Show it's day/night?

Duff

Duff

Well-known member
For the All Hallows Fest, I have two interior scenes -- one in which it's day, and one in which it's night. I had originally planned to cut to a shot of the skyline at dawn and again at twilight. However, today the sky was overcast and terrible looking, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow and Friday as well, so it doesn't seem as though I'm going to be able to capture my shots.

Can anyone think of another way to communicate the time change? Since it's only over the course of a 5 minute video, it's kind of important. I have my bird and cricket audio, but it doesn't do me much good without an image to show.
 
What about a shot of a clock (cliche, but effective), or a tight shot of something near a window, then use the appropriate color light through the window to create the effect. You can even move the light to show the change, like a time lapse.
 
You may want to search for Sunrise / Sunset or Moolight footage - not sure if you have a budget - Maybe someone on the forum has something they can let you use?

Jim's suggestion about either a clock or object near window light would work as well - perhaps there is a key object you can keep coming back to that can help with your lighting changes / needs, such as someone setting keys down on a table in the moonlight or picking them up in the morning sunlight... something that also helps to move the story forward...
 
Just use a large image of a sunset or sunrise - thousands of them on Google images - and manipulate it in Photoshop for sunrise/sunset coloring.

Import it into your editing software slightly oversized, alter the image blur, colors, grain etc to match your other footage - and add a slow pan across the horizon.

You could also take a shot of the interior window frame and make a composite with the sunset / sunrise matted through the window.

Impossible to tell it's not a real shot - just watch the resolution of the image doesn't give you away.

Phil Brown
 
Two things that always say "Indoors-night" to me....

1. A lamp in the shot -- turned on, of course.

2. An overall warmth to the colors. A lot of people go for cooler color balance to indicate night, and that works too. But to me, when you're inside at night with the drapes drawn and the lamps on, the color of the light is warmer and cozier.

Also, wardrobe can play a factor. If your characters are in their pajamas, taking off bathrobes and getting their clothes ready to get dressed -- then it's morning. If they're buttoning up their pajamas then it's night. Of course, your scenes might not be conducive to this, but it's something to think about.

An alarm clock buzzing -- it's morning.

Checking and setting an alarm clock -- it's night.

Breakfast foods on the table -- morning.

Supper-type foods on the table - night.

There's probably lots of other things you can do in a similar vein.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the suggestions. All the footage for the video is already filmed, I just need the cutaways to show passage of time between two scenes (which both occur in the same location -- the kitchen).

I'm really hoping I can just get one clear day to film a shot of the horizon. In the meantime, I'm going to experiment with cutting in an image of a sunrise/sunset to see if I can make it look believable, and as a last resort I'll have to go with the clock.
 
I ended up filming an analog clock in front of a window -- double cliche. There's a tree right outside my window, so all you see of the outside is that it's light out. Not as nice as a sunrise, but the weather didn't really leave me any options. Thanks for the suggestions. Now to just wait for nightfall, film the clock in front of the dark window, and export my video shortly before midnight.
 
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