Lake of Fire Lighting Tests

Beat Takeshi

Beat Takeshi

Two-Hip Shakur
First day of lighting tests for my short "Lake of Fire"
Not the final look of the movie. Just trying some stuff out.

Right Click and save to computer. 4 megs.
http://www.puffinfilms.com/LOF/LOF_Lighting Test01.mov

LOFtests05.jpg


LOFtests04.jpg


LOFtests03.jpg


LOFtests02.jpg


LOFtests01.jpg
 
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Thanks. Yeah, the idea is that its supposed to look old-ish but only in some parts. There is some back and forth with present and past. We have an old 54 Buick and he has that old hat and jacket so there is a slight theme going. You can see the car in the sig image below.
 
Aram,

Those shots look great! Kinda Serpico feel to it, you know? I took the liberty of doing some Color Correction of your stills. Just fooling around in Photoshop - going for a refrigerated 70s film stock - reds faded and blues remain strong.

Here it is.

BTW, I am expecting delivery of my Brevis soon. We're passing the 2-month anniversary of my order, and I am anxious to start shooting with all my nice old Minolta glass. Of course, I should be using this time to figure out WHAT I want to shoot, and keep writing, or something... Well, anyway - good stuff!
 
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This was the little foyer in the location I'm using thats really small. The mirror is there to make it look much bigger but its only like 3 steps and you are at the other wall. First I tried a single big light but it was too bright for such a little space so I wound up using 4 little lights. I didn't have any reflectors, diffusion or cut outs so this weekend when I go back I will be better prepared. Next I will light him and some of the background more and the third room in where the target gets shot.


I like the CC but I'm going for a more old school look. This is still just the first test so who knows what it will evolve to but thats whats great about art, its dynamic.
 
I like arams version. He has a very succinct clear vision. Thats a great thing to have.
 
Thanks.
If the magic bullet is aimed at me...NO MAGIC BULLET!!! Something like this I would never use a plug in. For a quick-get-it-done-fast project, then I would. Everything is in camera and lights and the only post is a gamma adjustment to boost contrast and the black bars.

There is lot of tweaking thats to do still. I needed a few more small lights to really make him pop but not pop from the background if you can imagine that.

I'm sure I will go through a few looks just to see what I can get from that location and it will be cool to see the transitions. I really wanted to test some car scenes but it was raining. :P
 
Okay, well, here's another shot at a photoshop CC.



The image starts to break up a bit because we're working with a heavily compressed JPEG, but anyway, I think it helps your character stand out from the darkness.

Anyway, great stuff, and keep it up! Are you using the new CF3, or the stock CF1?
 
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I'm using CF1 as of now. I like the blue tinted images but I see them all the time so I'm trying to stay away from that tendancy. I also have this book of a photographer that has some really nice images and texture that I am trying for. A lot of it i think is photoshoped but still, I'm going to try.
 
Flesh tones seem far too red to me which screams 'digital'.

Here are a few ideas anyway. Not necessarily for a *look* but of flesh tones etc.

With raised blacks to help demo the skin tones a bit better:
1175633584.jpg


Same image but with the original black level retained:
1175633742.jpg


EDIT: There is some clipping in the red channel which I haven't addressed but this is my general idea.

Anyway, just a thought!
 
I see what you mean about the reds in his face. I like the color you have on his face but it looses the background warmth. Maybe some post will help that but I'll try to adress that on the next test I shoot. Maybe i turned the gamma curve up too much in post.
 
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