How would you guys shoot a comedy? Lens length, etc.

M

mattman1

Member
I'm shooting some comedy skits destined for YouTube. I want them to look slick and professionally done but they don't have to look gorgeous or arty. How would you guys shoot a skit in an apartment? Flood the room with softboxes?

What focal length would you guys use? 35mm? 50mm?

What f-stop range? I heard most hollywood movies are shot around f4. Is that true?

Only primes? Or use zooms because they're quicker to set up?

I'm shooting on a GH2, whose sensor size is about equivalent to Academy 35 I believe.

--Just trying to get an idea of some general guidelines/rules of thumb
 
Only shoot at f5.6. Even if it means the exposure is totally dark. Never, EVER go above 24mm lens. You'll want to use exactly 2 softboxes and 1 redhead to light the scene, unless there's three people in the shot (never 4), in which case you'll want to use kinos exclusively.

Just kidding. There's no way to answer this question, it depends entirely on how YOU want to shoot it, what's right for the story, and what's right for the production.
 
I've shot comedies with extreme telephoto and extreme wide angle lenses. I've shot with soft light and harsh light. It depends on the scene. I can tell you that a lot of Hollywood comedies typically are bright (for lack of a better word) and colorful. You usually don't see really contrasty or moody lighting. You probably want it to feel happy-ish. However, if you're shooting a dark comedy...maybe you want it to be more contrasty?

I will tell you this: production design, production design, production design. What makes a lot of professional films feel professional is that they don't look like they just found a bland apartment and started shooting (yes, I will admit I'm guilty of this as well). I saw a short comedy once that was about a ridiculously obsessed gamer who wouldn't stop playing his video games and spend time with his girlfriend. Aside from bland and no apparent lighting (all natural light), there was no production design. It was just a boring apartment with four white walls. The first thing I think of is if this guy is such a hardcore gamer, he's going to have posters of Master Chief all over the place, figurines and busts of Marcus Fenix and Lara Croft. He's going to maybe have a bunch of strategy guides on his bookshelf, headsets and Alienware computers laying around. The list goes on. Some of this may be a bit much and outside of the budget, and there's obviously copyright issues, but the point stands: production design is key! Lighting doesn't have to be complicated, what will make it look great is good lighting and good production design. The issue is, this is really hard to do on a budget and with minimal crew, so you gotta pick and choose your battles strategically.

That's my soapbox. Take it with a grain of salt :)
 
tommygdawg said:
Lighting doesn't have to be complicated, what will make it look great is good lighting and good production design. The issue is, this is really hard to do on a budget and with minimal crew, so you gotta pick and choose your battles strategically.

That's my soapbox. Take it with a grain of salt :)
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BUT! If you don't have much of a budget I'll bet you have a ton of time. Use this to your advantage.
 
William_Robinette said:
BUT! If you don't have much of a budget I'll bet you have a ton of time. Use this to your advantage.
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Ideally. However, in this no budget area you're often working with actors and crew who show up and say "oh by the way, how long is this gonna take? I'm supposed to hang out with my girlfriend in two hours!" Or the location owner comes by and realizes they forgot that they scheduled a meeting and you can't actually have the location for very long. I'd say you only have a ton of time when shooting with incredibly committed people in your own home. That's just how I've experienced it anyway.
 
tommygdawg said:
Ideally. However, in this no budget area you're often working with actors and crew who show up and say "oh by the way, how long is this gonna take? I'm supposed to hang out with my girlfriend in two hours!" Or the location owner comes by and realizes they forgot that they scheduled a meeting and you can't actually have the location for very long. I'd say you only have a ton of time when shooting with incredibly committed people in your own home. That's just how I've experienced it anyway.
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True. I was talking about Pre-pro and how you can get everything you need for the location in terms of production design way in advance.
 
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