In Hollywood, there is a time before every movie where preparation or "prep" is the beginning phase in which you begin to dial in on all of the important details and logistics of each film with each and key department heads. It's important to know that many films that you have seen over your lifespan have a level of intention within every frame that properly communicates the story outside of the dialogue written on a page. Everything from how the camera moves or the lens choices made to communicate a feeling, to the specific color choices of the set or wardrobe are all selected purposefully. These choices in many cases are all discussed during the prep stages of production.
I'm not going to dive too far into the entire process of prep but one aspect I want to highlight for rising cinematographers is the level of details and precision discussed in prep will better prepare you and your department before you begin filming. One of those methods for a DP is to conduct a screen test. Now, there are many purposes for a screen test and it's not always dedicated for a cinematographer. In Hollywood's case, a screen test will often test their auditioning talent to see if they like their choice of actor for a role. This is important because as you know, a lot of money may ride on the success of the film's lead so this makes this process a reliable resource when determining what your final product may look like.
But today, I want to stress the importance of a screen test for a rising DP. One of my favorite examples of a screen test is when the DP, Director, Wardrobe and Art all come together to begin creating a visual aesthetic for the film. This is key because now you are getting to "previz" how every representation of each department begin to interact on film. Being able to tangibly see the frame with your talent, in their wardrobe and see how the light is responding to each skin tone and color palette of the set and wardrobe provides a "test" to what your film could or will look like before you begin the first day of shooting. A great example of this type of screen test comes from DP Bradford Young, ASC when screen testing the film Selma with director Ava Duvernay.
Bradford most notably attributed these screen test to finding his frame, lighting setups and recognized the approach with working with various skin tones while the talent were in their close-to final looks for the film. Art is also represented with the wallpaper suggestions for the period of the 60s and 70s since they would be in many if not all of the home interior scenes. Being able to see the interaction on screen adds for a more refined revision if necessary. Thanks Bradford!
Working on the short film "The Laundromat" written and directed by Tiara West was a joy in which prep was the heaviest conversation when I was initially approached by her to bring this vision to life. As an image-maker, I was already drawn to the story but as learning and rising DP this was an opportunity that most short-films that come my way don't include a level of prep similar to what we did with The Laundromat.
Tiara initially approached me about incorporating a day where we can screen test our lead talent in the locations. I was actually shocked to be approached like this by a young, and hungry director. Often times many young directors are eager just to create the best you can and refine in post, but Tiara came to me with the method, her approach was more:
"I have an idea, and I want to refine it all the way until our first shoot day."
— so instantly I was won over. As young DPs every source from industry leaders to Youtube creators are showing us how to create a beautiful image and the tools needed but hardly any are teaching you the actual prep and management skills as a department leader and communication skills needed to be able to understand first, your director then your department. I jumped at the opportunity because now we have 2 months of prepping this short and I have the opportunity to build on new skills.
I'll do a deeper dive into all the tools and the many meetings between Tiara and I as we prepped for the short film but again one important aspect was being able to have my Director, our Lead Talent, my Gaffer, our Art department and our AD all in one location to start dialing in our look and frame for our short 2 months away.
Screen Testing was a joy for me because many shoots I had to rely on my skills and my teams skills to make a visually appealing story in such a short amount of time. Many times, we are creating our frames and lighting setup right there on the spot. Often times, I'm approached with enough time to do site visits and begin to talk with my directors and create some previz with them but for me the benefits of the screen test were I was with my gaffer and we created our lighting scheme together at the screen test. We set up 3 different ways of keying our Lead talent along with our main key light which was a Godox 400 Lite mat on a baby menace arm. After seeing the results on a client monitor we knew that this method would be our primary method of lighting for the 2 location shoot. The benefits of discovering that saved us time and communication because my gaffer, Joseph Tova was there with me and Tiara had a tangible ideal of what the frame looked like and what her lead would look like before we starting our production.
Selecting our lenses and our focal length truly defined our prep. For me, shooting super35 I knew I wanted a lot of singles on our lead to be long focal lengths and this would actual be my first time shooting focal lengths longer than 85m. Many shots in this short were to isolate our lead, mimic the era of 90s films and create a shallow focus field with using ND filters to keep our image exposed properly. Those are a lot of variables at play and if I had waited to juggle those parameters on set, then there would have been a lot of time lost waiting on me and camera to get ready. That's a feeling my team didn't want to experience so finding what worked and what didn't assisted our production days and also sped them up.
So I know what you are thinking, "Carlos that's nice and all but we are low budget and don't have time to rent a studio and essentially create another production day." And yeah, you may be right but even if you can't budget the day at least present the ideal where your DP and small team can come out on strength. And notably a screen test can be performed any where. Our screen test was performed in a living room of our AD's brothers house. We placed the artwork up behind our talent and we just used the space that we had for free. Your screen test doesn't have to be in a studio, or at the film location, it just needs to be in a location where you have a little control of light, space and time.
Remember a screen test only benefits you so that everyone is on the same page visually. Your production days are going to have enough challenges as it is but your prep allows you to move faster and to be able to pivot quicker when obstacles come your way.
That's it and that's all!
Carlos Bradley is an Atlanta based filmmaker, and the founder and President of the Society for Cinematographers of Color. His work can be seen on network digital platforms, and in various publications. Be sure to follow him on Twitter and reach out — "I love meeting new filmmakers!"
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