Trying to get the T2 look for this type of scene.

[ironpony]

I like how in T2, they make all the orange sodium lights white, as you can see 36 seconds into the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVc0DoE4tY0

However when I do that with my Canon T3i camera, the picture becomes very desaturated because they have to suck all the orange out of the image to get those lights white. How did they do it for that movie? I doubt even with James Cameron's big budget that he was able to have all those sodium lights in Los Angeles, gelled, but I could be wrong.

Maybe he put a filter on the camera so they would show up white, since back then they did not have sodium balanced film. But what I can do to achieve that? Should I just white balance the orange sodium lights, and then resaturate in post? I've tried doing that, but it does create quite a fair amount of noise, after resaturating. Here's two of the same video, one shot flat, and the second with saturation added, causing noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIwoXo-wIE&feature=youtu.be

I shot flat though, with the saturation turned down. Would their be less noise if I shot with it close to max, in camera, rather than adding it in post?

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

I like how in T2, they make all the orange sodium lights white, as you can see 36 seconds into the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVc0DoE4tY0

However when I do that with my Canon T3i camera, the picture becomes very desaturated because they have to suck all the orange out of the image to get those lights white. How did they do it for that movie? I doubt even with James Cameron's big budget that he was able to have all those sodium lights in Los Angeles, gelled, but I could be wrong.

Maybe he put a filter on the camera so they would show up white, since back then they did not have sodium balanced film. But what I can do to achieve that? Should I just white balance the orange sodium lights, and then resaturate in post? I've tried doing that, but it does create quite a fair amount of noise, after resaturating. Here's two of the same video, one shot flat, and the second with saturation added, causing noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIwoXo-wIE&feature=youtu.be

I shot flat though, with the saturation turned down. Would their be less noise if I shot with it close to max, in camera, rather than adding it in post?

There are lights then there are lights. If you look at around 00:36 or so you will see the helicopter and the vehicles approaching a bridge. In the background is an oil refinery, with a zillion 'yellowish' lights.

But the principle lights are from behind the camera and I suspect they are arc search lights which illuminate the bridge and the vehicle head lights. Also, all the shots of closeups are probably done on a 'set' rather than a moving vehicle on a public freeway, especially with shots that have the kid involved. In such shots, there is total control over the lights.

At clip time 00:13 or so, there's a bridge with lights under the bridge. If any 'lights' were changed it would only be these lights. I can't recall if those lights actually exist, or they have been added to give illumination under the bridge. It has been a while since I've been in that area at night...


In a word, none of the 'yellow' lights are illuminating the scene in any significant way.

In your clip, illumination is entirely from the 'available yellow' light, and as such will give problems when you attempt to 'remove' or lessen the 'yellow' as you have been told before.

 

[ironpony]

That's what I am talking about. The refinery in the background. They still had to do something to get those lights yellowish. They are not that yellowish but only a bit. In real life, those lights are very orange. So they still did something to get the refinery lights less orange.

When the helicopter blows up in that T2 clip, and you see the fire, the fire is white. So that means they did something to suck out the orange, that I have to do. I am guessing they had to do something similar to what I did to suck out the orange, because you cannot gel fire of course.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

That's what I am talking about. The refinery in the background. They still had to do something to get those lights yellowish. They are not that yellowish but only a bit. In real life, those lights are very orange. So they still did something to get the refinery lights less orange.

When the helicopter blows up in that T2 clip, and you see the fire, the fire is white. So that means they did something to suck out the orange, that I have to do. I am guessing they had to do something similar to what I did to suck out the orange, because you cannot gel fire of course.

Depends on the refinery. Here's a shot listed as from "El Segundo", which is in the same area as the Terminator shooting site in the clip you linked to, and there are several different 'colors' of lights on the structure.

On can see the 'yellow', 'cyan', 'warm white' on the refinery structures, as well as 'white' from cars passing by.

Since the Terminator series was shot on film, I suspect they used Tungsten, and perhaps 'blue' filter on the camera for the over all 'bluish' effect, or printed with more 'blue' for the effect in post.

IMDB gives the following negative stocks: Eastman EXR 50D 5245, EXR 500T 5296, 250D 5297

This was not shot on ISO 50D 'daylight'... nor 250D... 500T like the most likely stock used for the night shots, and so is 'balanced' for 3200K Tungsten light.

 

[David Jimerson]

I like how in T2, they make all the orange sodium lights white, as you can see 36 seconds into the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVc0DoE4tY0

However when I do that with my Canon T3i camera, the picture becomes very desaturated because they have to suck all the orange out of the image to get those lights white. How did they do it for that movie? I doubt even with James Cameron's big budget that he was able to have all those sodium lights in Los Angeles, gelled, but I could be wrong.

Maybe he put a filter on the camera so they would show up white, since back then they did not have sodium balanced film. But what I can do to achieve that? Should I just white balance the orange sodium lights, and then resaturate in post? I've tried doing that, but it does create quite a fair amount of noise, after resaturating. Here's two of the same video, one shot flat, and the second with saturation added, causing noise:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIwoXo-wIE&feature=youtu.be

I shot flat though, with the saturation turned down. Would their be less noise if I shot with it close to max, in camera, rather than adding it in post?

ironpony, seriously . . .

This is constructive criticism. You've posted about this a few times, but you have a LOT of other things to worry about before you spend any time getting worked up about this.

You need to learn the very basics of cinematography. You need to start at the base level and work your way up. This kind of thing is WAY up the ladder. Start with basic composition, then go to basic lighting. Once you have those down -- which at this point, you don't -- THEN worry about more advanced things.

Again, I say this to be constructive. If you're serious, and if you truly want to learn the craft, it's what you need to do. And in all reality, you really need to start demonstrating you ARE serious about learning this stuff, because if you aren't, then we can't have you starting thread after thread of these kinds of questions, especially when you frequently A) assume you know things you don't, and B) ignore the good answers you get because it's not what you want to hear. It takes up space and it wastes everyone's time.

So, it's up to you. Are you going to get serious or not?

 

[ironpony]

Well I am already learning what I can about lighting and composition on my own time, with my collaborators. I thought I would learn this look I want for a project on the side, and ask on here for some input. But it's not like I am not learning. I do contemplate how I would light scenes where I have more control over the lighting and all.

Plus I would use a DP for making my movie, I would not do all the photography on my own at all. It's just the DP I had told me that the T2 look was not possible at all. But I want second opinions on everything, just so I don't listen to one DP or one PSM, etc, and find out I had way more options later, if I had just asked other people to be sure.