Welcome back to a series where I give you the Ask (the directive or request from my Gaffer/DP) and give you the chance to solve the effect your way before I show how I did mine.
When I teach programming, I try to impress on my students that programming is a service with incredible range. You need to be able to go from doing EXACTLY what someone tells you to do as fast as they can speak the commands to having a vague description given to you and filling in the details yourself. My favorite example of the latter comes from doing Coyote vs ACME. Even though the bit was cut from the movie, I’m going to share it with you because it’s a good exercise.
The Setup
We were on an overnight shoot in an office (the Avery, Jones and Maltese lawyer’s office) and we are all in a daze because the lighting has been pretty static all night. A call comes over the radio from the amazing Gaffer Jay Kemp.
“…..uh…..” (Instant tension verging on terror since Jay never speaks this way.)
“…we’re adding a scene…uh…”
“Apparently, the Coyote gets stuck in a microwave…”
“…”
“……make an effect.”
That was the entire directive. Now for context (and to be super fair), Jay is usually incredibly specific. He’s a big picture gaffer who is capable of getting granular at the drop of a hat. But on this one- that’s what he had to offer.
The technical- we had a small custom light source in the shape of an egg that was RGBwWcW and I had about 30-60 seconds to create something. Feel free to use one pixel on anything- an S30, a V4, any Aputure light, whatever. But only one source with one pixel. No Hydrapanels in 6 pixel mode, nor anything like it.
Work up your own ideas and if you’re comfortable, share your work in the comments. For me, the entire appeal of sharing this is this is a wide-open opportunity to create anything you want, and less about any technical acumen. I’ll be back next week to share how I did it and (perhaps more importantly) the thought process I had that lead me to choose what I did.
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Mark LaPierre is a programmer in film, television and theater based out of Albuquerque. He grew up in live entertainment and has been a designer/programmer for musicals, concert dance, live music, circus and corporate. Mark is a proud member of IATSE Local 28 and 480, an ETC Eos trainer and an enthusiastic trainer of many other platforms and subjects. He offers remote console coaching in 30 minute to 4 hour times as well as a full range of training in person. If you enjoy his content, please consider commenting on his posts on the website to appease the Algorithm.