A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Malibu...

[Alex]

I videotaped some interviews for a proposed TV show idea in it's infancy. We shot in Malibu. (Ok, I had no crew, it was just me, but "we" refers to everyone on the set).

I got to choose which room in the home I could shoot the interviews in. I just fell in love with a room that had no furniture in it! The room faced the ocean and had a nice big window to let gorgeous soft mid afternoon ocean sun in. There were two built in planters that started by the wall and extended into the room, they held flowers and gave the room additional depth by taking away the rectangularness of the room.

What made the room the most appealing however was the ultra ultra plush carpet on the floor which removed all the echo from the otherwise empty room. This is just not a situation I get to be in, ever! A home with nice big empty room, with no echo, and soft sun light as my front light!

Well, as it turns out, the sky got incredibly overcast, and my sun front light was nowhere near strong enough. I supplemented my sunlight with a tiny HMI daylight balanced portable light as my additional front light, and then I placed a second HMI light as a top/back light that I was able to put up on the stairwell off to the side of the room.

I got probably one of the best looking shots I've ever made. Gosh, the room had just enough "design to it, and huge depth, that I really was able to do a lot with a little.
And the sound was just fantastic. I used a C-stand and boomed a sennheiser microphone overhead.

Anyway, start empty and don't add to much to the frame, what a treat as usually I don't get that luxury.

[Greg Crawford]

Thanks Alex for stopping and smelling the "Visual" Roses.