A Suit And Tie

Nothing like a good shoot. Just finished the short film The Good Muslim. It's about the diaspora of a muslim family and in particular, a middle aged Muslim man who has put his mother in a nursing home. It's a fairly minimal script with very little coverage and very little scenes. Me and Robert (the director) had talked about the lighting plan from the beginning but only came down to a shotlist 3 days before the shoot, over a 4 hour discussion. I think this film has the strongest colours I have ever used, due to Robert's good insistence. If you print it with enough colour, you can't go back in a grade after. It didn't help that we did not have a properly connected monitor that looked nothing like our picture.. But we had other problems...

On the first day, Hu (Focus Puller of whom I have worked with about 5 times) couldn't work out how to record on the Firestore, a hard drive design to record on (instead of digital tape- a 'tapeless workflow is what they call it). So we shot on the PS2 cards instead which wasn't ideal as after 8 mins we would need to change cards and download. The Firestore on the other hand holds 100 mins a go. We did a few shots and then was ready for our main Mosque scene. The Gaffer, Duncan turned the ballast on and it popped before it fired up. It was out. We had to get Lee Lighting to deliver another one. In the meantime, we went to shoot the exterior shots instead. With our 4k HMI blasting daylight from the 2nd floor and the smoke machine going, we had a plume of cloud in the Mosque, it was so cool.

I got 5 hours sleep. Day 2 was at the closed nursing home. It was a very small space to do track and jib shots which we managed. It was a slow start to the day and we had so much to do. I had about 10 lighting set ups to do (and 4 different times of day) and about 20 shots. We had a good crew, most of whom I know and hired. Managing the crew, friends of mine was all good. It's great to be able to manage a team of people to create what you see in your minds eye. From Aesthetic to technical to the practical movement order to achieve the pictures in a given amount of time, it's hard explain what goes into making some films.

Another 5 hours sleep. Day 3 was at the director's flat. All the living room scenes, all three of them. After the first shot of the day, there was a pop and small gust of smoke; our electricity blew. We had to call an electrician to check the house. We ran behind by over 2 hours. We broke for lunch in between. In the break cast and crew chatted. After lunch, things moved swiftly fowards as the lighting set ups changed from afternoon to evening to a sunday morning. I moved everyone along like a little army. We pick up the cutaways at the end that we didn't do for the nursing home (replicating the light from the nursing home scenes). Half of the crew went to grab a well deserved beer down the road at Chav central (we were in Essex). We looked a bit out of place being the only people without turned up collars or lots of flesh to show.

When you are there doing it, there's nothing quite like it. We all work towards one thing and we work fairly hard whether it's mentally or physically. Conversations on film sets seem to always be a stream of sarcastic wit and anecdotes from other shoots. It's great to be among people who you like, can work together professionally, share similar interests (film) and have great sense of humours. Life on set feels compressed. The time you spend with people, though very short, is compressed and friends are quickly made.

There are now some post technical issues which are quite serious now. It concerns the Firestore and how it seemed to cut off at 4mins 50secs and 2frames without us realizing while shooting. Therefore there are some scenes with the ends cut off- one even cut half the scene off. I only found this out the day after we wrapped. This is a little unnerving. I hope what we need to make the film is there in the clips. The problem with this 'tapeless' workflow is that there is no physical material, it's all data- like mp3.

Mmhm. yes.. Mmhmm. Yes I hear what you're saying... Yes. Okay...

As they say, get a grip. Ours was Ed

Filling the Mosque with smoke

One for the magazine

Stills from the film. For this, I am writing down a brief description of how I lit it.


A 4k HMI PAR (4000watt daylight balanced light) on 2nd floor balcony, far right hand side (out of shot). It comes straight down at a 45 degree angle. There is also one 2k fresnal pointed downwards lighting the lower pillar to the right. The others have sunlight on them. We lost the natural sunlight at some point (on the pillar) within minutes of the first take, which was out of focus.

4K HMI outside window coming straight through. Window gelled with full CTO (orange). 2x 2k with full CTB (blue gel) bounced off a poly (polystyrene board) just out of frame to the left. This is creating the slight blue hue in the shadows (see blanket).


2k fresnal with half plus green gel bounced off ceiling (also with green camera filter). The blounced light is also flagged off most of the wall so the light comes down and not on the wall. 2k fresnal with full CTO straight on the back wall lighting the apples. 300watt fresnal high pointed down to light the man with the beard.

Same set up.

2k fresnal around the corner with half green bounced off ceiling. 300watt just to the right of frame pointed down to create an edge light for Alice (though supposed to look motivated by the 'florescent'.

2k fresnal pretty straight on (12ft away) with 216 (diffusion gel). Slightly to the right and closer, direct 2k fresnal but flagged off at her eyes very softley. Gives an even lit face (flattering) and a soft yet defined jaw line.

Close up of the beautiful Alice, one of the leads. I was afraid of lighting her too harshly with the this blast of direct sunlight (2 x 2K fresnals) but she actually looks great in it.


My current status of work is as follows...
I may start doing some camera operating for a cable TV channel, perhaps SKY (through someone I know). Though I do have a moral quarrel with this, I am fairly broke ( i am quite tired of this) and need to pay overdrafts and people money i owe and i need to save up. I have also a few other projects lined up. 3 Shorts. I recieved an email asking me to shoot another short while shooting this one. It's a very visual peice that is about losing and loss. A piece of pathos. The Grip is also writing something he has asked me to shoot and he wants this crew too. We'll have most of the equipment as he owns his own lights and grip gear. The last one is about a man in his forties meeting a teenager in a internet chatroom. It's a ambigious piece that is both mature, sensitive and thoughtful. I'm happy to say all of these will be shot on film (16mm). There is one more but I haven't quite committed to it yet. It's on tape and I'm not too keen on the script. No doubt I will try to work with 'my crew' as often as possible. Azahara made a joke, 'you should start a crewing company and puts ad's out like "Film Wanted- entire crew for hire"'. It might not be such a bad idea...

