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Shooting Spies

In Notes From the Set by Rod Santiano1 Comment

Last week I shot a commercial for a new product of which I, of course, can’t talk about until the spot is done. It’s a product for kids—and parents, I suppose—so kids were the talent… four of them… plus a dog… one-day shoot… fun times! The director wanted to go for an espionage-type concept along the lines of Mission: Impossible. As we talked about the concept and the look he was going for, it became clear in my mind that we needed to shoot this spot in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio (or 2.4:1 as it is now handled these days). It was an easy sell as he agreed without any delay. I also thought that we needed to use a hazer for the shoot to give the shots the texture and feel of what most movies like that would have. That was a bit of a longer sell because I had to explain what a hazer was, what the effects were and why we should use it. That explanation ended up being retold to various people (i.e. the client, people on the set, etc.) as the question came up a few times. The easiest explanation for the question of “Why …

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Note to Self: Dress Warmer!

In Notes From the Set by Rod Santiano1 Comment

On Saturday I went to the BYU spring game with an unnamed director to get some footage for a possible unnamed project.  I know nothing about sports; so, after the director filled me in on what “spring games” were, I was still left puzzled as to why I was standing in freezing, snowing and sleeting weather.  This was not Spring.  This was the dead of winter as far as I was concerned. When I saw that is was snowing in the morning, I had planned to wear some pretty warm clothes which would have included a hoodie, a jacket, multiple layers of shirts, a ball cap, gloves, earmuffs, double socks, maybe even my pajama pants underneath my jeans.  Well, earlier in the middle of the night, I had to take my baby daughter to the ER for some respiratory problems.  I think I was so frazzled by the stress of figuring out all the logistics of getting my other kids to their grandparents’ place and getting back in time to start shooting, I forgot about all that warm stuff and left with just my plain-old jeans, a T-shirt and jacket.  Luckily I had my son’s gloves and earmuffs in the car. …

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King and I

In Notes From the Set by Rod Santiano5 Comments

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shoot an interview with Larry King at his home in Beverly Hills.  It was a simple interview done in what looked like his TV/trophy room.  I envied his giant LCD screen that was hanging over the fireplace.  Anyway, back to less important stuff… It was a simple lighting setup.  Simpler than the usual simple even.  I chose to shoot him (and his wife) in a corner that featured a window and some of his many trophies and plaques.  We shot the interview on the 5D MkII with a 24-70mm lens.  It’s probably not the best lens for interview work, but I’ve used it many times before and always get great looking footage.  The 70-200mm lens would probably be the better lens to shoot with, though.

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Early Lighting Experiments

In Notes From the Set by Rod SantianoLeave a Comment

My wife and I were digging through an array of boxes the other day in a long-awaited moment of filling up long-past needed bookshelves that we found online for a steal. We’ve had boxes upon boxes of books and keepsakes stored in endless garages, storage units and closets since, well, even before we met each other. This last week, we actually got enough bookcases to provide a home for all that… stuff! Among the stockpile were negatives and prints from some early lighting tests I had done quite a while ago. There were no dates on any of the prints, but based on my recollection and the clues found within the photographs (i.e. the Back to the Future deLorean model kit from 1991 and the Macintosh LCii which was discontinued in 1993), I’d say they were taken sometime around 1992.  I graduated high school in 1991 and started attending ArtCenter College of Design in 1994, so these pictures were done during my junior college days.

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The Only 2 Things Billy Joel Ever Said To Me

In Notes From the Set by Rod Santiano4 Comments

“This is it?” and “I need some space.”   One mildly annoying thing about the film industry is that, regardless of how simple a shot may be to get, you almost have to put on a big to-do to make the producers feel like they’re getting what they paid for. Sometimes, if given a blessed situation, all you need to shoot a scene is a bounce card or nothing at all. But take a few hours to put an 18K HMI through a double 12×12′ silk and now you’ve got a production even the biggest movie star can be proud of walking on to! Maybe I’m exaggerating… or maybe I’m not. My point is, sometimes you really don’t need much of anything to get a good looking shot.

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Still the Uptown Girl

In Notes From the Set by Rod Santiano4 Comments

So if you’re past your mid-thirties, you probably know how hot Christie Brinkley was in your childhood memories. Well, let me tell you, she’s still absolutely gorgeous. Christie was a no-brainer subject for this documentary but it wasn’t until late in the game that we finally got permission to do the interview. We went to her house in the Hamptons for the shoot. We looked around her place to find the best spot to shoot and she told us that she had a beach house nearby that we could also shoot at. We went over there and ultimately decided to shoot in her living room back at the house.

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Off to London to See Paul

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After the concert, we were able to schedule a follow up interview with Paul McCartney at his office in Soho, London. We were shooting in New York at the time so we left from NY on a Wednesday, interviewed him on Thursday and then flew back in time to keep shooting in NY on Friday. After I had setup all the lights with a stand-in (the director), Paul’s assistant arrived and told me that the lighting had to be a certain way. It didn’t exactly agree with the style that I had been going with for every other interview we had shot for this film. After he made his case, I needed to do some quick adjustments before Paul showed up.

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Celebrity Surprise!

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In two days, I had the amazing experience of not only shooting behind the scenes footage of the historic Billy Joel concert, I also got to shoot interviews with Steven Tyler, Garth Brooks, Tony Bennett, Don Henley, John Mayer, Roger Daltrey and John Mellencamp.  Then I followed Paul McCartney from the greenroom on one end of Shea Stadium to the opposite end where the stage was.  It was pretty cool. On the day of the concert(s) I heard there may be some guest artists invited by Billy to sing a song or two.  It was really cool to hear exactly who was coming—and how many of them.

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Sting and Mike on Bikes

In Notes From the Set by Rod Santiano1 Comment

Towards the end of the the Billy Joel doc, we had the opportunity to interview Sting. The interview was shot at a recording studio in Malibu. The best spot we could find for sound and picture was a waiting area right in the middle of the hallway where all the recording studio doors opened up to. Luckily, it was on a day that wasn’t very busy. Sting showed up by himself on a bicycle, took a shower and we did the interview. He was really nice and was a great interview subject. It wasn’t the first time someone showed up on bike to an interview without any hoopla.