Playing With Fire: When fire breaks out on Chicago Fire, it’s real.

By Michael Fickes

Photo: Matt Dinerstein/NBC. Copyright NBC Universal, Inc.    

Fires – real fires – rank as major characters in Chicago Fire.

Director of Photography Lisa Wiegand and Special Effects Coordinator John Milinac carefully plan the fires for the NBC show from prolific hit-maker Dick Wolf. 

Milinac works with his crew to design and install networks of pipes that jut out of the floor and ceiling for the fire sets – often built in a warehouse. Then, the crew pumps fuel for a fire into the pipes. For safety, camera operators and dolly grips don fire retardant automotive racing suits before the shoot.

In a typical scene, fire trucks drive up to the building – a real building in Chicago with real flames from fireboxes installed in the windows. “The cameras, two ARRI ALEXAS, are always with the firefighters,” Wiegand said. “So the audience discovers problems along with the firefighters.”

Starting fires

Inside, Milinac brings the fire in each pipe up to a planned and pre-tested level. The actors wear firefighter bunker gear – protective clothing and equipment that can withstand high temperatures. “John is always there, along with Stunt Coordinator Rick Le Fevour,” Wiegand said. “If something goes wrong, they will turn off the fuel and put the fire out.”

Holding back fire

Onscreen, the scenes look extraordinarily dangerous. In one scene inside a multistory downtown apartment building, a character named Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer) herds two residents into a room with a window and slams the door on the growing fire that has blocked their escape route down a stairwell. 

Firefighters outside must raise a ladder to the window. While they work, the raging fire pushes against the door. Casey braces his back against the door to keep it shut. The pressure from the fire pushes the door ajar and flames lick around the openings. Casey pushes the fire back and the fire pushes Casey back. He bounces back and forth, moving a foot or more each time. That better not be real fire coming through the openings around the door.

“It was real,” said Wiegand. “But it looks worse than it was. Casey wasn’t moving very much, and the shot was dull. Then Reza Tabrizi, the camera operator, tried zooming way in and way out rapidly and repeatedly. It worked and gave the scene all that energy.”

The crew carries three Angenieux Optimo lightweight zooms for each ALEXA: 15mm-40mm, 28mm-76mm and 45mm-120mm. Then there are two primes: 135mm and 150mm for each camera. The lightweight lenses facilitate handheld shots, which make up 90 percent of each show. Two 12:1 Angenieux Optimos handle studio shots. 

Speed counts

Chicago Fire is a demanding show. Every scene, even the difficult rescue scenes, must move quickly. Large crews facilitate that. “My departments dealing strictly with photographic concerns number 30 to 50 depending on the day,” Wiegand said.

Technology helps. The show uses Burbank-based FotoKem’s nextLab, an automated software solution for productions shot in high-definition digital video files.

“We set up look-up-tables or LUTs before the season,” said Scott Rader, VFX supervisor on Chicago Fire and creative director at Spy, a post-production house with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“The LUTs are digital files that contain color specifications for various scenes,” continued Rader. “For example, Lisa wants a certain look for the interior of the firehouse during the day. There is a LUT that contains color and lighting specifications for those scenes – and there are LUTs for other kinds of scenes.”

When the digital video loads into nextLAB, the software downloads the appropriate LUT for each scene, attaching each to the appropriate video files. “That corrects 90 percent of the color,” Rader said. “We fix the rest during final color correction.”

It’s an innovative system that is slowly replacing disk drive storage. Rader also is in charge of VFX fire. Although the fire scenes are real, Rader’s team often makes them bigger, smokier and scarier, while painting out the safety riggings and harnesses that keep the actors safe during the shoot. So while Lisa Wiegand can scare you with a zoom lens, Rader does it with animation software.

Northeastern Trailblazers

It is no surprise that the filmmaking industry attracts independent spirits. It takes a certain kind of pioneering attitude to complete projects under the stresses of shrinking budgets and condensed timetables. Running a small company in this industry not only requires a trailblazing disposition, but a willingness to learn new skills and to know when turning down a job might be the best thing for your company. With our eyes on the Northeast region of the United States, Markee 2.0 shines its Spotlight on a few small businesses forging their own paths.

