Music Video Pre-prod - NEED HELP!
 

Hey all,

I'll be doing a music video pretty soon and there will be a performance part which will be shot in a warehouse (aren't they all?). I went to the warehouse last night with friends to check out the setup, and we brought all DIY stuff that we had made for this project.

Firstly, this is what I will be using:

- Canon T2i with Magic Lantern
- Kit lens
- Canon 50mm 1.8 II
- Glidecam 4000
- DIY track dolly
- 2 x 1000W work lights (with CTB gels)
- DIY diffusers for the work lights (mostly for close-up shots)
- 12 x 60W CFLs forming a letter "V" (see photos) behind the band.

While making some test shots last night, I ran into a couple issues, so if anyone can help me with any of them, I’d appreciate it.

http://www.foreigndude.com/test/lensflare2.jpg – this photo (as well as video) was taken with the Canon 50mm II. These reflections/flares seem to be completely unavoidable? I was shooting at 50 shutter speed, ISO 200. Any way to avoid or minimize this? It gets even worse than this when the shot is straight on. The KIT LENS doesn’t seem to have the same issue.

http://www.foreigndude.com/test/lensflare1.jpg - in this photo, I have the general performance area framed in. The subject(s) will be lit with 2x1000W work lights from each side. The “V” shaped light represents the first initial of the band’s name. It will likely be farther away (towards the back) from the band and it will not be resting on what you’re seeing in the photo right now.

If anyone has any suggestions, advice or questions, please let me know. I could use help!

Do you have a uv filter on the lens that is refelcting?

I get this sometimes with my sigma 30mm 1.4, its usually cos I have a filter on.

2 solutions i've found.

1 - take the filter off

2 - use a lens hood
Hope that helps

James

James, thats exactly what it is! Arrrrgh... well, thanks for pointing that out!

The hood I have is quite short, so I'll just take the filter off.

Thanks!

glad to help, took me about 10 solid mins of figuring this out when I first saw it on mine

Good luck with the shoot - would be great if you can post back with how it all goes and of course when its finished.

Also take care with the snow / water / power cable combination ;-)

I sure will. I have never done anything like this so I just hope it turns out OK. I *think* I know enough to pull it off. The snow/water/power cable issue didn't even dawn on me that night, but the warehouse is not usually wet at all. The employees were apparently having a snowball fight earlier that day...

Another question that I have (and I think I already know the answer too, but it never hurts to ask) is this - The photos taken at the warehouse (from my original post above]) have a close to ideal look that I'm trying to achieve for the video shoot...

However, these photos were taken at a much higher shutter than 1/50 (which is what I want to use for the video). Because of the high shutter, I was able to eliminate the ambient light in the room. Unfortunately, when shooting at 1/50, I get a lot more ambient light and the ugliness of the surroundings is revealed (Youtube sample).

So, I have a Fader ND filter on the way, but it might not make it in time for the shoot, AND, even though it will reduce my ambient light, it will probably also reduce all of the light...so I'm not sure how well it would work at all in this situation.

I am going to try and control the worklights spill with the cinefoil blackwrap, but I'm not sure how much I'll be able to isolate.

Any other ideas on how to eliminate ambient light but not kill the 'stage' light?

I dont think the fader ND will work as you say it will simply reduce all the light - also those things are large and you cant put a hood on them so unless you can mount a matte box around it you will again get nasty reflections from the filter.

Think your only option is to flag or muslin off what you can and leave the rest to fix in post? Unless anyone has any better ideas?

I keep forgetting about the damn filter reflections. Ugh. You're right, my light would go down the toilet with the filter. I guess I'll resort to the blackwrap to try and manage the spill as much as I can. Otherwise, whatever. There shouldn't be any cars and equipment behind the band on the day of the shoot, so if there's a bit of 'warehouse' in the shot, oh well. It may not look all that bad.