Week8

Here is week 8 of the shoot and we are into the final stretch of the film. One thing that I’ve come to understand a lot better is the role of the Stereographer. The stereographer is the person who is controlling the 3D as we shoot. The terms to understand about 3D are screen distance and depth, these things reflect the 3D look during and after shooting. Our senior stereographer Florian Maier, of Stereotec a German based company (http://stereotec.com/), has been going at it and studying 3D for about 10 to 12 years now. He has two other junior stereographer s that have taken over for him in a few capacities, namely Sarah, and also Marcus.
Now mind you they are all new additions to the Camera dept. because of their role witihin the dept. Because of the pecking order of a film set things run a certain way, with the Director being in charge a long with the 1st AD then myself as the Cinematographer coming into play, we as the main point people onset try keeps things moving with a devised plan. So how does this change if at all with 3D in the daily running of the show and planning. Its almost like a necessary evil at times, due to the fact that 3D is an immediate VFX that is seen onset, by many people watching the monitor with the shutter glasses( a pain in the rear versus the passive glasses). So the stereographer has a certain level of say due to a few variables that could make things unwatchable or painful if not approached in the right manner. Its a funny line they walk because they are as necessary as my Gaffer (head of lighting) or my key grip (head rigger and crane operator) but the only thing is if they, the Gaffer or Key Grip, make a mistake or cut a corner you, as the audience, will not necessarily be hurting. So the question is do they have more creative input than most keys in a dept., I dare say that they do not because as a dept. they still work for the DP within the camera dept. The Stereogrpahic hardware for 3D is attached to the camera bodies and the dolly/crane mounts in order to usually work. As a the DP I have to be the one to set the tone for this new position, which I have found to be a tricky ordeal at times due to two factors. 1) This new technology is so new that not everything is even known in order to say what are definitive answers at times to certain visual approaches and challenges that may arise, unlike in 2D the format and work environment has not changed that much in almost eighty or 100 years of filmmaking. 2) The position of the Stereographer is so new, and very relevant by the way to work with this revamped format, that their is barely a true pool of Stereographer talent pool to pull from anywhere in the world. Florian Maier is a true scientist that has been working with this format for longer than most in the world right now presently. So how to find a person that truly knows their role and the craft of Interaxial movement and 3D positioning is far and few. They need to be very much a scientist as well as a great focus puller to some extent in order to successfully pull great 3D images over and over again on a long shooting schedule. If you look at the video that I am posting with this blog the stereographer is actually calculating the distance between the nodal points of the lens, middle points of the lens, that will change with the subject distance to camera , and the stereographer will make adjustments due to his/her findings. These adjustments will affect the size of the characters and the depth at which they are playing within and outside of the screen towards the audience.This is done on every shot of the film everyday, along with other configurations before and after rolling the camera. Pending on the experience and the hardware of of everything involved these processes can vary in time onset. But as with most things onset a pattern occurs for timing the day and speed of the crew and this is something that has to be thought of after proper testing, so then it can all be calculated by the 1st AD and relayed to the Director so he and I can make plans for the day! It no matter what takes a bit of extra time in the flow of things onset, make no mistake about that, its not as simple as switching a lens and one quick measurement to see an actor from A to B. At the end of the day its a fun challenge for film making that I think, because of the digital realm, is here to stay. I love celluloid film but 35mm and 3D aren’t the best of friends for great results in this expression of movie making. A BIG thanks to Stereotec (http://stereotec.com/), Florien , Sarah, Dong, and Marcus for doing a great job in taking on this challenge here in Seoul with me and my Korean Camera crew. Peace TMU

-Me holding the mini 3D rig with Iconix cameras
vs. the BIG RIG, which is now an even standard rig in my eyes after almost 40days

