Need Help: Picture Profile for commercials

[William Griffin]

Hello all....

I am shooting some commercials in a few weeks..and I was wondering if any of you out there had some good settings for a picture profile as I will be shooting 1 or 2 people in front of a white screen....as in good skin tones. this is my first white screen shoot with the camera.

many thanks

[Ronn Kilby]

Could you be more vague? :)

If the response has been underwhelming, it may be because your question is like saying "I have a job interview next week. What kind of shirt should I wear?"

Commercials - what kind? What's the feel/mood? What are you selling? Who are you marketing to? What's the copy like? What image does the client want to project? Etc. Etc.

More info - better response.

[Leonard Levy]

TURN OFF THE AUTO KNEE!
set the manual knee around 93 and leave the rest of it alone. You can tweak it for the shot though

Other settings? - people here all have theirown taste. I'm pretty simple;

I would tend avoid cine gammas on a white background but I don't use them in general so take it with a grain of salt. i like STD3

My other suggestions high sat matrix
black -6
low sat +9

detail to taste maybe -15 or lower.

But the knee is important.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Leonard: You got any examples of shooting with STD3 gamma? I've been shooting with CINE4 since I got our EX3. I guess I need to do some testing on my own.

[William Griffin]

Originally Posted by Ronn Kilby

Could you be more vague? :)

If the response has been underwhelming, it may be because your question is like saying "I have a job interview next week. What kind of shirt should I wear?"

Commercials - what kind? What's the feel/mood? What are you selling? Who are you marketing to? What's the copy like? What image does the client want to project? Etc. Etc.

More info - better response.

I told you that it will be 1 or 2 people standing in front of a white screen...talking into camera......very simple....

[Leonard Levy]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

Leonard: You got any examples of shooting with STD3 gamma? I've been shooting with CINE4 since I got our EX3. I guess I need to do some testing on my own.

Its just a good but ordinary looking normal camera look. No weird compression or curves.
Works fine for me as a general look.

[Mitchell Lewis]

Thanks. I need to do some more testing.

Right now I've been using this methodology for shoots....

STD1 (the factory default - PP turned off) = night footage, stage lighting, dark scenes
CINE4 = everything else

But I've never tried any of the other gamma settings. :)

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Mitchell Lewis

STD1 (the factory default - PP turned off) = night footage, stage lighting, dark scenes
CINE4 = everything else

The factory default is STD3.
STD1 tends to crush blacks a little when compared to STD3.

[Ronn Kilby]

Originally Posted by William Griffin

I told you that it will be 1 or 2 people standing in front of a white screen...talking into camera......very simple....

Respectfully, William - my point was that you are looking for a certain "look" using profile settings, yes? The "look" should be dictated by the "feel" of the spot. (And the "feel" is dictated by the client's needs, marketing image, target audience, etc. - none of which do you reveal in your question). If "simple" is what you are going for, then why use profiles at all? These settings can drastically alter the end result. If you're not sure, you should probably shoot it as "neutral" as possible, and alter in post with the usual tools.

I feel that any advertising creative decision (I've been doing this for 30 years) should be based on who you are talking to, and what you want them to feel. If the audience is 12-18 y/o males, I'd shoot it very differently than if the audience is 25-54 y/o women. Just the difference between "warm" and "cool" looks can be huge. Or "high key" and "low key" lighting.

In the end, these profiles come down to what looks good to you. Many many test shots, and copious notes. But I'm sure your question has been answered more than sufficiently - when it comes to what looks good, there are as many opinions as there are people. But what looks good to you?

[William Griffin]

Many thanks to the group..I have what I need....