Rick Wise
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COW Coin
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The answer is always in the shadows. From the low-res JPG image, key appears to be the classic, soft “Rembrandt Patch” lighting though set at roughly eye-level to the interviewee rather than 45º above, plus very light and soft fill-light. Background may well be ambient light. Whether or not there’s any backlight is hard to tell, but if there is one, it’s scrimmed way, way down so as to be invisible.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Gent,
Do a little searching on the Lee and Rosco web sites for information about 1/2 grid, and minus green. (Probably 1/2 green is too strong — go with 1/4). You can also look this up on BhPhotovideo.com.
I don’t understand why the DP isn’t doing this search. What’s a “lighting coordinator”? That’s a new title to me.
If you have a mixture of fluorescents, your best bet is to decide which type is most prevalent, and then replace the non-conforming ones with tubes that match the majority. If there are only a few that don’t match, don’t sweat it.
Open faced lights are harsh. However, when put through relatively thick diffusion set well in front of the light, the harshness goes away. Your DP will need to either place the lights at a distance that they are not too strong, or else scrim them down. He will be trying to sweeten the available light, not overpower it.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
You are describing a classic problem. Hopefully, those overhead fluorescents as well as the display ones are all of the same type. All of them will have a green spike. And most of them are overhead, which means your talent needs some side/front fill. Two of many solutions:
–take along a plain old fluorescent fixture and tube it with the same bulbs used in the shop. Then white balance your camera to these. Be sure to place the front fill around 45 degrees to the right or left of the talent so there is some modeling of his/her face. However, if you are trying to hid wrinkles, place the light directly over the camera.
–take alone some lighting unit that you can make into a soft light (with diffusion); if the bulbs in the shop are cool white, you are dealing with “daylight” and a green spike. If the bulbs in the shop are warm white, you are dealing with “tungsten” and a green spike. I presume since you have no budget, you will have something like a 1K open-faced tungsten unit. Place some diffusion such as 1/2 grid on the barn doors, or even better, fly it out in front of the light. If the fluorescents are “daylight”, add 1/2 CTB gel AND ALSO 1/4 to 1/2 plus-green to the barndoors. If the fluorescents are “tungsten” then add only the plus-green to the unit.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Steve, I’d say those two are the ONLY filters worth anything, since all the rest are already built into Vegas. Now, how often do you really want to remove a flash effect? And how often are you doing a witness protection pixillation? Worth $60? Yes, if those are important to you. Otherwise, worth zip.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Gosh, once again, it looks to me like an add-on that doesn’t really add anything that built-in Vegas FX can already do. (This topic has been discussed before. There does seem to be a very few add-ons that are truly worth the money, such as Mercalli stabilizer.)
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Super 8mm has its own look and can be great for music videos. It will not look at all like your HD stuff. It will be grainy, and the colors totally different. If you can, shoot a test, telecine it, and see for yourself.
As for slowing down HDV shot at 24 or 30p or 60i, that in itself is its own look. Since you do not have the visual information of, say 100 frames/second, you will be duplicating fields.
I don’t know of any super 8 cameras that shoot 100 fps, but maybe they exist.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Arik, I think you are missing some of the points made above. Video is NOT like being in the classroom.
Nevertheless, you can certainly start to learn this way. I for one do not know of any videos to help you. Perhaps others do. You might help us by stating what it is about cinematography you desire to learn. In other words, what experience/knowledge do you have now vs. what it is you think a video could help you learn?
Also, do you have any gear? A camera? A tripod? Any lights? Any mics? If so, what in each category?
Also, what kind of films do you think you want to make? docs? fiction? training? other?
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Certainly true, Todd. Unless the instructors are good the school is often a waste of time. Much of what I learned about cinematography I taught myself, or else learned from hiring great gaffers and key grips. However, there was also a huge amount of filmmaking that I learned from school. I suspect that the “best” route would be to apprentice oneself, but that isn’t really a viable option in most cases these days.
Film schools vary enormously in the amount of hands-on work they offer. Fortunately, the Academy offers a lot. Still, as an instructor, I often bemoan the fact that no matter what I do or say, very, very few of my students learn over the course of the 15-week semester that I have them in my grips how to actually look at, how to actually SEE light, shadow, and color. At the end of last Spring’s semester, one of them emailed me, thanking me for teaching him “so many lighting tricks.” I could have strangled him over the internet. He didn’t reply when I emailed back, “I sure hope you learned more than just ‘tricks’!”
I comfort myself (perhaps erroneously) that I have at least laid the groundwork. Some day in the future, at least some of what I have taught them will actually take hold, that at least a few will begin to see. Then they can begin to think.
As for online teaching, I do think there’s a lot you can learn that way too. But it’s no substitute for actually working as a crew member, rotating through all the roles.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
John,
Your post is elegant and spot on. I have forwarded it to the brass at the SF Academy of Art University where I teach part-time grad lighting. The very top brass is pushing online teaching. Of course, it’s an endless revenue stream with no need for gear or buildings. But you have nailed just why we do need all that gear, all those rooms and stages.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com -
Ooops, not a school, but selling to students/parents.
Rick Wise
director of photography
Oakland, CA
http://www.RickWiseDP.com
email: Rick@RickWiseDP.com