We were fortunate enough to be able to stage MERRIme in a furnished, luxurious Beverly Hills home, set against a spectacular Los Angeles city skyline. My “big idea” approach for MERRIme was exposure efficiency. I figured out that using the fastest prime lenses available [Zeiss T1.3] and shooting wide open at T1.3 exposure—although challenging for focus—would require smaller lighting units, less cables, no generators, and the most efficient use of crew. Lighting at very low light levels for big night scenes not only speeded up lighting time required, but gave us wonderful opportunities to showcase the dimly exposed Los Angeles city skyline against which our location was juxtaposed.
Ryan Eggold & Kaily Smith scene on MERRIme.
MERRIme was shot on the Red One. I shot on both the daylight and tungsten modes, although the tungsten mode has a tendency to, at times, introduce digital grain, as the blue channel in that mode is not activated. I used many filters in order to control exposure and enhance in-camera images as desired—a polarizer to saturate skies or control reflections when shooting at angles through glass or water; graduated neutral-density (ND) filters to control exposure; and straight neutral-density (ND) filters to ensure I could shoot at T1.3, thus creating the shallowest depth of field possible. I also used a Tru-Cut IR-750 filter, which corrects the potential for color shift from the Red Camera’s digital chip.
Kaily Smith on a romantic candle lit date in MERRIme.
Having chosen a small lighting package, my next efficiency challenge was day exterior shooting. My solution was simple—shoot split days from 11am until 11pm. Because we were shooting three scenes a day, split days ensured that only one scene would face the difficult challenges of harsh lighting when the sun is very high in the sky. The other two scenes would be shot in low sun, magic light. I always try to get what I call my Days of Heaven magic naturalism moments, like when the late, great cinematographer Nestor Almendros shot that entire Academy award-winning feature for cinematography in gorgeous magic light. We would then shoot the third scene at night—my absolute favorite. Night shooting gives you the fullest control of every aspect of exposure. By breaking up our days into three parts: harsh light period / magic light period / night light period, we were able to have crew pre-light each scene, as the parameters of the external / natural elements were predetermined.
Kaily Smith & Tony Hale scene at the Buddha Bar on Sunset Blvd.
