Inconsistent lighting – Rant?

Hello all,

I do color grading as a side hustle, mainly work with some indie projects form time to time. My rate isn't super high because I'm upfront with them and tell them I haven't had years of training. I've been passively color grading for 5 years, I've done a few big projects from time to time.

I wanted to help some friends of friends with their film. They're all very green and it's super low budget, but I figured I'd help out with color.

I looked at the 709 and it was a bit of a mess but it seemed doable. Once Igot the full 4444 version I realized I fucked up.

There's a really long scene of back and forth medium shots, but it seems like the gaffer and DP kept changing the lighting? Every time I try to copy the settings from one shot to the other (same angle, same size, same setup), it's not even close. I always expect some variation, but it's almost as if they added lights every take, and took away lights for others. The white balance is also out of wack. Maybe it was left on Auto???

This was shot on alexa mini, but the DP didn't even know what a codec was... I knew I fucked up by taking this job but I didn't know how badly until know.

Any tips for a poorly lit film in regards to consistency? Just patience I guess for now... Thanks for listening.