Adventure Productions

George A. Stover III, a former TV news videographer, started Adventure Productions in 1998 so he could spend more time on each project and have more creative control over the final product. Almost immediately, Adventure began producing numerous weekly TV series such as Around the House, Bloomin’ in the Garden and Rodricks for Breakfast. The company also specialized in commercials, corporate videos and underwater videography – a specialty of George’s who also is a certified scuba instructor. Today, Adventure Productions – managed by George, Creative Director Mark S. Sanders, and Marketing Director Carol Stover – takes on larger and more involved projects.

“I think the most notable thing about our company is that we just keep reinventing ourselves,” Carol said. “This industry is changing so rapidly, and the uncertain economy is driving a lot of this change. If you are resourceful and fast moving like we are, you can weather those changes and keep getting better at what you do." READ MORE

Robots to the Rescue?

Earlier this year, while speaking to students at the University of Southern California, Steven Spielberg foretold of the impending "implosion" of the movie industry as we know it. His reasoning was the failure of many "megabudget" movies to turn a profit. "There's going to be an implosion where three or four or maybe even a half-dozen megabudget movies are going to go crashing into the ground, and that's going to change the paradigm," he told the crowd attending the opening of USC's School of Cinematic Arts' new Interactive Media Building.

Spielberg's estimation wasn't that big-budget movies no longer would be made, but that the pricing structure for seeing such films would cost theater goers more than an independent film, for example. He suggested the ticket price to see the next Iron Man type of movie could be $25. He might not be far off base.

If you believe the words of movie producer and author Lynda Obst, then "spectacular, Cameron-inspired technology" is all Hollywood has left to showcase. Obst argues in her book, "Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales From the New Abnormal in the Movie Business," that 70% to 80% of studios' revenues are from foreign box offices – particularly China and India – places that produce their own comedies, dramas and other "small" films. Therefore, she says, all that Hollywood has to offer the overseas audiences whose entertainment spending they crave are "razzle-dazzle effects."

If this is Hollywood's future, I can live with it. There are plenty of other outlets for creative writing and storytelling – cable and network television, and online entertainment sources such as Netflix and Hulu, which already are producing their own original programming. Spielberg can see the writing on the wall; he produces the very entertaining Falling Skies for TNT. What I can't live with are continual regurgitations, reboots and unending sequels. Fewer Fast & Furious variations or Superman remakes. More Pacific Rim. If all we're going to see in theaters are "big" movies, I don't want to see another superhero remake. Clearly, the man of steel can't rescue Hollywood. But perhaps men and women fighting for our planet from inside steel robots can.

Share Your Knowledge

With increasing frequency, I have been attending web-based seminars (webinars) on how to be a better journalist (with topics as varied as social media metrics and entrepreneurial journalism). I find that these sessions can be quite instructive. And they certainly are easy to attend since I don't have to leave my office. Plus, technology and the publishing industry changes frequently, so it is important to stay on top things.

Attending these webinars has me thinking: I'm sure there are many Markee 2.0 readers who have valuable knowledge they could share with other industry professionals, and magazines such as this one have built-in audiences for these sessions. Additionally, I'm sure there may be new skills or techniques that many of you would like to add to your repertoire, but you just haven't found the time. Further, I don't have to tell you how often technology changes in your industry. Well, surely you could spare 1 hour while at your desk -- perhaps over lunch -- to learn a new skill or find a new way to get your projects completed.

So, why not try to make this happen? Are you an expert in creative lighting techniques, specialty shooting, video or audio post-production, etc.,? Let's discuss some webinar ideas and make this happen! Just send me an email to get the conversation started.

You provide the knowledge and expertise; we provide the audience. 

Where Imagination Thrives

BigStar composited footage of a real raven in a promo for Game of Thrones.

As I wrote here last month, I am a fan of television commercials. Unlike most TV viewers, I look forward to the spots running between the scenes of my favorite shows. I'm not just looking for a good laugh or a palette cleanser, if you will, during heavy dramas; I admire the creativity behind many TV commercials. (Some of my favorites are listed here.) Markee 2.0 admires this as well, and we often celebrate the creators of these spots in our print publication.

