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Trying to get an Effect-Any suggestions


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Hi everyone,

 

I keep testing different things but never quite get the right effect. I don't want the scenes to look over exposed but I do want the whites on screen to have a kind of glowing halo effect. If anyone has seen Bringing Out the Dead something similar to that would work. My biggest problem is it's not a dark movie so even if I get the whites looking a little extra bright it wont show up that well in most scenes. If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

 

thanks a lot,

Carol

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I've seen that film.

 

I'm sure if you dig up the relevant ASC article it can help you a lot more than my memory can, but it looked to me like a combination of two things.

 

The background was kept a few stops under key and the actors were about 1 1/2 stops over key; mainly their upper body and face. The main light sources were always from the above and off screen (motivated by street lamps) but these lights were cut to pretty much only fall on the actor and spill was minimized -- hence the upper body and face were lit higher than say legs. The lighting was augmented with the fact that the actors mainly wore mainly white. Together they served to separate them from the background.

 

The *halo* was added with a pro mist filter on camera, or some other diffusion filter. This effect is further exaggerated by the actor, background separation as I noted above. *Mist* type filters work best when there is a dark/light separation (compare the street scenes with the scene in the drug dealer's pad).

 

They may have also netted the back of the lens, but I'm not sure. I'm only going by my own observations here.

 

If you want more examples of this type of effect, watch Atonement. The first half of the film is rife with it.

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Hi everyone,

 

I keep testing different things but never quite get the right effect. I don't want the scenes to look over exposed but I do want the whites on screen to have a kind of glowing halo effect. If anyone has seen Bringing Out the Dead something similar to that would work. My biggest problem is it's not a dark movie so even if I get the whites looking a little extra bright it wont show up that well in most scenes. If anyone has any suggestions I'd really appreciate it.

 

thanks a lot,

Carol

Please do a search of the forum, there are dozens of threads on the subject, some with pictures.

 

Keywords: halation, Robert Richardson, Bringing out the Dead, JFK, The Doors, David Mullen, Akeela and the Bee, Northfork.

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Thanks a lot everyone, especially you Arvin, you've been a big help. I've looked up a few things and tried some of your suggestions now I just have to wait for the film to get back. I'm sure I got the effect now. Thanks again!

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