“Let’s make it a noir!”
“Let’s make it a western!”
Let’s make it this, let’s make it that. We had lights, and we had an expensive camera. All we had to do was create the scene. Personally, this was my first experience lighting a set with the amount of equipment we had my excitement fed off of the other’s. Our equally excited cinematography professor, Jens arrived early to Cologne rented, picked up the gear and trucked it south to Bonn. All for us! I will admit, the opening lecture was complicated. It covered the most technical components of lighting, down to the equation to calculate the correct wattage one will need for lighting. In spite of the confusion, he motivated us right from the start. The first lecture started to make sense as he urged us to figure out which light to use where.
Sam Zook and myself decided to share the role of key grip. We reported to our Director of Photography, who in this case was also Jens. He mostly gave us pointers that allowed for more creativity on our part. It was a ton of fun deciding how to light the scene. Collectively we decided to set up a noir scene. Using the passion Jens imbued us with, we created a beautifully moonlit scene using 100 Watt Fresnel Lens light. Essentially it was the best light we had that could sufficiently mimic moonlight sneaking into a window. Next, we were charged with lighting the interior. The key grip role shifted to another pair of students who decided to give the room a midday feel. Far different that what Sam and I set up, but an invaluable learning experience none the less.
After a day of lighting a scene multiple ways we were ready to take the fresh skills and apply them on the set of an actual shoot. With our C300 camera and myriad of lights, filters, and stingers we set to work building up a fancy set inside an elevator. The coolest thing about this shoot is we all had an opportunity to pick a job and try it. I got to direct, act as assistant camera, and your good old best boy. Directing a full crew was certainly a challenge, but Jens had great vision and was able to help me and the other students along the way. I had never been an AC before, but always thought of it as such an unsung hero, or underdog-y type of job. The key responsibilities I had as AC was two fold: I was St. Peter of the camera. The DP was God and she hired me to guard the pearly gate that was the very, very expensive camera. Second, I had to maintain the focus of the camera. That job itself included little miniature jobs like racking in and out of focus from focal point to the next.
Everyone got the chance to try brand new things and we all learned so much. The confidence I got from those two days alone was truly immense. Two days of total immersion into totally new crew positions really pays off. And, we have a great little product to show for it.
Written by Nick Logsdon
