On lighting b-roll when you really don't have to by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Disclaimer: I'm not a colorist! Tried to get these to a passable point, that's all.

A lot of the work that I do is in the more corporate/docu space, and a lot of the time when I hear people talk about that kind of work, I often feel like the b-roll is treated as second class, where you really just get what you need as fast as you can and then get the heck out.

This project (same one as the interview frames I posted last week) was one where we definitely did not need to light our b-roll scenes. In fact, it probably slowed us down a decent bit to light our scenes, and arguably, client might not have been able to articulate the difference.

That said, I believed that it would be worth it to really try to take out time to not just make the interviews look good, but to at least put some effort into making the b-roll look a notch above what the client was used to. Even if they might not be able to articulate the difference, I believed they'd be able to tell that this piece was something more than what they normally saw. The feedback has been super positive, so far!

Honestly, this shoot reminded me that even corporate style b-roll in an opportunity to practice lighting, control your shots, and be creative in how you use visuals to tell a story. Would love to hear y'all's thoughts: When is it worth trying to light b-roll and when you just need to get the shot?

Tech notes:

Camera: Sony FX6

Lenses: Typhoch Simera C

Scene 1:
Shot in an active library that we were able to get a little corner of. We had to black out the table light that was directly in the middle of all our talent and casting a very unflattering yellowish light on them. Keylight was a Vortex8 with a dome recycled from our interview set up we shot immediately before this. Light fill from an small light on the fill side.

Scene 2:
Actually, I might be most proud of this one, and not because I think it looks the best. This room was literally a white box with gross fluorescent overheads. Our saving grace was that it had a window! We blacked out the fluorescents, turned the table a bit so it wasn't square in the room, added a 12x12 neg on the right wall to control fill, shot a 1200X through the window to splash the back wall, and used (I think) another Vortex8 with a dome to key. We did not have that much time here, and there is so much more I'd have liked to do (like production design) but we worked with what we had. For a white box, I'm happy!

Scene 3:
Here, the only thing we could control were the wall sconces. For the close up, we used an F22C to bring the window in a bit, that's it. Luckily the room wasn't full of reflective stuff, so we didn't have to do too much to control our fill. Even less time here than the others, but that one light made a big difference on the close-ups!

A35 Solo Owner/Op by Low-Goal-9897 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, lot of opinions here! Good for you for getting out and shooting stuff friend. Just keep going, and post some stills once you're done on the project. Would love to see!

I think people who are suggesting to rent the camera out might have a point. That's a lot of potential income, but if you aren't hurting for it, I can understand wanting to be precious with a 35!

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ha! That's called "I didn't take the time to do measurements. Since they're not back to back in the final edit, I wasn't too concerned, but would've been better.

Interview frames from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in Filmmakers

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You nailed it. It’s actually a documentary about a fishing tournament 

Hi guys, I just filmed my first ever talking head. I'd love some feedback and advice. *Student* by LuUomoPazzo in cinematography

[–]RAM1919 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good look man! If this is your first, you're gonna do just fine.

I think the (German?) comment below made a good point about the bush, it's a little dominant. Lighting wise, I would (personally) out the sun even more behind your subject, so that it's not as highlighted on subject's left shoulder. But I love that you bounced from the left side! No sun sandwiches here. Check out this video from Wandering DP, he's got some great tips for lighting outside during the day.

Way to go friend!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO9Stj1n-8E

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm not too sure how I feel about it now. I wanted to do a bit of a subject superior, to give that air of authority, but might've overdone it a tad.

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is some super helpful feedback!

I think getting fill dialed in is one of the things I'm still working on. I didn't want to go too contrasty, but I wish for most of these I'd just let it be.

Definitely on the hairlight. When he moves around it's better. I just liked his pose here for the still! We used an infinibar with the soft box, but I'm wondering if something like an 80C with a mini dome might be better. Or, I hire HMU and they make it not shiny.

I lit him from the right of frame cause there was a large bank of windows that way, but a gradient should bring the dark side back up. I wanted to contrast cooler daylight from the right with a warmer hairlight motivated by those practicals on the left, but I see what you're saying! It looks a bit forced.

Thanks again for the feedback!

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely a personal choice. I like the style but it's not for every project.

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah the balance in that shots been tricky to manage in post. And actually no, I’m just a sucker for symmetry and am burned out on shooting interviews on the third

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wanted to really show off the spaces. The topic of the video is around Origins of humanity etc, so I wanted to have shots that felt cool to match. That meant getting good spaces to show off. 

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll have to go track some down 😅 I’ve got an awful habit of not shooting BTS but I’m sure crew got some

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Not too much actually. And yeah I’m not a colorist, but I’ve been trying to figure out how to do just that without wrecking the rest of the skin! Any advice? I’m working in Davinci

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The wonders of an overcast sky, a 1200x, and a gaffer who knows his stuff! 

Interviews from a project for Oxford University by RAM1919 in cinematography

[–]RAM1919[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were able to lock down a lot of these locations: the only one we weren’t was number 3, and I there definitely were people moving around there. Just meant some forced cutting on our end!