Reflection #4

Project 2 – Brews Runner 2018

Hard shadows almost define the film noir look; hard lights can leave sharp edged shadows, that’s why we initially chose 2K ARRI as the key; we wanted a light to produce hard lights so to achieve a dramatic effect. At the same time, we planned to set up two Dedo lights as backlight respectively with red gel and green gel to create a neon light like lighting, as we wanted to have a future sci-fi Noir looking derived from Blade Runner (1982). However, the 2K ARRI was too strong compared with the two Dedo lights so it was overwhelming the lighting effect created by the two Dedo lights while one guy was switching them on and off alternately. Hence, how to balance the illuminance between the different lights, while trying to implement some lighting effects, has become my first part to reflect here. We did not need the 2K ARRI to illuminate the whole studio, while we only needed some hard lights spotting on my body, so I suggested Max try to change the 2K ARRI with a Dedo light as the key but set onto spot and put it really close to me. As a consequence, the key light produced by the Dedo through the ‘Cucoloris’ (venetian blind pattern) worked so well with the other two Dedo lights, because the key light and the backlight had become the equal illuminance. And by rolling up our ‘Cucoloris’ (venetian blind pattern) helped emphasize the shadows and harsh lighting, since we wanted to create a sense of depth and volume.

We introduced a white core board from my right side to reflect some light, so it can fill in some of the shadows left by the key and add an outline to separate my black outfit from the black background. And meanwhile we also introduced a cutter (black core board) to block out the backlight reaching into the camera in order to avoid getting a milky image. By thinking in a cinematic way as an actor, I was moving my hands to block out some of the light deliberately and meantime Max was directing me to find the right spots. I really like the mid shot when I lift up my left hand to the most with the light glaring from the zips in my jacket. So it has become an unexpected dynamic change of the light.

Why didn’t we have a camera operator who was really on the camera the whole time? True, we should have had a guy on the camera to see what got changed while we were manipulating the lights. The Lumix GH4 we used to shoot for our projects has a greater exposure latitude than the Sony EX3, but sometimes through the LUT (A special LUT made by Panasonic for the Lumix GH4) makes it look overexposed so we have to check the waveform to be sure it isn’t. We also turned on the zebra patterns during the shooting and the brightest skin tones were around 80% (100% = overexposed level). On the Atomos the LUT is just there to give us an idea of what the graded footage will look like. Therefore, Max gave the special LUT to Matthew so he can apply the LUT to the clips he uses.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ikKx4ue9xS8ZVPWfK14rBvQ6yo7-7BNm