Ask David Mullen ANYTHING

[David Mullen ASC]

I should add that the most important thing is to have a textured subject in front of the camera, which is why Ridley Scott puts so much effort into adding rain, dust, smoke, sweat, etc. into scenes. "Alien" is almost a movie entirely about texture.

[Stefan Christou]

Thank you David. I really appreciate your generosity on this forum and with my question specifically.

Thank you so much.

Stefan

[Stefan Christou]

Can I also ask if you are lighting in that way roughly how many stops under the skin tone would one light the background?

Thank you,

Stefan

[David Mullen ASC]

There are no rules other than the old one from painting that "highlights advance and shadows recede" -- i.e. your eye tends to go to the brightest thing in the frame first. However, there are exceptions depending on how prominent the subject is in the composition and how small the highlight is. But how dark the background should go is a matter of taste and the needs of the scene, it's hard to talk in the abstract -- perhaps another important character steps into the background, or perhaps some important action happens there? That would affect how much you let it fall off. Also you may have a bright background, like a row of windows, and a dark midground, and then a lit foreground.

[Rob Ruffo]

Lighting a maze...

Hi David, I would be most grateful to hear your thoughts on the following unusual situation.

We are lighting a path within a hedge maze (Like the one in "The Shining"). It is narrow - maybe 4 feet - and the hedges are 7 feet tall. We are shooting day.

The look, as much as possible, should be unreal/fantasy/dream, so no concerns about naturalism - in fact the less natural the better, but the character has to look as pretty as possible.

I have a female protagonist running through the maze, with a Steadicam just ahead of her. They will travel about 30 feet

I am trying to figure out some way of getting more fill light onto her face for this move. First we are adding a ringlight (Kino Cameo) to the Steadicam. I'm sure that will help, at least a bit (will it? I've never used these outdoors/day...)

Other than that I thought I would hang 3 joker 800s above with Large Pancakes on them, equidistant. I hoped these might throw some side-light, and fill in shadows when the sun gets lower. Another thought was to have three small or medium softboxes (each with a joker 800, again), pointed forward toward the subject, at maybe a 45 degree angle, and hang those above. In both cases I hoped thsi would get rid of some 'raccoon eye' topyness to the lighting, and also accent a sense of movement, as she will move through weird eerie pools of light as she runs.

Am I nuts in my approach? I would LOVE to hear you thoughts.

thank you in advance, and thank you again for the rest of this wonderful thread, and your posts elsewhere on the net. I would empty my bank account to take a course with you as the professor.

[David Mullen ASC]

Well, I'd avoid shooting near Noon, that's for sure, unless you can fly a huge silk... If you are able to make some cuts, then lower late afternoon light would be better, even in front light, it's just at some point in front light, the camera is going to throw a shadow over the actor, hence why you may need to make some edits and cheat the direction in which she runs, like to keep her mostly backlit.

Light colored ground might help reduce some of the contrast. Haze in the air would too. Or shoot at dusk, which would also help give your eyelight a chance to work.

It's pretty hard to have someone run along behind the Steadicam operator and hold a light on a boom arm unfortunately.

You'll notice in "The Shining" that the lights are built into the maze.

[Felix Steinhardt]

Hey David,
I just watched "Jennifer´s Body" and I loved the framing and lightning.
Then the end credits revealed that you were DOP on this movie and I thought "Wait a tick...That´s this guy from the RED forum!"

Your wide angle shots were incredible!
This one wide angle shot, were Needy runs to this abandoned house to save her boyfriend, was this a day for night shot?

[David Mullen ASC]

That was a digital matte painting -- I lit as much of the hilltop as I could at night and they painted in the building at the top with the moonlit sky. Since there wasn't supposed to be a lot of light on inside the abandoned swimming pool, I had established a lot of light spilling in from outside the windows, mainly because I liked seeing the beams of light in the smoke. So to some extent that meant that the exterior matte painting of the building had to look well-illuminated by moonlight.

[Rob Ruffo]

Well, I'd avoid shooting near Noon, that's for sure, unless you can fly a huge silk... If you are able to make some cuts, then lower late afternoon light would be better, even in front light, it's just at some point in front light, the camera is going to throw a shadow over the actor, hence why you may need to make some edits and cheat the direction in which she runs, like to keep her mostly backlit.

Light colored ground might help reduce some of the contrast. Haze in the air would too. Or shoot at dusk, which would also help give your eyelight a chance to work.

It's pretty hard to have someone run along behind the Steadicam operator and hold a light on a boom arm unfortunately.

You'll notice in "The Shining" that the lights are built into the maze.

thank you David!

Would you go with Pancakes or Gem balls (boomed above)? Will they help? (they can be in fixed locations, since we have 3, and as she runs past them I thought there would be an eerie unreal effect)

[David Mullen ASC]

If could shoot at dusk or really dark overcast, then I'd try flying an HMI Chimera Ball or Pancake light ahead of the actress for a soft toplight effect, though it may be tough to move with the actor and camera.

If you could run with the Chimera Ball somehow hanging just below the camera lens and to one side, you could try that, but it may be hard to take turns together (the camera and the guy behind holding a light out on an arm.) Maybe holding it just above the lens might be easier.