Rick Wise
1
COW Coin
Forum Replies Created
-
B&H has a selection of hand carts at various prices: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ns=p_PRICE_2|0&Ntt=hand+cart&ci=1164&N=4294203804&srtclk=sort
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
What kind of existing light do you see for these indoors interviews? Daylight coming in through windows? Overhead fluorescents? Other?
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Budget?
For interviews, Kinoflos or Cool Lights equivalent are a very useful tool as you can bulb them with daylight or tungsten. A 4-bank makes a good key. For fill, use foamcore or showcard (best to grip with a c-stand). Add a small backlight either hung from the ceiling or flown on a c-stand. So with two lights you can have basic 3-point lighting. The backlight can by a 2×2 kino or equivalent, or any number of small tungsten units with 1/2 CTO when shooting in daylight situations.
After that, many, many more additions and substitutions. Read Lighting for Motion Pictures and Television by Blain Brown, or a shorter and simpler book, Video Shooter by Braverman, or John Jackman’s Lighting for Digital Video and Television.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Love “monkey in the middle,” even if it’s rather pejorative to the interviewer. I find teaching students about where to place the key in relation to the camera and interviewer is a challenge. “Monkey in the middle” will make this task much easier. Thanks!
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
I hear you, Todd! I wish I knew of sticks to recommend that do what you want. I do find that legs with quick-release locks make it pretty easy to drop all 3 legs, but then you have to lock them individually. Still, with a light camera and light legs and head, that’s not a huge chore. One hand holds up the rig and the other snaps the locks. Pretty quick and easy even for someone a lot older than you.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
A great first film. Since you ask for suggestions:
- motivate lighting: the small desk lamp should be your key, or appear to be. If you were to place the lamp on the left of the typewriter, and supplement it with a very small, snooted light on the actor’s face, you would achieve more of a noire look. Then possibly add a very, very small amount of bounce fill, or not.
- lighting cont.: reinforce the monolog: when day comes (he wrote all through the night he says) then daylight should be coming through the window curtains.
- variety of shots: try some additional angles; for instance, cheat the table forward and try some close-ups with the camera shooting over the typewriter, from down low. Fortunately your read of his monolog carries us along, but I got visually bored with the same shot of your “hero.”
- make sure we can read important props: it’s not clear what’s sticking out of his back.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Video Shooter, 2nd edition, by Barry Braverman — written by a very experienced and traveling one-man-band video shooter. Well written. Read the captions on all the pictures. I use this book for my entry-level digital shooters.
Motion Picture and Video Lighting, 2nd edition, by Blain Brown. Lots of typos but full of lots of info. Needs to be updated and no doubt will be. Alternatively his Cinematography, second edition which just came out. Should have fewer typos, though I have not yet used it in class so I don’t know that for sure. (I sent Blain every typo I found in the first edition so presumably those have been set right.)
And, the bible of gaffers everywhere, Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook, fourth edition, by Harry C. Box, newly released.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Start with a fresh reboot. No other apps open other than Vegas. See how that works.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
The issue is: where do you want the subject to look. Right at the camera? Or off to one side or the other.
For news videography, the subject almost always looks to one side of the camera or the other, usually to the reporter standing close to the camera.
For docs, both to-camera and to-the-side are common choices.
Now for the lighting: for the classic Rembrandt patch, if the subject is looking camera left, then the key is about 45º further left and about 45º above horizontal — that is the starting point. You have to look at how the light falls on this person’s face. All faces are different. Some have deep-set eyes and protruding noses, and the key will need to be less than 45º/45º. On the other hand, some faces are very flat, and you may end up moving the key to practically 90º beyond the angle of look.
If the subject is looking directly into the lens, then for the Rembrandt patch the key can be either on the right or left, 45º/45º.
There are no formulas. Only starting points. Over time your eye learns to see (or your brain) what you are actually shooting.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
Solution found: close everything down. Shut down the computer. Reboot. Re-render. All fine.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com