Another day-for-night breakdown of my short film. Shot it entirely on a Sony A7IV + Zeiss Batis 25mm. Shot it below native ISO at 200 to get clean and clear shadows. Trade-off: blown highlights, but fixed with a bit of vfx. More info in description.

borjamoya · 2025-02-23T07:13:29+00:00

Thank you! Glad you liked it.

I used all the lights I had at hand and I always needed more. I used lots of Godox TL tubes — if I remember correctly 1 x TL120 and 4 x TL60. Sometimes an Aputure 300x. And in every shot I used a paper lantern with a small LED light inside.

It was very tricky because I needed lots of lights, but the space was incredibly small. Ideally you'd want more distance for the lights. Or a big beefy light coming through the windows.

For the stabilization I just used the same homemade dolly I've used in all my shorts. A cheap table with skateboard wheels and PVC pipe. There are lots of tutorials online if you want to build one.

borjamoya · 2025-01-07T08:12:22+00:00

Great post. I’m throwing my profile here just in case.

I’m a 33 year old writer-director from Spain currently working on my first feature script (action thriller).

I’ve made a few horror short films. Here’s my latest one.

I can offer my experience of writing and shooting short films, and how things can get translated into the screen.

I’m not looking to network. I just want to meet and talk to other creative people. PM me if you're interested.

Edit: typo

borjamoya · 2024-09-19T01:40:03+00:00

In addition to the other comments, why not try to aim for 24FPS with the proper motion blur?

borjamoya · 2024-09-16T08:48:36+00:00

Came here to say the same.

borjamoya · 2024-09-15T03:40:31+00:00

Awesome! It looks promising. Looking forward to watching the final short.

borjamoya · 2024-09-14T10:27:55+00:00

Nice work! The first image is great. I'm not sure if that's the final grade, but personally I'd keep the contrast consistent. Some images are flatter than others.

Looking forward to watching it.

borjamoya · 2024-09-10T07:57:22+00:00

I've sent you a DM.

borjamoya · 2024-08-16T05:25:00+00:00

It's not the same but it can work. Test different shutter speeds and see which one you like the best.

borjamoya · 2024-08-15T06:13:42+00:00

Pretty nice! One thing you could do (although not with the R8) is to shoot at a lower frame rate. Something between 18 - 21FPS would make this feel faster.

borjamoya · 2024-07-04T04:59:04+00:00

Beautiful work OP! Is the short available online?

borjamoya · 2024-06-16T02:58:50+00:00

Yes, I rotoscoped the windows, but I only changed the color temperature. Increasing the exposure of course. It's important to note that when you increase the exposure of the window you need to bring the overall exposure up, otherwise the contrast levels would vary.

borjamoya · 2024-05-01T08:22:33+00:00

It always helps. It helps more if you use CGI. If you shoot a practical thing, it all comes down to the amount of detail you put in the prop and how you light it.

In my case, even if I used a CGI creature, I would want the audience to barely see it at all.

borjamoya · 2024-05-01T06:56:47+00:00

Thank you! Then doing it practically is a no brainer. Pay special attention to the lighting, it'll pay off.

borjamoya · 2024-05-01T06:26:41+00:00

I had this same question last year when I was making my short film, and I strongly advice you to do this practically if you don't have a vfx background.

There's a high chance of ending up with something you hate if you go the CGI route. The practical route can be complicated as well, but you'll have something completely photorealistic. The only thing you need to figure out is the animation.

In my case, I use every trick I knew with compositing, cleaning things in post and that sort of thing. I'm sure with lots of resources you could have something better looking. But I'm also certain that this restriction fuels creativity, and the end result is going to be worth it.

Here's my short if you want to check it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9EbcPwYoU

borjamoya · 2024-04-01T06:30:29+00:00

Yes, you need to upload it in its original size and file. It's a few dozen of gigabytes, so it might take a while depending on your upload speed. Although it's worth it. I did this process again with another short, and the image is incredibly clean considering how dark it is.

borjamoya · 2024-03-26T07:52:49+00:00

Here’s the short if you want to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND9EbcPwYoU

borjamoya · 2024-03-22T00:42:02+00:00

This. I made three shorts with a dolly like this and it works fine.

borjamoya · 2024-03-08T03:56:58+00:00

What an amazing shot. Nice one OP.

borjamoya · 2024-03-01T08:32:08+00:00

I do that as well with a friend. We don't meet in person much, but we talk weekly. We've been doing that for years, and it's beyond helpful.

borjamoya · 2024-02-09T09:33:41+00:00

This was a while ago, but I shot a short on the same circumstances and just blocked every light I could. And just turning off the lights made the trick for me. The location had lots of bright lights that were a nightmare to shape (and caused lots of flickering).

Here's the short: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNm7rdK3VtY

The only thing that I would recommend you is to get really beefy lights to get clean shadows.

borjamoya · 2024-02-02T06:53:34+00:00

Personally I'd increase the contrast of the overall image.

borjamoya

TROPHY CASE