the Starlit Ritual -- Feature -- NSFW! <DVD>

[Paul Coleman]

ah crap, you only raised a bunch more questions in me! Let me sleep on, but I'll be asking more later

THANKS!

Hey bro, no problem. Just ask and I'll explain it the best I can. :beer:

 

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I have to download again. My computer crashed last month before I watched it

 

[Paul Coleman]

I have to download again. My computer crashed last month before I watched it

Hey Jack, love to hear your thoughts on the film.:beer:

 

[Christopher Barry]

Paul, this is a good guide, thanks. I am testing lots of low light combinations for those dark and haunting type shots, while still retaining detail in the shot for grading in post.

I am using an HVX. Comparably, can you convey the DVX settings you used?

I am finding Cine-D somewhat noisy, while B.Press appears much cleaner. What were the Waveform IRE readings on the source footage? (IRE range X to 40?) Lacking a broadcast monitor setup is making my analysis somewhat questionable at the moment, although DV Rack is great for analysing the lighting and IRE with Waveform for a setup/shot. I'd appreciate general feedback, thanks.

Thanks guys. :beer:



Ok, CC was really basic. But you can get a lot of control just from the 3-way Color Corrector in FCP:

You can see the vector is on the fleshline (11 o'clock) but it's aiming a bit toward red/magenta. I simply pushed the vector toward yellow for a golden tone. The secret was that we shot at 40 IRE, which is very dark. But this means that you can alter the image in more extreme ways in post -- you can get a very high contrast image this way. First step is contrast:

a) I crushed the blacks. b) Pushed the whites very high. c) Pushed the mids toward white for a high-contrast image. d) Pushed the midtone color toward yellow: dragged the white ball toward yellow for a golden skin tone. (The white ball controls the direction of the vector on the Vectorscope.) e) Desaturated just a bit.

On the Waveform Monitor, you can see the blacks have been crushed almost too much. If you look along the white line at the bottom, you can see that a lot of the image data was pushed below that line. But we wanted the film to look really dark. As for the highs, since we shot at 40 IRE, we have plenty of "headroom" to adjust the image. We pushed the highlights to 65 IRE, but we could still go higher.

:thumbup:

 

[Paul Coleman]

Hey bro, we were basically at F5 defaults. We really didn't want to do much in camera. We kept the actress' face at 40 IRE (her forehead). The backgrounds were almost jet black on the sets. So the ratio of dark to light was something like 0:40 IRE.

I think you are on the right track by experimenting with different ratios/looks. If you want some detail in the backgrounds, maybe light them at 20 IRE and the faces at 50. Then adjust from there. Remember, you can crush the blacks more than usual if you are going for a dark look -- so there's leeway there.

Only real danger is shooting at an IRE that puts grain in the actor's faces. The grain started showing up around 30 IRE with the DVX, but it's probably different with the HVX. It's all about that ratio to get the spooky contrast. And I would recommend pushing that ratio as low as you can -- just before the grain sets in.:beer:

 

[Christopher Barry]

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I can't compare, yet I have a suspicion the HVX reacts a little different to the DVX. I am also using a Brevis adapter, and although the slight light loss is no issue for me, more challenges are presented, like finding sharp focus in such a low light environment, and adapters can have such a narrow focal plane, since they are generel operated with aperture fully open. 40 IRE is definitely on the low side for me so far. When I take the footage into Premiere Pro 2 (PP2) and apply the 3-Way CC, 40 IRE does not even register in the White/Highlights. Perhaps FCP and PP2 3-Way CC function at different luminance levels. I might try a demo of Colorista and see how the grading compares. For now, I get better results using Curves.

I will do another low light test next week, and follow your reference to lighting enough to avoid noise/grain in the dark parts of the image. Cheers man. :beer:

 

[triplej96]

Looks great, very creepy trailer, love the ccin, love the music, and just an amazing artistic look to it! Maybe I missed it did you shoot in squeeze mode or 4x3?

Job well done.

 

[Paul Coleman]

...finding sharp focus in such a low light environment, and adapters can have such a narrow focal plane...

Definitely a challenge. We focused and re-focused all day. Always from the production monitor. Basically we would call out focus from the monitor to the Cam Op.

Perhaps FCP and PP2 3-Way CC function at different luminance levels.

In our raw footage we kept the highlights at 40 IRE, but in post we cranked the highlights to around 65 - 70 IRE with the 3-way. But maybe "dark" with the HVX + adapter is 60 IRE raw. Then you could push that to 80 IRE in post.

Definitely keep me updated on the film. Would love to check it out. :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[Paul Coleman]

Looks great, very creepy trailer, love the ccin, love the music, and just an amazing artistic look to it! Maybe I missed it did you shoot in squeeze mode or 4x3?

Job well done.

Thanks! We shot 4:3 and used Aspect Correct so that we could crop in post.

http://www.aspectcorrect.com/