mixing looks in 16

[Olivier Egli]

i am shooting a new musicvid in 3 weeks.

the video will include 2 sets, one of them needs to be very hospital like, cold and shiny, almost needs to have a bit of a "sick" feel to it.

the other one needs to have deep saturation, hefty contrast and a lot of definition. I want this set to tend more towards the warm color range whereas the first set tends to be more cyan.

 

what is the easiest way to achieve this beside knobbing around in telecine? I want to go into post with the best possible negative.

 

I will be shooting on Kodak 7274 with an Arri SRII and Canon 8-64 zoom.

I want to use the 200T as it has always proved to be my workhorse and the most reliable when there was a lot of shadow detail to be captured and when skintones as well as a medium to high range contrast mattered to me.

But now I need these twoe sets to be totally different.

 

First I thought of shooting a greyscale with a 81EF filter on it or a half orange gel on the key to have the telecine match it up. and then shoot uncorrected all the way for the first set (the sick looking one). would a dior filter help for the unfriendly skin tones?

Also I might rate the 7274 160ASA to have that one third overexposure to help the highlights. What will happen to the shadows?

 

as for the second set: how can I increase the saturation and the snappy look of the already snappy 7274 without having to push or pull? the budget does not allow for it, unfortunately.

 

the first set will be mainly fill light. The light ratio will be something like 2:1, only using some kicker and eye light for the center of attention, but the rest should stay pretty even.

the second set needs a lot of fill for the background but the foreground should stand out way more with keylight. Here I want something like 4:1 or even 8:1.

 

can anyone help me?

 

thanks

[Olivier Egli]

oh and what I forgot:

I will be shooting most of the shots of the second set at 50fps. I dont think this will affect the reciprocity of the layers in any way, but it change the reproduction of the picture....?

[Olivier Egli]

the second set (with the high grade of saturation and contrast), could I use a polarizer or maybe an ultrapol there? The camera is locked off hanging from the ceiling pointing downwards to the actors.

Also, does anyone have experience with center spot filters? is it more wise to do this in post?

[David Mullen ASC]

Increasing contrast and saturation is such a basic telecine color correction that, other than delivering a well-exposed negative with the lighting ratios you want, I wouldn't worry about trying to boost it in-camera unless it's an extreme effect like a skip-bleach process or cross-process. You can use a Color Enhancer, which will cost you a stop of exposure and boost your reds, but you could also do that in post.

 

Shooting the grey scale with a warm light or with a warming filter to get the scene to look blue-ish, and the opposite to get the scene timed warmish, is done all the time.

 

Rating 200T at 160 ASA is a good idea, but it's nothing radical -- it's within a normal margin of error in exposing. The image doesn't look or behave much differently at 160 ASA.

[John Pytlak RIP]

For the "sick" look of the first set, how about shooting with uncorrected "cool white" or "daylight" flourescents? Perhaps even uncorrected mercury vapor industrial lighting. Your colorist can then "tweek" the look to what you want.

 

The second set needs only a good "solid" exposure, giving a rich negative that should allow getting the rich, warm look you want on telecine. Rating the film EI160T will give a bit more color saturation and shadow detail than the normal EI200T, and might help enhance the "look" you want.

 

Reciprocity at 50fps is not an issue at all.