Shooting low key with the DVX

T

timtorpedo

Well-known member
Hi,

I'm preparing a shoot where I'm going to shoot low key. I know my DVX, but I was wondering if anyone have some advice for me to avoid surprises, like noise, a too low light that the dvx isn't sensitive enough to get... you know.

If I go around with a light meter, would I have some hint? (although I know :kali: the lightmeter with the dvx is a controverial issue...)

Thanks:Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
Well, the thing about low key is that it's not a matter of low wattage. I've often read about a night shoot lit by 12K HMIs...so clearly you shouldn't be skimping on the amount of light. Low key really just talks about the ratios of light to dark and the amount of the frame that is at full illumination. Obviously, for example a night scene in the forest, the only lighting might be a blue rim of moonlight silhouetting the characters a bit of moon bounce showing the expressions of their face and bright lights of the city in the distance. Your making a film though, so of course it will be cloudy that night and the city will be nowhere near your locatoin. So your set up might be a 2k or so gelled blue as a high back to simulate moonlight, a large bounce of that backlight for some subtle facial illumination, and maybe a hard light used artistically to accentuate the branches in the background to establish the location, and finally if you are on long enough lenses some christmas lights strung up about 100 feet back to act as city lights. Obviously this is just a really detailed example, but its just showing you that to make a film you need to light with a *lot* of punch. Compartivley, the scenario I just described is actually much smaller scale that I would choose to do if I had endless $$$, but I'm guessing you haven't got enough cash like everyone else, so rent or buy what you can and go out and shoot the damn thing. :)
Moral of the story: low key and low light are completley different.
Let me know if I can clear any of this up to help someone out...
Peace,

-Harry

EDIT: P.S. Mods: maybe this should get moved to lighting? Thanks! -H
 
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