Deliberate Over-Exposure

Andy_Alderslade · June 7, 2006

Hi,

I will be shooting a very short short soon and have a little challenge, in which one scene requiers light to come out of a box and over-exposes an actors face, in the style of the ark from Raiders of the Lost Ark, or the wardrobe from Poltergiest or the finale spell from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban.

I was planning to mount an HMI underneath the box and shine it through the hole in the bottom, and have more ambient light in the room. Since the locations are small I was going to use a moderate speed film say 250T for the sake of a sharper look.

My bigguest queiry is how much should I over expose the 'burn't out area's compared with the rest of the room? Should I take a 50/50 approach and slightly underexpose the normal areas to bring up the whole thing in post, allowing greater control of the effect?

Will a moderate speed film work okay wich such an efffect, or would it be saffer to fo with 500T

Many thanks,

Andy

David Mullen ASC · June 7, 2006

Obviously a bright light would look more dramatic in a moody, dark room, but the question is story-wise, can you make the room look dark logically before the box is opened.

As to whether 250T stock is fast enough, probably, if you're shining an HMI into someone's face up close. Some light diffusion on the lens will help the effect, like a 1/8 ProMist at least.

How overexposed should the effect be on the face depends on how dramatic you want the effect to be -- a nuclear burn-out, or just hot-looking? 2-stops over would look bright, 3-stops over will still hold a little detail but be very hot, 5-stops over would be pretty much white (unless this is a dark-skinned person). As for the room before the box opens, again, that has to make sense storywise. Can the room be about a stop under overall? Can the person stepping up to open the box, step into further darkness and be 2-stops under just before the box opens?

Andy_Alderslade · June 8, 2006

Thanks David, the scene is set at night so I can definetly make it dark before hand. Maybe if I put an orange gel on the HMI to make it white and point a low level tunsgsten light with half blue into the room to simulate moonlight maybe that will creat the right contrast in mood.

Andy_Alderslade · July 6, 2006

Thanks for the advise on this one,

Here are some screenshots, of how that scene came out.

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=C076DDE20D0...84DFEAF976EA1AD

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=C127E3580D0...3C7FEAF976EA1AD

http://www.jumpcut.com/view?id=CFDCC3FA0D0...B42FEAF976EA1AD

I'm fairly happy with how it came out, though had to make quite a few sacrifices including the 1/8 pro-mist, as the place I was renting the camera from was a charity so it didn't stock pro-mist filters, and the commerical rates were just too high for this particular project.

David Mullen ASC · July 6, 2006

I hate when I click on a link and it says I have to install another video player software! How many do we have to carry on our computers these days?

Andy_Alderslade · July 6, 2006

hmmm' sorry I think that website must use Flash player, though I know what you mean.

I put these on the horrible MySpace and linked the addresses.

Thomas Burns · July 6, 2006

Looks good.

How many stops over is her face?

Thomas Burns

Novice DP

Los Angeles

Andy_Alderslade · July 7, 2006

Looks good.

How many stops over is her face?

Thomas Burns

Novice DP

Los Angeles

The room overall was 1 stop under, while the light on her face was usually about 4 stops over once the blonde (we couldn't afford an HMI) was pointed at her. Once the blonde was on there was a lot of spill into the room which unfortunatly raised the levels of the background too. I may try experimenting with burning it out more in post.

David Mullen ASC · July 7, 2006

The room overall was 1 stop under, while the light on her face was usually about 4 stops over once the blonde (we couldn't afford an HMI) was pointed at her. Once the blonde was on there was a lot of spill into the room which unfortunatly raised the levels of the background too. I may try experimenting with burning it out more in post.

Her face looks burned out enough as is -- any more and you wouldn't see her expression!

I think the balance is good - the dimmer, cool, soft-lit room and the hot light from the box. What stock & lens was this? The focus on the box seems slightly off in the still but I can't tell.

Andy_Alderslade · July 9, 2006

I think the balance is good - the dimmer, cool, soft-lit room and the hot light from the box. What stock & lens was this?

The stock was Fuji Eterna 250T, and the lenses I believe (though could be wrong) were Zeiss Distagons, using only the 8mm and 12.5mm. I believe the shots of the box and the clock were on the 8mm and the girls face was on the 12.5, though we didn't take any camera notes so I can't check that.

The focus on the box seems slightly off in the still but I can't tell.

I checked the footage off a television and I suspect its the screenshot making it look soft.

Though to be honest it wouldn't supprise me, the shoot was last minute and I couldn't find any crew but went ahead anyway as it was my last chance before a shoulder operation I was having several days latter. I had one person doing sound who also helped with lighting, but often I was having to pull focus by keeping my fingers in positions on the focus ring. I got away with it on static shots, but planned some gentle glide in and out shots, I did this by hand-holding the camera and using my legs (standing or kneeling) to hinge in or out, using the 8mm lens and at 30fps. It worked fine during the movement but sometimes at the very end or begining it would be impossible to retain focus. I guess this was the dangers of working wide-open at t1.3 and not having a third arm.

On the otherhand still very happy with it, thanks for your advise with it David.

Edited July 9, 2006 by Andy_Alderslade