Whereas we most frequently affiliate the phrase creativity with creative pursuits, we additionally affiliate it with inventiveness—particularly when utilized to know-how.
So once we discovered that cinematographer Mark LaFleur, founding father of LA rental home Old Fast Glass, had provide you with a inventive new use case for the Body.io Digital camera-to-Cloud (C2C) workflow, we had been instantly intrigued.
We developed C2C with the intention of closing the hole between manufacturing and post-production. However Mark ingeniously found the worth of C2C throughout pre-production, and was pleased to share his creative new workflow that helps cinematographers, administrators, producers (and so many different workforce members) plan and execute their shoots extra creatively and effectively.
A ardour for glass
Mark began his profession as a cinematographer, capturing for TV and movies within the early 2000s.
As a means of serving to to raise his work, he started gathering uncommon lenses, which he would make accessible for rental via an internet neighborhood referred to as ShareGrid to assist offset the expense of buy.
As we speak, Outdated Quick Glass rents an array of cameras and equipment, however Mark’s self-described obsession is what has made it Hollywood’s premiere rental home for classic glass.
They’ve an intensive assortment of uncommon lenses which have been meticulously restored or rehoused, and are often serviced to maintain them in prime working situation.
Mark considers himself a curator of lenses. “I don’t suppose the typical hardworking cinematographer has the time to seek out lenses that no one’s speaking about anymore, to go down the rabbit holes on-line of looking for them, to check them out,” he says.
“The obsession signifies that I put in on a regular basis that I don’t suppose a cinematographer essentially can, so I will help them entry these instruments.”
The difficulty with testing
Past renting gear, Outdated Quick Glass can be residence to a big and punctiliously constructed lens testing space, designed to provide cinematographers an setting during which to duplicate a variety of real-world situations.
“We’ve got all the time been proponents of how necessary testing is,” Mark says.
“And generally that may truly be difficult in a rental home setting, that are usually white partitions, no home windows, with fluorescent lighting. It’s laborious to gauge a lens’s character. So once we moved into our present location, we wished to ensure we had a pleasant studio house with plenty of depth. We even have home windows with pure mild, and we’ve bought an actual set.”
Why does he put such an emphasis on testing? As a result of he is aware of how important selecting the best lens is to reaching administrators’ and cinematographers’ visions.
“Of all of the instruments we have now to have an effect on the picture, the lens is likely one of the only in including character. While you put an fascinating outdated lens on a digital camera, it modifications the shot in a means that nothing else can. It’s not one thing you’ll be able to replicate in put up or do with lighting. It’s inherent in the way in which the sunshine passes via it.”
However lens testing is difficult. “The logistics are tough,” Mark says.
“You want a location, you want the gear, and also you want the time to shoot the take a look at. Generally individuals shoot at 4K, 5K, 6K. They shoot all day. They must dump playing cards for hours, after which possibly they must edit that footage. The period of time and legwork is heavy, nevertheless it’s such a mandatory a part of pre-production.”
These checks have to be shared with administrators, producers, gaffers, manufacturing designers—actually anybody who has a hand in setting the search for the capturing setting—and the probability of getting everybody who must be concerned through the take a look at falls someplace between slim to zero.
A easy resolution
As an expert cinematographer, when Mark turned conscious of Body.io C2C, he might instantly see the affect on manufacturing.
And because the proprietor of Outdated Quick Glass, he might spot the chance to take one thing that was tough to execute and make use of new know-how to profit his purchasers, who shoot all the pieces from commercials and music movies to tv collection and have movies.
“Lens testing has all the time been difficult for rental corporations to schedule,” Mark says. “However with Body.io C2C, we’ve doubled the quantity we will do.”
Now, the workforce at Outdated Quick Glass preps every take a look at by establishing the digital camera and the Teradek CUBE655 for the cinematographer previous to their arrival.
“We create the mission with their identify on it and we ship them a hyperlink,” he says.
“They’ve to take action little and it’s simply such a straightforward pitch. ‘Hey, we’re setting this up for you, and your footage will likely be instantly accessible to you and securely shareable to anybody in your mission.’”
Through the use of Body.io C2C, Mark’s purchasers not have to attend to obtain playing cards to ensure that somebody to edit the takes to point out the crew.
As a substitute, lens checks can occur in actual time, with a cinematographer speaking with the director because the take a look at is happening—irrespective of the place on the earth the director is perhaps.
“They’ll see the variations between lenses and do A/B comparisons on their telephone or their laptop computer,” he says. “So now, with this new workflow, we will loop in administrators, producers, traders. We’re making them part of pre-production and serving to them perceive why lens testing is so necessary.”
The opposite vital issue for Mark is the convenience with which new customers can begin working in Body.io. “It simply takes a couple of minutes to show everybody tips on how to use Body.io—it’s actually intuitive,” he says. “You solely want to point out them a couple of issues after which they’re off and working on their very own.”
Proof of idea
Cinematographer Madeline Kate Kann is one in every of Mark’s common purchasers.
She got here to Outdated Quick Glass for a latest TV collection that required completely different appears to be like for various worlds, so she wanted a wide range of lenses to assist in giving every one a singular high quality.
