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Evan Phan

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  1. I'm guessing if he's sleeping there are no practicals on. A pretty basic setup that normally works pretty well is a subtle soft key light and a hard kicker thats gelled slightly more blue. But as David's stated, the moonlight IS technically a hard source, so the suggestion above applies only for when "the moon" is above and behind the subject, and not hitting him directly as a key. Add some fill for detail and don't forget some splashes of light for the background to help with depth.
  2. The Lowel Kits are great. We use them all the time so I'll third that suggestion. A lot of the kits are packed to the brim with extra stuff like Flexi-shaft Flags, reflectors, and umbrellas, etc for an affordable price. They have different kit combinations for everything you'd need.
  3. I think it depends on your style and shots. Think about what "most situations" entail for you. I personally like having at least 3 stages with 2 rotating so I can use a Grad filter and a Polarizer simultaneously. Then a third for some kind of diffusion, ND or Color Correction. You have the option of renting screw-on filters for a specific job that go on the lens if 3 slots isnt enough for you.
  4. Duvetyne or Blackwrap gaffed up inside the practical lamp fixtures on the sides closest to the walls/corners can help, being careful to conceal it from the camera. Ain't perfect, but you should be able to knock the light striking the walls down by a couple of stops by doing this. Optimally you would want to find some kind of environmental objects to place in the shot to create some color contrast out of the bland room.
  5. It all depends on your budget. If you're in a situation where buying the standard Arri and/or Chimeras means using a lot of your budget, I'd say definitely go for a softbox or two from Amvona, like mentioned above. The kits might be a bit much. I've bought an Amvona large softbox from ebay and have used it for 2 years. It isn't the QUICKEST to setup, but no longer than 5 minutes in skilled hands. But they're definitely sufficiently functional. Large diffused sources are large diffused sources anyway you cut, as long as you know how to use them. I'd use that extra cash to buy/rent other things the production would surely need like c-stand kits, gels, other expendable grip equipment. If budget isn't a big issue on the other hand, I'd just go straight for Kino Banks.
  6. Frame the "car" far enough and you could probably stick up two 25 Watts on posts and get away with it. To get closer, I agree with Jim in making a cheap rig to frame. Fake engine smoke might also help fill up the space in the distance a little.
  7. Overcast days are normally look more flat and lack facial contrast due to the giant softbox created by the cloudy sky. So by putting up a black board or a wall of duvetyne on one side, you cut all the bounced light coming from that side, thus creating more contrast on the subject, which is whats traditionally desired in dramatic looks. Sunny days already provide all the contrast you'll ever need, instead on sunny days you'd need to shoot or bounce MORE light into the shadows to get a manageable contrast range. It's all about getting the white to shadow contrast range managable depending on what youre doing.
  8. A dormitory doesn't sound too large, so I think you can get away with 3 of those lights mentioned. As long as your ratios are good, it won't look too "lit." Use the 1000w as key, and be resourceful by using large bounce cards for fill. If you're lucky, the fill will be enough for parts of the room you want. Experiment with intensity and angle. You have the 650watt and the 350watt left. You could use one of those as backlight/kicker (or key for extra talent). The third light can also be used for talent, but more likely, you will want to use it for the background. Possibly a slash of light or cookies to put design and depth into the background. It's important in dark scenes to flag off as much light off the walls so as to not mess with your contrast ratios.
  9. I have never stared at a picture for so long in my life. After reading the posts thus far, I'm going to agree with David and Mike that its a double exposure. Seemed like an insane thing to me, but then I thought- well, I guess Orson Welles WAS already a few steps down Crazy Road. Since it wasn't a split diopter, it must have been a masked (masqued?) double exposure.... a really, really tough one I thought. There is a conspicuous white area where the middle ceiling beam meets the pillar. It means Orson's half was shot last. I'm pretty sure the mask runs up along the right most side of the pillar to the right of Orson, up to the right diagonally where the pillar meets the dark ceiling by triangle shaped corners. The one we're looking at looks like it got shifted. The small guy in the background is easily masked. I think this technique of putting everything into focus via masking was kind of one of Gregg's trademarks. Orson was a radio genius and could have easily nailed timing by using a recording of Cotton's take. What I can't figure out is how they had.. and made the time for this kind of madness! Props to the Master Toland..... Props.
  10. If you need to do continuous circling around the subjects in one shot, you probably need some sort of overhead lighting, such as a softboxes or a butterfly net overhead with lights shooting into it. One end of the table will have stands, but will still allow you to move just about 360 degrees. You can keep a chinaball near the camera to fill as you move around. (You'd be hard pressed to make it look good using a light that has no diffusion) Another possibility is, if the background is dark enough you might be able to set your stands behind the talent far away and very high up so it doesn't show up in the shot... but you would obviously need quite powerful lights, and you would also be dealing with lens flares. Of course, if you are going to intercut, then you can just set up lights normally with enough room to circle halfway before starting the next shot. In whichever case, make sure to use black wrap and barn doors to keep all unneccesary light from spilling onto the surrounding area. (note: without any lights on the backgrounds at all, your characters and their table will look like they're limbo space, surrounded by black.)
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