Show Me The Green

…screen, that is.

Once the exclusive domain of high-end post houses, today, even high schools are using green screen technology to add a layer of creative possibility that’s not really available any other way (yes, okay there is also blue screen, but who’s shooting film anymore? <sniff>).

The two scenarios I notice quite often with first-time (and even second – fifth time) green screen productions is a tendency to assume the set-up is overly complex or that just throwing up a couple of lights will cut it.

The captivating cellphone photo above is from a recent shoot of a spokeswoman. It was in the tiniest studio I’ve ever been in and uses a minimum number of lights (two of the lights are out of frame, hanging from the grid, above). If it looks like a jumble, I’ll break it down in a loose order of importance. I say ‘loose’ because in this context, every single light is doing a specific job in a specific way and they all have to work together. But it’s good to have a plan to get started.

• Light the background. Do this first, as soon as you know what will be in frame, and make sure every other light source in the room is off. Use soft light. In this example, I’m using a pair of Kino Diva 400s with grid cloth. One is on the floor, behind the talent’s feet. The other is in a mirror position from above. The result is perfectly even, flat light across the background that doesn’t vary by more than 1/8 stop. Keep the light level low. This will do wonders to reduce spill.
• Add the back/edge light. In this case, the talent’s dark hair and dark suit make back lighting straightforward. The purpose of the back light is not to create separation from a dark background, as would be typical, but to force an edge of white light that will overpower any green from creeping in, making the subject easier to key later.
• Light the subject. Start with the key light, as always. Plan to have the talent far enough away from the background so that falloff from the key light won’t reach the background, spoiling the nice even light you’ve created. Because the talent’s skin is significantly lighter than her clothing, a double net was added to cut the light on her face while the brighter bottom half keeps detail in her blazer. The fill light wasn’t actually a light at all, but a soft silver reflector.
• Obie light. As a finishing touch, a Kino BarFly was added just above the camera to open up the subjects eyes and ensure a pleasing catchlight or sparkle.

Not a light per se, but equally important, drape anything green that isn’t in frame. You want to avoid any green light bouncing onto your subject or reflecting in clothing or jewelry.

That’s just a taste of what to look for, but should get you close for most simple set-ups. It’s worth noting that modern keying software is so good, small errors are not nearly as disastrous as they once were. Still, quality in = quality out.

What? You say I missed a light that’s visible in the photo? Good catch! There is indeed a small clip light under the BarFly, but it was used for the lo-fi teleprompter rig and not lighting anything in frame so I didn’t count it

Speed Baking

As nice as it is to work around tasty food, in the back of my mind I’m keenly aware that two important elements are missing for the viewer: smell and taste. (And before you go wishing for the often joked about, “smell-a-vision”, consider for a moment the number of people enjoying their video all around you with any number of mobile devices. See what I mean? As if push-to-talk wasn’t intrusive enough!). So I always look for opportunities to make up for that.

One thing a love about still photography is its ability to freeze time. With video, there is another opportunity — speed it up!

A recent video for the Orange County Register’s food section seemed like the perfect opportunity to have some fun with that. Have you ever stared through the oven door, secretly hoping that by staring intently enough you might shave a few minutes off the baking time? For the muffin video below, I created a time-lapse of the magic transformation from batter to bread at 19,200% of real time. Enjoy!

By the way, these muffins are actually really tasty. Kept in a zip top bag, they stayed moist and delicious for several days. Yay for edible props!

Babies & Bikinis

Who would think to put these two B’s together? An upscale boutique-owning mother, of course! Harper’s (named after the owner’s toddler daughter) in Corona del Mar, hosted the show featuring new lines of summer fashions from Vitamin A and lolli beach candy.

As if the babies weren’t cute enough, they had to go and guild the lily with models in swimwear.

Some of the most surprising and fun offerings were from lolli beach candy. Vy Nguyen, the designer, said all her styles were themed after candy from her childhood. Necco wafers, anyone?

And for the girls who just can’t seem to get enough attention…well, maybe that’s all I have to say about that.

Want to see what else was going on? Here’s the tell-all video put together for GreersOC.com

Small (Food) World

Do you recognize that image up there? If you read any food blogs at all, you should!

