benedict_spence_dop

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Film. 99% of the time shit. 1% of the time iconic. I mean it does help to have Jess Barden’s face on it and be directed by Lucy Forbes. But hey yeah FILM, amirite?

This Is Going To Hurt is out tomorrow! So expect lots of spam of this man’s face, lots of lighting diagram things and lots of grammatically questionable crap jokes. If you don’t watch it, and don’t love the lighting, then you clearly hate the NHS.

HO HO HO ETC! Merrily doing the Christmas TV rounds is this, the first of 2 Waitrose adverts I shot for Frozen Dessert Enjoyer @forbesforbes a few weeks ago. Thanks to all the crew who put up with my stollen-cake-based jokes for a whole week. If you love Christmas and haven’t seen it yet, head over to my website and have a peek please. If you don’t like Christmas WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU JEEZ (but also please like my post thanks)

“Having a 1980s New York as a backdrop was a dream come true. The colour and texture of that world offered an amazing and varied pallet.” Benedict Spence BSC on shooting Eric. 
 Read his full Masterclass at the link in bio.

[ERIC + INTERVIEW + LINK IN BIO] Behind the scenes and final from the latest work of @benedict_spence_dop Eric now streaming on Netflix⚡Check our link in bio for an insightful interview with Benedict 🍿 👉 x more behind the scenes and read👇 the caption for more insight 💡 Credits: Lucy Forbes director @forbesforbes Olly Taylor as Eric @theollytaylor Eric costume by @stitchesandglue Alex Holmes production designer @mralholmes Gaffer Zsolt “Hofi” Hoffer Grip @kecskemetidavid VFX supervisor @jeanlouisautret How did you like it? Let us know and have a great day on our channels @filmmakersworld #filmmakersworld 🍿🎬 #filmmaking #filmmaker #cinematography

[ERIC + INTERVIEW + LINK IN BIO] Behind the scenes and final from the latest work of @benedict_spence_dop Eric now streaming on Netflix⚡Check our link in bio for an insightful interview with Benedict 🍿 👉 x more behind the scenes and read👇 the caption for more insight 💡 📝There were a number of scenes in Eric set on a subway carriage, not just scenes with people, but also one featuring our giant puppet monster, Eric. Director @forbesforbes and I knew that would make filming the scenes a challenge. In 1980’s New York the subway carriages were covered in graffiti and mess. We tried to get hold of a real subway carriage in our time shooting in NYC, but we were not allowed to add graffiti to it in anyway if we were going to show it on TV (which of course we were!). So we ended up building our own carriage, during our time in Budapest, on top of a gimbal so that we could rock it around mid-take. Outside the carriage we added banks of LED screens. And on these screens we showed real footage of the real NYC subway, which I took on my iPhone on the scout. We also added a number of ARRI Sky Panels to push light into the carriage, these were pixel mapped and fed a sample of the same video as the screens. Gaffer Zsolt “Hofi” Hoffer can be seen here sitting in for me during the prelight! Credits: Lucy Forbes director @forbesforbes Olly Taylor as Eric @theollytaylor Eric costume by @stitchesandglue Alex Holmes production designer @mralholmes Gaffer Zsolt “Hofi” Hoffer Grip @kecskemetidavid VFX supervisor @jeanlouisautret How did you like it? Let us know and have a great day on our channels @filmmakersworld #filmmakersworld 🍿🎬 #filmmaking #filmmaker #cinematography

After his nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing in New York, unhappily married puppeteer Vincent spirals into increasingly volatile behavior, alienating his friends, family, and coworkers. Struggling with substance abuse, grief-stricken Vincent becomes convinced that he can reunite with Edgar with the help of his seven-foot-tall puppet, Eric. Cinematographer Benedict Spence BSC (@benedict_spence_dop) shot the moving Netflix mini-series “Eric” from director Lucy Forbes (@forbesforbes) with camera equipment including the ALEXA 35 from @ARRI_Rental Budapest. Swipe through the post to read what he says about his experience and click the link in ARRI’s bio to read the full interview with Benedict Spence BSC and colorist Toby Tomkins (@tobytomkins)! Streaming now on Netflix. 📷: Netflix #ARRI #ARRIRental #Eric #ALEXA35 #CapturedWithARRI #CapturedWithALEXA35 #ServicedByARRIRental #Cinematography

