Low Light Film Look

[Robert Garcia]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3BAa...el_video_title


We use one 600watt light above the actors and that was the only source of light for this video.
This was shot on a Canon Xha1 with a cinevate brevis 35mm adaptor.
Audio was with a Rode Ngt-2

Please leave feedback and comments on youtube to help us out...thanks

[Philip Younger]

Can't view it, it says it is private!

[Robert Garcia]

Sorry Philip...i fixed it

[Jeff Hinson]

Beautiful job on the video. I think the lighting was perfect in the low light clips. It really set the mode for the scene. I'd be interested to know what frame rate and preset you used for the low light scenes. How low did you have to take the iris and shutter speed?

The only negative.... I felt the music track was too loud and the single note melody distracted from the narrative...other than that GREAT JOB.

Jeff

[Charles Papert]

Nice job.

I wouldn't call this a "low light" look as the faces are at exposure--I'd go with moody, contrasty or low key.

For my taste, I think you could have pushed the light back a little further to make it even more toplit. The current result has just the eye sockets going into shade, which leaves a lot of planes of the faces fully exposed. Look at material from "The Godfather" for examples of this. A small eyelight would have served to take a little contrast out of the eye sockets while maintaining the overall look, plus deliver a small "catch" (highlight) in the eyes. Example of this here in the opening scene. I wish I could tell you what I used for the eyelight but it's been six years since I shot that. Another method to achieve a subtler variation on that effect is to put white card down on the table which will give a very small reflection in the eye and slightly fill the eye sockets--easy to regulate the amount by the size of the card.

Since actors all have different features, a given lighting style should be adjusted depending on the individual. In your film, the guy in blue has a great facial structure and his cheekbones pick up the downlight very nicely, while the other guy has a rounder face which makes him look younger and less intimidating. He may have benefitted more from pushing back the toplight to help sculpt his features.

Also, I might have knocked down the level on the gals next to the principals a stop or so, to make them a little less distracting.

As always I am careful when giving feedback on lighting to note that it is a matter of personal taste, so any comments are along the lines of "this is what I would do"--nothing is set in stone. The main idea I wanted to convey is that when you have a single light source as you do here, the exact placement of that fixture becomes very important--just a few inches one way or another can radically change the effect.

[Robert Garcia]

Thank you Jeff I will make note of the music and try to correct that in the next one. Audio is hard because on every different set of speakers it sounds so different. Thank you Charles I love the feedback, I didnt even think of putting a white card on the table to bring the light up. I've learned a lot from this forum and Im still learning, thats why I love filming!

[Jeff Hinson]

You are lucky to have friend's that enjoy acting. (Im assuming the actors are your relatives/friends)
Keep up the good work and enjoy.
Jeff

[Christopher Icha]

Excellent work. I laughed my head off. I think it should've finished around 4:19 though. Once the game was up, the game is up!

[Jeff Hinson]

Originally Posted by Robert Garcia

‪The Negotiation‬‏ - YouTube


We use one 600watt light above the actors and that was the only source of light for this video.
This was shot on a Canon Xha1 with a cinevate brevis 35mm adaptor.
Audio was with a Rode Ngt-2

Please leave feedback and comments on youtube to help us out...thanks

_____________________

Robert,
Ive been drooling over getting a 35mm adaptor and the Cinevate looks like one I would get. Can you show some pics of the "rig" set up you used with the Cinevate ? Im using the XH A1...I assume I would have to buy rails,tripod adaptors etc, in addition to the 35mm adaptor. Some pics of your rig setup would be nice.
Thanks,
Jeff

[Kevin Lewis]

Looks good, what frame rate was this shot at?

[Robert Garcia]

@Jeff Hinson Thanks for the comment...i dont have many pics of my rig (sorry) but there is one here... The Negotiation Set | Facebook .....I do recommend the brevis, altho with the xha1 i had to buy a Achromat Lens to help the brevis focus with a bigger camera, i had to buy rails as well, plus a stronger tripod to hold the weight of it all...i do not own a flip adapter for it because i couldnt afford it at the time.. I just upgraded to a letus and plan to sell my brevis but still strongly recommend it!! I bought my cinevate off ebay for a reasonable price compared to new, so you could try that, it worked for me.

@Kevin Lewis the camera was set to 24 but i have a focus enhancement fs4 that can only do 29.97 so i have to convert it on the computer to 23.976....

Thanks for the comments!!

[Scott Rolston]

Thanks Charles. Excellent post. Your sample showed me a lot and I recently mimicked it successfully, well sort of.

Originally Posted by Charles Papert

Nice job.

I wouldn't call this a "low light" look as the faces are at exposure--I'd go with moody, contrasty or low key.

For my taste, I think you could have pushed the light back a little further to make it even more toplit. The current result has just the eye sockets going into shade, which leaves a lot of planes of the faces fully exposed. Look at material from "The Godfather" for examples of this. A small eyesight would have served to take a little contrast out of the eye sockets while maintaining the overall look, plus deliver a small "catch" (highlight) in the eyes. Example of this here in the opening scene. I wish I could tell you what I used for the eyelight but it's been six years since I shot that. Another method to achieve a subtler variation on that effect is to put white card down on the table which will give a very small reflection in the eye and slightly fill the eye sockets--easy to regulate the amount by the size of the card.

Since actors all have different features, a given lighting style should be adjusted depending on the individual. In your film, the guy in blue has a great facial structure and his cheekbones pick up the downlight very nicely, while the other guy has a rounder face which makes him look younger and less intimidating. He may have benefitted more from pushing back the toplight to help sculpt his features.

Also, I might have knocked down the level on the gals next to the principals a stop or so, to make them a little less distracting.

As always I am careful when giving feedback on lighting to note that it is a matter of personal taste, so any comments are along the lines of "this is what I would do"--nothing is set in stone. The main idea I wanted to convey is that when you have a single light source as you do here, the exact placement of that fixture becomes very important--just a few inches one way or another can radically change the effect.