“Lenses are vastly necessary to cinematographers as a result of there’s no such factor as actuality in filmmaking. You’re already capturing a rectangle and no one appears to be like on the world as if it’s a rectangle,” she says.
“Our focus falls off naturally across the edges once we’re wanting on the world. So to me, it feels extra actual to seek out lenses which have a swirl or a curvature on the sides so the main target falls off.”
As digital cameras have grow to be able to capturing at larger resolutions, Madeline thinks it’s more difficult to seize the intimate, subjective appears to be like that had been potential with movie.
“I like classic glass,” she says. “Notably Mark’s choice, which is unbelievable. And his data round the entire delicate variations between them makes him such a useful useful resource.” It’s why she turned to Mark for this present.
“I prefer to create distinct ‘areas’ within the visible language, and people are a perform of what the character is feeling. So I like to make use of completely different lenses for every of the areas.”
Madeline was capturing the collection on full-frame spherical lenses however wished to shoot the flashbacks anamorphic. Nonetheless, full-frame anamorphic lenses felt too sharp for flashbacks, so she wished to discover a set of older Tremendous 35 anamorphics that may cowl full-frame after being cropped to 16:9.
At that time, she was already prepping in Atlanta. “Mark wished to assist determine it out. He had excessive hopes for one set of lenses and wished to check out a few others,” she says.
“His guesses had been primarily based on his huge financial institution of data, specifically that if we used an anamorphic with a full-frame base it could be extra more likely to cowl me.”
Mark arrange a lens take a look at utilizing Body.io C2C and was capable of present Madeline, in actual time, how they regarded.
“I used to be ready to take a look at the checks as they had been importing, and we had been texting one another. ‘May you pan round? I need to see how the main target falls off on the sides.’ And we discovered an answer that I don’t suppose anybody’s used earlier than with this explicit side ratio and lens mixture in full body.”
“We discovered an answer that I don’t suppose anybody’s used earlier than.”
That was Madeline’s introduction to Body.io C2C.
“Outdated Quick Glass is the primary rental home to implement this know-how, which exhibits how a lot Mark cares about his purchasers. Downloading was all the time a extremely annoying a part of the method—it’s important to go in along with your laptop computer and drive, and anticipate a number of hours for the footage to obtain. It’s not likely possible for cinematographers who’re popping round to completely different states for various jobs,” she says.
“After I did the take a look at, we had been capable of ship hyperlinks of particular lenses to the showrunner as an example what we had been considering. After which, whereas I used to be in Atlanta, we had been interested in one other set of lenses that I hadn’t been capable of take a look at whereas I used to be in LA, so Mark shot a take a look at for me and immediately it uploaded to my Body.io account.”
Madeline provides full credit score to Mark for making a workflow that actually allows creativity.
Saving time
Cinematographer Matt Plaxco additionally admires Mark LaFleur for his data and ingenuity, and is blown away by not solely the gathering of lenses accessible at Outdated Quick Glass but additionally by Mark’s meticulous care in relation to mechanically enhancing and rehousing them.
He additionally very a lot appreciates the brand new lens testing workflow with Body.io, which (like Madeline) he tried for the primary time with Mark.
“I had heard from some associates that Outdated Quick Glass had one of many first C2C programs. At across the identical time, I had a director who was out of city and I used to be raving a couple of particular set of lenses. He wished to see them, in order that was an ideal alternative,” Matt says.
“Once we bought there, they already had an iPad on standby and we had the dailies inside minutes. That was actually highly effective.”
Matt does plenty of work on movie star promos, recognized for his or her brief turnaround.
“There’ve been a number of occasions the place the shopper is in New York and we’re capturing in LA they usually’re apprehensive about getting the footage to the editor as shortly as potential. They’ll pay for a courier to get on a flight to take it. So a lightbulb went off in my head. It’s excellent for this. It couldn’t be any higher.”
After all, time is all the time at a premium when creating any type of video, so saving it permits creatives to dedicate extra of it to their craft.
“Your major aim as a cinematographer is to assist the film and talk its aesthetic to your workforce,” Matt says. “On this enterprise, speedy suggestions is invaluable.”
Madeline has comparable ideas. As somebody who usually shoots music movies, the place the schedules are notoriously tight, she envisions utilizing Body.io C2C to get footage to the editor a lot quicker.
The (im)excellent lens for the job
Listening to about Mark, Madeline, and Matt’s shared ardour for what distinctive lenses deliver to their artistry is like sitting in on a grasp class in cinematography.
“Lens design is like music,” Mark says.
“In music there are just a few notes to select from, but an infinite variety of distinct songs may be constructed from these few notes. Equally, there are actually just a few approaches to designing a lens, but inside these few optical designs, an nearly limitless variety of lenses may be created, all with a singular look.”
The imperfections are what Mark loves most and what he appears to be like for.
“I like that generally optical engineers try to design a lens that does a sure factor, however then pleased accidents come out that the engineer didn’t intend. Then, hastily, a cinematographer will get that device they usually see that imperfection and that’s what they fixate on.”