Tomorrow at 7pm London time we will be live here with “Eric” cinematographer @benedict_spence_dop breaking down how he lit and shot this show! Don’t miss it! Eric (2024) Directed by @forbesforbes Gaffer - Zsolt “Hofi” Hoffer Key Grip - @kecskemetidavid Colorist @tobytomkins Lighting Breakdown: The Puppet Workshop had to work for a number of different scenes in Eric, across the whole series. Different times of day and different moods, from the very opening of Ep1 to the very end of Ep6. The art department built the workshop inside large municipal building in Budapest, for its scale. Once that had begun, the lighting rigging department took over. We placed 192 custom made, high CRI, RGB LED tubes into the ceiling. Art department supplied us with a large number of period appropriate fixtures to place over our LEDs, as well as practical desk lamps which we placed normal tungsten bulbs. Everything was wired to a lighting desk, which allowed for fun lighting chases and fast working speed. I wanted a moderately cool soft overhead base from the lights, so set them to 6000K, with a little bit of green in there to emulate fluorescents. For night interiors, this was mixed with the warm tungsten to create colour contrast. The overheads could be individually dimmed to “work subtractively” and bring shape to wherever I was shooting; turning them off behind camera created a negative fill effect quickly and efficiently. For day work, we had a number of machines outside, each with a number of Creamsource Vortex 8’s. These could push a good amount of daylight into the scene, cooler for normal daylight, warmer for the start or end of the day. And for the end of Episode 6, we pushed in some glorious beams of sun with 10k Molebeams.

[ERIC] Behind the scenes and final from the latest work of @benedict_spence_dop ⚡ 👉 x more behind the scenes and read 👇 the caption for more insight 💡 🎬For this scene from Eric, the climax of the whole series, we had to get coverage of Vincent (Benedict Cumberbatch) within the Eric costume. 📝Because of the complications of the main exterior shoot day, with 200 extras, we had to shoot these interior Eric shots on a separate day in a studio. 📣Director @forbesforbes and I wanted it to feel like the camera was right there, inside the costume with Vincent, attached to his every move. ⚡From a lighting point of view it had to feel completely believable, like there was a small amount of light leaking through the costume. For this, gaffer @justinewhouse created a white box, made from ultrabounce, and a harder light to push through a pair of “eyeholes” cut in cardboard, lighting Benedict Cumberbatch’s face. This is the only shot in the series we shot on the normal Alexa Mini, this is because it can be stripped down to a very small size. As it had to be attached to an old Steadicam vest, and then attached to Cumberbatch, to give him freedom of movement, it was vital to keep the camera small and lightweight. How did you like it? Let us know in the comments and be ready for another great post about Eric 🍿 We are cooking it and it will be online in a few days @filmmakersworld #filmmakersworld #filmmaking #filmmaker #cinematography

Benedict Spence here, finishing up my hosting of the BSC feed this week with a little crew appreciation post (don’t worry I’ll be banging on about Eric in other corners of the internet for a while still). I’m no mathematician, but I’m pretty sure we had the biggest crew the world has ever known on Eric, having both a Hungarian unit and a US unit. Both teams were truly amazing, and both teams gave everything for a silly show about a missing boy and a giant puppet monster thing. So maybe it wasn’t the biggest crew ever, but it was certainly the best. I’m often asked what is my favourite thing about the job, and yeah sure Air Miles and cool lenses are fun, but nothing beats an amazing crew, hitting a rhythm and being creative and all pushing the the same direction to make something fun. So; thank you Camera, Grip, and Lighting departments, for all for your work and skills in bringing Eric to life. Love you. (Ps there are load more crew than this but I don’t think I follow them on Instagram PROVE ME WRONG)

Another @bscine and @benedict_spence_dop collab, with @filmlights! This time taking apart this night exterior from Netflix’s new show, Eric. In this scene, Cassie stands in a phone box, distraught and waiting for a call which never comes. We shot this in New Jersey, with gaffer @justinewhouse and BBE @sw33tcarolina following a similar plan to our Hungarian night exteriors, shot months earlier. A soft light from above, pushing cool toppy light into the shadows, and a harder near-sodium warmth as a backlight. Creating a never-quite-dark 1980’s NYC night. The rigging team worked in conjunction with art department to fill our shops with lamps, and neon practicals. And a lovely little horrible green RGB LED into the ceiling of the phone box as a key light for Gaby. And SFX threw a load of atmos in for good measure. For Eric, we wanted to create a messy world, full of colour contrast, warms and cools, greens and reds. Night exteriors offer so much opportunity for motivation, the trick was trying to keep it looking somewhat coherent. Oh and that flickering sign? Just a happy little accident 🥰 (I’ll be lurking in the comments answering your questions)