Scene from 2nd Short Shot on Canon 7D

S

Screenforme

Active member
Hey! Check out my link!
This is a scene from the 2nd short I'm working on using the Canon 7D. I have never shot inside an office except for interviews.
Let me know what you think of the lighting I pulled off and anything you would have changed.
http://vimeo.com/13022499

Password = break
 
Last edited:
Screenforme said:
Hey! Check out my link!
This is a scene from the 2nd short I'm working on using the Canon 7D. I have never shot inside an office except for interviews.
Let me know what you think of the lighting I pulled off and anything you would have changed.
http://vimeo.com/13022499

Password = break
Click to expand...

Listen, this is gonna sound bad, but understand I'm saying the negative things I'm saying because of the positive things I have to say. I love the content. The premise. As an actor I can connect deeply with the FEAR I have of being in a position like that. Getting in some terrible accident or something and losing my shot at success, loosing the ability to do what I love, to show my talent, to LIVE! I almost teared up at the concept alone. But here's the thing, it's technically terrible.

It's got the heart, and the actors did well, but the technical work is poor. Firstly and (arguably) most importantly, the audio. You need to find a way to sound proof your environment. I don't want to hear anything consciously but your actors' voices, breaths, movements, etc. The worst thing I continuously heard BECAUSE of the audio not being controlled was the white noise in the background constantly changing.

To correct this, I cannot explain so simply in one post, I CAN however point you in an excellent direction: Barry Green's Sound for Film and Television DVD. You can buy it (I believe) through this forum, if not you can find used copies on ebay from time to time, or check out this forums marketplace. It's EXCELLENT, and if you follow its teachings it can help you immensely.

I thought the lighting was flat and emotionless, making the skin colors dull and muddy. Wanna know why big name movie stars are so gorgeous? Because they're lit properly. Most of them are normal looking people who got lucky breaks and are now in the right lighting. I can't point you to a DVD here, but I CAN point you to your local Blockbuster or Netflix.com. The films you watch, know, and love, are classes. Find some scene that you think has the kind of mood and lighting you're looking to achieve in this piece, and see if you can imitate it. This isn't a way to mold your DP career, but it's an easy place to start with small projects and lighting tests.

Experiment.

Test.

Do these things ALL the time. KNOW how you want to light a scene, KNOW what kind of colors you want to capture. And really CAPTURE them. The less color correcting you HAVE to do, obviously the better. If you lit something TRULY right, the footage'll be perfect as it is.

Lastly, and this is purely my opinion, loosen up that tripod. You have a very personal, very human little story here, one that seems to depend on the performances. Keeping the camera locked in so solid on closeups while actors move around and express and emote, you loose them, as an audience member you're pulled away from them. I don't want to be pulled away. I want to be IN there. If you don't have a decent tripod with a nice fluid tripod head, save up and get one, it'll help you in this type of setting.

I hope you don't take any of this the wrong way. I very rarely comment on this forum, and am only doing so because I think your content validates your potential. I hope you take the advise given. Have fun filming.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top