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Student is asking for help


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Hello,

 

As a student I have an assignment wich requires me to accurately reproduce a commercial.

 

Here's the link for said commercial: http://www.bigfun.be/Commercial/Loving+you+is+easy...htm

 

Additionally I've uploaded some frames I grabbed with VLC-player (they're not too perfect, but they help)

11a.png5a.png

4.png

 

 

 

So, how would you guys recommend I would handle this? We are shooting on video btw.

 

It seems that the "sun" is pretty much the only lightsource, so I was thinking I'd set up a HMI (softend) behind the window.

And then I'd fill the other side of the female. The guy, I think, I can hit pretty straight-forward with the HMI.

 

I'm worried, however, that I would blow out my characters and underexpose my scenery. Or that it would look flat.

 

Also, in the first shot I see a bit of blue light right next to the window. But the light on my characters is pretty white. Does this mean I could light with Tungsten-balanced light and then autowhite them; qo that my daylight looks blue?

 

 

I know it's a lot, but any info would be handy. Thanks!

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Which side is your window facing? you need to make sure that your light stays pretty consistent during the shoot (a north-facing window works best for this).

If there is enough natural light then I wouldn't go about adding lights to the already existing daylight coming through the windows, taylor your daylight to your needs ( i.e. use silks, mirror boards etc) and bring in your hmi for fill (there is a fill light in the commercial, pretty visible in the first 2 seconds as the guy walks to the girl, watch his left shoulder catching it, and also the usual practice there is more fill in the M.S and MCUs)

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Which side is your window facing? you need to make sure that your light stays pretty consistent during the shoot (a north-facing window works best for this).

If there is enough natural light then I wouldn't go about adding lights to the already existing daylight coming through the windows, taylor your daylight to your needs ( i.e. use silks, mirror boards etc) and bring in your hmi for fill (there is a fill light in the commercial, pretty visible in the first 2 seconds as the guy walks to the girl, watch his left shoulder catching it, and also the usual practice there is more fill in the M.S and MCUs)

 

Well, I just visited the location and it turns out that:

 

- There isn't any direct sunlight during the day

- There is no room outside to put a lamp (2 floor appartment building)

 

Luckely I managed to convince the director to move the table a little to the left, so now I'll have space between the window and the table.

There, I plan on using a simple lights with chimera soft box (wattage will depend) for keying.

The other side, I'll try to fill with silks and mirror boards. I'll have the risk of underlightning, but (I hope) the look will be allright.(i.e. the same as in the commercial)

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Notice how soft/wrapping the light is. Especially in the CU inserts of the butter knife etc...you see slight shadows but they are not hard or dramatic. Ideally this seems like a situation for a 12K bounced into a 12x outside the window, for a large soft source, with fill from inside but given the budget and location limitations you'll be working around that I assume.

 

Your approach sounds good, just be aware of the back wall, and the angle of the light hitting it. Not sure of the exact geography of your location, but if you see much to the right like in the wide shot, and see the edge of the window, you'll want to get your light raking that wall as close on to that angle as possible. I would frame out the window, give myself a couple feet breathing room, then bounce, or punch a 575 or 1200 through a 4' of diffusion with the angle coming so it rakes the back wall and doesn't hit it directly. The problem will arise, with the lamp inside, it will be invariably quite close to your wall, and you'll experience a lot of falloff, where the right side of frame is quite hot, and the left side gets darker too quickly. The still you posted has a much more gradual and gentle gradation from bright to mid tones.

 

Also the left side of the girls face is a little hot for my taste, seems it could be taken down maybe a 1/2 stop.

 

And as Kiarash mentioned, finessing the fill in CU is important. Notice in your wide the girls face is relatively split, dark on the right side of her face, bright on left. However in the CU there is much more gradation and subtlety, you can see a very slight soft edge coming from frame left now, and the light wraps nicely, there is perhaps a somewhat more frontal fill being used.

 

 

Good Luck!

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