NiGhT ShOoTiNg!!!

scorsesefan

scorsesefan

Veteran
I've been shooting some stuff with the dvx at night on some docks using only practicals (street lights). I don't want to bring in any lighting because a). I really don't have a significant lighting package, and b). it's documentary style footage, and I don't want the people (non-actors) to feel self conscious. The problem has been 1). lack of light (causing video grain) and 2). color problems associated with the orangish street lights.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe slowing down shutter speed?

Thanks
 
Slowing down to 1/24 will help, and probably won't look bad if there's not a lot of fast movement going on. White-balancing for those street lamps will help (although it can be fixed in post....if you like doing extra work. :) ).

Dan
 
Night time shooting can be tough.

We shot "The Casino Job" mostly at night and though we tried to use natural lighting, we had to enhance with some 250+watt lights.

The problem with shooting under streetlights (or any other practical lights) is they are of a certain color temp, usually under 250 watts (under 3200 Kelvin). Film and video will register light under 3200K on the orangish/red side.

The DVX isn't a good low-light camera, so you really should consider some extra lighting. i know it defeats the documentary look, but nothing can be worse than watching a poorly lit scene.

We used regular clamp lights with the round reflectors ($7.50) with 250 watts bulbs with GREAT results on "The Casino Job". Easy to set up, and when you attach a $10.00 dimmer, you can a great set-up with a lot of control.

You could use these reflector lights as practicals and no one will ever know the difference because they are sold for such things.

Jeff
 
Tough scenario. The lights color is pretty much what you get. It would be tough to make the cameras see color any better due to the lights limited color rendition. And working with shutter creates lousy problem with motion.
 
there is a very simple solution to all this, just call up the city and tell them to turn up the power on the lights............works like a charm....
 
I shooted a short in the night with frezie and I got bad results. With streets light, I was able to shot and get a nice atmosphere, but I had a scene to shot in a road, without lights and I was obligated to use two freezies (with batteries pack) the results wasn't credible. If you watch my sequence, you'll see that the scene is unrealistic.

ElvisNTSC
 
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