I’m proud to say the owner, Shauna, is someone I’ve had the pleasure of working with off and on over the years. Infinitely talented and brimming with smarts, she’s also the nicest person you will ever meet. It’s no surprise then that her sweet tales of baking are clever, funny and warmly inviting. Yes, I know. I’m fawning. But I’ve been following her blog since the beginning and have always been a quiet fan.

So imagine how fun it was to see a segment we shot awhile back posted to her blog! I like the production of this piece for its clean, timeless simplicity. The set, the lighting, everything focuses your attention on the talent — which was exactly the point.

Now that you see I’m not exaggerating, go point your click-y finger to Piece of Cake and see what you’ve been missing!

Helicopter, Tank & Oakley, Oh My!

If you’re planning a fundraiser these days, you know you’ve got to go big to capture peoples’ attention. If your fundraiser will be in Irvine, California, you know you’ve got to go even bigger. And if you want people to get off their butts and go digging into their purses and wallets, what then?

Well, if you’re on the Team Kids board of directors and just happen to have Colin Baden for a husband, you say, “honey, how about you donate a personally guided tour of the top-secret Oakley HQ that you designed. And how about if we fly the winners there in a helicopter. Oh, and you know that fully operational Russian tank you just bought? You could give them a ride in that, too!” Of course, he said yes!

But really, the live auction was just entertainment. The masses that gathered for this event didn’t need a lot of coaxing. In fact, I saw one woman bid against herself! That dedicated support base includes the Mayor’s office, police and fire departments, probably every school in the district and lots of local businesses, so you know they’re doing something very right.

From a production standpoint, this was one of the best fundraisers I’ve filmed.

As callous as it may sound, events like this generally boil down to sound bites and B-roll. A good mix is vital to blending storytelling and entertainment. As you can imagine, the elite of Irvine were all there, which let to smart, succinct and thoughtful comments. Because Team Kids is so popular, there was no shortage of candidates for the camera. The layout was open and pretty; staged on grass (not a parking lot) outdoors on a gorgeous day. Thankfully, there were just enough tents that I had some decently diffuse light to work with. Brilliantly, there was an array of activities for all the kids attending. If you’re a kid, nothing is a bigger buzz kill than standing around watching a bunch of adults talking

A bunch of kids with free access to a bunch of fun stuff to do? That’s practically B-roll that films itself.

Of course kids have their own definition of fun. That woman being interviewed is Julie Hudash, the organization’s founder and CEO. She’s talking about something really important — probably about how Team Kids teaches responsible behavior. That kid in the background doing the electric boogaloo? Yep. He belongs to my client!

Why not take a peek at the video?

Oh, I know. You still want to know what the helio-tank-tour went for. When the dust (grass blades?) settled, some lucky chap left $6,500 behind for the bragging rights. If I actually had that kind of money, I can’t think of a better place to leave it.

Queen Married

Once again, my own backyard surprises me. I mean, I’ve lived within a bike ride of the Queen Mary for more than 10 years and just never quite realized how cool a place it would be to get married. It’s elegant, casual, unique and if you’re heading off on a Carnival cruise for your honeymoon, it’s perfect. You see those people waving? They’re sending off the newly ‘nuptialized’ from the aft deck of the Queen Mary. The wide angle lens makes the cruise ship in the background seem far away, but really, you could hit it with a tennis ball. How fun is that?

For you fellow videographers, if you’re planning to film on deck in the late afternoon, be sure and bring a good windscreen for your mics! The dead calm reliably transforms into a fierce bluster.

Another little perk is that the Queen is also a hotel. Wherever you are coming from, get there a day or so early and relax. Get swept up in a bygone era. Just look at the view from outside your stateroom. Smack out of the 30s. True to the time, the rooms are — cozy. If you’ll be shooting the bride with two of her maids of honor helping with the dress, you’ll want some w-i-d-e glass. This is pretty standard for still photographers, but video types might find themselves standing out in the hallway. Thanks to Century Optics I had nice, broad horizons to work with.

