Lee Daniels fired 'disrespectful' Precious crew after white DP couldn't light Black skin

Asshole.

This is pretty fascinating insight into the technical parts of making a movie.

You never really think about how lighting works on film when it comes to different skin tones, but apparently, it's a huge deal.

And I can see why Daniels was so upset about it.

Good for him, for taking a stand.

A good DP should be able to light black skin correctly. The truth is, film stock really is designed for lighter skin tones.

The big challenge is getting the exposure right when you have a very dark skinned person and a light skinned person in the same shot. It’s very technically difficult

Did Precious’ mother really force Precious to fingerbang and eat her puss in the movie? Gross

Sidibe is so fucking ugly my sympathies are with the previous DP.

I can 100% agree with him - sounds totally legit. If you're passionate about something, and people come in just like it's any other job, why not regroup if you've got the power to do so?

[quote] If you're passionate about something, and people come in just like it's any other job, why not regroup if you've got the power to do so?

More importantly, the MONEY to do so.

Okay. So no black lighting crew on films where the cast is white, then, huh?

R8 I'm assuming you did not read the full article, but whatever makes you feel better!

Whoever does the lighting on Insecure should do all the lighting on every Black character. Shit, every project shot in LA they manage to make Los Angeles look gorgeous.

Nope, R9!

Well, Miss Daniels, SHADOWBOXER did too suck major ass.

My black skin IS beautiful. And there is so much of it.

It sounds like they're both exaggerating wildly. I don't doubt that there was an issue lighting black skin. I've worked on sets where that has been an issue, but Lee, you're the fucking director. Don't tell me you had no say in who your DP was. I don't buy it for a second. It sounds more like it never occurred to him to ask if the DP had experience in lighting black skin. And yes, Gabby, you're gonna have to do some annoying shit on a low budget film. Boo hoo.

[quote]Lee Daniels fired 'disrespectful' Precious crew after white DP couldn't light Black skin

Pitful trolling.

Not just because he was right, that old DP should have been able to light black skin.

Not just because it paid off because the film was a success.

But because he replaced the DP with ANOTHER white DP who, unlike the first one, knew how to light black people properly.

It’s a fact that anyone who is learning professional portraiture or cinematography will discover early on, but the technology for both still and motion cameras is built to capture white skin.

What r16 says is true and it's something that gets straight to the heart of how invisible and structural white privilege (I can hear all the racists in this thread recoiling, and the sound is pure joy to me) works -- it's built right into the foundations of everything without us even having had to think about it, until recently. The shade "nude" and "flesh" colored bandaids and the way A.I. tech has been "recognizing" black people's faces as apes instead.

I can picture the NY film crew kinda blowing off the production and just being new york cunts to Lee Daniels.

[quote] Sidibe, who went on to receive an Oscar nomination for her role in the Oprah Winfrey- and Tyler Perry-produced film, echoed Daniels, saying the original DP — whom she didn't name — had "no idea" how to light her skin,

Perhaps if there had been less of it to light....

He does not go into detail about what was so disrespectful about the DP. Lack of experience is not the same as deliberate wrong doing.

Sounds right. A bunch of white New York men can become very disrespectful quickly. They start playing off each other and it becomes their thing.

Lee Daniels does a lot of complaining.

r20, seems it was a lack of experience with no desire to learn or improve. Add in the racial component, the person could have easily dismissed it as having no negative consequence on their career because it's just some ghetto black film no one cares about.

r10, the director of photography for Insecure is a white woman named Ava Berkofsky. There's been quite a few articles about her lighting techniques for dark skin. Interesting how a white woman from lily white Wales has honed her craft so much she has gotten accolades for her lighting techniques on dark skin versus white men from a diverse place like NYC couldn't be bothered.

I think very light and very dark skin is very hard to capture correctly. Very dark skin often looks overexposed and very pale skin often looks washed out or it glows like a halogen bulb.

I believe him, men are so arrogant.

If he knew something was wrong why did it take him so long to shutdown and replace key members of the crew.

I'm so glad this got worked out.. I was really concerned.

The explanation he gave resonated with what I heard about the crew on Maurice, they were apparently awful too. Having said that not all directors get complete control over everything, including crew selection. You need a few hits before they let the leash out.

R14 sounds exactly like the "New York crew" mentioned in the story

R4 Yes. It’s in the book that she had to eat out her mom. I don’t remember fingers. It’s also in the book that precious smeared shit all over her face after her father raped her.

So basically the DP turned Lee's advances down. Got it.

Well, for a blowjob at least, anyway.

The only lighting Sidibe doesn’t look bad in is pitch black.

