DEFINITION September 2018

SHOOT STORY | DARK HEART

found us one of those huge motorway trucks with the flashing arrow. We had the normal traffic control company that we use for filming supply lots of extra traffic lights – we lit that whole scene with the strobes off the traffic truck.” In that scene, as well as any others involving DMX-controllable lighting, Ed and gaffer James Bridger used Synthe FX’s Luminaire software on a tablet. “That extended particularly to the two weeks we were in the police station. Every single officer’s desk light had separate lights – we had VersaTiles, the two-by-two-foot LED panels, dotted around.” With a background in stage lighting, Ed values the assistance: “it was so quick. Having the equivalent of a [lighting] desk operator makes so much sense.” LED FIXTURES This approach was particularly valuable when shooting the streets of London at night. With the camera on the gimbal, Ed was able to work flexibly and with a small crew, including electrician Mel Hayward. “He manufactured a sort of LED fixture to go in a 30in JEM ball which could be any colour we wanted. We did sequences where the hero was running around Soho at night and the only light would be the electrician holding that JEM ball on a C-stand arm and the gaffer controlling the colour [using wireless DMX].” If I wanted things a bit crunchier I would go up to the full strength

RIGHT Ed left his DJI Ronin 2 gimbal in remote camera mode and controlled it with DJI’s new wheels.

was a bit more crushed in the shadows.” Ed supervised grading of Dark Heart at Technicolor during August. Having become a father less than two weeks before being interviewed for this article, Ed has “intentionally turned down a lot of longer things that were over the summer – I just did commercials and short stuff. The next long thing I’m talking about will be August, September, October onwards.” Though Ed is sworn to silence regarding this upcoming project, Dark Heart will air – perhaps under another title – during October and November. “It was a very happy shoot,” Ed concludes. “A lovely cast and crew, and despite the subject matter being some quite grisly crimes the mood on set was a lot of fun.” Dark Heart is due to air on ITV HD later this year.

Digital imaging technician Shibbir Ahmed used LUTs from ARRI’s Look Library, a paid firmware upgrade for the Alexa Mini cameras which provides a selection of 87 colour treatments for monitoring and to provide a basis for grading. Ed explains, “what I’ve done in the past is go and design a LUT with the colourist. Maybe you have different LUTs for different scenes. I found that I was doing relatively coarse grading when I was designing these looks.” Relying on ARRI’s LUTs made for a much more reliable, better- tested set-up. “There was one LUT that I really liked called ‘City’, and we had all three strengths loaded on both cameras. I would mainly stay with the middle strength. If there was a situation where I felt that the flare was a bit much, if I wanted things a bit crunchier, I would go up to the full strength which

60 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 8

Powered by