“For thus lengthy, lenses had been designed to be as sharp and as medical as potential as a result of they had been getting used on movie cameras, and whenever you’re capturing on movie you need that,” he says.
“When the RED One got here out it type of shook all the pieces up. Individuals realized that the digital picture was actually sharp they usually wished to melt it a bit. Individuals had been doing it with filters, however in addition they began to rediscover lenses that had been sitting on cabinets for a very long time.”
“Individuals had been doing it with filters, however in addition they began to rediscover lenses that had been sitting on cabinets for a very long time.”
There are quite a few components that affect how Mark evaluates a lens. He takes into consideration things like halation, the halo that seems round a vibrant mild supply within the body and veiling glare, a milky impact that happens because of reflections throughout the lens’s optics. He describes how chromatic aberrations, typically thought of undesirable, can generally grow to be a welcome artifact.
After which there’s the significance of bokeh, the look of the a part of the body that’s out of focus, which varies broadly in keeping with lens aperture and focal size.
Mark additionally talks about lens coatings and the way they’ve modified over time.
“The early cinema lenses within the twenties and thirties had been simply glass, with no coatings, which meant that cinematographers had been all the time preventing to maintain stray mild off of the lens,” Mark says.
“Older, classic coatings helped with distinction and reflections, and additionally added stunning flare character. Then trendy coatings turned so efficient at eliminating reflection that lens flares and ghosts have been nearly eradicated altogether. It’s one of many causes cinematographers are going again to classic lenses, in addition to eradicating trendy coatings and recoating them to imitate the look of the classic coatings.”
In line with Mark, Matt is as obsessive about lenses as he’s. “He understands how necessary lenses are to such a level the place he’ll particularly select a lens after which exploit that attribute by pairing it together with his manufacturing design, his wardrobe, and his places.”
“It’s crucial to me to have a wide range of lenses, whether or not they’re barely sharper or a bit softer on objective, or have a really shallow depth of discipline or barrel distortion or fascinating flares,” Matt says.
“The record goes on and on, however I feel what’s necessary is that you’ve completely different paintbrushes for various tales.”
Madeline agrees. The collection she’s engaged on has given her a chance to work with what she calls “adventurous” lenses. “We had been so excited to work with the Clavius lenses as a result of it appears to be like a method with out the anamorphic inserts, however then it will get extra subjective and surreal whenever you add them.”
“Mark won’t ever offer you a lens that’s problematic,” Madeline says. “One of many dangerous issues about capturing with adventurous lenses is that they don’t all the time match generally broad open. He has lenses that may go broad open regardless that they’re classic—therefore the identify Outdated Quick Glass.”
For each Madeline and Matt, the underside line is that Mark’s data and “impeccable” assortment permits them to seek out lenses that assist them inform tales in distinctive methods.
“Optical selection is vastly necessary to cinematographers as a result of our job is to precise worlds with a particular imaginative and prescient,” Madeline says. “Each story has been instructed earlier than so it’s not simply our job to seize. It’s our job to precise. What’s the subtext of the story? What does it really feel prefer to the character?”
“That’s what’s a lot enjoyable about our job. We get to be emotional and nerdy and take into consideration how these little variations within the lenses really feel completely different.”
A lens on the long run
Seeking to the long run Mark, Madeline, and Matt all agree that Body.io C2C will allow cinematographers earlier than and through any type of manufacturing.
“I feel anyone who’s skeptical of it must strive it.”
Matt had already been utilizing Body.io on initiatives, however when C2C turned accessible, he might instantly see the worth.
“I feel Body.io is a two-fold resolution. It’s the sturdy cloud infrastructure and the interface. And I feel anyone who’s skeptical of it must strive it. The primary time I used it I believed, ‘I would like this on each shoot.’ I feel the cloud is the long run.”
“I feel the burden is on us as cinematographers to guarantee that we’re all the time investigating new know-how as a result of that’s the way you push boundaries,” Madeline says.
“I take pleasure in taking technological dangers as a result of I don’t need to simply settle for the established order. However Body.io C2C wasn’t even a threat. It was so seamless and really easy. And the safety that Body.io is already recognized for applies to all of this. I’m already wanting ahead to utilizing this once more as a result of filmmaking is all about collaboration, and there are such a lot of departments that deliver their wizardry to the desk.”
“The simpler it’s for us to get our eyes on the footage, the higher the mission may be. I can think about a script supervisor not solely having the ability to have a look at the screenshots they’ve taken however be capable to have a look at the earlier take and reply a query on the fly on set or remotely. Why would you not use it?”
“It’s that factor you by no means knew you wanted till you could have it. After which no one can return.”
Mark sums it up for all three of them. “Body.io C2C has created a workflow shift that our purchasers really feel they now can’t stay with out. Once we inform individuals about it, at first they suppose, ‘Oh, that sounds nice.’ However once they strive it, it’s that game-changing second the place they understand that it’s that factor you by no means knew you wanted till you could have it. After which no one can return.”
At Body.io, we focus our lens on enabling creativity via intuitive know-how.
So to see consultants within the realm of cinematography create this new utility is each gratifying and validating. We will’t wait to see what different inventive new workflows will evolve sooner or later.
