Johnny Derango

I have had a similar colour shift on the DVX100, It came down to the auto white function, if you shoot under flouros with auto on, the camera has a problem with the discontinuous spectrum and hunts for correction. Try shooting with a manual setting next time.

Glen,

The interesting part of the story is the auto white function was not on. all three cameras were set to shoot at pre-set 3200K. HAs anyone ever had this problem while in a pre-set? Please let me know.

The color spectrum of fluorescents and the flicker or pulsing of the output really have nothing to do with each other. Flicker is caused by capturing irregular peaks and dips of the lamp's output cycle (when the camera and light cycle are out of synch with each other), and the color spectrum of the light just is what it is, so to speak.

 

On rare occasions I've seen a pulsing color shift from HMI's when using a video camera's clear scan, but I've never encountered any inconsistent color shifting from fluorescents. It's usually the exposure pulsing that catches your eye first.

Kinos ballasts are supposed to have a fast enough cycle that flicker is generally not a problem, but there is still a cycle. I forget the exact number for kinos, but when you get into faster frame rates you need to pay more attention to the math.

Unfortunatly, I had a major problem with color shifting in a room of florescents. I was shooting a TV pilot in an interrogation room lit maily by the overhead florescents. When we later went back and watched the footage, which was shot on 3 DVX 100-A's we noticed that the footage cycled from warm to cool and back again.... And when I say this I mean it went from nice warm flesh tones to a cooler white to blue to green and back. I had never heard of this before and there was no flicker. We were shooting at 1/48th shutter in 24pA mode. So needless to say Florescents scare me.

I realize that the color tmeperature has nothing to do with the flicker, so to clarify my question, when do you need to worry about florescents and flicker when shooting at 24 frames a second on film?

I neat little trick for the flicker is an HMI (with snoot) shooting through a big fan on low speed. You can either use this as direct for more realistic lighting, or bounce it, which would provide a more aesthetic lighting scheme.

 

A neat experiment would be to place different colored gel between the fan blades to simulate color changes.

 

Have fun.

 

Mitch Lusas

Virginia Beach, VA

Thanks, that is a great idea Mitch, totally worth testing.

normally, when shooting at 24fps, i don't worry about fluorsecnts flickering in shot. The only time I've ever had a floro flicker on me was when I shot with a Arri S with a governor motor, and the unit was in frame and I noticed the unit flicker, but the light it cast was so diffuse that flicker was unnoticable.

 

I was gaffing for a DP I don't normally work with last weekend, and we matched the floro's, and I mentioned something about whether or not he was worried about flicker, and he said he wasn't because the building was too old to be set up with the newer, power-saving frequency.

 

Now, we were shooting pretty fast, and I'd already had to ask him a few things, so I didn't feel like having him take the time to clarify, but what was he talking about?

 

Do fluorsecents really never flicker except for energy saving electical systems? Any ideas what this guy meant?

 

thanks,

chuck

I really hope you get some intelligent replies here. To my knowledge, it is only older ballasts that you have to worry about. I'm about to do a shoot in a grocery store and I had the same question. I know florescents have a broken spectrum so flicker is a concern, I just don't know when you should be worried. The few times I have shot under florescents, I just filtered in camera with a CC30 magenta and everything looked great, but I'm wondering if I've just been lucky so far.

I know we've discussed theater interiors many times before, so check the archives for more suggestions. You may have to go back a bit.

 

One trick I've done is to put a light inside the projection booth and aim it through the window, so you get a "natural looking" backlight from the proper angle. I say "natural looking" in quotes because it's not really natural; you don't get much spill onto the audience when the projector is properly focused on the screen! ;) But it looks appropriate to have a slight rim from that source.

 

Spacelights overhead can give you a good soft ambience, but you have to keep the level pretty low or else you destroy the look of "darkness." Instead I'd concentrate on giving a subtle rim or edge for separation, and then "key" the faces with light motivated by the movie screen.

 

There are lots of tricks that work well for that, but the movie screen itself makes a great bounce source. Try multiple lights on dimmers with different colored gels bounced off the screen.

Thanks for the advice, I'm slowly starting to put together a plan. Should be a fun scene to light

I'm getting ready to shoot a music video which mostly takes place inside a movie theater. I'm just look for advice from anyone who may have previously shot inside a theater. The main thing I am wondering about is about using a projector as backlight. Is it practical to get a 2nd projector to use as the backlight since the real projectors beam will be too high? And are duvy skirted space lights a good option for fill?? I'd appreciate any advice.

Jon,

I can't speak highly enough of Columbia College in Chicago. It has one of the best cinematography programs in the United States if not the world. It has turned out several of today's top cinematographers including: Janusz Kaminski, Mauro Fiore, Jeffery Jur and Michael Goi amongst others. Columbia College Chicago has all of the things necessary to get you started on the right path. Ultimately though, no school will provide you more than the effort you are willing to put forth. Anyway, check out their website http://www.colum.edu/

Don't be afraid to take control, you are the boss. No DP, should be disrespecting a director on set, if there is a problem he should pull you aside and talk to you like an adult. As for the AD if she agreed to work for a certain rate, and now she wants more, fire her on the spot, they are a dime a dozen. Anyway check out my website (www.johnnyderango.com) and when you are ready to do your next project and you need a director friendly DP give me a call.

Hands down, "The Thin Red Line"

Hey all,

I am shooting what for all intensive purposes is a big name music video for a low budget. Here is the situation and any opinions would be much appreciated. I am shooting Super 16 with most likely Cooke primes. This is a hip-hop video that needs to look shiny and polished with bright poppy colors like an R&B video. There are day exteriors and night interiors. I will most likely be shooting everything at a 90-degree shutter with an abundance of high speed. If I were going to shoot 35mm my stock choices would be simple. I would use the 5205 (Kodak Vision 2 250D) and the 5218 (Kodak Vision 2 500T). I feel in 35mm those stocks would be low on grain and be able to cover the speed and shutter changes (90-degrees). Unfortunately because I am shooting in S-16 I feel that I should use the 7217 (Kodak Vision 2 200T) for the interior nights to try and keep my grain down, but this creates lighting issues when I change the shutter (90-degrees) and go to high speed. Has any one shot the 7218 (Kodak Vision 2 500T)? How does it hold up grain wise knowing it ultimately has to go into a flashy bright poppy video knowing it has to look like 35?? Any help would be appreciated. Also how does the Fuji Eterna 500 in 16mm hold up to the Kodak 7218? This is for a music video airing on MTV and BET so the destination is the small screen.

Johnny