Film Courage: What did you shoot on? Ben Medina, ECCO movie writer/director: We shot on an Arri
Alexa and it's a great camera, love it,
love it.  Film Courage: And were the lenses part of the
package? Did you get other lenses from
somewhere else? Ben: We have a great
relationship with current our camera in
Seattle and I've worked with them on
commercials before I moved to Los
Angeles so we had a great rapport so as
a producer when I was gonna be shooting
up there I knew we were gonna rent from
them and so we sat down with them and we
told them what our budget was which was
more than they thought it was going to
be because they're used to supporting
independent film they're used to people
coming in and say first of all used to
people coming in and asking for for free
which is ridiculous and then they're
used to people negotiating rates or
asking for a certain weekly rate which
is on the verge of insulting so when we
came in we were super serious and we
said this is our budget this is what
we're gonna do and that's how long we're
going to do it for so they were on board
right away and then I did my test and I
tested cows I knew I was gonna shoot
anamorphic because I the film demands
anamorphic and so I tested cows which
are older lenses the very mixed bag as
far as the quality goes of one set to
another so for example you might have a
set of cows in a morphix where the 75 in
this set is your hero and the optics of
a couple of the other like the 40 or the
100 for example they won't perform as
well whether it's for the first AC or
whether it's for aberrations or whether
the flare is not working for you if
that's what you're into and I tested
those primarily because I was fascinated
by how violent some of the moments are
in the film and if I wanted to
incorporate optics that would lift that
up and sort of add supercharge it so
however that was kind of an outlier
because
I knew that I was gonna shoot cook and
morphix as my primary set since I
started writing this movie so yeah and
then how are you lighting it well we
have a great relationship with Pacific
grip and lighting in Seattle they have a
grip and electric house in Portland they
have a grip an electric house in Seattle
and so Pacific grip and lighting or we
call in pgl they're run by it's run by a
guy named Ray Hammond and he is someone
I've known for my entire career
so that first boxing movie that I shot
on 16 with those actors that all worked
for sandwiches the Kino that we used I
think we could only afford to rent three
lights and we rented them from him and
so he and I have known each other my
whole career and when I came back and
said I'm ready to do a film and I'm the
produce as well and this is what
everything looks like he gave us a deal
that's in the realm of generosity that's
very hard to express because he believes
in me and he believes in what we're
doing and we're very gracious and we
appreciate everything that he does I
think kind of like Turner maybe kind of
like other vendors have experienced you
know sometimes filmmakers aren't full of
gratitude
sometimes they're artists to the point
of ingratitude or they just forget to
acknowledge people we're not like that
and so Ray was extraordinary in giving
our production the tools that I had
gotten used to using in commercial work
so you get used to using certain kind of
lights you get used to using 18 KS and
you get used to using sky panels etc
where you're using some of the best
instruments that are made and so we had
an incredible grip and electric package
the whole movie and he didn't know my
cinematographer but I you know talked
about him and he knows ray knows how
particular and specific I
so he recommended a gaffer for us that
was local out of Seattle who's done tons
of movies and is a very awesome guy who
takes no shit from anyone and so he said
I think you two are gonna get along but
if you don't then don't work with them
because it won't work and he and I met
for a coffee and like in five minutes he
was like oh you're not fucking around
and I was like and his name's Kevin
Cooke he was our gaffer and Kevin
brought on a key grip named Mark buing
and those two were those two created an
opportunity to create those to create an
opportunity for Duncan and I to hold the
bar as high as possible right so Duncan
Cole is my cinematographer he and I are
brothers he and I have the we work in
the spirit of Spielberg and Kaminsky we
work in the spirit of nolan and wally
pfister when that was his DP or Deakins
and the Coen brothers he is the
cinematographer that I've been looking
for for my career I've worked with a
number of cinematographers and he and I
just get each other the reason why we
get each other's were both photographers
first we're both looking at pictures
both creating pictures the second reason
is we don't reference other films when
we're doing our process creatively like
when I bring my visual reference
materials to him I say this is what I
want the sequence to look like and the
color palette is going to shift over
this arc and all that their photographs
or their paintings they're not stills
from movies very rarely I will say that