The chapel, a feature added after the ships residence in Long Beach, is cozy as well and can add a warm intimacy to the ceremony. Of course the service can be officiated by a retired ship’s Captain.

The chapel’s pleasant warmth does come at a cost if you’re filming. By any camera’s standards, it’s just plain dark. To complicate matters, the light that is there is off-the-charts yellow, with a little special sauce creeping in here and there. This is when I gave thanks (hey, I’m in a chapel) that I was not shooting HD (notoriously bad in low light) and had the foresight to visit all the locations that the wedding party would be using so I could work up some custom white balances. When the time came, this was a lifesaver.

And since no wedding is complete without food and drink, there is a restaurant right upstairs that can be reserved just for you. Walls of windows supply ample light and views. There’s even a dance floor.

It was really a fun place to film and with everything just a few steps away, an ideal wedding destination.

Under the Streets of Long Beach

Filming for a range of different clients has taken me to some odd and exciting places. Sometimes, I pretty much know I’m in for something good. Other times it’s a complete surprise. Even more surprising is when it’s in my own backyard.

Downtown Long Beach has a good spread of restaurants and I’ve eaten at many of them. One of the pillars of Pine Street is L’Opera. Inhabiting a grand old building at the corner of Pine and First, if you squint, you can almost be in New York. Umm, except for the pine trees, I guess. Sure, they have great food and a fun, mostly open kitchen. At night, the panorama of windows makes for some great city scenery. But what I didn’t know is they have a little secret.

Downstairs, well below street level is a private dining room, the walls lined with bottles. You might think this is the wine cellar, but it’s not. Along one wall is a not-so-obvious pair of doors which lead to a concrete passageway to yet another set of doors that reveal the real gem: the Wine Tunnel (okay, that’s my name for it). At each point, the ceiling drops dramatically. I imagined I was Charlie Bucket on my way to Mr. Wonka’s Chocolate Room, but instead of a vast cavern, the destination is a long, winding cement tube with bottles lining the walls! And it gets even crazier. By the time you enter the cellar, you are not even in the building anymore, you actually out under First Street! The underground location is perfect for wine and requires no special climate control. Interestingly, this curious space came with the building — formerly a bank — but it’s unclear what they used it for.

Looks pretty normal, doesn’t it?

Now, add the people and you get an idea of how low this ceiling is!

But don’t confuse lack of height with lack of selection. The owner says they have room for 23,000 bottles down there! And since all that inventory is stored on site, if it’s in their cellar, it can be at your table.

Thankfully, we were able to make the available light work down there. The alternative would have been some special rigging, since a C-stand would fit, but not with a light on top of it! Watch the segment and get your own sneak peak.

Cheesey Grits, Bacon and a 4 Minute Egg

Chef Amar Santana's Sunday Breakfast!

At the risk of turning this into a food blog, some things are just too big and too important not to share. Between the title and the photo, you may think you know all you need to; but you don’t. You see, those are no ordinary grits. And by all that is holy, that is no ordinary bacon. The man that put it together isn’t ordinary either.

Chef Amar Santana is the Executive Chef of Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s South Coast Plaza (CA). He is also on his way to rock star status. But you wouldn’t know it from meeting him. With a big smile, he breezes through the kitchen while chatting enthusiastically about pork belly and saying things that win me over immediately like, “there’s never enough cheese.”

He also knows several of the contestants from Top Chef and has some fascinating dirt on the real reality behind the reality show. It was a little bizarre to have the world of TV intersect with my real world in such an unexpected way.

While you’re here, why not take a look at the video of Amar preparing his favorite Sunday breakfast and get the inside scoop? There is something compelling about this dish (besides the bacon!). I think this video is especially effective at conveying the appeal of quality ingredients, prepared simply, in a way that highlights not only their individual strengths, but what can happen when they are artfully combined. Amar and Cathy inspire you to prepare this dish for yourself and if you use your kitchen enough to know where your frying pan is, you will have the confidence to succeed. That, of course, is the whole point. Personally, I predict a click-storm on this particular segment

I will pass along an important tip that didn’t make it into the video: that bacon didn’t come from the supermarket down the street. Chef Amar has some high-powered pork connections that supply him with the best of the best. He didn’t mention the actual dollar value of the slab you see him slicing, but noted that his purveyor refers to it as, “the Ferrari of bacon.” So splurge a little when you go shopping to make this. Your extravagance will be rewarded.

