Shot a 3 camera live session and tried to make it look as good as possible. Crush me!

T

TimTom

Member
Here is the link:
https://youtu.be/Rn2ifYINi0M
I had 200 bucks to rent a slider and an easyrig.
They cooked for us. Had a great team.
I never lit a space this big and also directing/DPing/producing was a nightmare.
I wish I could focus on just lighting/shooting. Could have spared myself and the rest a lot of stress by having a director/producer.

Would love your feedback or whatever!
The music is great, if you like music it is worth it.

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Looks very nice overall but your shot of the guitarist and the master look quite underexposed/murky to me, not moody, underexposed as in missing almost all detail in the dark areas. Singer's face looks exposed correctly in her CU. Did you use waveform or zebras or a light meter? Other than that, well done artistically. Did you intentionally underexpose this much or was it an artistic choice?
 
puredrifting said:
Looks very nice overall but your shot of the guitarist and the master look quite underexposed/murky to me, not moody, underexposed as in missing almost all detail in the dark areas. Singer's face looks exposed correctly in her CU. Did you use waveform or zebras or a light meter? Other than that, well done artistically. Did you intentionally underexpose this much or was it an artistic choice?
Click to expand...

Back when I shot this, I was in a real Bradford Young mood. This was shot overexposed by 2 stops and intended to be that dark, thats why it is dark/murky but not grainy. (I used false color) BUT I agree. Now that a couple of month have passed, I think I might have gone overboard. His CU is what bothers me the most. He should not have worn a redbrown shirt in front of a wooden wall. Just tone in tone. Also wish I could have given him a hairlight or sth. Also I wanted to source to be toppy but couldn't figure out how to give them sth in the eyes (the 3 cam coverage made it impossible to get polys in), other people have suggested I could have angled to light. Will try that next time :)
Thanks for your opinion. This is too dark and could have used more separation.
 
I enjoyed it and also agree with drifting about the guitar guy. While out of your control, I think the mic placement in front of the lady was competing a lot for my attention. No way around it as the space was limited and they were recording as well. Thanks for sharing!
 
Lovely performance and editing.

The microphone in the shot didn't bother me - it added the sense that this was casual, informal coverage of a real recording session or intimate performance (even though you obviously did a lot of work behind the scenes with the lighting and camera positions). The underexposure, especially on the guitarist, did distract me quite a bit. The contrast with the practical lamp behind him just made it clearer that there wasn't enough light on his face and instrument.

I thought the straight-on wide 2-shot looked a little too stagey and symmetrical, and emphasized the distance between the performers. That would have worked better for me at almost any angle a little more off center (and could have been a bit tighter). The other shots were great.

The audio is superb, especially the singer. Good control of reverb in that space. Can you mention the microphones and other sound equipment that were used?

- Greg
 
It is nicely lit and staged.

The picky stuff to crush you:
- It probably looks good in the edit room or theater. But in the living room, I can't see it. It's just too dark.
- The camera slide movement is nice, but the wobbly camera bugs me. Wobbly camera always bugs me, with the exception of action movie shots, so I must be the odd one out.
- When panning from one talent to the other, the camera seems to hunt for the other talent. Maybe that is an artistic choice.
- The two-shot could have come in tighter after the open for a more intimate look, but maybe you didn't have an operator for that camera.
- Since you had 3 cameras, you could have mixed the one-shots with OTS shots, but that may not be a look you are going for.
- The mics in the shot are 100% ok, except the guitar mic, which really bugged me for the finger work shots.
 
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Dang, you guys made me aware of a severe grading mistake I made. I bypassed the correct exposure adjustments. Thats why there is no detail in the wide and his CU. ****!
 
I think what is bugging me about the singing mic is the red elastic which draws my attention and it seems to be more in focus than the singer. Probably because it is static and has detail to be seen in the grid cover.
 
I am just looking at the screencaps on my phone here but looks nice other than being dark in the shadow areas and like you (OP) said, could use edge/separation lights. Simple (to me) fix for the underexposed/fill areas would be an under light or uplight...soft light or lights in floor angled up at talent. LED panels or giant foamcore/card/etc (4x8 feet maybe to cover both of them or a smaller square piece for each person) with a fairly powerful (relatively speaking) like pounded into it/them, like a 650 or 1k tungsten (or brightness equivalent LED etc.), something you could adjust to taste with dimmer or scrim etc. woild work.
 
I like what you were going for, now you've heard some reactions and know how to refine it in the future.
All I would add is that in this particular setup, for separation, I would not hit the talent with a backlight, I would give a little exposure to the background instead.

But for me what stands out is the camera work, particularly the slider on the female. It doesn't look polished and hurt the most. You really need slow, almost invisible feeling moves the viewer is nearly unaware of. That comes from a smooth head, a better slider (or no slider), a slightly shorter lens, and I hate to say it, better operating skill which comes with time and practice.

Sliding, framing, and pulling focus can send even a seasoned operator into a fit. You were asking for trouble : ) Next time, take at least one of these duties off the operator's plate.

I shot something similar for a friend in my living room, feel free to pick it aprt: https://vimeo.com/195166251
 
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