Michael Bay look with Canon 7D?

R

RyanMKincaid

Well-known member
Let me preface that I'm not a DoP by any means. I'm a writer/director first. I'm actually just trying to learn some basics and have been looking at diagrams (from another thread here) just to learn a little bit more what it is you do and the choices you make.

That being said, I want to do a small web series totally guerilla and I'm trying to select a style for the theme.

I've been a fan of Bay's look for sometime and after seeing the latest Transformers movie, I'm just wondering could his look (similar) be achieved with a 7D and some budget lighting.

And also are there any characteristics you've noticed about his style? The ones I see are panning and dollying, low angles and a lot of slow motion moments during high tention moments to add weight to sequences.
 
When i hear Michael Bay i think of flares. Anamorphic flares. And lots of them. If you don't want to go through the Anamorphic trouble - which you really don't want if you are a director/writer - just add them in post with a plugin like Video Copilot's.
In the latest transformer movie the most standing out to me was the fact that all shots were tilted. I don't know if this is the case in much of his films, but it really was visible in transformers. And yes, dolly and flying shots all over the place, but that's not so low-budget anymore.

Also, if you don't have a 7D yet, get a T2i or 60D.
 
Most of it is color correction too. Everything is extremely over saturated. Blacks are teal, Highlights are orange. People look like they glow orange.
 
already own the 7D. Was a B Cam in a feature I did last summer (I was writer/director. Had a real DoP doing everything. Currently in post being handled by pros). That being said, I'm just trying to get my chops up by doing simple things to improve my craft (writing/director) [LOL I keep stating it so you guys understand that I'm NOT by any means trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none]
 
already own the 7D. Was a B Cam in a feature I did last summer (I was writer/director. Had a real DoP doing everything. Currently in post being handled by pros). That being said, I'm just trying to get my chops up by doing simple things to improve my craft (writing/director) [LOL I keep stating it so you guys understand that I'm NOT by any means trying to be a jack-of-all-trades, master of none]

Yeah, I know about that. I watched the Phillip Bloom tutorial. I was thinking more for the slow stuff. The project that I'm planning for the webisodes is more dramactic and big in tone. Not so much action oriented but just going for those dramatic moments like those slow dollying shots of Martin Lawrence and Will Smith in the Bad Boys movies or the reveals as Sam gets out of Bumblebee.
 
Ah yes, the old Michael Bay look. This is actually easier than you might think; it can be achieved in three simple steps:

1) Point the camera at someone who shouts a lot. Paint him florescent orange. Occasionally have the 'shouty' person look meaningfully upwards to the sky.
2) Find a girl with a nice bottom. Paint her florescent orange. Point the camera at her bottom, and then ask her to bend over a car, or climb some stairs. Focus is important here.
3) Have lots of people and/or machines fight, and cut between them incessantly until the viewer has lost his orientation, and his will to live.

Voila! Michael Bay!
 
LOl...Yeah...but love or hate it we all bought into it..and that's the reason why we are here talking about it. :)
 
simonpwood said:
3) Have lots of people and/or machines fight, and cut between them incessantly until the viewer has lost his orientation, and his will to live.
Click to expand...

You forgot to tell us which part of that scene should be painted fluorescent orange. I'm running to the hardware store for some Krylon right now. :-)

- Greg
 
His DP was Mitchell Amundsen * *
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0025465/
Its saturated look, skin color is bumped up with blown out faces on the borders with light, even at night cars look very nicely lit.
http://littleimg.com/files/11806_1t...llen IMAX BD DTS 1080p (2009).mkv - 00004.jpg

*Strong white light on the borders/front edges of characters is quite often visible in these movies
http://www.freemovies2download.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Transformers.jpg

***Its not easy to make the movie look like that, you need good lights and very good knowledge and A LOT of practice so you know how it would look like, i dont think its possible to explain this on forums, read about rembrandt lighting and about lighting overall cause he has this in transformers but its no so strong and dark, i see that he has this white light on the edges of the faces quite a lot so characters look like they're shiny or sweaty.
I dont know if you will get serious answer here tho, we are mostly low budget filmmakers without such experience and great knowledge about lighting, it takes time to learn all this stuff but you can take one frame from transformers movie (the one which is realisticaly possible to recreate) and try to mimic the light EXACLTY how it is in the movie and maybe you will discover something.
 
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