lose the sense that he is exactly that. But the humour and sex is not abandoned. It's difficult not to grin at Count Orlok's profusely Eastern European moustache which looks like it sheaths something within. And the way that he suckles at the flesh of his victims, the way curls around Lily Rose Depp like a demon or djinn seducing the virgin, it's animalistic but lascivious. What Nosferatu does so well is allowing all those secondary connotations we have of vampires to be biproducts of its pursuit of fear. Just as Nosferatu ensured window latches were firmly saddled during the nights of 1922, his 102 year bodily resurrection has also been a resurrection of purpose.

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We had very little time to prepare for the shoot as I was brought on just over a week before the assigned shooting day, but it ended up being a fantastic time. The crew were all on top of their game. I would say that this is the first shoot where I truly left having a better understanding of how light interacts with its environment and with faces.

The walls in the apartment were white, and I was asked by Ahmad (Director) to light this fairly naturally and coldly. Getting to the shooting location, we noticed that on the wall outside the door where the actor would be standing for the first shot, there was a light that emitted a sort of sodium orange colour. There was little we could do with this light, as it belonged to the landlord, and covering it up would be clearly visible in the opening shot. Besides, I liked the colour of the light more than the cold vibes we were initially going for, and so after speaking with Ahmad, we chose to make that the mood for the film. Through this decision, I gained a better understanding of the relationship between white balance and the colour temperature of lights. It is not merely "warm" and "cold" but what kind of warm is it? Is it a late afternoon sunset? Is it the sodium glow of a streetlamp? And if it's cold, is it pale moonlight or the ugly clinical lighting of a doctor's waiting room? Using that hallway light as a sort of lighting axiom was incredibly useful.

The concert was done using Nanlites facing the camera, acting as concert lights. The back wall was white, and so we had to ensure that no light spilt behind the actors. I used the ND filters in the Sony Fs6 due to its limited ISO control. Once everything was set up and the actors had received their instructions, we shot it just like a concert: roaming and handheld.

This was my first time DP'ing with the Sony Fs6 and so I was happy getting to grips with the unique way it uses log footage. Its Iso range isn't as versatile as the blackmagic cameras unless you use the flexible iso setting. But offers less flexibility for the editor to colour grade with. It's essentially a record-what-you-see setting, and considering there are very few if any top-notch colourists on the course it is better to give them as much leeway as possible.

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Our goal was to transform the environment of a bland uni classroom into, as seen on camera, a nightclub. This was the most difficult option available to us, which is probably why both groups chose it. The most challenging aspects of the production were not what lights or lenses we were going to use (although still had to be considered with some thought), mainly because a nightclub is a very distinct environment, and so the equipment needed was similarly distinct and obvious. The challenge was 1) logistics of production design in relation to camera placement, and 2) time management.

Our production team did an excellent job creating a gross nightclub bathroom adorned with gross details like suspiciously wet toilet rolls, discarded stained toilet paper on the floor and some wholesome graffiti which included Satanic symbolism and deformed penises. Absent of financial compensation, graffiti truly is the purest of art forms...I think.

The actual nightclub was achieved using blackout curtains and a thin corridor of dancing bodies. This was the scene where we felt the time constraint. Issues with the nucleus focus burned up a significant amount of shooting time, but it was valuable in that it gave us insight into the realities of real-world scenarios. Timekeeping is as important as technical proficiency when money is on the chopping block.

I was the screenwriter on this project. I would love to say my job was some type of complex integration of ideas and that I poured over the script night and day to craft a piece of poetry that would echo through the halls of Napier...but it wasn't, and I didn't. It was a simple story of a guy creeping on a woman in a nightclub, following her into the bathroom and giving her a right old fright at the end. With the film being a minute long, it needed to be simple and to the point to facilitate the goal of the project, which was to challenge our efficiency, and so that is what I wrote. And yeah...that's that really.

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21/09/25

Group Members:

Cameron: DoP

Shrist: 1st AC

Cameron Middler: Sound/Production

Toby: Production

Dylan: Editor

Ruben: Gaffer

We have been assigned the theme/topic of "Home" for our first Creative Exercise due on the 29th. After forming our groups, we gravitated to a film centred around nature, with the plot still obscure to us. We parsed through several ideas centred around a character wandering through the forest. We thought about including animals, but that idea was quickly scrapped. We decided it would be a wise to settle on a location first before diving into the plot because the location would dictate much of what we can do.