Recently, we featured the work of BigStar, which created a fascinating spot for HBO's Game of Thrones; a52 VFX, which developed an intriguing spot for Nescafe Latin America; Ntropic, which created a spot to showcase a new car from Lincoln; and MPC LA, which worked with Spike Lee on a clever ad for the NBA. What do all of these commercials have in common? Imagination.

Chris Paul appears & disappears in a restaurant booth in an NBA spot by MPC LA.

As Christine Bunish wrote in the article: "Spots and promos are fertile venues for innovative VFX and CG work. Whether they play on broadcast networks, cable, the web, or at trade shows, these short- and long-form advertising messages offer high-quality executions of compelling, heart-warming, elegant and fun creative." For general audiences, these types of spots will be remembered; they will be talked about among friends and shared online. For those of you in the business of creating such spots, you might admire this work for a multitude of reasons, and the work could inspire you when creating the next spot of your own.

So, if you haven't seen these commercials and you're looking for some inspiration while working on your current projects, please read our article and then follow the links to view these spots. Get inspired. Create some of your best commercial work and then send us the links to your finished spots. Who knows, you may end up in a future issue of Markee 2.0 and, in turn, inspire someone else's great commercial work.

Commercial Music

With the 2013 Clio Awards taking place this month (May 15 in N.Y.C.), I've been thinking about some of my favorite commercials. In today's DVR world, most American television viewers (and I suspect most TV viewers around the world) tend to fast-forward ("skip") through the commercials while watching their favorite programs. However, I actually enjoy commercials and am keen to find the next spot that will make me laugh, cry, or scour the Internet looking for the song used in the campaign.

Some of my favorite campaigns over the years have come from Publix Supermarkets, Heineken, Subaru, and Apple.

What appeals to me in finding those next great commercials is the writing. As a writer myself, I am acutely aware of the creativity involved in being able to tell a story in a 60-second or 30-second spot – one that not only is memorable, but a story in which the viewers are able to identify with the people or situation. And the advertiser hopes you would, in turn, want to purchase their product. It's astonishing how much of a story can be told in so little time.

Of course, we all know that these great stories must be filmed and edited, and that's where the talented readers of Markee 2.0 Magazine come in, right? With our "Making Commercials" articles, we highlight the talent and creativity involved in making some of television's best spots.

The music and sound found in television commercials also can draw a great deal of attention. Think of the early iPod campaigns or the Nike ad from 1987 when "Revolution" became the first Beatles track to be featured in a spot. Just as in film, music can play a key role in making a commercial memorable.

Throughout its history, Gap Inc., has strived to make its commercials memorable through music, from Madonna and Daft Punk to The Avett Brothers and now, Ki:Theory. As Markee contributor Michael Fickes described in a recent article ("What Color is the Music?"), "Few brands have a commercial footprint as recognizable as The Gap. Gap commercials are recognizable after a few frames of white scrim and a few bars of music." Indeed. Have you seen the ad Fickes describes? The image below from the commercial links to the full ad on YouTube.

NAB 2013

One of the more interesting booths at NAB 2012, TVLogic's doll display.

It's that time of year again. The time when it seems the entire industry gathers in one place – the Las Vegas Convention Center – for the NAB Show. Every year, it seems the show gets bigger and better, with more exhibitors, more specials sessions, and exciting product announcements. If you've never been, I encourage you to go; it's an amazing spectacle.

Markee will be at the show in full force with nearly our entire staff. Moreover, our March/April issue will debut at NAB so be sure to stop by one of the magazine bins and pick up a copy or two. (It's ok, you can grab some for your friends.) The issue features an NAB Preview of some of the new products you can find in the exhibit halls, so you can use it to plan your sojourn through the convention center.

Speaking of being prepared for the show, I recently ran across an interesting blog post about how to be best prepared for the size and scope of NAB – it covers everything from what to carry, what to wear, and what not to bring or wear. You can check it out here: http://www.toolfarm.com/blog/entry/micheles_nab_survival_guide. The site contains some valuable information; be sure to read through it before you finish packing for the show.

If you can't make it this year, look for a post-show report here soon, and follow us on Twitter (@MarkeeMag) for regular updates from NAB 2013.