Rate My Day for Night attempt please!

R

richg101

Well-known member

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK6XOdGnNfg


bear in mind the running sequence was shot with shutter speed of about 1/160th of a second due to forgetting ND filters that day. So motion is a bit jittery. but this was shot in broad daylight, wb set to tungsten, then i used levels, brightness/contrast / 3 band curves etc in premier.

what can I do to take it to another level in realism? shooting at night is impossible due to lack of power for lighting.

cheers in advance
 
As far as D F N goes its close to the mark - Id maybe do a feathered mask on the top half (above actors) to knock the sky out a bit - thats generally the dead giveaway. Ive never been a huge fan of the whole concept however as its hard to see much at all. Shooting Night for night I can get better contrast across the shot, better exposure on actors faces (or where I choose the focus to be).
 
I'm no expert, but often day for night looks terrible - even in big movies. I think your attempts aren't bad at all. I've seen much worse.
 
cheers guys. I was hoping there would be some magic secret I had missed. Indeed I'd like to shoot at night, but lighting is gonna be near impossible. Maybe i'll try shooting on a clearer day to increace the contrast on the shadows, and to get more of a moonlight look.

just to ask, assuming most was shot day for night as i have done, but we had a few scenes shot at night which couldnt be done in the day (there is to be a woodland rave scene in the short film), what lighting techniques would be best to use in addition to the disco lights in order to make sure the true night footage blends well with the day for night footage.
 
another question relating to a dark feathered mask overlayed to mask over the bright sky. assuming import a PSD file (a gradient dark blue layer) this looks good, but it interferes with certain lit parts of the frame (ie the barn framework). in premier is there a way to 'cut out' part of the mask layer using some type of line drawing tool? cheers again
 
Id use after effects to create a mask and roto through, most accurate way to incorporate shapes etc. What you could to is create the mask first, duplicate only the masked section and add a luma key or similar to knock it down more specifically.
 
That looked really good to me.... I had to no choice for one of my shorts a few fests back....this was my first attempt. I did it all in After Effects and added the parking lot light too.
It is a tricky thing to pull off.

 
thanks guys. Looks like i'll have to shell out for after effects. is there a work around in premier for now? My mate will be applying any AE lighting efx like torches and street lights, but i like sticking with editing and grading if i can. and will pass it on to him for his part later on.

A few early tests in urban surroundings made me feel it is near impossible to get it realistic. cars and reflective objects dont look convincing. being in woodland made things a lot easier. though as a photoshop professional, working with photo post processing on a daily basis I just used similar techniques in premier where possible. i considered importing into photoshop as animations at one point!
 
Noel Evans said:
Id use after effects to create a mask and roto through, most accurate way to incorporate shapes etc. What you could to is create the mask first, duplicate only the masked section and add a luma key or similar to knock it down more specifically.
Click to expand...

for now i will take a screen grab and use it as a guide when making custom masks in photoshop (my comfort zone). though this will only do for static tripod shots. AE will be required for moving/pans i assume? thanks for your advice:)
 
For pans or shots with movements, it will depend on the type of movement in the shot. Just a simple pan, with a nice even speed, could use a keyframed .psd file in Premiere, using the basic motion controls. A handheld scene, with irregular movement, would need AE with it's tracking abilities and keyframable bezier masks.
 
Thanks for all the comments. I tried layering a graduated mask over the top of the footage and couldnt quite get it right. Looked too processed. I just had a go with some more footage taken a few days later. it was hard to match them but i dont think its too bad a job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYcIY6lP8yw

the scenes with movement help greatly with realism.
 
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