Help me achieve this glossy soft look.

[mailesan]

Hi all, I'm a DP from India. Very soon I'll be starting shoot of a very very low budget romcom. My director and me have zeroed down on a particular look which is from the movie "How to be single". Please find the link attached. It will be great if someone can help me how to get this look. I will be shooting on Red Dragon with Cooke s4 lens. A couple of questions I have are as follows-

 

1. Do i need to use any softening or diffusion filters in front of lens? if yes, which one? if it's too expensive any alternative like fish net or stocking?

2. lighting suggestion.

3. Lut suggestion.

 

or any other suggestion regarding achieving this look.

 

I will be thankful for your advice.

 

 

 

 

http://imgur.com/a/y1zUj

[Michael Rodin]

1. If you can afford S4s, you can afford a truckload of filters. Some of your reference shots look like they have a light misty diffusion (i.e. 1/8 White Frost) or not so light where they have obvious blooming, other don't have much halation - for those you'd use Diffusion FX, or maybe older Black/Gold Diffusion. Try Soft/FX and Classic Softs as well.

2. What comes to mind first… Try light warm gels or cosmetics on keys, with heavy diffusion like 216 on small frames. Don't hesitate to raise your key higher, then fill slightly from below if needed. Use an eyelight if you key doesn't give you a sparkle in the eyes. Don't over-diffuse you window lights.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Michael Rodin

[David Mullen ASC]

I suspect the filtration in many of those shots was something like a 1/4 Hollywood Black Magic, the blurred edge around some lights is smaller than you'd get with a Classic Soft. Or it could be something like a 1/2 Soft/FX. Not sure it really matters as long as it is subtle -- you could try a 1/8 Classic Soft for example, go to a 1/4 on close-ups. Nets tend to be stronger than that.

[mailesan]

Thanks all for the reply :) .