The most significant technical advance in photography since “digital” is only a few months away.  Lytro is now taking orders for a new and innovative consumer camera called a light field camera priced at $399.  Instead of capturing images with a single plane of light (traditional cameras), these new cameras capture the entire light field. That means all of the light traveling in every direction through every point in space – specifically 11 million rays of light data.

Changing Focus

OK, so what does this mean to a photographer? By substituting powerful software for many of the internal parts of regular cameras, light field processing introduces new capabilities that were never before possible. By incorporating sophisticated algorithms, light field cameras allow both the picture taker and the viewer to focus pictures after they’re snapped, shift their perspective of the scene, and even switch seamlessly between 2D and 3D views.

The best way to get your head around this concept is to play with some photographs taken with the Lytro camera.  Try shifting the focus point in the images below by clicking your mouse over the area of the image that you want to be in sharp focus.  It’s pretty cool, try it.

Lytro photos

Professional Applications

Now before you dismiss this camera as a mere gimmick for point and shoot amateur photographers who can’t focus, think about all of the ramifications when this technology migrates into the professional world.  If this becomes a dominant tool in video production, focus pulling will no longer be necessary – sorry AC’s!

Like other production aspects, the focus point in a scene will be determined later in post-production by the director or editor. I’m sure that when that day comes, there will be a period of time when excessive focus racks will be all the rage.  However, in artistically appropriate hands, the ability to subtly direct a viewer’s focus will become an improved tool for storytelling. It is also likely that 3D video capture and presentation will be greatly improved using this technology – assuming of course that interest in 3D films continues.

It may actually take a while before light field technology reaches professional level still or video cameras.  The current Lytro camera is not very high resolution and it’s already taken a lot of R&D to perfect and manufacture the current light field sensor.  There will also need to be additional advances in processing and storage in order to manipulate the huge amounts of data needed to capture and save the entire light field in a video camera devise.  But when that day arrives (no predictions – I’m not an engineer), we can look back to the launch of the Lytro $399 camera in early 2012.  And in the mean time, it will be interesting to see how fast the public embraces this new photographic breakthrough.

Here’s a video that shows what the camera looks like and describes some of the easy to use features.

Roar, the Movie

This was a typical day for me working on a movie called “Roar” in the summer of 1978. Some days were much more frightening, but I survived working for 6 months on this movie, arguably the most dangerous feature film ever made. It’s a little known film, even though it starred Tippi Hedren (“The Birds”) and her daughter, Melanie Griffith. Why was it so dangerous? Well, you would have to blame that on the cast of 150 large felines – including lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars, and cougars. The video below introduces some of the lion characters.

Inspiration to Reality

The saga of Roar began when Tippi Hedren and her husband, Noel Marshall (producer of “The Exorcist”) came up with the idea of making a movie about lions. They were inspired on a trip to Africa when they saw a former game warden’s house taken over and inhabited by a pride of lions. They were also passionate about communicating the plight of wild animals that were losing their natural habitat.

They originally wanted to “rent” Hollywood trained lions. They soon discovered this was impossible on the scale that they imagined. Noel and Tippi bought a large ranch outside of Los Angeles and began the long process of collecting and raising lions along with their family (Melanie Griffith, Joel, John, and Jerry Marshall). Most of the first lions were rejects from zoos, circuses, and private owners unable to cope with the responsibility. After many years, their labor of love evolved into one of the largest private collections of big cats (approx. 150) in the world. Although tigers, cougars, and jaguars are not found in Africa, Noel found a way to write them into the story – so they could be in the film as well.

Epic Filmmaking

From inception to completion, the creation of Roar spanned a period of over 10 years. It took 5 years just to complete the photography. The result is an amazing feat of highly risky filmmaking. Although Roar doesn’t rank in film history as a classic movie, it deserves recognition for having the most amazing and epic footage ever filmed of lions interacting with humans – both loving and violent.

