Screen Grabs from my first short with my new dvx

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strangebrew

Active member
Unforgiving Waters​
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No offense, but they look amateur. You need to work on your lighting. The DVX can look so much better.
 
its an interrogation scene that we filmed in a small garage so the lighting was really hard to do i had three 1k lights so they were reflection off the walls i had to use allot of white diffusion. if you have any suggestions on how to make it look better let me know I'm considering shotting it again. it my first short and my first time with my new dvx.
 
I liked the look on grab 3. I don't think the lighting was that bad if you were going for a noir look. The color looked really good too. Nice job for your first short.
 
"strangebrew" personally i like the look! the only grab i dont like is the second one because its too bright compared to the others. the one in the poster i feel is the best. lots of blackness flooding the character, good high contrast.

definitely push in on your shots, just dont make them brighter than the others when you do so. your dark spots are very very dark and not grainy/video-y looking and that's good. in those brighter spots perhaps try more bounce and less direct light on the front side.

i like that dark, silhouette-look myself and i just tried a variation of this look on a scene of my own recent work that is posted here on the forum for review...im probably not allowed to promo it, but if you come across it somewhere during your travels i would be curious to hear your thoughts as well.
 
..you had 3 1k's in a small garage and lived to talked about it.. no heat stroke.. no permanent blindness..lol anyway they look good. not sure what sort of lok you were going for, but they do not look bad at all IMHO.
 
Coltrain said:
Nooooooooooooooo!!!!
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Coltrain??? Is that just another helpful comment? Is this too cliche for you?

Just a suggestion, but I think it may look better if you create more of a variance in the light. At the moment it is a little black and white; try instead to have one side of the face half lit, maybe a key to one side and then just a reflector on the other. Overhead lighting may work for this kind of scene too, with bounce off the table. That way his eyes may become back voids.

Are you shooting interlaced - 60i? if so I would recommend 24/30p for drama.

Damn good work for a first time! Keeping experimenting. :thumbsup:
 
strangebrew said:
its an interrogation scene that we filmed in a small garage so the lighting was really hard to do i had three 1k lights so they were reflection off the walls i had to use allot of white diffusion. if you have any suggestions on how to make it look better let me know I'm considering shotting it again. it my first short and my first time with my new dvx.
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I think the directional quality of the light is good for the noir aesthetic that you are going for. I also think the "amateurish" comments are responding to the harsh quality of the light which screams video. Here's three thoughts on that.

1) use the on camera zebra lines to show which areas are over exposed.
2) It sounds like you have diffusion -- do you have dimmers -- are the 1K lights Tungsten Work lights or what? If you have dimmers and diffusion you should be able to soften the quality of the light and maintain the harsh directionalism you are going for.
3) After addressing the above, finesse with the master ped setting for a noir look. It basically controls how washed out shadow areas are so you can see some detail in them or how abruptly the shadow on the edge of the light goes to pitch black. That's probably not a technically accurate description but that's how it looks to me. But that's how it makes sense to my brain.
Here are screen grabs that show the master ped setting at various levels.
http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/MP/
BTW: Following the article is the most snarfy, bitchy, entertaining thread I've read. Worthy of viewing in its own right.

Back to the hand dimmers. I have three 4 500w ($8 a piece)work lights. I've mounted three of them on 7.5' light stands ($25) and mostly shoot through umbrellas ($10-$30) for diffusion. Each light is connected to an in chord light dimmer ($30) which is rated for 500w. I've done a few tests and get a good deal of control between the umbrellas (three actually - 1 translucent white to shoot light through like a paper lantern, a 2nd white inside black outside to bounce light off with no spill and a 3rd lined with silver with black on the outside.) So if your are able to dim and diffuse the light you should be able to get a great image as video doesn't need a lot of light.

All I need now is some color correcting gel, some black wrap in lieu of barn doors, and some diffusion gel in case I need very specific direction that my umbrellas won't allow.

I saw all these poorman light kit posts that said use shower curtain for diffusion and by tungsten work lights on stands. But these umbrellas were not expensive and neither is diffusion gel in small quantities, so I don't get that. Also, the stands for the work lights are only 6' which is a little short, and I priced them at around $30. For about 10 or $15 more I got pro light stands, a mounting clamp thingy, and the tungsten work light without its own stand. Then of course I added the $30 dimmers which I would have had to do anyway, but the lighting unit on stand was about $40 or $45 dollars.

Hope this has been helpful.

Vets correct me if I am wrong, I am a newbie also.
 
well thanks for all the feed back and suggestions, the lights that i used were arri lights and i had no dimmers i wish i did it would have made thing alot easier. and i had a technical question about the dvx.... when i was setting up the lights i would leave the camera turned on and hooked up to a monitor well have way through the set up my camera would shut off and i would have set it all back up. is there any way that i can pervent this from happening.
 
dont listen to that firstguy who replied.

your grabs look good. just keepworking and improving. you are so far ahead of most newbie indy filmmakers its not even funny. heck the fact that you are using a DVX already sets you ahead of most!
 
what youre talking about is the 5 minute auto-shut off. im sure theres a way to set the time on that or turn it off completely. check the manual, i cant remember off hand and my cam is out in the trunk...
 
i wish i could take the credit for the poster, i do not have my comp right now so i dun have photo shop my buddy the guy in the still's is the one that made the poster
 
strangebrew said:
well thanks for all the feed back and suggestions, the lights that i used were arri lights and i had no dimmers i wish i did it would have made thing alot easier. and i had a technical question about the dvx.... when i was setting up the lights i would leave the camera turned on and hooked up to a monitor well have way through the set up my camera would shut off and i would have set it all back up. is there any way that i can pervent this from happening.
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Does it only do that with a tape in? Most cameras will go to standby automatically if there is a tape inserted. I think this is in order to save the record heads. Try taking the tape out during setup, it has worked for me with other panasonic cameras, but I am not sure about the DVX.
 
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