I won't say never I'll say it rarely
because we're not trying to emulate
another movie we're trying to tell this
story so he and I understand
lighting together very very specifically
and he knows that I'm a compositional
and a aesthetically driven director
visually so we don't ever talk about
composition ever because I'm like this
is what it's gonna look like and he goes
right on man
and and it's the same thing when I've
been on sets before where directors
don't call the lens they don't even know
the focal length they just say I wanted
to do this and that and the DP calls a
40 or 50 mil or whatever and that's the
opposite I call everything and there
were a handful of times maybe two two or
three where you said hey can we look at
it on this and I'm like yeah sure man we
can look at it on that but we're going
to shoot it on that and he's like all
right cool and it became a joke because
sometimes he'd want to look at it on a
50 and I'm like we're shooting out of 40
he's like it's just look at it and I'm
like all right cool and we'd look at it
he's like what you think and I'm like oh
we just wasted five minutes because
we're gonna shoot it on this it's not
like a dictatorial thing it's not like
tyranny it's like I know exactly what I
want every shot to look like and why and
so so in our relationship we're beyond
that we're beyond that he is an
incredible lighting cinematographer so
when we look at how we want the lighting
language of the film to be he
communicates that directly with Kevin
and marks the gaffer and the key in
accomplishing that and so from my work
with Duncan in the past before we did
features together we had that rapport
where I'm like it looks like this and
here's why and we come around here and
it was dark and super silhouetted there
and you know why is that it's like that
and then he goes and we made this very
very very meticulous process right and
then he goes this way
and works with the gaffer and the key
and I go this way and work with the
actors and what about super efficient
and he knows that he called me once he
said you are the guardian of the image
and he didn't mean you're a control
freak he meant you know exactly what you
want so I don't worry about that right
he wants it to look like the way we
wanted to look so he's worried about how
it's gonna be lit to work that way and
from a technical perspective he and I
have a very very dynamic vocabulary
together about all the tools not just
optics or camera tools but
lighting instruments and things like
that and lighting quality and and color
we talk a lot about color and that's
because that's because my goal as a
director is I'm gonna bake the look into
the negative I'm not going to shoot it
flat and then go into the DI with a
color grade and make the color grade
make the framework right so there's a
latitude we've both talked about how if
we were working in a studio movie more
than likely we would have to shoot our
films flatter right because the studio
would want to be able to have more
control in the color grade in the DI and
we don't abide by that at all
and a good example of that is that we
for some sequences we use split diopters
so diopters especially on anamorphic
frames diopters can be they can be
spherical they can be diagonal they can
be pieces of glass but the diopter does
it changes the magnification of the
image so that it appears blurry now you
can accomplish that in the DI you can
make a power window you can add a blur
or Gaussian blur you can make it look
milky right like a flashback or like
something romantic you can do that in
post we didn't we put it on the map box
and shot it that way that's a commitment
to the image you go that's what we're
doing we're gonna bake it in and if we
didn't know each other as well as we do
with that mutual trust we would make
more limited decisions we would make
less committed decisions but everybody
on that team on this first feature Kevin
mark their team's on the grip and on the
gaff side and the camera side we all
became a family they're all coming back
for the next film and it was interesting
for some of them who had done I won't
say who was but it was interesting for
some of them who had worked on a lot of
independent
films and working with us was different
and we were very fortunate to have their
talent because they had probably worked
on some projects they weren't really
stoked about you know they had worked on
some projects that were just jobs and
then they came on board echo and we
built this creative team that was like
everybody in like two days everybody was
like we all care about how this is gonna
be lit we care about how fast the lens
gets on that camera so I can frame up
that shot we care about the sensitivity
to a dolly move you know the vocabulary
of movement in a dolly on the track or
whatever and it was I'm super grateful
for their commitment they all invested
and I think it was a testament to the
professionalism you know they saw this
ripe opportunity to be like hey man I'm
gonna give a shit and they all blew us
away with how much they cared about the
film and so that was you know that was
awesome
you