Roar did not utilize any special visual effects. It was produced well before the days of computer generated trickery. Although clever editing was sometimes employed, it’s obvious that what you are seeing is real. Lions are fighting each other and people are really tackled by lions. Occasionally, the blood is real; a few actors were actually bitten (not by plan) on camera!  The following scene demonstrates the incredible risks and the consequences. When Noel charges in to break up a fight between male lions, one of the lions bites his left hand (:26 sec). It happens quickly, but you can see the blood when Noel shakes his hand and briefly looks at it (:29 sec). This isn’t your average “Disney family film.”

Method Lions

Did I mention that the big cats weren’t trained? After spending years raising lions, Noel understood that lions could be trained to do simple “tricks.” But the problem is they get bored easily with their “trained performance” and therefore, they don’t look very natural or spontaneous. As the director and lead actor in the film, Noel made a bold choice that was definitely more dangerous and time consuming. Even though it was a narrative film, much of Roar was shot documentary style. Oh sure, there was a script and a general storyline, but every scene involving lions was improvised and photographed with at least 4 cameras. Some scenes were covered with as many as 8 Panavision 35mm cameras!

Since the lions were not “trained” to do anything, no one knew exactly what the lions would actually do. We just kept running cameras until the lions “performed” some spontaneous behavior that might fit the scene. No wonder it took so long to complete the movie. Noel’s lions were quite “method” with their performance philosophy. They refused to hit marks, and they would often lie around sleeping until they felt right about doing the scene. They weren’t “Acting,” they were Being. And Coppola thought Brando was difficult on “Apocalypse Now!”  This improvised approach did yield some magical moments that could not be planned or duplicated. Watch the “cub conversation” below.

Big Break or Big Bite

Me and my 500 pound friend "Boomer"

Although the big cats were familiar and somewhat friendly with their human owners (Noel and Tippi’s family), they only tolerated the crew making the film – including me! It was my first professional film job and I was desperate for the experience, credit, and the money. Today, it’s hard to believe that I was anxious to risk my life for a starting salary of $125 a week!

But Roar was a great opportunity for me to break into the business without a lot of experience. It was an ongoing feature project that was often hiring new crew members due to the long schedule and high turn over (stress and injury). Fortunately, no animals were injured during the making of Roar, but many of the people involved weren’t so fortunate. Over 70 crew members and actors were injured during the filming. I was one of the lucky ones. I made it 6 months with only minor “play” scratches. In just the third week of shooting, a lioness bit the cinematographer, Jan DeBont, in the head – effectively “scalping” him! After receiving over 200 stitches, he courageously continued with the film until it was finished.

Roar was an incredible experience I’ll never forget. As you can imagine, I now consider my work with dogs and cats, for clients such as Animal Planet, a piece of cake! I’ll be sharing more amazing stories about Roar and my personal experiences on the film.

After being unavailable for many years, “Roar” and “The Making of Roar” can now be purchased on DVD at http://www.roarthemovie.com. The website is run by John Marshall, son of Noel Marshall, and one of the actors in Roar. The website has free video clips and more information about the film. Proceeds from the DVD sales goes to the Shambala Wildlife Preserve, a non-profit sanctuary formed by Tippi Hedren to care for exotic animals no longer wanted by zoos, circuses, and private owners. You can read all about Tippi’s commitment to allow these animals to live out the remainder of their lives in a beautiful and tranquil setting: http://www.shambala.org/

Amazing New Sensor

At the heart of the Sony PMW F3 is a super 35mm Exmor CMOS sensor that has larger pixels for superior light gathering.  Like other large sensor cameras, it has a beautiful cinematic look with shallow depth of focus similar to 35mm film.  What makes the Sony PMWF3 really stand out is the ability to record very clean images in ultra low light. The native sensitivity of the sensor is an impressive 800 ISO.  What is amazing is how high the gain can be pushed (increasing the sensitivity) with little or no noise.  See my candle test video below to see just how sensitive to low light the camera is.

In the video test, only the tiny flame from one candle illuminates the model’s (McKenzie Coffee) face – a standard 1” tapered candle held approximately one foot away (one foot candle).  The background lights were miniature Christmas tree lights on a dimmer at 50% voltage.  The gain on the camera was increased to +12db which is the equivalent of 3200 ISO.  The lens was an 18-80mm Arri Alura zoom.  The shutter speed was 1/48 sec (normal for 24fps) and the exposure was f2.8. The image is original ungraded footage from the Sony SxS card.

