Lessons

Lesson Info

Interior Shoot: Dan Close Up

So I feel like we've got you know, and my shot list and I did some kind of rough storyboards as well we've we've got some close ups to do on the table we've got to close up to do on the pad and I wonder, do you feel like we need a tighter size for you for this part when he's writing or do you think that that that the action plays well enough in this thiss angle I think it plays just fine, right? We had the note pad uh, you know, I wonder whether we want to actually get in, get in close on his face, what do you think? I mean, you can, uh you're not asking for it though no, okay, right, then. Well, that's you know that and that's the sort of thing I might suggest himself, something that I you know, maybe somebody would think about later if if I didn't say it because now would be the perfect time if we didn't want to go in tighter. So what? So I feel like now would be a good time to dio u turn around on the table and we'll talk about some of the, you know, some of the little bits of detai...

ls that we've got and how you know what those so much of this story is about him you're looking at are the first beats of the story about dan kind of being in this room and, you know, and serve the passage of time, the frustration that he has been trying to think of what to write, does that make sense on dh? So we need to find a way through just changing shots, like having different different shots? Tio tio show that time is passing to show the without just having it be one long, boring shot weaken suggest that you know, that more time has passed even than the amount of screen time that we've had that we have just by being able to change the shot, go to different details, so I think I feel like that's what we can do, I feel like we made it. Oh, one other angle on dan, just to give us some place else to cut, but I also think that, you know, the the fruit and the t and all this stuff is kind of important to the story, so we problem and definitely the note pad, and so we want to get some angles from over on this side that show what you know, that show how dan is seeing the world so let's let's kind of look at the table from here headlock show me how you're sitting at the beginning so you guys can get over the shoulder shot there I feel like there is this kind of thing where you know we're just a little bit of rearranging of the set dressing we can get almost everything and yeah there's no twenty five there's a twenty one um yeah that works too so yeah I think we're right there um you know and we can do what you thinking you know if you were to do a close above his shot ofthis place do you think that would be it would help at that time right? Because there's I'm thinking yeah just you know to be ableto wait twenty one now show me a second I'm just gonna add a lens here so yeah to be kind of this this close to him uncomfortable mood so yeah and the other things we want to be low enough that we can actually see when he's looking down we can kind of see into his eyes yeah there's that scene does that seem right to you all right yeah I agree I do feel like you want to be able to stretch out the time and the scene and not you know like and have different places to go so that you can build a little bit of a rhythm so yeah you did you just see where I was there yeah yeah yeah so and then this that angle was a little bit tricky because the camera was right over the table and you know, maybe if we had some piece of equipment that could extend the camera over the table you could do it but we don't so we need to we're gonna need to put on our thinking caps I can solve that problem so yeah I like I think jessica just had it what we can do is maybe we'll move that bar stool out from behind there will keep dan sitting are like sitting right where he is and we'll slide the table that way so that we can pull the you know the end of this end of the table will be there we'll put the notebook you know in the same spot in space but have kind of slid the table underneath it to make room for the camera so why don't we do that let's uh yeah we can pull this barstool out I'll do that and then lex I think if you stay where you are and would you guys mind slide the table towards the wall twenty eight please yeah that's good that gets us really close and now we could move the others can go away on the on ly wei don't even see the tea kettle the only piece of set dressing that that we really need to interact with is that so we know that it goes back over kind of in front of the tea kettle here but for now we'll just put it we'll put it there thanks and um we'll get the lens changed good news is the tea kettle is gone so all those nasty reflections but I feel like we have a good solution to it and I won't even need digital retouching nobody's going to notice they're going to be so focused on on the action and the actor they're not going to think about what those reflections are chats I wanted teo let you know about there was a big conversations in the chat rooms about two kettles right being in the shot and one of the guys said whether or not the kettle is necessary for the shot this is part of the workshop that demonstrates jim's problem solving skills and creative approach toe working with what he has given right well I think you need the two kettles actually because this one doesn't eat itself exactly but you need to coffee culture yeah exactly you need the goose neck to be able to control the poor yeah, just just right if you pour it too fast it's not going to be good so yeah right so I'm just gonna tweet were actually really close here and yeah, it seems great thank you alright, I do believe we've got another another shot and actually if if that other copies if the shining teakettle hadn't been there if it only been the mat tea kettle we couldn't have had a problem to solve with reflections so it all works out all right, what do you thinking? Is this good? This this seems like a size too right? Weaken. You know, it feels like kind of mood is good. Yeah, you come a little bit lower with a kino flo? Yeah, see how that gets just a little bit more light into his eyes and even can you go even lower? It'll motivation is all right. That's good. And walk a little more towards the window just to make it fall off. Yeah, that's sorry. And you can see what that if they're cutting to live, you can kind of see what that does. This is just it seems a little too moody for this and we wanted way still want a sense of brightness. I want to be able to make the shot dark enough that that you know that the windows air not completely washed out, but I still want to get a little light in this face. Um okay, yeah, go go too too. Wait, wait. That's that