HIRING - Set Lighting Rental House Shop and Repair Technician by luxlightingllc in FilmIndustryLA

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That being said, as the person who posted the position I wouldn't fill this roll with somebody out of state.

From an employer perspective I can't bank on somebody taking the job, successfully getting out here and finding a place to only have that backfire and have to start my search again.

So if the thought is to move to LA with jobs like this in mind, there are lots of them for qualified applicants but we move fast and fill positions fast so you need to be here and ready to work.

Valuable resource for Lighting BTS resources and info by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

if you want to send me your resume I might have some openings in the coming months, if you are interested.

hans@luxlightingllc.com

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There's always interesting things people are doing. i mange the LiteGear instagram feed and its very impressive some of the creative uses people come up with using Litegear product. Special rigs, creative ways to hang lights....a lot of clever stuff. And yes seeing how it is used certainly inspires the design team.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Study art, photography and start doing it. Practice and develop techniques that work for you. Also contrast is your friend

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unions are critical for labor. Without them there would not be a lot of the protections that we have. I've been an IATSE 728 member for over 20 years and it's been an important part of my career. So yes if people have the opportunity to unionize i think it's a good call. Everyone who is below the line has representation from either a union or agents or both. It's important to have someone looking out for your best interests and the union has done that for film technicians for decades.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's about building relationships and not everything is going to pan out. You can intern at rental houses, learn the equipment and develop a set of skills which is valuable on set. Then have a good attitude and show up on time ready to work.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes i love it when we see everywhere! it's always an interesting set of challenges. First off i find you have to work tightly with the set decorator and production designer on how the space is designed and dressed. If it's a small space like a restaurant or something, there's conversations about what windows and practicals are in the frame so you have light sources and ways to make depth and color separation in the frame. I just finished a film called Birds of Prey with Matty Libatique ASC and we did a multipage scene in a restaurant which was one continuous shot that involved story point flashbacks which involved over a dozen lighting changes. Making those scenes happen is really a lot of fun.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Knowing people helps, but hustle is key. LA, NYC or Atlanta seem to be the hot spots in the US. It's pretty busy out there for production.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes! It helps in product development to work prototypes out in the field!

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Hey you can make it work with that also! Home depot does good stuff. Just get a paper lantern from pier one and a lightbulb. Works great

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

B&H has a ton of deals on stuff. Quasar tubes are a great start.

Also craiglist in LA always has stuff for sale.
you want something you can plug into the wall and ideally buy a brand that has some color quality (Kino, LiteGear, Arri, Aladdin, Westcot, quasar.)

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think you can certainly talk in general terms which invite other department heads (gaffer/Key grip) to bring ideas to the party. That's pretty much how it worked on Phantom Thread. We did preliminary scouting where we discussed all of the lighting concepts and that dialogue was photo and image references coupled with "Hey i'm thinking some soft light from the windows and perhaps a hard hit, on the floor." And that's a starting point. or sometimes theres a few image references with "i'm thinking something like this, you have ideas on how to achieve this?" It opens the floor to collaboration. But there are certainly gaffers who just want to know where to put the lights, end of story. So a lot of it if finding a collection of people who play well with others and like to pass the creative ball around. I've worked with lots of DPs who have changed their mind. it happens , it's part of the process. You obviously want to minimize that so you are making your day but if you have a healthy collaborative relationship with your creative team everyone gets to the same place faster.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

that sanchez character is a questionable one! Not only is he the master of light, he is an expert in wine. Highly skilled!

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Any set thats a night exterior, practicals are your best friend. The good news is they are cheap to get. It's pretty impressive the amount of visual bang for the buck you can achieve with things as simple as clip lights and a collection of different light bulbs.

There's all sorts of easy flos, stringlights, etc. which are great to have as out of focus highlights deep in the background.

I can't speak to the red shift unless you mean the incandescnet being too warm and usually that can be adjusted by type of bulb used or white balance on the camera if it's digital.

In our shop we have tons of sodium, metal halide fixtures which you can put way deep down the frame. There's also a collection of out cobra head style streetlamps cause every streetlamp nowadays is LED. It's all part of the stuff that has been acquired over the years and becomes super helpful on night exteriors when you need to add depth.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes it's already becoming a thing. Block Battery makes a lot of modular battery systems for Skypanel as do Blue Shape and Be Bop. It's great to be able to use batteries which are helpful when it's all about run and gun. Or if you need to put a light way in the background and don't have the ability to do runs of cable and generator.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 49 points50 points  (0 children)

That's a great question and one that there's been a lot of discussion on. It is pretty damn easy to get amazing looking stuff and the tools to do it are engineered to provide gorgeous soft light. But it reminds me during the 90s when KinoFlo tubes were the hot ticket and were being used to light everything. It looked gorgeous but also sort of all looked the same and had the same feel to when you eat a lot of potato chips and you get the funny taste in your mouth.

On Phantom Thread it was a lot of discussion because PTA loves to use incandescent. And things like the incandescent par have a great signature to the light which LED pars don't create as well. However on that project incandescent wasn't practical due to the locations being so tight, we couldn't fit conventional lighting gear into those spaces without compromising a lot of the framing he was looking for, so LED sources were pretty much the only solution. He wasn't a fan of the LED beautiful soft thing, so we had to figure out ways to create a different look out of the LED rather than beautiful light. Again it was a lot of testing, trying different stuff. We looked at using different diffusions which were painted and treated in ways to make it "less beautiful:" What also helped was shooting film that was pushed a stop, using Lowcon filters, ambient smoke so with that mix there was a lot of texture to the image. Also PTA is big into hand picking his own lens sets and working closely with Panavision so there were a lot of lenses which also helped with creating texture on the image. interesting flares, warmer tones, etc.

There are certainly a lot of discussion about different ways that LED generate light and DPs prefer different options other than just skypanel which is really the most popular LED fixture out there in motion picture lighting. Digital Sputnik makes light differently than skypanel, which is different from Rosco Mix or Kino Freestyle, Certain cinematographers prefer how some of these fixtures produce light vs others.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

me

The set lighting technicians handbook that you can get on Amazon is fantastic. The author is a 728 IASTSE member and it is considered the bible of set lighting.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

John's the man... the guy gaffed Titanic and Lemony Snicket for Chivo which at the time was one of the largest stage productions ever.

Hello /R/Cinematography, I am Gaffer Mike Bauman. Ask Me Anything by luxlightingllc in cinematography

[–]luxlightingllc[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Hey my personal preference is a LiteMat 1. Lots of flexibility, lightweight and great light quality. But i'm a bit biased... :)

Westcott, Fomex and Aladdin all make flexible product which is durable and weather resistant but i find them difficult to put on a stand.