Impressive Dynamic Range

The Sony PMW F3 also has a very impressive dynamic range of approximately 12 stops.  Using the S-log feature (optional software upgrade), one gains an additional stop of dynamic range – mostly in the highlights. Sony just announced an upcoming firmware upgrade that will enable the S-log to capture one additional stop of highlight detail. This should place the Sony PMWF3 within very close range of the Arri Alexa’s 14 stop dynamic range. Keep in mind that even with the cost of the S-log upgrade, the Sony PMW F3 is less than a third of the cost of an Arri Alexa. I’ll be posting a blog in the future comparing the Sony PMW F3 with the RED MX, the RED Epic, and the Arri Alexa. I’ll also be discussing the newly announced RED Scarlet and the Canon C300.

Below is a commercial for the Oregon Lottery that I shot using the Sony PMW F3.  We had some very high contrast day interiors with bright windows.  I was very pleased with the “balance” I was able to achieve without adding any ND gels to the windows.  This project was shot just before the S-log upgrade was available.

Preparing to shoot "virtual extras."

Communication Critical

There are the obvious dos and don’ts like keeping the talent as far away from the green screen as possible to avoid shadows and minimize green reflection. But there are lots of other little things that can cause problems later. Many of these issues can be eliminated or reduced with clear communication between the following people: director, DP, art director or set decorator, wardrobe, make-up & hair, editor or effects person. Often, the wardrobe person is ONLY told to avoid green clothing. But I have also seen issues with shiny fabric or lacey material like scarves. Any sheer material that is partially translucent may allow green screen “bleed through.” Hairstyles with teased fine hair can also be difficult to key cleanly. Blonde hair, in particular, is very susceptible to reflecting green spill. If your only talent has blonde hair, it’s worth discussing with the effects person the idea of using blue screen instead of green screen.

If set dressing is used, it’s also important to get the art department involved prior to buying or renting furniture. I’m still surprised at how often chrome and glass furniture arrives on a green screen set. Even wood furniture, like a desktop, can reflect lots of green. Some of these issues can be mitigated on set using strategically placed flags that will be garbage matted out later. And yes, there are other ways to fix these issues in post – but the set aesthetics vs. the post budget should be thought out and considered ahead of time.

As much as possible, I try to first discuss green screen projects with the director, as well as the person executing the effects, prior to shooting. I want to make sure we’re on the same page and that I make the job as easy as possible for post production – within the time limits of the shooting schedule. From the director, I want to know if the background (replacing the green screen) has already been shot or if it will be shot after the green screen shoot. Sometimes the background might be a virtual background – either pre-existing or to be created with CG tools. In these cases, I don’t usually have to match any lighting.

Matching Foreground and Background

However, if the project intends to composite green screen foreground elements over a background plate that was shot with live action, I have to study the background plate carefully (assuming there is no technical information available). If realism is a goal, I first study the lighting (angle, intensity, soft or hard quality) so that I can match the foreground lighting with the background plate. Nothing screams “process shot” like grossly mismatched lighting. I also pay close attention to the focal length perspective of the lens (wide, normal, or telephoto), depth of field, and camera height perspective. In the reverse scenario, it can be more challenging to match lighting if the green screen elements are shot prior to shooting background plates – particularly if the background is an exterior. In this case, the production team has to anticipate what kind of shooting conditions are likely (or possible) when the background plate is to be shot. What time of day will it be? What direction will the camera face and where is the sun? Or, is it likely to be overcast?

One advantage to shooting the green screen action first, is that I always record additional matching data such as the lens focal length (bearing in mind the camera format and sensor size), camera height, camera to subject distance, and focus point. The f-stop could also be a factor, as it relates to depth of field. The ideal green screen scenario is shooting the background plates first and recording all of the important data for matching later in the studio. However, this is not always possible for a variety of reasons.

In future posts, I’ll be including videos with project examples that demonstrate specific visual effects including both basic and advanced green screen techniques.