Any advice is greatly needed

[Guest Mike-In-MT]

I am Junior in the Montana State film program and my five minute Junior project took a big hit when the DVX-100 I was planning to shoot with recently became unavailable. I no have no access to a 24p camera and will shoot on my own PD-150. I am not looking to create the "film-look," but am aiming for really great looking video. What I need advice on is the best settings for my camera, how to implement a lighting scheme that works best for video (i.e. proper color saturation, quality blacks and good skin tones), filters like Pro-Mist and others that can improve the image, framing tips for post-production letter-box, manual settings for the PD-150, setting exposures (I've heard under-expose a half stop as well as over-expose) and any general advice.

 

In addition to the PD-150, I will have two Mole-Richardson Tweenie II 650 Watt Fresnel Tungsten Lights, and two Mole-Richardson Mini-Mole 200 Watt Fresnel Tungsten Light, along with a very basic grip-kit, and can get access to or buy many different filters, along with any diffusion and gels. I have about two weeks before I shoot and will be doing lots and lots of camera tests beforehand.

 

The locations and the look I'm going for are as follows:

 

1. An apartment at night with one character (VINCE). He enters the apartment which has soft blue wash to create a nighttime feel (was planning on using 1/2 or 3/4 CTB gels). The hallway he enters from will be brightly lit with uncorrected tungsten practicals. Without turning on any lights, the character goes to fridge which spills uncorrected tungsten light on to him. I was planning on setting the white balance to Tungsten then using CTB gels for the very slight blue wash. I want to create some nice shadows on the background and have the character's face fairly flat until he gets to the fridge where his face will be more dynamically light. We will be shooting at night, but I would like to have exact control of the lighting.

 

2. In the same apartment, but a different room, VINCE sits at desk and tries to write. I am hopping for the same blue wash mentioned earlier, but this time use the computer screen as a practical light for his face, which I will probably reenforce with one of the lights mentioned above. I want the room to feel dark and the computer screen to feel like the only true source of light, but still have detail in the background.

 

3. This scene will be shot in a studio, with set pieces from #2 to show that we have entered VINCES' consciousness. VINCE will still be sitting at the computer but behind him, in total blackness, a spotlight from above will fade in to reveal the two characters that he is writing. VINCE will talk to his two characters in this moment and I would like the computer screen to still feel like a practical light source, with light blue used as a fill. The two characters he is writing I want to light with a "classic hollywood" style (i.e. the hall of mirrors sequence from "The Lady From Shanghai"), probably having the girl a half-stop brighter and with high-key lighting, while the man will be in a more low-key style. In post I will have the two characters VINCE is writing be in black and white, while VINCE himself will be in color (I have a nice shot in mind, where the black and white girl takes VINCES' hand in hers while his hands remain in color, ahh After Effects) The big part of this is I need the backgrounds to fall completely black. Only VINCES' desk and the actors will be lit. This is the bulk of the movie and the big part I really need to nail down. For the spot light, we will hang a Lieko 1000w Ellipsoidal wired to a theater light board.

 

Absolutely any advice is greatly appreciated, as I have seen some examples of the posters in this forum and have been greatly impressed. Remember, I'm not trying to create a "film look," just really great looking video that will help sell the story.

 

Aside from here I am also available at burchett@montana.edu.

 

Once again, thanks for any help.

 

Mike Burchett

[Stephen Williams]

I am Junior in the Montana State film program and my five minute Junior project took a big hit when the DVX-100 I was planning to shoot with recently became unavailable. I no have no access to a 24p camera and will shoot on my own PD-150. I am not looking to create the "film-look," but am aiming for really great looking video. What I need advice on is the best settings for my camera, how to implement a lighting scheme that works best for video (i.e. proper color saturation, quality blacks and good skin tones), filters like Pro-Mist and others that can improve the image, framing tips for post-production letter-box, manual settings for the PD-150, setting exposures (I've heard under-expose a half stop as well as over-expose) and any general advice.

 

 

Mike Burchett

 

Mike,

 

Please only post the question once, otherwise the thread is impossible to follow.

 

Stephen