In another post, I’ll share some details about how these segments are produced.

Battery Bliss

Is there anything in your camera bag or ditty box that you take for granted? If you asked me that question last week, I might have said, “nope.” But I would have been wrong!

While working on set a few days ago, I happened to glance down to where the still photographer had placed his bag and noticed something I’ve seen many times before: a pile of AA batteries. And at that moment it hit me; I haven’t had to deal with loose batteries since — I can’t quite remember. Yes, dear readers, I’ve been in battery bliss for some time now and owe it all to the fine, clever folks at Power Pax (aka Tools Aviation). They have come up with what I will boldly pronounce as the best bet for your batteries.

You already know the problems, don’t you? Battery packaging is bulky and wastes valuable bag space; opening blister packs can be noisy at inopportune times; spent cells become homeless and easily mixed with fresh; 9V styles especially run the risk of shorting with each other. If you use rechargeable batteries, your woes are compounded.

Now look at the photo and imagine this: fresh cells slide easily into a trim plastic cage with a small ‘click’ assuring you they’re secure; tops facing up can mean they’re fresh while inserted bottom’s up indicates they’re ready for recycling or recharge; groups of four mean grabbing a full set of fresh batteries without even looking (you can easily feel if the cells are pointing up or down) and popping batteries out of the case can be done with one hand as well. For rechargeable users, it gets even better since it’s easy to keep batteries in sets, based on age (the preferred way to maximize life and performance).

Of course there are configurations for any standard battery you likely use and they’re available in different colors, including glow-in-the-dark. They might not be the cheapest battery case out there, but they are the best at what they do, and really, aren’t you worth it?

Note: though I would have happily accepted an assortment of free, review cases(!) I am simply an unbiased, very satisfied customer, sharing the love.

Fiber Prints

Julie, Kodak Plus-X, 1986

I realize this seems a little off topic, but photography is where it all started for me and it’s a medium I still love. Every time I pick up a video camera to frame a shot, move a light or scan a room for the best background and angle, I’m subconsciously drawing on years of still photography.

If you’ve spent time in a darkroom, you likely know the thrill that comes from seeing your image come to life. The affirmation that you indeed got the shot you were after. I say thrill because film brings delayed gratification. Most often, only after the moment is long gone do you know if you captured it or not. For me, this inevitably led to a level of discipline in my photography that I would not have developed otherwise.

Before you peg me a Luddite, I absolutely make good use of the assurances that come with modern gear — especially when clients are involved! But I dare you to find a successful photographer or cinematographer that regrets the experience of shooting on film.

Film is only half the picture (Ha! See what I did there?). The real payoff to a fantastic frame is fabulous print. By now you know I’m not talking about family album snapshots from the drugstore. I’m also not referring to inkjet prints from even the most spiffy four color printer. I’m talking old school, silver in emulsion, fiber-based prints.

Dianna, Kodak T-Max 100, 1988

Back in the day, I didn’t give making prints a second thought. With easy access to a lab (even one in my house, for small format printing) and cheap materials I exposed paper and sloshed it through trays of chemicals with wild abandon. Then suddenly (okay, not so suddenly) that pretty much vanished. Sure, you can still find a lab that will “print” your film, but it will mostly likely be either a scan to inkjet or an exposure on RC paper. Is there anyplace that still makes the real thing?

Yes! I found a custom black and white lab in Santa Ana that still hand prints on fiber paper. Fiber prints are not, um, inexpensive, but they are the real thing and are simply gorgeous. They will even do selenium toning. I would say ask for Ron, but he’s the only one there. He has no apprentice, no intern, no one to follow in his footsteps. Oh, ask for him anyway. Tell him I sent you.

The art of fiber-based printing will become extinct at some point, but I’ll always have my prints; they will certainly outlast me!

Now excuse me, I’ve got to go reformat some CF cards.