[quote] If he knew something was wrong why did it take him so long to shutdown and replace key members of the crew.

Clearly you didn't read the article.

It's EXPENSIVE to do what he did, and it also takes a lot of nerve to fire the crew. He clearly said in the article that he's not sure if he could do it again.

But he stuck to his guns, and it worked out for him.

No, it's expensive to wait and wait and wait and THEN fire the crew since you have to reshoot everything (in this case) that you think looks bad.

The rudest people i encounter in New York are black and Latino men. White guys are nothing but quiet, super respectful and polite. I have no idea what this guy is talking about, apparently he's never been to New York before.

I thought you aren’t supposed to mention someone’s skin color if it has nothing to do with the point you’re making.

Is he saying they were unskilled or rude because they’re white?

Yes, he's trying to turn it into a racist thing so people will give a shit and give him an Oscar because they feel sorry for him.

[quote]He does not go into detail about what was so disrespectful about the DP. Lack of experience is not the same as deliberate wrong doing.

From his direct quote: "'I need your help because my DP is disrespectful.' They were all white guys, just rude, disrespectful, really rude to what I wanted to do, not knowing I was going to shut it all down."

Sounds like he said that the project was looking shitty and they absolutely did not care. It also sounds like he had discussed this with them multiple times. So he shut it down which they probably didn't think he would do.

[quote]I thought you aren’t supposed to mention someone’s skin color if it has nothing to do with the point you’re making.

Because the problem was the lighting of black skin and their lack of care in doing it in a film that features black actors. And as someone else pointed out, you learn that black skin has to be lit differently than white skin but they apparently never felt it was necessary to learn that nor did they care when he called the DP and his crew out on it.

[quote]The rudest people i encounter in New York are black and Latino men.

I've never had that experience, R36. Perhaps the problem is you?

I don't buy his story, sorry.

And we need to hear about how he fired a white DP and hired another white DP - we need to hear this 12 years later?

Sometimes not every poor fortune, obstacle or attitude is about racism and a personal attack.

For crying out loud - let it fucking go.

I think it's kind of an interesting story and it tracks with other stories I've heard over the years with, yeah, trying to light a very pale person and very dark person in the same friend is a big challenge. I've noticed, even now, that it's easier to read the expressions on lighter-skinned POC actors, which says lighting continues to be an issue. I've never had this problem in person.

[quote] trying to light a very pale person and very dark person in the same friend is a big challenge.

???

R43 think they meant frame not friend. Autocorrect mistake.

Lighting anything dark is a problem. This actress is on the farther end of the spectrum for darker skin too, but a professional crew should've been able to figure it out.

Animal rescues go through the same issue when they try to take good photos of darker pets. There's even a known problem with discrimination towards black animals in general. The theory is that features do not stand out as much. Especially when they try to take cute photos.

I've had some shelters ask me to take pictures after seeing ones I took of black kittens once. They all had homes in 24 hrs. It was a pain but I made sure they stood out and that details were noticeable.

Not a racial issue until it is. The director asked for something but was talked down to, around, sideways and did not receive what he asked for? Yes. Fire them all.

Thank you for writing what you wrote, R45.

Some people here try to make everything political.

This is about fucking LIGHTING!

[quote] The rudest people i encounter in New York are black and Latino men. White guys are nothing but quiet, super respectful and polite.

You have GOT to be fucking kidding.

You actually make me laugh out loud and say "Pffffft!!!"

You are absolutely ridiculous.

I've only had black cats with green eyes as pets.

I never speak to white police officers. The few times I have they have been lazy or foul mouthed or disrespectful. I always always seek out police officers of color.

I'm an older relatively conservative mixed race person who looks mostly white living in NYC. Most people of color in New York are polite. Whites are iffy.

That whole movie is a giant exercise in trolling.

Fascinating. I totally get how the white crew would be rude and patronizing to a black director.

Only straight white people can afford to be rude and be mediocre and still work in the industry. A woman, POC or sexual minority has to be better than average to get the job jobs. White people will play the race card to be rude to black professionals.

And as we have been seeing this last 4 or 5 years, there is so much racism across the board that is now being voiced out loud.

[quote]And we need to hear about how he fired a white DP and hired another white DP - we need to hear this 12 years later?

It was an ACTUAL reunion discussion about the damn movie.

It wasn't like he just brought it up at a cooking demonstration of how he bakes a boysenberry pie on Rachel Ray!

[quote] It was an ACTUAL reunion discussion about the damn movie.

It doesn't matter. I, as a white man, do NOT want to hear the darkies running their mouths.

What's a DP?

