There is a basic skill that you need to know before you step into the world of being a Director of Photography. Going to a set with a few basics under your belt will help you jump through your career ladder a lot faster.
USE YOUR RESOURCES WISELY
Don't be a hero! No seriously... I have seen it far too many times, the guy on set that wants to do everything and by doing so does nothing but look like he's running around with his hair on fire. An efficient DOP is a great DOP... The coles notes on this lesson is to use your resources to the fullest extent, 10 people working at half speed together is better than one working really hard. I will give you a few real life examples of this:
Don't be a hero! No seriously... I have seen it far too many times, the guy on set that wants to do everything and by doing so does nothing but look like he's running around with his hair on fire. An efficient DOP is a great DOP... The coles notes on this lesson is to use your resources to the fullest extent, 10 people working at half speed together is better than one working really hard. I will give you a few real life examples of this:
---On this shoot we had no more than 5 lights available to use and lets say no more than 10 C stands. He had at his resource 2 Grips, 1 Gaffer and lets say 5 PA's that could easily step up to the plate if called upon.
He was asked to light a fairly basic interior scene, with 3 actors. it took him 4hrs before the scene was lite! Every light was moved and removed at least once and what went to picture finally was one 800w light partially flagged and a 1k bounced off the ceiling.
I saw the DP move lights over and over again, run cables, adjust flags and who knows what else. What I did not see was a leader directing his crew to bring his vision to life... "Director" is in the job title, and for this story it is a worth mentioning that "Director" is the first word in "Director of Photography".
He forgot about his team, gave no direction and tried to do everything without help. He would adjust a light then go to camera and look, and back again... and so on. He had no clear idea of how to light the scene, and more importantly forgot to use his resources.
Here is a quick explanation of how to go about lighting a scene.
a) Evaluate the scene you have to lite
b) Determine the best places for your lights
c) DIRECT... Allocate work and get your team in motion towards placing the desired lights
d) Tweak... stay at the camera, video village or where the camera is going to be placed so you can see the image. Then look for the lighting points that need more/less light and have your team adjust them while you watch the changes happening and call out direction in real time.
a) Evaluate the scene you have to lite
b) Determine the best places for your lights
c) DIRECT... Allocate work and get your team in motion towards placing the desired lights
d) Tweak... stay at the camera, video village or where the camera is going to be placed so you can see the image. Then look for the lighting points that need more/less light and have your team adjust them while you watch the changes happening and call out direction in real time.
If I am not sure about the location of a lite, I will have someone "Hollywood" (hold in place) a light as I direct movement until I am happy with a location, then I will call to lock up that location, at which they will get a stand and permanently place the light.
There is more to lighting and more variables obviously, but this is simply a lesson about using your resources. This DP needed to follow the simple basics to lighting a scene. If he used his resources, the experience of lighting this scene would have been more efficient for him. As I mentioned earlier he went to picture with 2 lights, which takes even the least experienced only no more than 10min to place.
*Reference point, I lite an exterior scene with 1 grip and 1 gaffer that covered a steadicam walk for approximately 1000 feet. It was cold, and dark out as it was the middle of the night. We used a 10k, five 4ft Kino's and five 650w lights, all ran on a generator and extension cords all flagged, scrummed, or gelled. It took under an hour before we lite and recorded a circle take... I did not touch a single lite in the process.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8005038
by Russ De Jong
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