Voices From The Set – An Interview With 30-Year Veteran Gaffer Rick Kalivoda

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