I was contacted by a freelance writer last week who is doing an article about pre production. I answered some questions and the article will appear in an edition of Practical DV magazine in about 5 weeks. I cared to mention to him that I was a cinematographer and not a director. Most people don't know what a cinematographer is or even exists.

"When studio execs start showing up on set dressed liked skateboarders, you know it's time to change. So we decided we were going to give our profession the respect it deserved. The first AD, Spike (Jonze) and I wore a shirt and tie from day one to the wrap on Adaptation".

Lance Acord, Cinematographer
New Cinematographers
Alexander Ballinger

So did I.

- J

I Am Jack's Empty Stomach

I started this blog as a somewhat answer to not emailing the same thing to friends of news of when i was travelling. What i didn't expect was it to slowly evolve into ever more personal views about life and my own personal life. What can I say? Anyone who knows of it i trust and anybody i don't know, well, it doesn't have much relevance to consequences as i don't write hateful things or instructions on how to make explosives from household goods. Only because i don't know how to. I can tell you how to make a good rocket and tomato salad but i will leave that for another time. All good things...

Three words, 'I- miss- you'. Dare i say, i am fortunate enough to have it written to me many times from friend or lover in some form or other. But when it's from someone 'special', it takes on a different meaning. We all know this. Another thing occurs when we ourselves say it and feel it. It's something I personally haven't felt for quite a while. But I feel it these days for someone. I can't seem to concentrate. When I am with my friends I wish they were there. In fact, i wish they were there all the time.

I'm not a person who misses people easily. I miss my friends who live abroad but it's a different kind of missing. Not the kind that makes you feel like you're naked. Not the kind that's ever present in your mind. Not the kind that distracts you to such a degree that you find it difficult to think about anything else.

Life is short. I have been deliberating about whether or not i should spend more time with this person i miss so dearly. We don't want to be hurt. But then, we want to enjoy life and be happy at times, we just don't want to have the consequences that come with it at times. But unlike taking E, we can change our perspective on the whole thing. We can only feel hurt by our ego. Lets work on that. Lets take that out of the equation if we try, we can. Or as the little green master Jedi Knight says, 'Do or do not, there is no try'. I think perhaps Nike should use that instead of, 'Just Do It'. Or maybe have that scene in Episode 2 where Yoda is jumping about like jumping bean, light sabre in hand, with that old Spike Lee slogan, 'It's the shoes man, it's gotta be the shoes...'. I am drifting off my point... perspective. I came to that why should not one enjoy themselves; enjoy the company of others without the reprisal of feeling ejected afterwards. Live. And don't regret. Make good choices. Eat your greens. Sometimes we just have to enjoy the moment for what it is, not because we are investing in a future. Things can be now and now they are. And don't regret 'nothing' came of it because when you’re in that moment that is it that is what came of it. Lose the ego: Life is short.

It reminds of yet another quote from a film, The Hours. Meryl Streep is talking of her relationship of when she fell in love over 25 years ago and she's lying in bed with her boyfriend (Ed Harris) and she says something to the meaning of, 'It was happiness, though i didn't know it then as i thought it was the start of happiness, but that was it, the moment'.

The drug Ecstasy is named perfectly. The feelings of euphoria are experienced for a time and then there is a comedown, which is pretty horrible.

Happiness, such a it is, fleeting, forgetful of all the bad things in the world and a reminder of all the good, fills us with the sense of well being, the state most of us are trying to attain as a constant. It doesn't really exist. What does is a sense of satisfactory content. I am happy for the people who can attain even this much. And even happier for the people who can be constantly 'happy' though i must attain that they are probably apathetic or ignorant of the world around them. A friend of mine was crying once and i asked her why. She said it wasn't just for me, but all the sadness in the world and all the bad things within it.

Both sadness and happiness can partially be the result of ignorance and/or a lack or perspective. I am not saying this is wrong, but it is what it is.

A computer without a keyboard, a camera without film, an ipod without music; i am Jack's empty stomach. If you ever understood Fight Club, you know what i mean. Perhaps. Maybe. Sort of.

Anyway... I miss her. And actually, despite being distracting, far from it being sad, it's a nice feeling...

- J

What A Difference A Day Makes

For a week or so before my 32nd birthday came it was a shitty week for many reasons and i won't get into. I felt so awful that I could barely look forward to the celebrations and seeing my friends coming for the BBQ. Though someone who I met recently, was coming to visit a few days and a beam of light washed over the grey landscape. Come the BBQ, many friends couldn't attend but those who did seem to have a good time. The weather held despite intermittent showers the entire week before and during the afternoon of the day. It's the one and only time of the year i try to get all my friends together in one place and let friends meet friends. My neice got to learn a new Italian card game the Mafia play. And won my friend who taught her how to play. The fire was good, most of the food was eaten and conversations had. It was lovely and i didn't want it to end.

The next 2 days I spent with my new friend (and prospective more than friend). We met on a train a month and a half ago and we don't know each other well at all but for some strange reason, we have found a instant trust and honesty between us. An easy flow of goodness and kindness exists. Because of or despite of, she does't live in London, she's a lot younger and another significant reason which i won't mention here. She went back to Norwich today. My feelings of desparity and dread has left and in it's place, feelings of warmth and giddiness (though perhaps it is maybe due to having very little sleep and too much alcohol).

- J