seems good. Hey, back it off just a little bit more, making some kind of have, like, a two faces yeah, it seems right one thing I just want to do, I'm going to just a little bit, this is a minor, but I just like see how that now we've got that slightly darker section of wall right behind his head that you like that that helps you know we kind of put him in a clear spot there you know uncluttered is the background a little bit and shows off his profile a little bit more all right great. That was that was that involved kicking the tripod like an inch you know it's like it's all the other little things and the longer you look at it the more things that you find so sometimes it's it's good you know, to sit around and think about your shot just a little bit before you tell them you're ready to roll just because you you know you'll notice things just you know, studying the frame um alright, good, but I'm not worried about that cord down there not really. Um all right, great. Yeah, I guess we don't need to plug them. Yeah would you mind pulling it all right, thanks. That's a good question let's see what happens say would you mind stand stand up and go back to the teakettle please let's see if I just leave it there. Yeah, another precision engineered shot that I didn't have to move the camera hardly at all and he just dropped right into place um and uh you know and then show me like the phone rings and you come over you know what you're there this is here is an opportunity um he's there the phone rings he turns and looks and we can go you know we could do something like this and find the phone except we've cheated everything so no we're not going to do that but I tried okay if you know if we had asked you know if we had thought about that in advance you know you you find things I think it's like the most important thing for any of this stuff is to keep the the idea of experimentation going like through the whole process if you walk in and say like here's the cookbook we're just going to do exactly what it says on here you're you're not taking advantage of like all the opportunities you've got you try stuff out some stuff work some stuff doesn't you sometimes you khun you think you'll do something that you never would have thought of sitting back in your hotel room or in your office drawing little pictures or making shot lists so um yeah so all right I feel like we're ready so we'll take it to that and then when the phone rings would you show me where you walk to toe pick up the phone well the phone should be I think in in the cheated world it was like about what's here right so let's uh let's try that so you can come and pick up the phone? Yeah all right that's a that's a nice man can you take a small step that way is that yeah right that's that's even a little bit better so if you could just remember when you come back like cheat you your mark a little closer that way that's good all right great. And now I feel like I think show me what happens put that on ross is suggesting like a little bit of a backlight movement and even closer yeah I think it's going to need and come around this way a little more yeah, now that doesn't feel right to me I feel like we could yeah yeah it was a good idea but I like kind of like the simplicity of this okay, great. So what do you say we try one this is now we're getting our pace we're getting getting stuff going all right great mo kei right here I think where where would have been relative to where you were sitting about here that's good. Yeah okay, it seems about right you know what let's just I want to bring your find excuses to bring your island you know closer to the camera just a little bit so uh all right great good everybody ready and so we're going to say roll sound okay marker all right this's dan, wait it seems like it worked right anything I could have done better from video village no he's looking good all right yes um it seems like you've created a catch light in his eyes with the kino flo is that something intentional or something you look for yeah it's definitely something I was looking for I was looking well that's let's do this would you mind have a seat back in alex and on dh russ if you could turn the switch the kino blow on and up and well kind of talk about what that's doing so let's just look up a little bit here yeah so let's save the kino for a second so there's you still get there's light in his eyes from the from the window but you know the side of his space you know closest to us is not quite as open so now go up with all four where we were and so now it's way we've opened up the side of his face and you know that's it's kind of a matter of taste but I felt like, you know, we wanted to get the get the sense there is like it does add to the catch light especially in his left eye but I also didn't want it to go so dark I thought like there need to be a sense of, you know, lightness and daylight in the room without just washing it out and making it flat but but you know that there needed to be like a little bit of openness to his face so that's you know, you kind of like I dial it in bi I I I think that there's any there there's no right answer to it it's just you know it's like spices and food or whatever like you you do it tio what you think is right and you know what? What seems right for the for the thing that you're doing at the time and, you know, it's part of like looking, looking at at other movies, looking at pictures and you like for me part of it is I don't often walk around the set with my photo reference is saying like, oh, I want to perfectly match this, but most of what I'm doing is remembering things that I've looked at before and and say, you know, and kind of my imperfecta memory of it is, you know, like, the fact that I'm imitating, like, for me, there's a little bit of george tutor and here a little bit of good stop corbet and you know, but I'm not remembering it perfectly, so I'm kind of butchering the the process and, you know, so that mistake, that imperfection is like, what turns it into something new and not, you know, not just me like repeating something that I've already seen already done like you know, whether or not like there's, you know, there are different ways to approach it, and some people definitely want to be able to say, like, here is this reference. I want an exact reproduction of that, you know, that that can be interesting and fun, too. But but, like, for me, it's, like I use all of this stuff, is a starting point, is a jumping off point, and then, you know, and then basically remember it badly, okay, so do you feel like we've got that cool? All right, so I like now, I feel like we've kind of cleaned up this side, right, and we're ready to turn around.