Voices From The Set – An Interview With 30-Year Veteran Gaffer Rick Kalivoda
Update: 2024-12-03
Description
Mixing Light Contributor Rich Roddman CSI interviews Rick Kalivoda, a 30-year gaffer and on-set veteran. Kalivoda talks about his craft in executing the DP's vision, the emergence of LED lighting, and its challenges. This starts a new Interview series featuring on-set crafts that affect post production workflows.
Full notes and additional links, including the video, are on this Insight's homepage: https://mixinglight.com/color-grading-tutorials/interview-rick-kalivoda-gaffer-lighting/
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- (00:00 ) - Introduction
- (00:43 ) - What is a Gaffer?
- (02:57 ) - A typical example of a Gaffer's work
- (05:29 ) - CRI vs SSI
- (07:02 ) - The evolution of LED lights
- (09:03 ) - Why Tungsten is the industry reference
- (12:02 ) - Light fixtures as the painter's palette
- (14:46 ) - Conversations with DPs
- (17:22 ) - LED Volume Walls as lighting instruments
- (19:55 ) - How has large dynamic range changed lighting?
- (25:20 ) - Lighting instruments & lens/camera choices
- (27:47 ) - Tungsten is our butter
- (27:53 ) - Tungsten - it's butter for chefs
- (29:15 ) - Are young DPs missing out on Tungsten?
- (31:20 ) - Managing Depth of Field
- (34:04 ) - Lighting is Logarithmic
- (36:30 ) - How to become a gaffer
- (37:32 ) - Advice for PAs
- (39:12 ) - Passing details from set to post
- (40:17 ) - Key & Fill Ratios
- (43:07 ) - The value of Makeup Artists
- (43:55 ) - What monitor to look at?
- (47:38 ) - What's Rick's trusted measuring device?
- (48:18 ) - Value of the on-set monitor
- (51:10 ) - Zero-budget lighting
- (56:45 ) - Replacing practical lights
- (59:39 ) - Wireless DMX vs Wifi and apps
- (01:01:05 ) - Essential roles on set
- (01:02:00 ) - Wrap Up
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