And I'm pretty sure it's not what I think it is.

[quote] it's something that gets straight to the heart of how invisible and structural white privilege

Many things in society are geared to the majority of users in the target group. For instance, dry cleaning equipment was geared toward male clothes because that's who mostly used them before - shirts, suits. It doesn't mean systemic "ism" of any sort. It's just the nature of catering to your audience, to your biggest paying clientele.

Isn’t Daniels the one who claimed he was the one going to adapt Brokeback Mountain in spite of the fact McMurtry had purchased it even before it was published?

Gabby still thinks that Jussie Smollett was telling the truth and is not a race-baiting lying asshole, so she has zero credibility.

R56 Analogies aren't your strong suit

It's a great analogy. You just don't get it. The world or your part of it caters to the majority for most purposes.

R60 Bless your heart. I got it, alright - it was just stupid.

P.S. Sorry that got your panties in a wad, as I was somewhat kidding. Clearly puns aren't your strong suit, either.

R55, DP is Director of Photography.

Thanks, R62.

[quote] Many things in society are geared to the majority of users in the target group.

Whites have not been "the majority" in the world, or even in North America, for most of human history. The reasons white have dominated have nothing to do with numbers and everything to do with power.

He fired them because they weren't doing the job to his satisfaction, which is his right. But to bitch it was just a job tor them is ridiculous. Of course it's just a job for the crew. They'll work on projects that may never see the light of day other go on to the Oscars. A production wraps one day and they off to another. What the hell does he think they should consider it?

[quote] Whites have not been "the majority" in the world,

They have been in the US. The rest of the world is referenced in the post because the majority obviously differs around the world. Duh!

[quote]But to bitch it was just a job tor them is ridiculous. Of course it's just a job for the crew. They'll work on projects that may never see the light of day other go on to the Oscars.

A job that cost millions and made millions more, that wasn't just another film, that one would have been one that went to the Oscars and would have looked great on their resumes. Also as a director who has worked constantly they could have one day worked with the guy again!

They were the ones who fucked up here.

[quote]They have been in the US. The rest of the world is referenced in the post because the majority obviously differs around the world. Duh!

And the film wasn't just released in the US, DUH!

From Japan, to Turkey to Singapore the film came out everywhere except for China.

R65 - how dare they treat this as "work" instead of skipping around and being joyful and beaming to work on a film with a director who has made some complete shit in the past?

And anyone with film experience, including Daniels, knew that lighting was going to be an issue.

I don't know why you're all acting like key film crew people come in and do their jobs like they're checkout clerks at a Walmart. They actually work incredibly hard, care quite a lot about what they do and take the job very seriously. If Daniels was having issues with his crew then he was doing something to piss them off. A crew behaves based on how they feel they're being led. If they sense the director is a blowhard who has no idea what they're doing or is an asshole who treats them like shit, then they'll push back. But if a director is doing good work, they'll get behind him and go the extra mile.

Now of course, a DP is a bit of a different story because he fancies himself as much of an "artist" as the director and has his own ideas of what things should look like, and often they are frustrated directors themselves. If the director and DP have not worked out a good collaborative relationship prior to shooting and don't have a similar vision, or if they are trying to establish dominance over one another, the crew will usually side with the DP.

There is a LOT of information missing in Miss Daniels' rather dubious claims. And Sidibe believed Jussie, so you know she's gonna jump on any bullshit claim of racism.

Sidibe publicly believes Smollet. Aren't they best friends? Did you expect her to throw him under the bus for the world to see? Privately, who knows what she's said to him.

But one can't expect much from people who'll joyously cut off their entire family for an off-color comment. What do they know of loyalty?

For balance, let's hear what Mo'nique has to say about Lee Daniels.

So Mo'Nique is lying and distorting things she said about Lee, but Lee can slam the original DP without any evidence? People in the industry know who he's talking about.

Daniels is such a fucking drama queen.

[quote]Now of course, a DP is a bit of a different story because he fancies himself as much of an "artist" as the director and has his own ideas of what things should look like, and often they are frustrated directors themselves.

Lol. Reminds me of this:

[quote]I don't know why you're all acting like key film crew people come in and do their jobs like they're checkout clerks at a Walmart. They actually work incredibly hard, care quite a lot about what they do and take the job very seriously.

No one said they don't take the job very seriously, but this is still just their job.

R68 you seem oddly defensive and invested in this particular situation. Were you there??

[quote] No one said they don't take the job very seriously, but this is still just their job.

I'm not sure what sort of distinction you're trying to make. Everyone's job is "just their job." But if they're taking it seriously, then Daniels should have no beef.