Indoor/Outdoor long take

Gohanto

Gohanto

Veteran
Currently I'm having a little trouble planning a shot. It's a long take that starts off outside of a building and then goes in (where it is significantyl darker) and follows a character for a while. Is there any way to pull this off without using having the camera's exposure change mid-shot?
 
Short answer...NOPE
Long answer, Yup, but you'll need to light your interior to match the daylight exposure and color balance, or use your camera's auto exposure, and set for auto white balance.
If using a film camera, a camera AC with remote controlled iris controls could do this wirelessly.. What camera are you using?
I hate auto anything, but it might work for this shot.
 
An iris pull has been done successfully on a number of films. As long as you know what your exposure will be outside and what it will be inside, you should be able to put a finger on the iris dial and practice the move. Just time it is you step through the doorway to the interior.

The easy way not to do it is to just flip the ND off. I have seen that it lots of TV programs lately, and it's very annoying.

The other problem as mentioned is color temperature. You'll need to light the interior with daylight balanced lights, or put ATW on.
 
I'm not completely sure what camera yet. I'll have a DVX100a, DVC30, or at worst I'll have a Sony Handycam (long story). Also, if the interior and exterior have different color temps, couldn't I just record for one and then CC the shot in post?
 
Gohanto said:
Also, if the interior and exterior have different color temps, couldn't I just record for one and then CC the shot in post?
Click to expand...

You can. I have done this before on a single shot I needed. I had to transition the color correction over about a second of time. It looked a bit weird to me, but no one else every noticed it. It was certainly better than just leaving the color messed up.

The problem might be that if you go from a bright exterior with lots of blue light to a dim interior with orange light, and use a single white balance, you run the risk that the other environment could have one of the color channels clipped or crushed, and it might be difficult or impossible to properly color correct it. This is where ramping the iris properly will be important.

Test, test, test.
 
I'd try to work a hidden cut in there somewhere, so that you can split it into two different shots that give the appearance of a single shot.
 
I agree with HorseFilms .. if you can do it, it would be easiest (maybe if your camera almost hits the door.. or hits a really dark shadow, or if the person you're following has a certain color shirt for instance, you can come close enough for a split second where it fills the frame ..
 
Horsefilms....Your avatar photo is making me dizzy...Doesn't that thing ever take a break...?
 
OK, I think I'm going to try doing with an iris pull.

However, I noticed one thing that seemed odd to me in beginning of Titanic. When everyone is getting onto the ship, they simply let everyone overexpose and then walk into the dimmer light on the ship and only then were correctly exposed. Considering this movie got the Oscar for cinematography, I can't say that was a bad idea, but does anyone have opinion on using an iris pull vs. overexposure?

Thanks.
 
With film, you can overexposure quite a bit and still get detail. DV just clips, you can't really overexpose by more than a stop without really hurting your image. Very likely there will be way more than a stop difference between your exterior and interior.
 
Good point. Didn't think about that difference.
Alright, what about if I film the scene with the iris pull, but in post I up the exposure over the outdoor section? This would allow for detail to be seen in the highlights more like film correct?
(I'd imagine I'd also have to manipulate the dark levels significantly to hide this as well)
 
Yeh, you can definitely do a lot in post, just make sure you are capturing the detail to begin with.

You mention a shot in Titantic. I don't recall the shot, but perhaps the effect was intentional. I'm sure it had something to do with the psychology of the scene. Perhaps something about going from the harsh outside world to the controlled luxury of the ship. It's probably something you only want to do if it actually adds something to your story.
 
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