[Roberto Lopez]

Dear Ben,

I agree that the split screen could have been done in fcp with a few key frames, but I found it a bit time consuming when I went to add borders and crop the image and if i wanted to try it out with different clips. I had to start over every time. Plus originally I was going to do it with white borders so it looked more like a comic book. After trying out a few different looks I went with black borders. To tell the truth the borders that I wanted was the biggest problem. I could not find an easy way to do it. So when I found DH_Box pulgin it added borders to my split screen. I think I saved a lot of time because of it. Yes your probably correct you can do it all in fcp with out the plugin but I could not figure out an easy way to do it.

Ben I want to thank you for taking the time to look it over and for your comments. As you know when you do these kinda projects a few extra hits never hurts.

Roberto

[Roberto Lopez]

https://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/gallery/video/2229/

Hi yes there are some simple set ups you can do. It depends a lot on what kind of lighting you are trying to do. If you’re trying to do interviews you would do one thing if you’re trying to film drama you would want to create more mood with the using lighting. A bit more detail would be helpful.

However here are some simple tips:
One china lamps are good, you can use 100 watt up to 250 watt bulbs. You are going to need some diffusion for the bottom of the china lantern as it spills light from it. Use some Lee gel 250 or 216 or opal diffusion. If you don’t know what I am talking about you can look it up on the net and even buy some craps on ebay. Maybe you have no time for any of that. Okay here is what you do. You can get that white gift wrap paper that you get when you go to Macys or other department stores, it’s kind of like draft paper you can also get it at art supplies stores and at gift stores as its used as filler in rapping presents so items don’t get damaged if you still don’t know what I am talking about look at the china lantern it’s the same paper the lantern is made from or you could use bleached muslin. Ok if all that is till about of your reach go find a white cotton bed sheet, but it’s really going to kill a lot of your light so you will need more light. Okay once you done that the next thing is that China lantern s throw light everywhere. While it’s a nice soft light it lights up in every direction. There are few things you can do, one you can paint the top half of the lantern so it only spills light down ward this could be helpful if you looking up and you don’t want to see a supper bright ceiling. Or you could paint half the side of the lantern so it only shines forward not in every direction. If you want something a bit fancier and more pro you could buy or get your hand on some Duvatin its black material used to block out light in comes in rolls. Again try eBay or check the net. No time for that either okay grab some black fabric and wrap it around and use some close pins or metal binding clips to attach. Okay as a last resort you can use heavy black garbage back but I don’t recommend this as it could melt under the heat. But I done it before when I was overseas and could not find anything I need. The next thing is you need to hang the china lantern; you should be able to use tape to rig it up. There are so many ways I could not begin to explain them all to you. But some tape and a ladder and some spring lips should do the trick.
Second if you have no lights you can go to home depot and buy a home depot 1000 watt construction light it comes with stand and all. First thing with this light is that you don’t want to use the light directly as it won’t look very nice. Find something white to bounce it off from. Use a ladder to help hold up the white card or foam core or even white wall will do.
You should get some dimmers from home depot for the china lanterns and get about couple of extension cords.
Okay there is a lot more to it and I am sure every dp will be telling me I am over simplifying it. But it can be done and you can make it look good just have to take the time to try it and test it out before going out and shooting.

This is a video I worked on where we used this set up for. Let me know what you think?

https://www.crashthesuperbowl.com/#/gallery/video/2229/