I sent through photos of the forest surrounding the area I live in, and we quickly settled on that location. The forest contains bridges, large unearthed trees and an expansive field looking onto the Pentlands. Aesthetically, it is ideal. I took a walk through the forest, as I often do, and the spacing of all the natural elements reminded me of old Japanese Ghost films like Kuroneko, Ghost of Yatsuya and Kwaidan. The ghosts in these films typically have two purposes: to enact vengeance on those who wronged them or to be benevolent guides granting safe passage to lost souls.

"Home" can be something you're lucky enough to have already found but it can also be something you're searching for. Our plot focuses on the latter: A ghost who has lost her way encounters a regretful spirit guide who helps her find her way through the wind and through the trees.

Not wanting this to be oriental, we decided the two characters will be wearing expressionless theatre masks instead of the Oni/Kabuki masks worn in Japanese folk tales. To distinguish between the two, we will paint them to reflect their path; the girl curious and worried, and the guide dishevelled and broken, having never been able to find home.

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With costume, actors and equipment ready, we went into the forest for the first shot. Well not quite in the forest yet, the first shot took place on a road adjacent to the forest with the idea being the Wandering spirit would emerge over the horizon of the road. Shot on an 85mm lens, it compressed the subject such that the distance she travelled felt extended. Not exactly a ghost story, but I had Monty Python's Holy Grail in mind; namely that ridiculous scene of John Cleese running towards the camera before belting the guards in the face.

The shot was simple enough and other than a couple of curious dog walkers concerned with a bindle-carrying spirit standing at the bottom of the road, it went swimmingly. Seeing Dylan fully costumed in the mask and flowing white garb coated in black and white admittedly brought a smile to my face when I first saw it on camera. Great work by the production team.

The main challenge in the forest was time. Because of schedules, we had rationed time to mobilise to each location before the sun left us. Unfortunately by the time we arrived at the last location, the clouds had rolled overhead and, despite the sun having not quite set, the forest was caked in darkness. We decided to alter the timeline of the story in the edit, so instead of the plot taking place in a day, the ghost's journey would be elongated to span day and night. To compensate for the light, we were forced to blast the scorpion lights to simulate exaggerated moonlight. It didn't come out great so we will have to try our best to...ahem...fix it in post.

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American Cinematographer: A Practical Look at Practical Lights (October 23rd Edition)

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American Cinematographer: A Practical Look at Practical Lights (October 23rd Edition)

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Jay Holben’s "A Practical Look at Practical Lights" is a fantastic written workshop on how practical lights can be both set décor and an injection of narrative.

Start with what the location gives you

Walk into a location and the room already provides guidance on where to begin lighting. Maybe there are recessed “can” lights that carve raccoon eyes and pull the face into a tired top-down sadness. Maybe there’s a pair of torchieres that bounce off the ceiling, soft and broad but so vague they erase cheekbones. Planning starts by listening to what the space gives you, and deciding which parts belong in the story. If the house lights don’t fit, shut them off and motivate new ones that do. That’s where practicals become first collaborators instead of a last resort.

Tests

Once the cinematographer has communicated with the art department and various tests have been done (Holben explains that using RGBW LED ribbon lights are good for this), then it is time to look at bulbs. Fluorescent lamps can zombify skin tonnes; some LEDs refuse to dim or sit at the wrong colour temperature while others are bright but ugly. Holden advises building a lamp kit to compensate for this and to have spares of everything. Investigate different types of bulbs and test them out. On some jobs it might be necessary to re-lamp entire rooms but on student projects (us) we might have to Frankenstein three bulbs to keep continuity and mood.

Practicals in a forest

Unfortunately with this creative exercise there were logistical issues in transporting equipment so we didn't have access to all the lights I wanted but Holben's advice is still applicable for an exterior shoot. I will write about as if we had more time and access to the right resources since I'm still pretty bleak about how some shots turned out and I need a coping a mechanism.

The sun is a 93-million-mile key light and the moon is a distant 5600K motivator with immaculate backlight etiquette. Phones, headlamps, bike lights, car beams, a camping lantern hung from a branch, a string of fairy lights smuggled into the canopy, these can all be great accoutrements to the natural light provided by the sun and moon.

For the day exteriors in the forest, sun patches and sky holes would be the "natural practicals". Sidelight through the trees for drama, a rim at magic hour for a mythic ghostly feel and a top-down noon slash to make the forest feel hostile. When the Wanderer first looks towards the field, 4×4 bounce angled from the same side as the sun would be a polite extension to the practical light. A negative-fill floppy on the far side as a “dimmer,” deepening the cheek without going overboard, and branches clipped to a C-stand as gobos so the pattern on the face matches the pattern on the ground. The same philosopht applies to exterior as interiors: motivate first then adjust to achieve the right feel and then make sure the presence of lights aren't too obvious.