Brandon McCarthy

I had a question about on location multi-cam set up. In a few weeks, I'll be shooting a short film in a bar. It's mostly a dialogue heavy comedy piece with most of the dialogue being shown with over-the-shoulder shots and close ups on both actors speaking (and a few cutaways, etc). I want to shoot the OS and CU shots in one long take for each shot. My question is... would getting a second camera reduce my shooting time? My producer seems to think that the additional set up time wouldn't make up for the time saved by using two cameras (and the cost of renting the second camera and lens). However, I believe getting a second camera will cut the shooting time in half, and additional set up time will be minimal. Can anyone with multi-cam experience chime in? I've always enjoyed the idea of lighting a scene, not a shot. I've heard Rasmus Heise call it "All Around Lighting" and I really like the style, but all my experience is with setting up the lights for a single shot, shoot it, tear down the lights, wash rinse and repeat. I feel like lighting the scene, while it would take longer, would allow for an overall faster shoot and more creative freedom.

Hello everyone! First timer here. I stumbled on this forum while searching for the answers to this question, so I hope you can help! I'm developing a short film that takes place in a bar at night with a window facing a busy street. Long story short, I'll need to shoot day for night to keep my location costs down. I'm familiar with the concept of exterior day for night, and I've seen many videos and articles telling me to block out the windows so as to block out the light for interior day for night. However, I can't seem to find anything about when you need to show that window and the exterior at night. I've narrowed it down to only a few shots with the window in frame, but there's no getting around that location's window. I am having difficulty wrapping my head around how to have the shots showing the window to be a night-time street while shooting in the day time. The only thing that comes to mind is shooting with a green-screen to block the window, then go back at night and, without the actors present, shoot the same angles at night, then put it in place of the green-screen in post. If this is the only way, how would you light the green screen while also blocking the sunlight from spilling in? Or is the dreaded rotoscope my only option? Create a matte for the window frame by frame, then adjust the levels and such to make it night, adding lights for headlights and tail lights. In which case, is there anything to be done for lighting to improve the quality or workflow of the rotoscope? Thank you!