What's the best way to film the moon?

EDV

EDV

Well-known member
Hello,

I need a "moon and stars" shot, with the artist in the foreground for a music video.
This example is probably a bit exaggerated, but I like the clarity of the shot.



If anybody could give me some tips on how to achieve this would be greatly appreciated.

I will be using a HPX172 + 2 LED light panels outdoors.
 
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A gaffer once told me of a cool trick for getting a nice low moon: he said to make a large moon cutout and paint the craters on it. Then take it really far away and rise it high on a mombo stand. Shoot a 5k or something onto it. If you want to ask him about it, i believe he is currently running Birns & Sawyer's Lighting rental facility in N. Hollywood.

As long as it's slightly out of focus or small, it looks quite real.

If you need it larger in the sky, move the camera back from the subject and really zoom in. The further you back up from the subject , but zoom in to keep the same composition... the more magnified the background is.

It's a fun trick, but you need experienced people to pull it off... otherwise it can probably surrealistically amateur.
 
I know they probably used a VFX guy for the example I gave, but I don't want to use VFX. Even if the moon looks small and distant, I would be happy as long as it's clearly featured in the composition. Perhaps it's a matter of finding the right angle to have both artist and moon "framed" properly?
 
Download the highest-resolution image of the full moon you can find, print it out, stick it to foam core or gator board, trim it and follow Ryan's advice.
 
The moon is actually quite small visually - when we see it in films and TV it's nearly always been faked in post to look bigger. A very easy VFX (so long as nothing needs to move in front of it) - in post, grab a pic of the moon, expand to the required size, plonk it on top of the boring old real sky.
 
clang said:
The moon is actually quite small visually - when we see it in films and TV it's nearly always been faked in post to look bigger. A very easy VFX (so long as nothing needs to move in front of it) - in post, grab a pic of the moon, expand to the required size, plonk it on top of the boring old real sky.
Click to expand...

The moon subtends about 1/2 degree... so even with a telephoto that has a fov of 10 deg. one would need a 200mm length lens (relative to 35mm horizontal ), just to have the moon take up 5% of the frame.
 
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The moon is actually proportionally just as close and just as small to be the same size as the sun.... which is an awesome coincidence on earth. The sun appears the EXACT same size as the moon.

So yeah, you'll need a long long lens for the real deal, or you should fake it via sfx or vfx.
 
SteerMoon1.JPG

SteerMoon2.JPG
SteerMoon3.JPG


These are all moving shots from a quick + dirty music video I did a while back. Plan on the moon being somewhere in frame, a certain size, and you can even let your talent move in front of it or move in the frame. We didn't add a tracking reference, either. There's usually plenty to track with in a frame now-a-days.

I'd say just light for it and do it in post so the look is dramatized.

P.S. The Moon + Sun thing was on purpose. lol
 
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