Friends on the journey

So here it is the third week of shooting, I believe, not quit sure because I am writing during what is actually the fifth week of shooting and a lot has happened. One thing that was exciting is that our press coverage started up on the movie. Our lead star Jay Park aka Jay Baum, a Seattle Washington Korean American, is a big time pop star here in Korea. Korean pop music is referred to as something called K-pop, un be knowns t to me J Baum is something of a pop culture phnom, being a singer/b-boy dancer. So with J’s popularity there has been some great media that I have been able to take part in. Hence the picture below from one entertainment publications here in Seoul.
http://jaypark.net/jaebum-interview-on-set-of-hype-nation-%E2%91%A1/

One thing that I will be interesting to see is our visual effects and how they are handled when it comes to wire work, and background replacement because it is in 3D, I wonder just how much it will differ from regular 2D films. Since it is 3D everything to some degree is a visual effect, and I say that because of the many rules for framing and lighting that repeatedly play during shooting and the fact that 3D is simply two camera setup that is simultaneously shooting. I would say the biggest difference between my opportunity on IronMan2 as a operator and this job would be the immediacy of seeing at least one layer of visual effects from live camera work. Even after the initial 3D shooting there is a layer of depth grading or 3D layering that happens in post that we are able to move around and expand on need be. This dynamic aspect of filmmaking is cool, but as I have repeatedly heard a good 2D image is a great 3D image. One of my closest collaborators besides Yung Lee(Jason) and Christian Strickland is my award winning Gaffer Junha Shin(Jun).
Jun is a 27 year veteran in the film industry here in Korea, his been a Gaffer/Lighting Director for about 20 years. I must say I was quit ignorant to Jun when we first meet I only knew that he was well regarded here in South Korea, but not to the extent that I’ve come to know, I bring him up in this blog because of the individual that he is. We , the American guys on the crew, regard him as Yoda. Jun is a very wise intuitive man especially when it comes to lighting and delegating work. He never gets loud, doesn’t use a light meter, and his body language lets you know when he is done with lighting to let me know to come and check it out. The role of the Gaffer is he sets out to accomplish the goal of the cinematographers light language in the film. We usually talk a lot in pre-production, look at examples of different types of work be they photos or films, and connect it all with the mood of the film. I have had a few interpreters onset so then Jun and I can communicate, but to think that even with them there are many a times the he and I understand through the language of light and cinema just what needs to happen.
Now one thing that caught me off guard was the non use of a light meter, by him as the Gaffer. I know in the states its a major NO NO , for an electric or 1st AC to have a light meter and or even a Gaffers glass, tools that are exclusively for the DP and or Gaffer onset to look at (Gaffers Glass) and measure light (light meter). But here the electrics and AC’s all have meters and will pull them out to measure things from time to time. It completely caught me off guard and I didn’t know how to react. It was a cultural moment to understand that this is how they as a crew operate within their electrical/grip dept. , which by the way is the same dept. here in the sense of rigging and power. The grip team is strictly about cranes and dollies that push me around for camera movement. Jun keeps a certain tone that has a amazing flow onset, even if I decide that something needs to be changed last minute for the story.
One thing that I love about the relationship between he and I is when our ideas kinda have static, and if it is about major story point I usually win. If its about pure aesthetic and will not have the best lighting continuity I will give in. Its a back and forth that is amazingly easy dance, of collaboration. Jun’s ability to foresee things and to always make himself seen on set has garnished him the name Yoda, Jedi master who takes on a few of us to teach things to once in a while. Jun never truly raises his voice, nor gets too excited about things, he stays truly even. A great lesson to relearn a few times a year when working in this business.
This experience makes me reflect on the many people that I have had a pleasure to meet on this terrific journey of life. Its just like Lord of the Rings as I walk through the wilderness and uncertain paths, I meet people at perfect times that give so much to prepare me for each step of living this dream. Jun is a great friend and a awesome Gaffer that has gone above and beyond being on set. He has been gracious enough to take my wife and I out to eat, join us for dinner at my favorite Tofu restaurant, and has even shared a gift of a tremendous laser pointer for me to have.
Thank you to the higher power, the Universe, Great energy, God, Christ like conscious, or whom ever you believe, but thanks is in order to the Universe for Jun has been nothing but a great and talented human being.